In the Copypasta Mines

Talking with John Sailer about the institutional capture of medicine and education

“So a lot of medical schools already had a good number of DEI officers, but that's, sort of, one of the easiest bones you can throw at an activist movement that, as far as I could see, just had no public opposition whatsoever. There just–I do not know of an instance in 2020 of somebody at a medical school publicly saying, I disagree with this. I know of instances of medical professors privately objecting to some of the measures that I've talked about, or objecting within the context of the institution, but it was almost just—not even a battle. They just stood up, demanded these things, and administrators made huge, huge concessions.”

“But I would say that people are much more conditioned right now–or at least people in established institutions are much more conditioned right now than they even were in 2020 to accept claims, that if you really parse them out and follow them to their logical conclusion, would sort of justify complete revolution, complete disregard for the principles—the good principles—that that keep countries from going the route of the French Revolution.”

“I call it—borrowing from the improv tool— the ‘Yes, and…’ principle. So you take whatever is handed to you, and you affirm it unquestioningly, and then you add to it, just to create more of a frenzy. I mean, in improv that creates a hilarious situation. And in medical research, it actually does too, if it weren't so consequential.”

John D. Sailer is a fellow at the National Association of Scholars, recent contributor to Newsweek, City Journal, The Washington Free Beacon, and has been doing yeoman’s work documenting the takeover of medicine and education by woke copypasta. We spoke on my Callin show about the anti-racist action plans at elite medical schools that require curriculum based on Ibram X. Kendi’s book Stamped from the Beginning; why the regents of the University of California disregarded the study they commissioned about the legitimacy of the SAT when the results conflicted with a viral marketing campaign; and how faculty lounge neologisms become official policy.

The original interview aired on April 9, 2022. You can listen to the full discussion and other Conversations in Year Zero on Callin, or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts: Apple  |  Spotify  | Google.

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