This week, I spoke in London about the most important lessons the Soviet underground church has to offer us today as we struggle amid the soft totalitarianism that is wakingness. One of these is to recognize and embrace the importance of small groups. This was something I heard from Christians across the former Soviet bloc. There are many reasons small groups are so important. One reason is that they offer meaningful support for those who feel lonely and besieged. They help you stay grounded in truth and courage.
Kathleen Stock (pictured above) doesn’t identify as a Christian or a conservative. However, her experiences in the year following being expelled from the University of Sussex for being a “gender critical” feminist (meaning she doesn’t accept trans ideologies) reinforces the insights of dissidents. Read her article in UnHerd. Excerpts.
Things eventually settled down and I was left with the aftermath. It was shocking to see the near-total lack of personality displayed by former colleagues with whom I had worked for many years. One kindly administrator was the exception. It was difficult to read. Was it embarrassment? Guilt? Indifference? Blame? Blame?
My family and I drove one weekend to my office to pick up my belongings — another surreal moment. Although I believed everything was in order, the doors to my apartment were locked. I tried to get in touch with a security guard, but he refused to allow me in. He seemed suspicious, perhaps he heard that there had been some trouble in the past. After asking for my ID, he reluctantly opened the door and said I needed to leave within a few hours. We fled the scene, throwing books, posters, mementoes, and other items from our academic lives into boxes. As I left, I was overwhelmed with the memories of my time there as a young lecturer, just as I am now. I also had some of the items that I had just packed up. It was like I had made a huge circle of time only to find myself back at the exact same place.
It got even better
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I began to break free of my mental lockdown as time passed and my mind recovered. I was invited to speak at liberal institutions in Rome, Vienna and Vienna about transactivism and free speech. I was fortunate to be able to discover a variety of new writing projects, including this column. I received my OBE and met Princess Anne. (I wish I could say whether she is gender-critical, but what happens inside the throne rooms stays in the room.
I was also invited as a Founding Faculty Fellow to the University of Austin. I went to Texas to spend a week teaching feminism to sweet, engaged students from conservative backgrounds. Deirdre Mcloskey, a trans economist, was my opponent. The two of us sparred vigorously, and we hugged at the very end. My students gifted me a card with lots of encouraging messages at the end of the week. This helped to ease some of my pain over losing teaching so abruptly. A young man wrote me touchingly that I had converted his to political lesbianism.
Although I don’t think the world needs any more male political lesbians whatever their gender, I am so glad Prof. Stock discovered that there are people who care about her and will stand beside her. Her former colleagues are a bunch of shits. Just despicable people. I have to wonder why anyone would want to be an academic. They will make you feel worthless if you don’t agree with them. The same thought occurred to me as I read about Bari Weiss’s story at the wokeNYT. It’s funny to think that I am old enough to recall why journalists used to do journalism back then: it was enjoyable.
It was a wonderful experience in London. I enjoyed it more than any other time I have been there. What was it that made the difference? I was able to meet many people who shared my convictions and told me how thankful they were for the work I do. This has been a difficult year for me personally. I cannot express how grateful I am to have been around people like the many I met in London. Although I can’t say that it was a small group in the same way that the dissidents intended, it’s certainly not small. It is so important to have comrades – if only to make sure you don’t believe that those who hate you and want to destroy you will win. Kathleen Stock and mine are sure to agree on most things, but Kathleen Stock is a left-wing feminist who hates a lot of the things I love and believes in. If Kathleen Stock has a good heart, she will be welcomed into my home and my circle anytime. I would also stand with her against bullies, which she bravely resists. You might say, “But she is a left-wing feminist lesbian who hates many of the things that you love and believe.” She’s brave, and, as far as I know, liberal in all the right ways. As the conservative Catholic anti-communist dissident Kamila bendova, who taught me Prague, it’s not possible to count on others to support your cause. So you need to look for those who are sympathetic and brave, and make them your comrades. She and her husband Vaclav Benda, who died in the Communists’ siege, found this when they faced them. That’s why they bonded with the brave hippies around Vaclav Havel and why these Catholic reactionaries were taken in by the hippies. This is a lesson that we all can learn from.
