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July 8, 2022

Critical thinking is paramount in determining the validity of documents.  But how does one identify indoctrination when it is couched in alleged compassion for people?  What is the veracity test?  What questions need to be posed?  What research is required?

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Recently, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, an independent non-profit organization, created a document titled “Confronting and Preventing Hate in Canadian Schools.”  On the surface, this sounds laudable.

In the introduction, a reader is introduced to the Western States Center.

Western States Center [WSC] is one of the United States’ leading organizations working to combat white nationalism, strengthen inclusive democracy, and assist civil society to effectively respond to social movements that exploit bigotry and intolerance. Based in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, WSC serves as a national hub for building movements, developing leaders, shifting culture, and defending democracy to help build a world where everyone can live, love, worship and work free from bigotry and fear.

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My antennae start to wiggle when I read the words “white nationalism,” so I research further and discover that another group called the Social Justice Fund considers the Western States Center its “sister organization established to help strengthen and further develop the progressive movement in the West.”  So my instincts were correct.  But still I am intrigued by the messaging.

Reading further in the toolkit, I learn:

Hate is not a dislike of a person or a thing. It is the dehumanization or discrimination against specific groups on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and disability. People often think of white nationalism and white supremacy when they think of hate movements. According to Canadian academics who specialize in studying these movements, white supremacists ‘believe in the superiority of whites over non-whites, and advocate that white people should be politically and socially dominant over non-white people.’

Certainly, this is true, as exemplified by the ideas of neo-Nazis and the KKK.  But if one is talking about the dehumanization of a specific group, how is it that the Black Lives Matter does not figure in the equation?  After all,

  • in November 2015, a group of approximately 150 BLM protesters shouting “Black Lives Matter” stormed Dartmouth University’s library, screaming, ‘F— you, you filthy white f—-!,” “F— you and your comfort!,” and “F— you, you racist s—!”
  • In July 2016, a BLM activist speaking to a CNN reporter shouted: “The less white babies on this planet, the less of you [white adults] we got!  I hope they kill all the white babies!  Kill ’em all right now!  Kill ’em!  Kill your grandkids!  Kill yourself!  Coffin, b—-!  Go lay in a coffin!  Kill yourself!”

The Canadian toolkit continues:

Hate promoting individuals may use anti-immigrant, anti-Black, and Islamophobic rhetoric focused on crime or terrorism to appeal to base prejudices and reach a broader audience that might initially find their true ideology too extreme.