The Barry Effect
Greetings, subscribers.
This is an essay by Erec S. Smith that is by far the most directly applicable (useful in a real world tactical sense) piece of writing I've read of his. It's pretty high-level both intellectually and morally; I needed to re-read several passages and click on hyperlinks to get a fuller sense of what he's getting at. Excerpt below:
"Destabilization is effective if only to distract. Even if power cannot be acquired one can make dissenters so busy explaining the obvious—e.g., words cannot be literal violence or merit is not an inherently racist concept—that we have no time and energy for upholding our values, our institutions, and our society. While giving time to explain that water is wet, we take time away from productive and generative work. " -
Why does social justice, especially the kind that drives many contemporary DEI initiatives, seem so nonsensical? Why do law students at a prestigious school seem unaware of the First Amendment? Why do student activists and college administrators seem to think that physically attacking a woman for her opinion is productive beh…
Subscribe to A Further Inquiry to continue reading
Visit the author’s Substack to subscribe and read more.