Levi’s, my former employer, has made the public statement that they supported my advocacy for opening public schools during the pandemic, but my criticism of public health guidelines went too far. Besides the incoherence of this statement — public health guidelines provided cover for governments and school boards to keep the schools closed — I’d ask: why can’t I criticize public health guidelines and the unelected bureaucrats who set them?
"Guidelines" are just that. Only guidelines; not rules, nor laws, nor standards set in stone. Physicians veer from guidelines all the time b/c their training and intuition tells them a different path is needed for a better patient outcome. I am so proud of you Jennifer Sey ~ for so many reasons.
Great article, Jennifer! Reminds me of one I just read from Heather Heying on being a contrarian. She defines the difference between cynicism, skepticism, and faith. I believe you (and Ben Franklin) are advocating for skepticism, which is necessary for a healthy Democracy. Your colleague and other authoritarians demands faith, an unquestioned acceptance of authority. Faith is great for spiritual life, not so great for governance. So glad to have your voice of experience and reason!
This speaks to a cornerstone principle of my teaching -- free speech and the need for open thought and discussion. As John Stuart Mill put it ... an “enemy in the field.” Thank you for this piece Jennifer. Well done ... and we’ll lived. You’re an inspiration.
Great article Jen! Unfortunately so many corporations are just like Levi’s. Somewhere along the way recently they decided they had a right to dictate to employees what they should think, say, do, and feel. It’s not of their damn business what I think say or do when I’m not at work.
When I have a new member on my team, one of the first instructions for my "care and feeding" was to prove me wrong. Challenge what I say or think. As long as you do it with facts to back up your opinion, there is nothing I like better than being proven wrong for a better way of doing whatever.
Being an old dude now, one of my thrills in looking back at my career has been the success of the people who worked for me. Many have far exceeded my apparent level of success, but I remind them when our paths cross that they have an obligation to help the next generation up by both challenging them and giving them the space to be wrong or right. So I guess there success has proved my career to not be so bad after all. Even if I never had a cool enough title.
The phenomenal writing you share always has so much depth to it, along with a plethora of eye-opening truths. Thank you for the brilliant meaning you put in your words and for standing up for what is right vs. what is easy!!!
We were all supposed to have learned this in my Psychology 101 undergraduate class. The professor's example was, "Bay of Pigs failed because JFK's advisor's were unwilling to point out the flaws in his plan." In this age of record high college enrollment, I had no idea before 2020 that so few people take their studies seriously.
I do wonder if dissent would be still allowed elsewhere but not in terms of “public health”. I think many of the laptop class were truly frightened in March 2020 and never recovered, which made them take the word of the CDC as gospel. You can still see many of these poor damaged people on Twitter: they are the ones calling for masking mandates to return, and still blaming the continued existence of covid on the “unvaxxed”. But maybe, in these days of woke, dissent is well and truly banned. I am not in the corporate world so I don’t have a clue. Just feel truly afraid for the future.
Evaluating opinions based on who's "undermined" is very treacherous ground for any organization, because it turns everything into an image and status question.
Dissenters in the sphere of "gender ideology" which I more accurately call cross-sex ideology (& cross-sex ideation) could have prevented a body slam on the family as a life-giving, nurturing unit. Finally, on Dec. 22, Reuters published a piece on the oversized and ballooning ranks of young people who've had body parts damaged while under the influence of a love-bombing "affirmation" culture funded by pharma corporations. They are vacuumed up into an above ground rabbit hole, to regret it 6 months or 6 years later.
Unfortunately, the research continues to be handled by those who have the greatest conflicts of interest, like Kinnon McKinnon, a cross-sex ideating woman whose first sentence involves the word "regret" as a "taboo" in the "trans community." We know regret is frequent and predictable, from Stephen B. Levine, author of Informed Consent Revisited.
Why is criticising public health guidelines forbidden? - Because they are not public health guidelines. 'COVID' is a covert class war disguised as public health policy.
"Guidelines" are just that. Only guidelines; not rules, nor laws, nor standards set in stone. Physicians veer from guidelines all the time b/c their training and intuition tells them a different path is needed for a better patient outcome. I am so proud of you Jennifer Sey ~ for so many reasons.
Great article, Jennifer! Reminds me of one I just read from Heather Heying on being a contrarian. She defines the difference between cynicism, skepticism, and faith. I believe you (and Ben Franklin) are advocating for skepticism, which is necessary for a healthy Democracy. Your colleague and other authoritarians demands faith, an unquestioned acceptance of authority. Faith is great for spiritual life, not so great for governance. So glad to have your voice of experience and reason!
This speaks to a cornerstone principle of my teaching -- free speech and the need for open thought and discussion. As John Stuart Mill put it ... an “enemy in the field.” Thank you for this piece Jennifer. Well done ... and we’ll lived. You’re an inspiration.
Great article Jen! Unfortunately so many corporations are just like Levi’s. Somewhere along the way recently they decided they had a right to dictate to employees what they should think, say, do, and feel. It’s not of their damn business what I think say or do when I’m not at work.
I was on Jen's team back in the early 2000's (ouch) Not once did she ever shush me.
Have others shushed you??
Others have told my boss, that I should speak less.
When I have a new member on my team, one of the first instructions for my "care and feeding" was to prove me wrong. Challenge what I say or think. As long as you do it with facts to back up your opinion, there is nothing I like better than being proven wrong for a better way of doing whatever.
Being an old dude now, one of my thrills in looking back at my career has been the success of the people who worked for me. Many have far exceeded my apparent level of success, but I remind them when our paths cross that they have an obligation to help the next generation up by both challenging them and giving them the space to be wrong or right. So I guess there success has proved my career to not be so bad after all. Even if I never had a cool enough title.
Spot on as usual Jennifer. Wondering, when was that public statement made?
recently. maybe 2 months ago
Ahhh, the frying pan is getting hot!
This is what happens when corporations mistake Twitter for public opinion.
The phenomenal writing you share always has so much depth to it, along with a plethora of eye-opening truths. Thank you for the brilliant meaning you put in your words and for standing up for what is right vs. what is easy!!!
We were all supposed to have learned this in my Psychology 101 undergraduate class. The professor's example was, "Bay of Pigs failed because JFK's advisor's were unwilling to point out the flaws in his plan." In this age of record high college enrollment, I had no idea before 2020 that so few people take their studies seriously.
I do wonder if dissent would be still allowed elsewhere but not in terms of “public health”. I think many of the laptop class were truly frightened in March 2020 and never recovered, which made them take the word of the CDC as gospel. You can still see many of these poor damaged people on Twitter: they are the ones calling for masking mandates to return, and still blaming the continued existence of covid on the “unvaxxed”. But maybe, in these days of woke, dissent is well and truly banned. I am not in the corporate world so I don’t have a clue. Just feel truly afraid for the future.
Evaluating opinions based on who's "undermined" is very treacherous ground for any organization, because it turns everything into an image and status question.
Dissenters in the sphere of "gender ideology" which I more accurately call cross-sex ideology (& cross-sex ideation) could have prevented a body slam on the family as a life-giving, nurturing unit. Finally, on Dec. 22, Reuters published a piece on the oversized and ballooning ranks of young people who've had body parts damaged while under the influence of a love-bombing "affirmation" culture funded by pharma corporations. They are vacuumed up into an above ground rabbit hole, to regret it 6 months or 6 years later.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-outcomes/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Unfortunately, the research continues to be handled by those who have the greatest conflicts of interest, like Kinnon McKinnon, a cross-sex ideating woman whose first sentence involves the word "regret" as a "taboo" in the "trans community." We know regret is frequent and predictable, from Stephen B. Levine, author of Informed Consent Revisited.
more at: uteheggengrasswidow.wordpress.com
Why is criticising public health guidelines forbidden? - Because they are not public health guidelines. 'COVID' is a covert class war disguised as public health policy.
Bravo 👏! 👏
t is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Problem being not enough are doing so; as least I don't see any indication of it.
agreed!