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When I began this website, I hoped to encourage healthy discussion of topics presented here.  Unfortunately, we live in a time and place where it is particularly difficult for people to rationally and reasonably discuss many a social and political topic, in large part I think because people have lost the ability for logical, critical thinking.  We no longer encourage logical and critical thinking skills. Instead, the emphasis, strongly emphasized in universities,  is on identity politics, which is a form of religious fundamentalism, prone to the same blind fanaticism and tribalism as any other type of narrow fundamentalist thinking.

Identity politics is built upon a totally illogical, bigoted and racist structure, as well as a dangerously divisive and intellectually direlict tribalism, wherein instead of arguing to the content and actually saying intelligent things about the matters at hand, its fanatical disciples are content to dismiss and indeed ruin others as the witch-hunters would have done to blasphemers of yore.

So, when faced with a good argument, instead of working diligently to present a good counter-argument, what we see is these dimwit disciples of identity politics using (as Mary Eberstadt argues, in her book on the subject  https://maryeberstadt.com/  )  the critical thinking skills of toddlers, dismissing others as “racist” or “haters” or “white supremacist” or “lacking compassion” or a variety of other completely illogical and meaningless ad hominem atttacks.  Indeed, in identity politics, the illogical and hateful, bad faith ad hominem attack has become the replacement to valid argument.  Which essentially demonstrates how identity politics prefers violence and hatred, over cooperation and work towards mutual understanding.  All very telling for a political screed which deludes itself into thinking it is about compassion and the support of “oppressed minorities.”  No, rather it seems that identity politics is all about the formerly oppressed now being given permission to go on a hate rampage and start oppressing,  name-calling, and witch-hunting, and seeking out “privileged” ( a hateful term) people to attack and whose lives to ruin.

And, unfortunately, I have been seeing a good amount of that occurring on Berkeleyside articles about homeless issues, as well as on other news media articles, and this website as well.  Too many homeless people and their advocates love to call others “haters”, while saying hateful and puerile, dismissive things when they fail to be able to come up with a logical counter argument.  The hypocrisy can be readily seen at most any Berkeley City Council meeting, where you’ll find some such people, who like to delude themselves about how kind and compassionate they are, screaming vulgar obscenities at the council and anyone who dares to speak an opinion differing from their own, at the same time as they portray themselves as perennial victims entitled to a wide array of free handouts.

The result is that I am unfortunately not able to provide a forum for the kind of open discussion that I’d hoped for.  I will allow comments on some articles, but not all, and have removed the option to contact me privately, as this has been too often abused by “haters”, hateful people incapable of reasonable discussion, or even basic decency and respect.    If you like what I’m doing here  — which is in large degree, making a place to speak truths unpopular in highly liberal, overtolerant parts of the nation   —you can support the site by visiting, if you don’t like my work here, go find a site that you do like or create your own.

Fortunately, Berkeleyside at http://www.berkeleyside.com and the New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com are still good places to discuss these issues, and they have a good team of active moderators too, so I’ll see you there.