Purim-inspired thoughts from an atheist: Will our Queen Esthers rise above their fears and save STEM from wokeness?
by Anna I. Krylov
Although I am a committed atheist, I find biblical stories thought-provoking and inspiring. Whoever wrote them knew something about the worst and the best of humanity. The story of Purim strikes me as especially relevant today. The story is about a Jewish woman, Esther, who became the Queen of Persia. The King had a powerful minister, Haman, who demanded that the people bow down to him and his idols. Mordecai, a Jew and the adoptive father of Queen Esther, refused. Outraged, Haman obtained permission from the king to exterminate the Jewish people. Mordecai discovered Haman’s plans and implored Esther to use her position to intervene. But Esther, doubting her ability to influence these powerful men, hesitated. As queen, Esther had a lot to lose should her attempt to interfere in big politics go wrong, maybe even her life—displeasing the king was punishable by death. But Mordecai insisted: "Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the King’s palace. For, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father's house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained your royal position for just such a crisis."
In the end, Esther found the courage and wit to speak to the King and saved the Jews.
Why is the story of Purim relevant to our times? In a moving piece he calls "My Purim Rabbi's Hat" [1], Judea Pearl speaks of the rise of "academic McCarthyism", an existential threat to institutions whose telos is to foster science and education. Judea writes, "I have started using Mordecai's words on friends and colleagues who remain silent upon seeing their students intimidated by BDS cronies or seeing their junior colleagues 'cancelled' or interrogated by various vice-squads." He says, "We owe our academic stature to many who spoke out in such crises before. It’s now time for us to pay back our debt to the community by making our voices heard, despite the risks involved, or we'll all perish."
Indeed, today, we—the community of scientists and educators—face an existential threat. The core, liberal values of The Enlightenment—humanism, rationality, fairness, equality of opportunity—are under attack. An illiberal, regressive ideology known as "Critical Social Justice" (CSJ) or Wokeism has taken hold of our schools, universities, professional societies, and publishing houses [2,3]. Cloaked in deceptive words (e.g., "diversity", "equity", and "inclusion") like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, this ideology seeks to disrupt and dismantle our institutions [3]. It seeks to replace liberal epistemology (i.e., the way we produce knowledge) [4] by a non-sensical post-modern one [5], which rejects objective reality in favor of "multiple narratives'' (held by various identity groups) and "alternative ways of knowing." It seeks to replace the modern scientific enterprise—built on merit, objectivity, organized skepticism, and universalism [6]—with a social engineering agenda built on a supposed hierarchy of victimhood [5]. It aims to replace the ideal of equal opportunity for individuals with the goal of equal outcomes for identity groups [3,5].
The ideology has spread through our institutions by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) apparatchiks backed by big money—the multi-billion DEI industry (the annual DEI budget of UC Berkeley alone is 41 million dollars) [7].
Through "the skilled use of compliant media, the deft manipulation of weaponized language, social intimidation unleashed on critics, and the neutralization of pushback by demonizing free speech as hate speech," the Woke have manipulated our institutions, which, one by one, are abandoning their original scientific and educational missions [8]. Scientific publishing houses are declaring the advancement of DEI to be their primary goal [9]. Universities are replacing merit in hiring and admissions by (covert) quotas for selected identity groups, with the aim of re-engineering society [10]. University mission statements are being rewritten [11] and tenure and promotion criteria redefined [12]. Those who dare speak out against this Woke takeover are viciously attacked and cancelled [13,14]. Even asking for evidence in support of the axioms of the ideology (e.g., existence of systemic racism, the validity of "microaggressions") can result in accusations of racism, misogyny, and bigotry [14,15].
In this clash between liberal values and regressive illiberalism, those of us who, by virtue of our achievements, have reached positions of prominence, have the responsibility to speak up and lead the resistance. Yet, the voices of opposition are scarce. While our professional organizations—academies, societies, leading publishers—promote the CSJ agenda, their leaders remain silent. Why? The reasons are the same as Queen Esther’s: doubt (can one voice make a difference?) and fear (no one wants to become a martyr). Like Queen Esther, those at the top have a lot to lose.
These doubts and fears lead to inaction and complicity, to compromises big and small: maybe we put our pronouns on our webpage or add a land acknowledgment to our syllabi; maybe we even take a pledge to support DEI. Next, we fail to speak up against an openly discriminatory faculty search or remain silent while a colleague is being crucified by a mob. If we continue compromising our principles, soon we become as unethical and immoral as the SJWs themselves.
When doubt and fear take over, remember the story of Purim. Even the ivory tower does not provide a safe haven. The Hamans of today—the DEI apparatchiks and SJW mobs—have their forces lined up and are already taking down our institutions. We need to fight back, despite the real, palpable danger. Think of Queen Esther. She could have perished for her insubordination and her advocacy for her people. Yet she rose above her fears and prevailed.
Jay Tanzman contributed to this essay.
References:
1. J. Pearl, "My Purim Rabbi's Hat", Jewish Journal, 2022; https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/333567/my-purim-rabbis-hat/
2. Critical Race Theory, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory; accessed 02/21/2022;
I. Redstone, A Straightforward Primer On Critical Race Theory (and Why It Matters), Forbes, July 2021; https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilanaredstone/2021/07/18/a-straightforward-primer-on-critical-race-theory-and-why-it-matters/?sh=229473e03212
3. H. Pluckrose, J.A. Lindsay, Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody; Pitchstone Publishing: Durham, NC, 2020; https://www.amazon.com/Cynical-Theories-Scholarship-Everything-Identity_and/dp/1634312023
4. J. Rauch, The Constitution of Knowledge, Brookings, 2021; https://www.amazon.com/Constitution-Knowledge-Jonathan-Rauch/dp/0815738862
5. A. Sullivan, Removing the Bedrock of Liberalism, 2021;
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/removing-the-bedrock-of-liberalism-826
6. R. K. Merton, The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations; The University of Chicago Press, 1973; https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo28451565.html
7. Impact Report 2020-2021 by Division of Equity and Inclusion, UC Berkeley;
https://diversity.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ucberkeley-diversity-impact-report_oct29.pdf; accessed 03/22/2022. Page 91 of the report gives the breakdown of the total 2021 budget of 41 million USD: 65% was used for compensation (i.e., salaries of the diversicrats), 9% for student awards, including scholarships and fellowships, 2% for materials and supplies, and 24% for other operational expenses. Only 9% for used for student support (for "student awards, including scholarships and fellowships").
8. Z. Jilani, Our Institutions Keep Undermining Themselves, Persuasion (2021); link to the article
9. A.I. Krylov, Social Justice Warriors subvert scientific publishing, A chapter in "Ben ik wel woke genoeg?", edited by Martin Harlaar and published by Gompel and Svacina;
https://iopenshell.usc.edu/pubs/pdf/WokeSubvertPublishing_BookChapter.pdf
10. A Dubious Expediency: How Race Preferences Damage Higher Education, by Gail Heriot (Editor), Maimon Schwarzchild; https://www.amazon.com/Dubious-Expediency-Preferences-Damage-Education/dp/1641771321
11. J. Jacoby, Pushing back against indoctrination at UMass Boston, Boston Globe, 2022; https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/06/opinion/pushing-back-against-indoctrination-umass-boston/?event=event12
12. C. Flaherty, The DEI Pathway to Promotion, Inside Higher Ed, 2021; link to the article
13. D. Abbot, MIT Abandons Its Mission. And Me, Common Sense with Bari Weiss, 2021;
14. A.I. Krylov, J.S. Tanzman, G. Frenking, and P.M.W. Gill
Scientists must resist cancel culture; Nachrichten aus der Chemie 70, 12 (2022); https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nadc.20224120702
15. Mitt Castor (pseudonym), Unmasking the Campaign against “White Supremacy Culture” in Science, Minding The Campus, 2022; https://www.mindingthecampus.org/2022/03/17/unmasking-the-campaign-against-white-supremacy-culture-in-science/