UWaterloo holds Floyd Virtual Town Hall

Vincent J. Curtis

17 June 20

Bob Lemieux, Dean of Science at the University of Waterloo, sent me a general notification of a virtual town hall to mourn/commiserate/talk over the death of George Floyd, and the larger implications of police brutality, racism, etc.

The text of that notification is copied below:


The death of George Floyd from police brutality has put an international spotlight on sustained injustices. We recognize that the University of Waterloo and Faculty of Science are not immune to racism. This is our time to reflect, stand together and build a more inclusive community for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC).

Change always begins with listening and learning. We are committed to creating lasting change within the Faculty of Science and value your input. Over the past week, some of you have reached out to us and shared your thoughts and experiences. We appreciate your courage and honesty.

We want to continue the conversation faculty-wide with a virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, June 24, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. ET. All Science students, faculty, staff and alumni are welcome to attend.

We have created an anonymous, online anti-racism form for the Science community to start submitting their comments, experiences and suggestions to move forward. Together, we will grow in awareness, identify gaps and commit to change.

We want to do better. This is our opportunity to change. Join us at the Town Hall.


My emailed response was as follows:

Bob;

I attended Waterloo in the 1970s, when large numbers of students from mainland China attended.  I roomed with a guy from Nigeria.  Racism didn’t seem to be a problem then.

So, what happened since then?  Did white Canadian students get schooled in the Ozarks?  My son attended Waterloo in the turn of the millennium, and he’s way more liberal than I am.  He was the secretary of the Russian student’s federation, and he doesn’t even speak Russian.  Nobody cared!  So, what’s happened since then?

I suspect nothing, except for the desire for virtue-signaling and for expressions of moral narcissism.

The problems in America are not, and never have been, the problems of Canada.  Our police aren’t their police.  Canada never had a history of slavery.

So why don’t you just celebrate the fact that we’re not American?  Otherwise, shut-up about racism, unless you want to indict the Han Chinese students, who are racist to the core.  (Not that I care!)

In fact, why not expect people to put their big-boy pants on and simply get on with life without this childish naval gazing?  If life at Waterloo is too tough, there’s always Laurier!

Regards;

Vincent J. Curtis


Needless to say, the email went unreplied to, and I’m sure the virtual town hall went on without me.  I would have hoped that the moral narcisism - political-PC culture would have stayed out of the science community, but it hasn’t.  Even STEM has been infected with toxic, make-believe progressivism.  Did you know that math was racist?  Yeah, it was created largely by white men, and women and minorities (but not Chinese minorities!) have so much trouble with it.  And that’s all the proof you need of math’s racist origins and racism embedded in it.  At least, that the theory of the basket-weaving majors.

When even the science dean feels the need to virtue-signal and bend over, Vaseline jar in hand, the toxic progressive politics on campus is getting really bad.
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