Houston, We Have a Problem
“Houston, We Have a Problem,” reports Apollo 13 to the NASA control station as they announced an oxygen tank explosion on the spacecraft. Similarly, Gad Saad reports on a critical failure of academia and liberal ideology from his perspective as a professor. Saad is a professor of marketing at Concordia University in Canada and shares his experience, ponderings, and warnings from his childhood as a Jew in civil-war-torn Lebanon and an immigrant growing up in Canada. Saad has had a decades-long career in academia and a lifetime in pursuit of the truth. In his book The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas are Killing Common Sense, Saad explores how political correctness and modern ideologies have caused us to leave logic and truth behind.[1] “…postmodernism rejects the existence of objective truths; radical feminism scoffs at the idea of innate biologically-based sex differences; and social constructivism posits that the human mind starts off as an empty slate, largely void of biological blueprints.” [2]
Before the DLGP, I may have generally disagreed with Saad, but due to this program, I have realized that while some modern ideologies are helpful, many have gone too far. In previous blog posts, I’ve written about my experience moving to Austin, Texas, where I have become keenly aware of some problems with political ideologies from the left and the right:
“One of my daughters was 13 at the time of our move, and she quickly became a social justice warrior upon moving into town. This excited me, and I, too, felt a wave of enthusiasm towards fighting injustice in our society. Causes to fight for were typical: racism, gender inequality, etc. But over time, I saw a level of hatred, self-righteousness, intolerance, and hypocrisy in the movement that felt confusing. In what seemed like all good causes, I could not make sense of why the very intolerance that was opposed by the movement, was matched with a level of intolerance from the movement.” [3]
Similarly, I have noticed that in an aim to correct certain injustices in our society, we have introduced new problems and have gone too far. I am reminded of Coleman Hughes and his book The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America [4]. He shares about his time at Columbia University where neoracism, modern ideologies, and political correctness trumped meritocracy and logic:
There was no doubt from my time at Columbia that the more victim cards you had, the higher your social status was. So if you were a white male and you didn’t come from poverty, you had zero victim cards. So we used to joke that you better figure out some kind of skill, or you better be funny, or else no one had much reason to admire or to pay attention to you…a lot of kids that didn’t have an identifiable victim card such as your race, would reach for the queer label…a lot of people had no cards to play in order to be seen as cool…so it became very easy for people to reach for low-cost identities that allowed you to buy in to friend groups and higher status positions in the local pecking order. [5]
Dr. Clark, my classmates, Yascha Mounk [6], Coleman Hughes, Gad Saad, just to name a few, have all shaped the way I view modern ideologies. In many ways, I understand Saad’s perspective and probably agree in a significant way. What I struggled with in reading the first few chapters of The Parasitic Mind, is Saad’s failure to acknowledge that these modern ideologies originated as a response to a problem, but these particular responses simultaneously introduced new problems. As an example, I believe that racism is a problem, but neoracism is not an appropriate solution since it introduces new problems. Gender discrimination is also a problem, but radical feminism requires an abandonment of logic, intuition, and science. Should women be paid less than men for the same job and same performance? I don’t think so, but I also would not argue that women should be paid more than men for the same job and same performance.
If I were in a conversation with Saad, I would commend him for his boldness to speak out against modern ideologies, but also ask him to consider where these modern ideologies came from, and what problems they were trying to solve. I would like to acknowledge that the solutions to some of the problems may be wrong, but that does not mean we should deny the problems exist. When exposing these modern ideologies, I believe we have to ask ourselves if we are content to just speak the truth, or if we want to bring influence to those who are furthest from our belief system. If we want to participate as a change agent amongst those with largely different beliefs rather than solely make enemies of them, we must also validate the part of their modern ideologies that are grounded in truth (by acknowledging the problems they are trying to solve), while helping them to see the parts that are grounded in fallacy. My husband often reminds me of this with the popular saying, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. When catching this proverbial fly, whether you use honey or vinegar, it doesn’t change the fact that you are catching a fly. In this case, the fly of truth may be caught more with the communication of honey than the communication of vinegar. Simply put, I think Saad would be more effective and influential if he used a little honey in his message, while not compromising the truth.
References
[1] Saad, Gad. The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense. New York, NY: Regnery, 2021.
[2] Ibid, 18.
[3] Christy. “DLGP Blog.” Watch Out, It’s a Trap! (blog), March 7, 2024. https://blogs.georgefox.edu/dlgp/watch-out-its-a-trap/.
[4] Hughes, Coleman. The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America. New York: Thesis, 2024.
[5] The End of Race Politics (Coleman Hughes). The Michael Shermer Show, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–3I-rncEAk.
[6] Mounk, Yascha. 2023. The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time. New York NY: Penguin Press.
About the Author
Christy
3 responses to “Houston, We Have a Problem”
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Wow great post Christy! I’m reminded of Paul’s encouragement to the Philippians, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near!” This book did feel like drinking vinegar. And your comments on the roots of modern problems are important so that we don’t idealize or romanticize a modern past that was full of issues. What is one way you would use honey to communicate one of the problems you highlighted?
Hi Christy,
Loved reading your post. Thank you!
In what ways can adopting a more empathetic and respectful approach, such as “catching flies with honey,” enhance the effectiveness of truth-telling and influence in ideological debates?
Christy, this was an excellent post! In your experience, what are some key phrases or methods you have found to be effective in arguing with honey-laden words?