Archive for the ‘Jordan Peterson’ Category

Godless grifters: How the New Atheists merged with the far right – Salon

It was inspiring really inspiring. I remember watching clip after clip of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkinsand Christopher Hitchens debating Christians, Muslimsand "purveyors of woo," exposing the fatuity of their faith-based beliefs in superstitious nonsense unsupported by empirical evidence, often delivered to self-proclaimed prophets by supernatural beings via the epistemically suspicious channel of private revelation. Not that Harris, Dawkinsand Hitchens were saying anything particularly novel the inconsistencies and contradictions of religious dogma are apparent even to small children. Why did God have to sacrifice his son for our sins? Does Satan have free will? And how can the Father, Sonand Holy Spirit be completely separate entities but also one and the same?

The "New Atheist" movement, which emerged from the bestselling books of the aforementioned authors, was the intellectual community that many of us 15 or so years ago were desperately looking for especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which seemed to confirm Samuel P. Huntington's infamous "clash of civilizations" thesis. As Harris once put it, with many of us naively agreeing, "We are at war with Islam." (Note: This was a dangerous and xenophobic lie that helped get Donald Trump elected. As Harris said in 2006, anticipating how his brand of Islamophobia would enable Trump's rise, "the people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists.")

New Atheism appeared to offer moral clarity, it emphasized intellectual honestyand it embraced scientific truths about the nature and workings of reality. It gave me immense hope to know that in a world overflowing with irrationality, there were clear-thinking individuals with sizable public platforms willing to stand up for what's right and true to stand up for sanity in the face of stupidity.

Fast-forward to the present: What a grift that was! Many of the most prominent New Atheists turned out to be nothing more than self-aggrandizing, dogmatic, irascible, censorious, morally compromised people who, at every opportunity, have propped up the powerful over the powerless, the privileged over the marginalized. This may sound hyperbolic, but it's not when, well, you look at the evidence. So I thought it might be illuminating to take a look at where some of the heavy hitters in the atheist and "skeptic"communitiesare today. What do their legacies look like? In what direction have they taken their cultural quest to secularize the world?

Let's see if you can spot a pattern:

Sam Harris: Arguably the progenitor of New Atheism, Harris was for me one of the more entertaining atheists. More recently, though, he has expended a prodigious amount of time and energy vigorously defending the scientific racism of Charles Murray. He believes that IQ is a good measure of intelligence. He argued to Josh Zepps during a podcast interview not only that black people are less intelligent than white people, but that this is because of genetic evolution. He has consistently given white nationalists a pass while arguing that Black Lives Matter is overly contentious, and has stubbornly advocatedprofiling "Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim," at airports. (When Harris believes he's right about something, it becomes virtually impossible to talk him out of it, no matter how many good arguments, expert opinionsor hard data are presented to him. Like Donald Trump, he's pretty much unteachable.) Harris has also partly blamed the election loss of Hilary Clinton on "safe spaces, trigger warnings, [and] new gender pronouns," released a private email exchange with Ezra Klein without Klein's permission, and once suggested that New Atheism is male-dominated because it lacks an "extraestrogen vibe."

His primary focus these days is boosting the moral panic over "social justice warriors" (SJWs), "political correctness" and "wokeism," which he apparently believes pose a dire threat to "Western civilization" (a word that has a lot of meaning for white nationalists). Consequently, Harris has become popular among right-wingers, and the sentiment of solidarity appears to be mutual. For example, he's described Ben Shapiro as being "committed to the rules of intellectual honesty and to the same principles of charity with regard to other people's positions," which is odd given that Shapiro is a pathological liar who routinely misconstrues his opponents in service of a racist, misogynistic, climate-denying agenda.

Michael Shermer: The founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, which once published a favorable review of Milo Yiannopoulos' book "Dangerous" and a defense of child-rapist Jerry Sandusky, Shermer made a name for himself as a "skeptic." However, his legacy has been overshadowed by, among other things, a protracted history of sexual harassment and assault allegations, with James Randi once calling him "a bad boy" whom numerous people at atheism conferences had complained about. In 2014, he was accused of rape, which he later flippantly joked about on Twitter. Since then, he has dedicated an impressive amount of time belittling "SJWs" and "the woke," often hurling ad hominem attacks and middle-school insults towards those with whom he disagrees. For example, Shermer has referred to "SJWs" as "mealy-mouthed, whiney, sniveling, and obsequious," and "a bunch of weak-kneed namby-pamby bedwetters." He once tweeted, in Trumpian fashion: "Know this Regressive Lefters/SJWs you will lose. Those of us who believe in truth & justice will prevail. Yours is a failed ideology. Losers." After I wrote a critique of Steven Pinker's recent book "Enlightenment Now!", which contains many serious errors, Shermertook to Twitter to call me a "cockroach." None of this should be that surprising, since he describes himself as an anti-woke, anti-reparations libertarian who thinks Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is "a remarkable book."

But be careful: Shermer has also acknowledged, in writing, that he's fantasized about murdering people. "Or, if not actually killing the particular bastard," he reports, "at the very least I imagine dislocating his jaw with a crushing roundhouse knuckle sandwich that sent him reeling to the pavement." This comes from his book"The Moral Arc," which received an extended, glowing blurb from Steven Pinker.

Lawrence Krauss: A world-renowned cosmologist who authored "A Universe From Nothing" and ran the Origins Project formerly at Arizona State University, Krauss was among the most academically accomplished of the New Atheists. In 2018, though, he was dismissed from his job as director of the Origins Project after an investigation found that he had violated the sexual harassment policy of the university "by groping a woman's breast while on an ASU-funded trip in late 2016." He has also repeatedly and vigorously defended his onetime friend Jeffrey Epstein, the child sex trafficker, who "donated $250,000 to the Origins Project over a seven-year span." According to a 2011 Daily Beast article, Krauss claimed, "I don't feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it," adding that he didn't believe the "beautiful women and young women" surrounding Epstein were underage. (Plenty of other peoplehave saidit was impossible not to realize that, and Krauss himself has acknowledgedthat Epstein favored "women ages 19 to 23," which surely should have been a red flag.) After a 2018 BuzzFeed article detailing some of the sexual harassment allegations against Krauss was published, a flood of further accusations emerged online, some of which I catalogued here.

Richard Dawkins: Once a heavyweight within the world of evolutionary biology, Dawkins energized atheists the world over with his book "The God Delusion." Over time, though, it became increasingly clear that he's neither an adult-in-the-room nor a particularly nice guy. For some bizarre reason, he obsessively targeted a Muslim teenager in Texas, who was arrested after a homemade clock he brought to school was wrongly thought to be a bomb. He also flipped out over what came to be called "Elevatorgate," which began with Rebecca Watson calmly asking men to be thoughtful and considerate about how they make women feel at conferences for example, in the enclosed space of an elevator. This resulted in a flood of rape and death threats directed toward Watson, while Dawkins mocked the situation by writing a shocking letter addressed "Dear Muslima," in which the first line was "Stop whining, will you." More recently, he's made it clear that he isn't bothered by the allegations against Krauss, and posted seemingly anti-trans comments on Twitter. When asked why Twitter has caused him so much trouble, he claimed: "I love truth too much." (For Dawkins' troubling views on aborting fetuses with Down Syndrome, see this.)

James Lindsay: Once a promising young atheist, Lindsay published "Everybody Is Wrong About God"in 2015 and, three years later, "How to Have Impossible Conversations," co-authored with Peter Boghossian (below). Referring to himself as "apolitical" but boastinga profile page on the right-wing, anti-free-speech organization Turning Point USA, he is now one of the most unhinged crusaders against "critical race theory" (CRT), an idea about which he seems to have very little actual knowledge. (This is unsurprising, given that Lindsayhas literally argued that he doesn't need to understand "gender studies" to call for the entire field to be canceled. See #10 here.) Over the past few years, he has teamed up withChristian nationalist and COVID conspiracist Michael O'Fallon, and now rakes in plenty of cash via Patreon proof that grifting about "free speech" and "CRT" pays. Known for his social media presence, Lindsay has called women he disagrees with "bitches," while seriously hurling "your mom" insults at intellectual opponents who point out his mendacities. He recently argued that antisemitism is caused by woke Jews (i.e., they're doing it to themselves), spread COVID conspiracy theories, and claimed in 2020 that people should vote for Donald Trump (as he did) because Joe Biden is a neo-Marxist, or will succumb to the influence of scary neo-Marxists like Black Lives Matter.

Last year, Lindsay co-authored the commercially successful book "Cynical Theories,"which received a glowing endorsement from Steven Pinker but repeatedly misrepresents the ideas of those it hysterically, and incorrectly, claims are tearing down "Western civilization." And let's not get into his wildly delusional conspiracy theories about the "Great Reset," which apparently, as someone Lindsay retweeted put it, "aims to introduce a new global planetary diet"! If you want to understand Lindsay's worldview, I suggest reading Jason Stanley's excellent book "How Fascism Works," whichcaptures the anti-intellectual, anti-academic, anti-social justice spirit of Lindsay's activism perfectly.

Peter Boghossian: A "philosopher" at Portland State University and "longtime collaborator of Stefan Molyneux" (a white supremacist demagogue who once declared, "I don't view humanity as a single species "), Boghossian wrote "A Manual for Creating Atheists"in 2013. A year later, he tweeted: "I've never understood how someone could be proud of being gay. How can one be proud of something one didn't work for?" This was followed by a defense of Nazis (no one outsideHitler's Germany should ever be called a "Nazi"), and a stern rejection of the historically accurate claim that "slavery was not merely an unfortunate thing that happened to black people. It was an American institution, created by and for the benefit of the elites."

In 2017, Boghossian and Lindsay attempted to "hoax" gender studies by publishing a fake article in a peer-reviewed gender studies journal (note: the journal had nothing to do with gender studies). Butit turnedoutthis was based on a demonstrable lie, which they of coursenever admitted. Theirpaper ultimately ended up in a pay-to-publish journal. That wasfollowed by an even more elaborateand even more bad-faith"hoax," which resulted in a response from Portland State University professors alleging that "basic spite and a perverse interest in public humiliation seem to have overridden any actual scholarly goals." Indeed, Boghossian and his crew failed to get institutional review boardapproval for this experiment, resulting in serious accusations of unethical actions. "I believe the results of this office's view of your research behavior," wrote the vice presidentfor "research and graduate studies" at Boghossian's university, "raises concerns regarding a lack of academic integrity, questionable ethical behavior, and employee breach of rules." On May 6 of this year, Boghossian a vocal critic of "cancel culture" called for "the defunding of Portland State University," which he incorrectlydescribed as promoting "illiberal ideologies." (See here for more.)

David Silverman: Silverman made a name for himself as a "firebrand" atheist, even appearing on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show several times to take on "Papa Bear" himself. But "explosive allegations of sexual assault and undisclosed conflicts of interest" got Silverman fired from American Atheists, where he was president. In the years since, he has given voice to a stream of grievances about feminism, social justiceand the like, referring to social justice as "a cancerous social movement" that "has to be undone," adding: "I have a lot of regrets for being in your whiney culty immitation [sic] of feminism." The same day, he spoke with Sargon of Akkad (aka Carl Benjamin, a member of Britain's far-right party UKIP) about "Feminist Tyranny." (More here, hereand here.)

Steven Pinker: To many of us early on, Pinker seemed to genuinely care about maintaining his intellectual integrity. But, once again, high expectations only meant a harder crash. Consider that Pinker has claimed that rape is often "over-reported." To support this, he cites right-wingers like Christina Hoff Sommers and Heather MacDonald as primary sources. Over the past few years, he has become unhealthily fixated on "political correctness," social justiceand "wokeness," and participated in the 2017 "Unsafe Space Tour" of college campuses, organized by the right-libertarian magazine Spiked. It also came out, much to Pinker's chagrin, that he'd assisted the legal defense of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, even appearing in photographs with Epstein taken after the latter was convicted of sex crimes in 2008. Here's a picture of Pinker with Dawkins (and fellow New Atheist Daniel Dennett) flying to a TED Conference with Epstein. Pinker's response? It's hard to make this up: despite being a vociferous "opponent" of censorship bad ideas must be exposed to the light! Free speech must never be hindered! Pinker blocked half of Twitter to stop people from mentioning his past links to this rapist and pedophile. Of course this backfired, drawing even more attention to the issue, a phenomenon that I call the "Pinker-Epstein Effect" (which is nearly identical to the Streisand Effect but specific to, well, Pinker and Epstein). Although Pinker was never as prominently connected to "New Atheism" as the others, his influence within the movement, partly because of his advocacy for secularism, is undeniable. (See here for more.)

This is hardly an exhaustive list. But it's enough to make clearthe epistemic and moral turpitude of this crowd. There is nothing ad hominem in saying this, by the way: The point is simply that the company one keeps matters. What's sad is that the New Atheist movement could have made a difference a positive difference in the world. Instead, it gradually merged with factions of the alt-right to become what former New York Times contributing editor Bari Weiss calls the "Intellectual Dark Web" (IDW), a motley crew of pseudo-intellectuals whose luminaries include Jordan Peterson, Eric and Bret Weinstein, Douglas Murray, Dave Rubinand Ben Shapiro, in addition to those mentioned above.

At the heart of this merger was the creation of a new religious movement of sorts centered around the felt loss of power among white men due to the empowerment of other people. When it was once acceptable,according to cultural norms, for men to sexually harass women with impunity, or make harmful racist and sexist comments without worrying about losing a speaking opportunity, being held accountable can feel like an injustice, even though the exact opposite is the case. Pinker, Shermerand some of the others like to preach about "moral progress," but in fighting social justice under the misleading banner of "free speech," they not only embolden fascists but impede further moral progress for the marginalized.

Another way to understand the situation goes like this: Some of these people acted badly in the past. Others don't want to worry about accusations of acting badly in the future. Still others are able to behave themselves but worry that their friends could get in trouble for past or future bad behavior. Consequently, the most immediate, pressing threat to their "well-being" has shifted from scary Muslim immigrants, evangelical Christiansand violent terrorists to 19-year-old kids on college campuses and BLM activists motivated by "wokeness." This is why Lindsay has teamed up with a Christian nationalist and why Boghossian talks about the "Great Realignment"in which anti-woke alarmists, like him, end up joining hands with "conservative Christians" in "Culture War 2.0."

What ties these people together is an aggrieved sense of perpetual victimhood. Christians, of course, believe that they are relentlessly persecuted (note: they aren't). The IDWs similarly believe that they are the poor helpless victims of "CRT," "standpoint theory" and other bogeymen of woke academia. But really, if "Grievance Studies" studies anything, it should be how this group of extremely privileged white men came to believe that they are the real casualties of systemic oppression.

An excellent example of this delusion comes from an inadvertently hilarious interview with Boghossian for the Epoch Times, a media company associated with the Falun Gong movement that is "fueling the far-right in Europe" and has spread COVID conspiracy theories. In it, Boghossian warns that "woke ideology" has produced "a recipe for cultural suicide." This has led him the co-author of "Howto Have Impossible Conversations" to spoutextremist rhetoric like this:

I'm done playing. I am waging full-scale ideological warfare against the enemies of Western Civilization. We must broker absolutely zero tolerance with this ideology, and the only way forward at this point is full-scale ideological war, and I will take no prisoners, . I seek the complete eradication and extirpation of the ideology from every facet of life.

That's scary,intolerant and evenfascistic. And it's exactly where the New Atheism movement has ended up, to the exasperation of those who still care about secularism.

To conclude, let me bring things full circle: At least some studies have shown that, to quote Phil Zuckerman, secular people are "markedly less nationalistic, less prejudiced, less anti-Semitic, less racist, less dogmatic, less ethnocentric, less close-minded, and less authoritarian" than religious people. It's a real shame that New Atheism, now swallowed up by the IDW and the far right, turned out to be just as prejudiced, racist, dogmatic, ethnocentric, closed-mindedand authoritarian as many of the religious groups they initially deplored.

Continue reading here:
Godless grifters: How the New Atheists merged with the far right - Salon

#WhoHomered: June 1st through June 5th | Sports | kmaland.com – KMAland

(KMAland) -- KMA Sports counted 99 area home runs from the past week, starting Tuesday, June 1st and finishing Saturday, June 5th.

There were 11 softball players and five baseball standouts that hit multiple home runs during the week. Every home run thats been reported to KMA Sports or on Varsity Bound from the past week is listed below. Also, find the updated top 10 for the softball and baseball season.

KMALAND SOFTBALL

Maddax DeVault, Nodaway Valley 2 (2)

Jillian French, Twin Cedars 2 (2)

Josie Hartman, Southeast Warren 2 (3)

Brylee Hempey, Sioux City East 2 (4)

Haley Koch, West Harrison 2 (2)

Kira Langenfeld, Denison-Schleswig 2 (2)

Zoey Larsen, Mount Ayr 2 (3)

Haylee Pennock, Griswold 2 (2)

Nevaeh Randall, Creston 2 (2)

BrieAnna Remster, Melcher-Dallas 2 (5)

Addy Reynolds, Mount Ayr 2 (3)

Maggie Allen, LeMars (1)

Makenna Askeland, Griswold (1)

Haley Bach, Lewis Central (1)

Emily Brouse, Harlan (1)

Jordan Butrick, Woodbine (2)

Kaylah Degase, Clarinda (1)

Rachel Drake, East Mills (1)

Olivia Engler, Atlantic (1)

Elise Evans-Murphy, Sergeant Bluff-Luton (1)

Makayla Fichter, Clarinda (2)

Mikayla Fritz, Moravia (1)

Ellie Gengler, Bishop Heelan Catholic (3)

Quinn Grubbs, Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton (1)

Macanna Guritz, Logan-Magnolia (1)

Abby Hiatt, Logan-Magnolia (1)

Nicole Hoefer, Woodbine (1)

Jadyn Huisman, Treynor (1)

Presley Jobe, Clarinda (1)

Emma King, Southeast Warren (1)

Vanessa Koehler, Glidden-Ralston (1)

Evie Larson, Sioux City East (2)

Libby Leraas, LeMars (2)

Elizabeth Lloyd, Glidden-Ralston (1)

Alexa McCunn, Red Oak (1)

Kenley Meis, Bishop Heelan Catholic (1)

Emma Mendenhall, Denison-Schleswig (1)

Madeline Myer, Martensdale-St. Marys (1)

Katelyn Nielsen, Audubon (1)

Olivia OBrien, Sioux City North (1)

Hailey Ostrander, Kuemper Catholic (1)

Tara Peterson, Stanton (1)

Kynser Reed, Melcher-Dallas (2)

Johanna Sauers, Audubon (1)

Julia Schechinger, Harlan (1)

Madison Schumacher, Harlan (1)

Teryn Shields, Murray (1)

Tegan Streit, Mount Ayr (1)

Hannah Thygesen, Audubon (1)

CURRENT AREA TOP 10 (SOFTBALL)

1. BrieAnna Remster, Melcher-Dallas (5)

2. Brylee Hemphey, Sioux City East (4)

3. Grace Bailey, Twin Cedars; Ellie Gengler, Bishop Heelan Catholic; Josie Hartman, Southeast Warren; Zoey Larsen, Mount Ayr; Addy Reynolds, Mount Ayr (3)

8. Alexa Anderson, Mount Ayr; Raelyn Angerman, Sioux City East; Mikenzie Brewer, Tri-Center; Jordan Butrick, Woodbine; Sadie Cox, Lenox; Maddax DeVault, Nodaway Valley; Makayla Fichter, Clarinda; Jillian French, Twin Cedars; Lanie Gustafson, West Harrison; Gracie Hagle, Creston; Haley Koch, West Harrison; Kira Langenfeld, Denison-Schleswig; Evie Larson, Sioux City East; Libby Leraas, LeMars; Haylee Pennock, Griswold; Nevaeh Randall, Creston; Kynser Reed, Melcher-Dallas (2)

KMALAND BASEBALL

Nathan Gallup, Denison-Schleswig 3 (3)

Colby Rich, CAM 3 (5)

Britton Bond, Lewis Central 2 (2)

Kasey Carter, Martensdale-St. Marys 2 (2)

Luke Meyer, Lewis Central 2 (2)

Carter Arens, LeMars (1)

Brendan Atkinson, Atlantic (1)

Cael Boever, Sioux City East (2)

Dawson Bond, Red Oak (1)

Bryce Click, Sergeant Bluff-Luton (1)

Garrett Couse, Red Oak (1)

Carson Elbert, Martensdale-St. Marys (1)

Sage Evans, West Harrison (1)

Keenan Hegna, Sioux City West (1)

Braiden Heiden, Denison-Schleswig (1)

Briar Knapp, Mount Ayr (2)

Trent Kozeal, Tri-Center (1)

Cale Leever, Ankeny Christian (1)

Brendan Monahan, St. Albert (1)

Max Nielsen, IKM-Manning (1)

Gabe Obert, Coon Rapids-Bayard (1)

Josh Ramirez, Coon Rapids-Bayard (1)

Cam Riemer, Sioux City East (3)

Isaac Sherrill, St. Albert (1)

Michael Shull, Clarinda (1)

Gavin Smith, Audubon (1)

Lane Spieker, CAM (2)

Silas Walston, Bedford (1)

Justice Weers, Tri-Center (2)

Braden Woods, Red Oak (1)

CURRENT AREA TOP 10 (BASEBALL)

1. Colby Rich, CAM (5)

2. Nathan Gallup, Denison-Schleswig; Cam Riemer, Sioux City East (3)

4. Ethan Alfers, Tri-Center; Cael Boever, Sioux City East; Britton Bond, Lewis Central; Evan Bruce, Creston; Kasey Carter, Martensdale-St. Marys; Jaixen Frost, Mount Ayr; Blake Hall, Underwood; Briar Knapp, Mount Ayr; Luke Meyer, Lewis Central; Josh Ramirez, Coon Rapids-Bayard; Lane Spieker, CAM; Justice Weers, Tri-Center (2)

At KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

Read more:
#WhoHomered: June 1st through June 5th | Sports | kmaland.com - KMAland

Class of 2021 top scholars in southern Maine – Portland Press Herald – pressherald.com – pressherald.com

Here are the top scholars graduating from high schools in Cumberland and York counties. This list may be updated if additional schools provide their top grad lists.

Schools are listed in alphabetical order, with Cumberland County followed by York County.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Brunswick High SchoolLuke Cheseldine, valedictorian; and Tyler Patterson, salutatorian.Summa cum laude: Isaac Taylor Albaugh, Siara Ambs, Tyler James Andresen, Emma Elizabeth Banks, Galen G. Bennie, Delia Rossi Braillard, Chloe E. Brzozowski, Emma G. Burt, Eleanor Elizabeth Caswell, Grace Ellis Confer, Calvin Philip Doherty, Adeline R. Dolley, Olivia Eve Doughty, Leo Douhovnikoff, Kendahl Dow, Mirabella Grace Driscoll, Alec Morse Homan Flotten, Lane Thomas Foushee, Gia Christina Guernelli, Riley D. Hewson, Delaney Holbrook, Margaret P. Johnson, Hannah Yvonne Leitzell, Emma Grace Lind, Daniel Jamieson MacKillop, Makenna R. Monaghan, Christo Nikolaev Nedev, Joshua Lawrence Nova-Yingst, Adam P. Nussbaum, Elizabeth M. Orlando, Elena Dorothea Palmer, Audrey Pantaz, Ella Owen Peabody, Ella Grace Perham, Micah Pietraho, Julia Emina Pols, Jonah S. Porter, Lia S. Rand, Tatiana Scott, Aiden Thomas Simmons, Braeden Willis Trefethen, Claire Lillian Wagner, Kristiana Aaliyah Washington, Joyelle Himalaya Webster and Chase Bernard Whelan. Magna cum laude: Elaine Berry, Maximilian Orest Bojarski, Alexandra Oriole Bunker, Henry L. Burnham, Suzette Marielle Chasse, Emily Shea Cloutier, Luke Vincent Flanagan, Hannah Kathryn Fortier, Samuel Caleb Foye, Rebecca Fulton, Lauren Elizabeth Jacobs, Hannah Kelshaw, Claire Allyson Launer, Sean Michael Lyne, Olivia McCabe Maranto, Raven Azrah-Lee Mascal, Christopher Ryan McCrum, Hailey Elizabeth Namer, Matias Nicolas Orthober, Molly Palese, Natalia S. Pinette, Victoria Elayne Pulver, Thomas Elliot Seitz, Conlan Philip Storer, Eva Frances Tebbutt and Riley Lynn Turgeon. Cum laude: Matthew Jayvyn Abwoch, Griffin Bannon, Abigail Leigh Belanger, Jacob Benoit, Charles Irving Bird, Isabelle Brewer, Carley Elizabeth Bunge, Emily Brooke Curtis, Tyler R. Engstrom, Violet Ann Frizzle, Olivia L. Fuller, Marc Victor Gauthier, Cameron Riley Hathaway, Samir Mahebub Khalifa, James F. Kousky, Cody Larson, Charles Matthews, Alexandria Pearson, Liam Pearson, Khoa Phuong, Cameron O. Rafford, Ezekiel J. Spiro, Lucas Abraham Spiro, Guinevere Paquin Thom, Ethan Patrick Upham, Milan Van Leer, Isabel Vega, Emily Anne Viola, Marguerite V. White, Michael Andrew Gray Wing and Tobiah Danial Martin Zboray.

Cape Elizabeth High SchoolZoe Evans, valedictorian; Ella Briman, Kyla Christie, Nicoletta Coupe, Lila Gaudrault, Emily Goulding, Hannah Johnson, Yoonseo Lee, Lydia Murray, Olivia Ouellette, Swetha Palaniappan, Tyler Rodenberger and Ella Stanley.

Casco Bay High SchoolSierra Aponte Clarke, Wren Auld-Brokish, Margarida Celestino, Maya Denkmire, Kieran Elliott, Lilliana Frantz, Ayden Grimm, Tasha Hipple, Yusur Jasim, Oscar McNally, Sidonia Summers and Naomi Zarin.

Cheverus High SchoolVictoria Bossong, valedictorian; Sophie Schuele, salutatorian; Tellie Stamaris, Ella Davie, William Herman, Amelila Kratzer, Julia Harnum, Neve Cawley, Miryam Keller and Jillian Lizotte.

Deering High SchoolLinh Nguyen, Aidan Blum Levine, Jonna Rosenthal, Matthew Keast, Vivica Dunlap, Noah Canter, Alexis Nicholas, Emma Carleton, Kelly Nguyen and Edyson Pines.

Falmouth High SchoolSumma cum laude: Madeleine Lucey Belcher, Julia Carolyn Bosma, Lauren Bryant, Shannon Dye, Izabella Rose Dyer, Charles Geci, Libby Alexander Greenlaw, Sophie Harrington, Aidan Russell Hoffman, Shruti Venkatesh Joshi, Wyatt Andrew Kerr, Carissa Jean Lucas, Sofie Matson, Cole Peter Matthews, Maggie Sue OBrien, Evelyn R. Papalimberis, Devin Quinn, Anna Ryberg Sharp, Parker Nicole Thibodeau, Wade Francis Wahlig, Benjamin Wilson and Ellie Campbell Wyatt. Magna cum laude: Hillary M. Bouchard, Vance Emerson Boyd, Ava Brimicombe, Hallie Marie Bruno, Lexie Bugbee, Andrew Casavant, Emma Wavery Cole, Allison Jeanne Cunningham, Julia Danielson, Samar M. El-Taha, Cole McPherson Fairfield, John Austin Forester, Samuel Patrick Gearan, Nicole Gora, Isabelle S. Graffam, Kathryn Olivia Hanlon, Vincent Hanrahan, Natalie Haug-Pavlak, Molly Grace Healey, Annika Eva Hester, Christopher M. Hoffman, Ella Jay Holland, Ameilia Rose Jalbert, Jaeyoun Kim, Laura Mairead McCullum, Ethan Todd McKee, Cali Minnehan Leonard, Golda Grace Morse, Matisse Moser, Trevor James Neff, Livia Rose Luz Neuhauser, Olivia T. Nichols, James Parker, John Peters, Katherine E. Phillips, Cassidy Emma Pingree, Nicholas Pitre, Jake Stephen Rand, TJ Rice, Chloe Santucci, Abraham Price Thayer and Nina Woodbury. Cum laude: Dylan Wesley Abbott, Cole Smith Arrants, Sarah V. Barter, Cameron Birks, Abigail Blakeman, Isabelle Brimicombe, Jessie Anne Buhelt , Brianna L. Chard, Tanner Anderson Daniels, Avi Josephine Fishman, Julia Glocker, Ryan Joseph Huard, Faran Igani, Lauren Elizabeth Kidwell, Joseph Michael Lavallee, Stephanie Lonsdale, Madison MacDowell, John T. Peelen, Theo Emil Rainey, Ninaka Randall, Matthew J. Saabye, William J. Saabye, Sofia Sharp, Summer Gilda Staples and Myles Walsh.

Freeport High SchoolEmma Barry, Nathaniel Davis, Jane Dawson, Elias Dorsey, Paige Gelhar, Anonymous, Martin Horne, Carly Intraversato, Halorie Kivler and Duncan Nam.

Gorham High SchoolSumma cum laude: Emily M. Paruk, valedictorian; Nathan T. Eichner, salutatorian. Magna cum laude: Grace M. Bradshaw, Sierra M. Cummings, Ava Dolley, Emily M. Duncan, Andrew M. Duncan, Julia R. Edwards, Paige M. Fogg, Gracie Forgues, Campbell P. Fowler, Sydney A. Fox, Mary H. Gawlick, Reed A. Henderson, MacKenna B. Homa, Riley E. Johnson, Sophia D. Kaufman, Katherine G. Kutzer, Shannon Lawrence, Kylie Mathieson, Olivia L. Michaud, Molly L. Murray, Adele M. Nadeau, Alice M. Peterson, Molly Rathbun, Cassidy D. Rioux, Erin E. Sands, Delaney R. Seed, Ryan J. Topham, Alison P. Walker and Bailey A. Wentworth. Cum laude: Luke Adams, Madeline R. Berry, Beck B. Carrier, Aidyn M. Curlee, Robert S. Dowdle III, Katherine R. Downey, Aidan G. Enck, Grace C. Flynn, Sophie Gagne, Lydia J. Gaudreau, Stacey M. Hakizimana, Devyn L. Harrigton, Catherine A. Higgins, Riley A. Johnson, Gabrielle L. LaBarge, Joshua M. Labrie, Sophie Lachance, Sadie R. LaPierre, Maya M. Lee, Zakaria Lembarra, Tess G. Libby, Griffin R. Loranger, Natetra V. Ly, Oliver B. Milliken, Kathryn B. Morin, Grant L. Nadeau, Liam D. Nickerson, Skylar L. Prince, Caitlin R. Randall, Braedyn Richardson, Morgan Roast, Devin A. Robichaud, Eva S. Rodrigue, Marissa I. Wilson and Wesley Young.

Gray-New Gloucester High SchoolTyler Amos, Margaret Austin, Keegan Brooks, Amelia Cobb, Tiffany Ha, Maya Hutchings, valedictorian; Cordelia Lambert, Kyle Martell, Autumn Ouellette, Ruby Pfeifle, Kassidy Plummer, Julie Sanborn, salutatorian; Madison Soule and Megan Thompson.

Greely High SchoolCarson Bell, Elsa Dean-Muncie, Elizabeth Domingo, Bridget Frost, Kaitlyn Guay, Elizabeth Hanson, Hannah Kropp, Christopher Martucci, Annalise Panici, Maria Paquin, Jonathon Piesik, Katherine Simmons, Abigail Taylor, Juslyn Theriault and William Patrick Young.

Lake Region High SchoolCasey Berger, Daniel Brewer, Nathan Casali, Brandon Leasure, Justin Lees, Sophia Leighton, Eric Nason, Abigail Scarlett, Sanjay Tucker and Allison Vogel.

North Yarmouth AcademyCamille J.M. Beaudoin, Brunswick; Eleanor R. Commons, Brunswick; Laini T. Frager, Portland; Olivine (Livi) L. Harvey, Buxton; Ol Juve, Scarborough; Annie L. Sillin, Yarmouth; and Allyson R. White, Cumberland.

Pine Tree AcademyKearstyn Davis, David Pina, Tia Mason, Aimable Nkurunziza, Jael Garcia-Baez, Evan Majors, Emmanuel-Olivier Jacques, Regence Sandy and Riquerme Morales.

Portland High SchoolCharlotte Claire LaPointe Lachance, Meg Elizabeth Baltes, Jack William Mahoney, Zoe Christie Cheever, Toni Anai Stevenson, Kathleen Patricia Spear, Brendan Robert Mailloux, William John Ferros, Emily Jean Pozzy and Lydia Cadwallader Stein.

Scarborough High SchoolMaggie Amann, William Arpin, Harshini Chaganti, Christopher Davis, Alison Derrick, Alyssa Desveaux, Reshika Sai Devarajan, Grace Dittmer, Sofia Durdag, Jordan Fogarty, Tatum Hayward, Jay Krithivas, Alison Kueck, Anne MacLeod, Casey Maddock, Sawyer McFadden, Gavin McLeod, Abigail Mosher, Gracie Murnane, Adam Peterson, Shynitha Pulluri, Mia Ranello, Audrey Small, Aidan Joyce, salutatorian; and Lena Wood, valedictorian.

South Portland High School:Rosalie Saffer-Meng, valedictorian; Evelyn Selser, salutatorian; Lucy Hartley, honor essayist; Wylie Roberts, honor essayist; Marina Brandao, Kristen Deiley, Rachel Kingsley, Digby Roberts, Fiona Stawarz, Gavin Tarling and Kotoha Yamada.

WaynfleteBenjamin Adey, Owen Anderson, Joseph Ansel-Mullen, Elena Friedland, Yiheng Selina He, Ilo Holdridge, Aidan Kieffer, Harry Millspaugh, Abigail Shumway, Eleanor Sterling, Semma Twining, Michael Veroneau, Anna Yankee, Sam Yankee and Nahum Yehdego.

Westbrook High SchoolJackson Thayer, valedictorian; Allison Petry, salutatorian; Jacob Thornton, honor essayist; Lauren Musk, Heidi Huynh, Aurora Geleney, Amanda Satin, Ashley Harvey, Molly Dillon, Eve Lessard, Caden Dow, Alessandra Vasquez, Kelly Lauricella, Morgan Cooledge, Kelsea Lowell and Charles Berry.

Windham High SchoolHaley Theberge, valedictorian; Drew Mathieu, salutatorian; Sophie Phipps, Anna Becker, Dustin Noonan, Diane Ingalls, Elizabeth Savard, Emma Yale, Ethan Wert and Alexis Hirning.

Yarmouth High SchoolOlivia Bailey, Patrick Bergen, Claudia Coolidge, Parker Harnett, Arianna Koutrokois, Michael Krah, Evan Lucca, Madeline Marston, George W. Ruth, Averil Sahagian, Katherine Siegel, Zoe Siegel, Hannah Swift, John Vigue, Abby Wentzell, Conor Wolff and Davis Young.

YORK COUNTY

Biddeford High SchoolNicholas Hill, valedictorian; Colin Tippett, salutatorian; Katlyn Bickford, Anthony Gendron, Syeda Raidah, Emily Poisson, Dadrian Brown, Blake Wilkinson, Zowie Cheetham-Wilmot and Cody Savage.

Bonny Eagle High SchoolEmily Bartash, Gretchen Biegel, Paige Bois, Sage Drinkwater, Ella Dunne, salutatorian; Sarah Durocher, Hannah Ebert, Garison Emerson, Lauren Esty, Avery Goan, Jacob Humphrey, Hailey Koons, Mia Kovacs, Sam Kovacs, Jocelyn Manson, Nicole Norman, Madison Oliver, Ethan Pike, Joseph Skvorak, John Sullivan, Megan Twombly, Marlee Walker, valedictorian; and Channing Webber.

Kennebunk High SchoolNicholas Albaum, Jack Andrews, Talia Banglmaier, Quinn Battagliese, Hannah Cartwright, Owen Chestnut, Taryn Comegys, Cooper Durcan, Sarah Durham, Kevin Finn, Sarah Hetzel, Oliver Leonard, Benjamin Marquis, Ian Martin, Ruth Metcalfe, Alex Miale, Libby Shea, Maeve Sheehan, Katherine Sullivan and Sam Tartre.

Marshwood High SchoolOwen Byrne, valedictorian, of South Berwick; Vivian Burnham, salutatorian, of South Berwick; Edward Ned Whitesell, of Eliot; Shaylee Herrin, of Eliot; Olivia Kilmer, of South Berwick; Jack Lusenhop, of South Berwick; Abi Rooney, of Eliot; Sydney Page, of South Berwick; Rori Coomey, of Eliot; and Matigan Janes, of Eliot

Massabesic High SchoolSumma cum laude: Bailey Baldwin, Taylor Bastarache, Noah Beal Hernandez, Jacob Beaulieu, Angelli Bishop, Rachael Bonia, Adelaide Brandt, Ryan Castonguay, Katelyn Dearborn, Kaitlyn Doyle, Riley Greenleaf, Nicholas Hammond, Isabelle Hurlburt, Cassidy Morrell, Katherine Mynahan, Piper Noel, Erin Partridge, Anna Snyder, Emma Snyder, Jordan Steeves and Emma Sweeney. Magna cum laude: Gabriella Aubut, Emily Baker, Luc Beaulieu, Pierce Beaulieu, Benjamin Carroll, Izabella Caruolo, Kaylei Chabre, Camryn Champlin, Noah Chretien, Noelle DesVergnes, Bethany Dewitt, Benton Foglio, Grace Frechette, Garrett Gerard, Allison Gerry, Lacey Lanoie, Elijah Lavigne, Elizabeth Marston, Makayla McPherson, Brandan Mills, Lance Paradis, Loren Pelletier, Nina Philbrick, Makenna Roy and Jack St. Laurent.

Old Orchard BeachRyan Johnson, valedictorian; Duffy Rose, salutatorianMagna cum laude: Julia Clark, Ryan Crockett, Gabriel LaSalle, Leah Green, Benjamin Perry, Trevor Grenier, Peter Coleman and Nicholas Roy. Cum laude: Shani Plante, Nicholas Drown, Ciara Roche, Kaitlin Halle, Skyler LaneCormac Quinlan, Kelly Palkovic, Garrett Dupee, Zachary LaPlante, Andrew Charron, Bradley Anderson, Katie ONeill, Isabella Stobert, Kaydn Neves and Jessica Lavigne.

R. W. Traip AcademySumma cum laude: Addyson Hale, co-valedictorian; Mary Lombardi, co-valedictorian. Kiara Audette, Jodie Dodd, Kassandra Hawkes, Allison Maurice, Eliza Pereira and Abigail Pitcairn. Magna cum laude: John Codey Barr, Brian Chambers, Jennifer McCluskey, Kathleen McPherson, Gunnar Palm and Kelsea Palm. Cum laude: Gillian Brayne, Meredith Chase, Caroline Couperthwait, William Davis, Annika Huntress, Jordan Kofos, Rachel McCarthy, Seamus Reeve, Thomas Saiauski, Cooper Salema, Noah Trent, Charles White, Ryan Wilcox and Autumn Yurick.

Sanford High SchoolRyleigh Elizabeth Coffey, valedictorian; Vanessa Hlastawa, salutatorian; Etain Cullen, Aislynn Worden, Lydia T. Tanguay, Jacob Hiep Cao, Ellen Rose Coleman, Aiden Crawford, Paige Amaris Wilson and Shannan Hupe.

Wells High SchoolKate Pinette, valedictorian; Grace Stevens, salutatorian, Kathryn Cafaro, Leah Cluff, Connor Lavigne, Gavyn Leighton, Sydney McDermott, Jacob Michaud, Lindsey Parker and Jonah Potter.

Invalid username/password.

Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

Previous

Visit link:
Class of 2021 top scholars in southern Maine - Portland Press Herald - pressherald.com - pressherald.com

Malcolm Gladwell and Jordan Peterson are back – and the reviews are meh – TimesLIVE

Jordan Peterson and Malcolm Gladwell both have new books out, called, respectively, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules of Life, and The Bomber Mafia: A Story Set in War. Both of the Canadian authors' new books have been getting meh reviews. A few years ago everyone had an opinion of their previous books.

Gladwell's Talking to Strangers was savaged by some critics, beloved by others. His bestsellers are polarising. They either pronounce he is a master of looking at things differently and delivering this truth in an easy and accessible way. Or they think he peddles soft pop pseudoscience in an easy and accessible way, making it seem as if it is new and reliable. A New York Times reviewer pulled this apart and concluded that his success lies in sceptics becoming believers: "It's exactly what Mr Gladwell's towering success - his five bestselling books, his six-figure speaking fees, his top-rated podcast - rests on: the moment when the sceptic starts to think that maybe we're wrong about everything and maybe, just maybe, this Mr Gladwell guy is onto something." But Gladwell's The Bomber Mafia is different to his other books. There's hardly any tipping point. It began as one of his "Revisionist History" podcasts in which he examines s a moment from the past, seeking the overlooked and the misunderstood. In The Bomber Mafia he explores morality and war when it comes to precision bombing in World War 2. Gladwell, as per usual, is a riveting storyteller, but this is not an explosive or controversial work.

Peterson, on the other hand, has done nothing new. It's a follow-up to his 12 Rules of Life, so maybe he was stretching it to come up with another absolute 12 rules. He is still spewing his same trite traditionalist ideology that moms and their sons gobbled up as the new way forward for men, but this time it's watered down. Maybe because he had somewhat of a breakdown after the success of his first book. As the Guardian wrote, "Peterson seemed to relish the conflict, going on tour, producing a podcast, a YouTube channel and appearing on combative TV interviews, inspiring his supporters and provoking his enemies. But then stories emerged of his withdrawal from the frontline of the culture wars. In the 'Overture' of Beyond Order, the follow-up to 12 Rules for Life, he details an extraordinary story of physical and psychological collapse, as an autoimmune response to something he ate led to a drastic change in diet and a dependence on the sedative benzodiazepine. He also suffered extreme anxiety, severe depression, insomnia, double pneumonia, his wife underwent surgery for cancer, and at one point he was put into an induced coma in a Moscow hospital in an unsuccessful attempt to free him from drugs. It's hard to resist the conclusion that 12 Rules for Life was a self-help book that left its author in exactly the kind of hopeless state to which it promised to be an antidote."

Go here to see the original:
Malcolm Gladwell and Jordan Peterson are back - and the reviews are meh - TimesLIVE

Real American men and the liberal war on meat – Open Democracy

Liberal food snobbery, such as Mike Bloombergs campaign billboard reading Trump eats burned steak, or tweets mocking Republicans lack of knowledge of craft beer haute cuisine also allow the Right to craft this populist image. In the words of the Right, a huge side of meat with ketchup is owning the libs, these imagined, eco-conscious, pretentious liberals who probably order steak point.

From castigating 'soy boys' to Jordan Petersons carnivorism, meat means masculinity for the Right. Even those who dont yearn for a white nation might associate veganism with women or celebrate meat as food that builds muscular strong men. Such shared ideologies make this an important area for the normalization of far-Right politics.

Perhaps the best example is the meat-heavy Paleo diet. The author of The Paleo Manifesto, John Durant, is a Trump supporter who describes himself as an unfiltered contrarian, but his diet had between one and three million users in 2013. Pioneered in 1975 by Walter Voegtlin, since disavowed by modern Paleo leaders for his white supremacist, eugenicist, and generally unpalatable politics, this diet celebrates a natural, white, premodern utopia.

This vision of traditional utopia is also maintained by the tradwives, the women in their 20s and 30s who celebrate traditional femininity and actively promote submission to men, homemaking and having large families. Researcher Annie Kelly notes that this vision of nostalgic femininity is linked to white supremacy. Central to the womens production of anti-feminist and white nationalist nostalgia are ideas of bodily and racial purity and fertility, such as home cooking as a performance of traditional lifestyles and gender roles.

For some a traditional utopia reflects an interest in wellness; a farm-to-table cuisine leading to a natural, healthy lifestyle, as well as a pure, fertile body and a slender figure. Often celebrating traditional Western foods or preparing labor-intensive meals that would be impossible for working women, tradwives link wellness to whiteness and anti-feminism. I grew up with this ideology, from a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions, which gave pickled beet and fermented cod recipes, and saw modernity and processed food as polluting to the body and mind and challenged politically correct nutrition.

Others celebrate traditional American food and traditional gender with a 1950s flair and a pearl necklace. If grilling is male, baking is feminine. Perhaps the only thing more feminine would be the dinner a tradwife proudly cooks from anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlaflys cookbook, Faithfully, Phyllis: In the kitchen.

Cooking itself is often a metonym for the traditional female role, her place in the kitchen. Cooking for and serving your man becomes an important image of submission and femininity, which honors and elevates white masculinity.

Tradwives use pies and pearls to translate far-Right politics into the language of home and family. Although their tastes are different, mainstream Republican politicians and tradwives use food in very similar ways, using hamburgers and steaks to translate the Green New Deal into a front in a war on meat, men and white suburban homes.

The rest is here:
Real American men and the liberal war on meat - Open Democracy