59 Comments

The questions were excellent as were the realistic advice. This should be a monthly column

Expand full comment

This was a great Idea Mr. Ruffo, love the Q&A.

I might be old school.

I cant believe no one is really standing up against all this madness.

I cant believe that our administration has gotten away with this for decades.

I cant believe that People really belive that they are fighting for a good cause when using terroristic tactics instead of debating and working things out like grown adults.

I cant believe that we dont have the power to stop this two years ago.

I Do believe that America is a Sovereing Nation under God, and He is in control.

I

Expand full comment
May 10, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

Yeah I definitely think religion will make a comeback. I'm on the older half of the millennial generation and used to hear all the atheist arguments and or mocking of religion, usually dishonest caricatures. I never was that much of a skeptic but in recent years as I've seen the depravity and emptiness of the dominant ideology which is opposed to religion I feel like religion is looking a lot better by comparison.

Expand full comment

This should definitely be a monthly column. Distinct question and well-reasoned short analysis.

Expand full comment
May 10, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

“So shore up those red districts” resonates with me at a local level.👌🏻

Expand full comment

In Regards to Texas Transgender Bill

https://youtu.be/qBI3KjlUyO8

Please Share! God Bless!

Expand full comment
May 10, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo

This is great 👍

Expand full comment
founding

Thank you for highlighting the importance of exposing college administrators’ political agenda. In the last few decades, colleges and universities added layers upon layers of administrative positions that now control campus life, influence curricula, and champion students’ grievances. It’s interesting that, in bemoaning student debt, Dems don’t begrudge the costs associated with this rise of administrative class.

Expand full comment

I believe the gender critical side must develop combined physical and mental health therapies to help "identity-confused" teens and adults. As a trans widow, I saw my former husband develop a vacant focus while he distanced himself from his sexed, physical self during "transition." The only emotion he brought up readily was rage, and that was often. Here's my idea for wellness movement, let me know if you see that as a possible path away from "gender-world."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1SvNi3O1Sc&list=PLOFlPPQm71Ii-l-xoAlBZc5Iy9xZyfbUY

Expand full comment

Thank you for encouraging us here in CA! We are trying to stay and fight but it is getting harder. I loved format as well. God bless all your efforts!

Expand full comment

On the subject of religion, those on the left tend toward an instinctive negative reaction. They're afraid. They think you want to take away women's right to vote or institute a theocracy. However, if you can get them beyond that, even liberals can be quite reasonable. The key here is, as Chris says, to be specific.

No sane person actually believes that men can become women by just saying they are. Liberals like to talk about theoretical intersex people, but given a few real examples of the absurdity of "I say I'm a woman so I am" phenomenon, they are at a loss. The best examples are schools and prisons, preferably local ones: convicted rapists in women's prisons ; 16 year old Amy sharing a locker room with penises; a male athlete beating out girls for a college sports scholarship.

The trans lunacy is a giant balloon of postmodernist unreality. A needle anywhere can cause a cascade failure. (Eg: "if prisoners really should be separated by biological sex, are there any other spaces where that makes sense?"; "if men do tend to have an advantage in some sports, are there any other real differences between men and women?", etc...) You don't have to ask these things, they percolate up logically from the small puncture you've made in the balloon.

I suspect the DEI front is similar, although I have less experience with it. DEI is also a model of postmodernist unreality. Westerners tend to value fairness very highly (lots of psych experiments back this up) and liberals even more so. Liberals also pride themselves on being champions of the oppressed, so a few specific examples of how their principles have actually caused unfairness and oppression for specific people might work.

Your goal is to make a pinprick in the balloon, not cause an explosion. What you're attempting is nothing short of a religious conversion -- not necessarily to Christianity but away from wokeness. Religious conversions are long term undertakings.

Chris, great suggestions. Good format. Thanks so much.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Chris! Looking forward to get my my copy of "The problem of atheism" soon (sadly, from Amazon :( ). So far the best book I read on the difficulty of holding onto one's religion was "The lonely man of faith", by R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. I am Jewish, but I think a lot of issues raised in this essay apply to anyone who believes in the Creator and is looking to live according to His will, and help build families and societies according to His blueprint.

Expand full comment

I also wanted to share this. Thank you Mr. Rufo.

We are thrilled to announce that HB3502 has been placed on the calendar for a House floor vote tomorrow, Wednesday, May 10! Please call your representative tomorrow to ask them to vote“YES”! Use the link below to find their name and number.

https://house.texas.gov/members/find-your-representative/

HB3502 Beyond Transition – Wed., May 10

Leach, Oliverson, Leo-Wilson

HB3502 is being held up by national organizations as model legislation! It is the only bill of its type in the country.

HB3502 will help all Texans who have accessed gender transition treatments.

Process and procedures will be developed to care for this population beyond transition.

Care will be handled through traditional insurance processes.

Corinna Cohn, Prisha Mosley, Soren Aldaco and Abel Garcia testified to the health concerns they have. The only bill in consideration right now that will ensure ongoing healthcare to those who have transitioned and those who wish to detransition is HB3502. Please help us get it across the finish line.

Thanks for your help!

https://youtu.be/qBI3KjlUyO8

Expand full comment
founding

Taking on the issue of secularization - a difficult subject!

Its source and progression are important questions, as is its culmination-point. If Secularization is the replacement or appropriation of God's Divine Providence with "our" own, then it must almost certainly culminate in technology - in the human subordination to technology. This is because "we" cannot gain the needed control over reality without our technology - it is integral to "The Project."

Of course, we don't really replace God - we will still die and all of Creation will carry on. What we will do is create a "bubble" and "call it a day" - that is all we are capable of. The 70's movie "Zardoz' actually captures this - a serious movie with a lot of "camp" and absurdity, but which comprehends the fundamental problem - assuming that you can keep watching once you have seen Sean Connery's get-up (a fashion-show-runway camp version of Pancho Villa's purported "attire.")

Expand full comment

Rufo, I have to challenge you on the following statement: "And from an American perspective, the “woke” revolution is the first large-scale social movement, on the Left or the Right, without a religious foundation."

Woke absolutely has a religious foundation. "Woke" has its foundation in "Social Justice". Social Justice has its foundation in the religion of Reform Judaism the majority of whose members reside in America. This isn't controversial. Reform Judaism has named Social Justice as part of its published official religious doctrine for decades. Reform Judaism has also officially listed Progressivism as a foundational religious tenet also. Progressivism is a religious process of constant revelation, review and change.

It was this Progressivism that allowed Social Justice to be reborn and updated as Woke and Woke will be reborn and updated as something else and on and on it will go in a never ending and evolving process as new information comes to light. A process that never looks back.

The Reform Jews successfully proselytized the Progressive and Social Justice doctrines to the Unitarian Church a long time ago and a growing number of Christian Denominations now also embrace Social Justice and Progressivism as central to their religious beliefs.

Expand full comment

There's some good stuff here, but I don't consider the "woke" part much of a threat. I support DeSantis and Musk in ther actions, but not by words.

Expand full comment