The Counterweight Handbook
The Counterweight Handbook
"I came to Counterweight for support with pushing back against the rising tide of racial policies affecting my workplace. It can be hard and lonely to feel like you are the only one standing up against such things in the office. Counterweight gave me strategies not only to help stop things but also to push back against them.”
About the Book
The stated goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are often reasonable, if not noble—to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment for all. Yet, as more and more people are discovering, DEI as commonly practiced isn’t a natural extension of past civil rights movements or an ethical framework for opposing discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, etc. Rather, it is inextricably connected with an illiberal and authoritarian ideology—Critical Social Justice—that demands adherence to its tenets and punishes any dissent from its dogma.
Even the mildest questions about Critical Social Justice claims—that all white people are racists, that all underrepresented minorities are oppressed, that sex and gender differences have no biological basis, that censorship is a necessary good—are regularly met by DEI trainers and HR officers with pat commands: “Educate yourself,” “Do the work,” “Listen and learn.” At work, raises, promotions, and future employment often depend on our nodding approval of such claims. At school, grades, nominations, and awards are often contingent upon our active agreement with these beliefs. In our daily lives, Critical Social Justice ideology poses a genuine threat not only to our fundamental rights but also to the future of our democratic systems, but if we suggest this, we risk being canceled or shunned by community members. When facing a choice between silent submission and risky if ethical opposition, what is a person to do?
While a growing number of groups concerned about the nature of Critical Social Justice have begun to attack it from the top down through legal, financial, and political means, The Counterweight Handbook takes a decidedly different and novel approach. It works from the bottom up and is written to empower individuals who wish to combat Critical Social Justice in their personal and professional lives. Based on the author’s years of experience studying, exposing, and fighting Critical Social Justice ideology and advising individuals and organizations struggling with it, The Counterweight Handbook is designed to help people address Critical Social Justice problems in the most ethical and effective way possible. It not only offers principled responses to the main claims of Critical Social Justice but also teaches individuals what to do when they are asked to affirm beliefs they do not hold, undergo training in an ideology they cannot support, or submit to antiscientific testing and retraining of their “unconscious” minds. In short, it is for all of us who believe in freedom of speech and conscience, who wish to push back against the hostile work and educational environments Critical Social Justice has created, and who want to stand up for our individual liberties and universal rights.
About the Author
Helen Pluckrose is a liberal political and cultural writer and was one of the founders of Counterweight. A participant in the Grievance Studies Affair probe that highlighted problems in Critical Social Justice scholar-ship, she is the coauthor of Cynical Theories and Social (In)justice. She lives in England and can be found on X @HPluckrose.
Details
ISBN: 9781634312288
Format: hardcover
SRP: $27.95
Page count: 275 pages
Trim size: 6 x 9
Pub date: June 2023
“I was confronted in my first round of interviews for an academic position with some diversity questioning that I found strange and incoherent. I contacted Counterweight for guidance in my second round of interviews. . . . Not only did I learn how to approach the issue positively and constructively, but I also learned to find common ground with my interviewers while not saying anything that goes against my principles.”
“Counterweight yielded results. . . . The letter Counterweight helped me to write has given a shot across the bow to my employers and made them think again.”
“I contacted Counterweight when the overreach of Critical Social Justice in my higher education setting threatened to prevent me from finishing my PhD. . . . Counterweight gave me the support I needed to continue on toward the completion of my degree without compromising my authenticity or my integrity.”
“I reached out to Counterweight because my identity as a nonbinary person clashed with my increasing worries about the debate-stifling tendencies of my Critical Social Justice environment. . . . I feel a weight has been lifted, and I have found ways to think and talk about myself and about what I believe in a constructive way.”
“Counterweight enabled me to express to my organization why Critical Social Justice ideology is incompatible with my beliefs and assert my right not to have to adopt it in contravention of my own belief system.”
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The above testimonials are from just a few of the many individuals who have successfully used the strategies and approaches developed by the author and Counterweight. They remain anonymous here for purposes of privacy.
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