Good morning, and welcome to lucky number thirteen of the Bright Morning newsletter. For the past few weeks, we have been focusing almost exclusively on political issues within Canada. This week, we are taking a step back and focusing on broader cultural issues in the West. This week’s issue does contain heavier content (especially towards the end), however, we promise that we will not leave you feeling hopeless. In fact, we end this article with some resources that we hope you will find valuable, should you wish to continue learning about the topics we cover.
Please let us know your thoughts by replying to this issue or sending us an email at contact@thebrightmorning.com.
| POLITICS
American Failure: The Andrew Cuomo Story
The Nitty Gritty:
Actually, this one is too good to summarize.
Read on and, enjoy.
Let us begin with a little thought experiment. Imagine that you are the leader of one of the largest States (by population). You tow the Party line and the media consistently (although undeservedly) sing your praises. But there is a reason for the undeserved praise. You and your Party share a common enemy: a loud, orange man who just so happens to be the President of the country.
One day, a virus from China begins to rapidly spread across the globe and it reaches your State. The infections begin to skyrocket, elderly people who are vulnerable to the virus begin to die, and you begin to panic. You were unprepared, and so what is a leader in your position supposed to do?
Instead of setting aside partisan differences and working with the President, you begin to antagonize him. You accuse him of not being prepared, even though the President closed the border to China when it became clear that the country was in a crisis. You accuse the President of not providing you with ventilators, even though what happens in your State is your responsibility and the President has already given you the tools you will need to respond. Then, unprepared and lacking ethical leadership decisions, you send recovering patients - who are still testing positive for the virus - back into nursing homes, where the virus spreads like wildfire and kills many more elderly in the process. But you cover this up.
Meanwhile, the media continue to sing your praises and vilify the President. When media outlets attempt to expose your scandal, you label them as “conspiracy theorists.” You begin to make daily speeches on television, speaking in a soft and compassionate voice. You appear on the country’s leading propaganda network, CNN, having fun and lighthearted interviews with your brother while the unemployment rate and deaths in your State continue to skyrocket. You even receive an Emmy award for your daily speeches on television, even though they are littered with falsehoods and half-truths. At the same time, you publish a book in which you boast about your leadership, lie about the deaths that resulted from your policies, and falsely claim that you defeated the virus.
But the truth always finds a way. After nearly a year of deceit, the FBI launches an investigation after learning that you have been deliberately underreporting the number of people who have died in nursing homes. The leak quickly transforms into a flood, as members of your own Party speak about how you have been threatening them to support your lies. Your entire career comes crashing down, yet you show no signs of humility or repentance. Instead, you continue to blame the Orange Man. Even though you continue outsourcing your responsibility, it cannot stop the growing mountain of evidence against you. There might even be a bipartisan impeachment probe, which would end your career and find you guilty of obstruction of justice. It is over for you.
This thought experiment requires no imagination. This is the saga of the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. He is learning a valuable lesson right now: every lie told is a debt towards the truth, and eventually, the bill comes due.
| CULTURE
Woke-a-Cola: Enjoy Racism
The Nitty Gritty
Coca Cola (small beverage company, perhaps you’ve heard of them) is facing backlash over leaked slides from an internal training course allegedly delivered to employees last week that had, dare we say.. racist language.
It is with great regret that we must now return to the culture wars. Not because we want to, but because we need to. We wish we could say that the threat posed to our culture by so-called anti-racism and Critical Race Theory (CRT - which is actually just racism) is exaggerated, but it is not. CRT is gaining traction at an uncomfortable speed, and we believe that it would be morally irresponsible if we did not raise awareness so that everyday people will feel emboldened to voice dissenting opinions.
A couple of weeks ago, an internal whistleblower at Coca Cola leaked images of a so-called anti-racist training course that was mandated for employees. The course, which has been developed by one of the leading charlatans of our age, Robin DiAngelo, contains several slides which encourage learners to “try to be less white.” In one slide, a message reads as follows:
“To be less white is to: be less oppressive; be less arrogant; be less certain; be less defensive; be less ignorant; be more humble; listen; believe; break with apathy; break with white solidarity.”
This is a textbook example of cult indoctrination. Cults are successful when they induce a state of vulnerability and then provide a solution for the manufactured problem. In this case, it is the suggestion that being “defensive” is somehow indicative of white supremacy (or the “system of whiteness”). According to CRT, if someone baselessly accuses you of racism and you become upset and attempt to defend yourself, then your emotional vulnerability and defensiveness implicates you in a system of white supremacy. In other words, you must demoralize yourself by rejecting your dignity, accepting the labels imposed upon you, and mindlessly obeying the pathway to redemption that is conveniently laid out for you. Do not fall for this manipulation.
This is also racism. Race hucksters and charlatans would have you believe that racism is a mystical force that operates in every system, interaction, and individual within a society. In other words, it is like the Force in Star Wars. But racism is simply an attitude based on the prejudicial belief that certain racial or ethnic groups are inferior or superior. If you require additional proof that the Coca Cola training is, in fact, racist, then consider the following thought experiment. What if, instead of suggesting that employees “be less white,” this course encouraged employees to be “less black,” “less asian,” or “less jewish”?
It is also worth mentioning that the leading huckster of CRT, Robin DiAngelo (author of White Fragility and “professor of whiteness studies”) has suggested that white people who see people as individuals, rather than by their skin colour, are, in fact, dangerous. In other words, it has taken just over half a century for racists posing as anti-racists to advance an ideology that is precisely the opposite of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream.
But this is just one company… right?
| CULTURE
Racism in Education
Unfortunately, the racism described above is not restricted to companies who want to serve as mouthpieces for CRT. This is a problem that has infected what should be our most trusted institution: education.
On Friday, journalist and podcast host Megyn Kelly appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher to discuss how CRT has crept into the education system. Kelly stated that she has pulled her children out of school because of the overwhelming emphasis on CRT activism. Kelly also provided Maher with a copy of a letter that was given to students in the school where her children previously attended. Some notable excerpts from the letter included the following:
“There is a killer cop sitting in every school where white children learn.”
“White children are left unchecked and unbothered in their homes.”
“I’m tired of white people reveling in their state-sanctioned depravity, snuffing out black life with no consequence.”
Again, this is the language of cults. In what universe is it acceptable for teachers to impose this rhetoric on children? What gives teachers, and the education system more broadly, the right to turn children - who cannot even spell the word “activist” - into proponents of an ideology that they cannot possibly understand? As Kelly stated in the interview, children have “got things to worry about, other than social activism. If [children] are going to be activated, then [my husband] and I should be doing it - not some Kindergarten teacher who didn’t run it by us.”
Another public school in New York came under intense criticism (and deservedly so) for pushing a similar message associated with CRT. The graphic has a caption which states the following:
“There is a regime of whiteness, and there are action-oriented white identities. People who identify with whiteness are one of these. It’s about time we build an ethnography of whiteness since white people have been the ones writing about and governing Others.”
It is unethical for teachers and the education system to be imposing this pseudo-religious belief onto children. Not only does it incorrectly suggest that western society is rooted in a series of zero-sum power relations between racial groups, but it is something that children are incapable of understanding. Therefore, this content, as well as the educators and institutions who instruct it, deserve serious condemnation from parents, the taxpaying public, and any media institution that has the courage to call this exactly what it is: racism and cult indoctrination.
What can be done?
We recognize that this week’s newsletter contained heavy content, but we cannot stop this monster unless we have the courage to look it in the eyes. Individuals cannot keep dismissing CRT as another typical, left-wing campus movement. At its core, CRT is an anti-liberal and racist ideology. As well, it is a threat that is no longer restricted to universities. As we just demonstrated, this material is now being instructed in schools without the consent of parents.
But what is to be done? We do not have all of the answers, but we do have some helpful suggestions.
Understand the game, but do not participate in it. To push back against an ideology, we must first understand it. There are valuable resources that we can use to navigate through this movement, rather than tiptoe around it. If we can understand and identify the fundamental errors within Social Justice Ideology, Intersectionality, and CRT, then we stand a better chance than if we just use shootdown quotes or respond in a way that would otherwise add fuel to the fire.
Recognize that the water is never as cold as we fear it will be. It is unlikely that the majority of the population is sympathetic to CRT, but instead they are crippled by the fear of cancellation, job loss, and otherwise being removed from polite society. This is understandable, but as Douglas Murray consistently points out, we will demoralize ourselves even more if we do not at least take small steps towards the truth.
Seek out like-minded people and organize collective opposition. There is always strength in numbers. For example: parents who are concerned about CRT in schools ought to organize, prepare strategies, and confront the teachers, principals, and education boards who insist on teaching this material to children. The same strategy can be used in public and private sector workplaces.
To close, this should go without saying, but we will state it clearly for those who might suspect us of holding dishonest motives: we are not advocating for combatting CRT on racial or ethnic grounds. We believe that divisive identity politics movements, which pit groups against each other (such as CRT), are among the most dangerous ideologies ever invented. Instead, we believe in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, where we actively work for a world in which individuals are not judged by the colour of their skin, but on the content of their character. CRT, and other far-left ideologies such as Intersectionality and Social Justice, seek to shatter this dream and return us to a much uglier period in human history - one in which race (or other immutable characteristics) become the primary lens through which we view the world. We do not want to go there.
If you are interested in learning more so that you have some tools to respond to CRT when it appears in conversation, at work, or in schools, please consider the links and resources below. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions, comments, critiques, or would like more resources.
Douglas Murray and His Continuing Fight against the "Madness of Crowds” - YouTube
Has Anti-Racism Become A New Religion? with John McWhorter (Ep.2) - YouTube
Andrew Doyle | I'm Not Exaggerating The Problem | Modern Wisdom Podcast 232 - YouTube
Until next week, thank you all for your time. Take care.
