Opinion
Progressive hypocrisy laid bare in We Have Never Been Woke
This article supplied by Troy Media.
By Pat Murphy
Musa Al-Gharbi delivers a sharp, accessible critique of the contradictions within progressive politics
Musa Al-Gharbi is an African-American sociologist and a convert to Islam. His written work has appeared in an array of academic outlets as well as
prestigious mainstream publications such as The Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Atlantic. His first book, We Have Never Been Woke (2024), has a simple bottom line. To quote: “… you don’t observe what is important to someone by what they say but rather by what they do, and by how they structure their lives.”
When he cast his first presidential vote in 2004, Al-Gharbi’s worldview was uncomplicated. Social evils were the fault of “those damn Republicans!” Life would be beautiful if everyone could be “more like the enlightened denizens of New York.” While events over the next dozen years moderated that perspective, moving from Arizona in 2016 to embark on a sociology PhD at Columbia caused him to shed whatever vestiges remained.
What he found on New York’s Upper West Side was a progressive bastion with “disposable servants,” an environment given to “casually exploiting
and discarding the vulnerable, desperate and disadvantaged. And it’s largely Democratic voting professionals who take advantage of them—even as they conspicuously lament inequality.”
Two particular events are worth noting. As an elite Ivy League university, Columbia’s student body mostly comes from an affluent, if not downright wealthy, background. Those who don’t are likely to leave with excellent economic prospects.
But that privilege notwithstanding, Donald Trump’s surprise 2016 election victory traumatized many students to the extent that they couldn’t do tests or homework and needed time off. For its part, the university was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, little consideration was given to the support workers—
disproportionately immigrants and minorities—who were purportedly most at risk from Trump’s victory.
Al-Gharbi has this to say: “Although the classrooms were full of tears in the days that followed, one never saw, say, the janitors making a scene, sobbing
uncontrollably about politics as they scrubbed rich kids’ messes out of the toilets. They just showed up to work the next day and did their jobs. The juxtaposition was sobering.”
Another revealing situation transpired during the pandemic when many vacant hotels were being converted into temporary housing in order to relieve the pressure in homeless shelters. In an area that had voted 9 to 1 in favour of Hillary Clinton, Upper West Side liberals successfully lobbied the city to spare their neighbourhoods.
Al-Gharbi is again trenchant: “That is, in order to alleviate risks and inconveniences for themselves, they forced less advantaged people, who were
already bearing the brunt of most other pandemic-related risks and disruptions, to also deal with any challenges related to hosting large numbers of unsheltered individuals in their communities. And they did all this while evoking social justice discourse, often pretending their primary concern was for homeless people themselves.”
Like many commentators, Al-Gharbi notes the increasing attitudinal cleavage between those who work with symbols—words, numbers, ideas and other
abstractions—and those whose work is tied to physical goods and services. In his assessment, the symbolic professions “tend to be especially ideological, conformist, and extreme relative to most other Americans.” For instance, climate activists “are mostly female (61 per cent) and almost entirely white (93 per cent). More than nine out of 10 climate activists have at least a BA, and more than a third possess a terminal degree.”
Generally speaking, the symbolic class is the primary beneficiary of the increasing economic inequality they purport to deplore. Stir in the fact that they have largely captured the Democratic Party and you go some distance towards explaining the gradual migration of working-class voters—and not just white ones—towards the Republicans. The concerns that matter most in daily life are simply different. Accordingly, expectations, or hopes of amelioration, from the political system focus on different things. What’s top of mind for symbolic professionals doesn’t similarly resonate with everyone else.
To be clear, Al-Gharbi doesn’t question progressive sincerity. But he does draw a distinction between sincerity and importance. Believing in principle isn’t the same thing as acting on that principle when your own immediate interests are in play. To give him the last word: “If something is valuable to a person, truly central to their being, they make room for it. They make sacrifices for it.”
Our Verdict: ★★★★☆
A sharp, accessible and often sobering critique of the gap between progressive ideals and actions. Al-Gharbi’s mix of personal insight and data makes the book engaging for general readers and thought-provoking for anyone interested in contemporary politics and culture.
Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country
Education
Spending per K-12 student in Canada ranged from $13,494 in Alberta to $19,484 in Quebec in 2022/23
From the Fraser Institute
By Michael Zwaagstra, Max Shang and Milagros Palacios
Spending per student (kindergarten to grade 12) in Canada ranged from a low of $13,494 in Alberta to a high of $19,484 in Quebec in 2022/23, finds a
new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
Most people—parents included—don’t understand how much is being spent educating students in public schools across Canada, which is critical before parents begin to evaluate whether they’re getting good value for the money,” said Michael Zwaagstra, senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and co-author of Education Spending in Public Schools in Canada, 2025 Edition.
The study finds that inflation adjusted per student spending on public schools in Canada increased nationally by 5.9 per cent over between 2013/14 and 2022/23. A different way to think about this increase in spending is to analyze how much was required to offset changes in student enrolment and inflation. The analysis shows that over this time period (2013/14 to 2022/23) an additional $6.5 billion was spent over and above what was needed to compensate for more students and inflation.
The spending analysis also includes different categories such as compensation, capital and other spending as categorized by Statistics Canada. Compensation (salaries, wages, fringe benefits, and pensions) contributed the most to the total growth in spending on public schools from 2013/14 to 2022/23.
In total, Quebec experienced the largest increase at 40.6 per cent. Prince Edward Island (14.5 per cent) and Nova Scotia (10.8 per cent) experienced the next largest increases in spending per student, while Saskatchewan (-14.8 per cent), Alberta (-17.5 per cent), and Newfoundland & Labrador (-11.2 per cent) were the only provinces to experience meaningful declines during this same period.
“When it comes to our children’s education, it’s important to understand exactly what’s happening with spending in public schools, and, most importantly, to question how the money spent is being put to use,” said Zwaagstra.
Per student spending in public schools across the provinces 2022/23
Province Per-student dollars
Canada 16,579
Quebec 19,484
Prince Edward Island 17,475
New Brunswick 17,346
Manitoba 17,036
Nova Scotia 16,800
Ontario 16,164
Saskatchewan 15,774
British Columbia 15,116
Newfoundland &Labrador 14,190
Alberta 13,494
Education Spending in Public Schools in Canada, 2025 Edition
- Total education spending in public schools over the last 10 years increased from $63.0 billion in 2013/14 to $88.4 billion in 2022/23, a nominal increase of 40.3%.
- Per-student spending adjusted for inflation (price changes), increased by 5.9% nationally from 2013/14 to 2022/23.
- The highest inflation-adjusted spending increases (per student) occurred in the provinces of Quebec (40.6%), Prince Edward Island (14.5%), Nova Scotia (10.8%), and British Columbia (9.3%).
- Five provinces experienced decreases in inflation-adjusted per-student spending—Alberta (17.5%), Saskatchewan (14.8%), Newfoundland & Labrador (11.2%), Manitoba (3.0%), and Ontario (1.7%).
- Quebec had the second lowest level of per-student spending in public schools in 2013/14 and now has the highest. Prince Edward Island went from seventh in per-student spending to second highest.
- On the other hand, Saskatchewan went from the highest in per-student spending to seventh, and Alberta went from fifth highest to tenth, the lowest.
- Even though British Columbia recorded the fourth-highest growth in adjusted per-student spending, it still ranks eighth in per-student spending in Canada.
- Student enrolment across Canada increased by an average of 5.6% from 2013/14 to 2022/23. Only Newfoundland & Labrador saw a decrease in enrolment (4.9%).
- Compensation remains the largest and costliest aspect of education spending and has contributed the largest portion to the growth of total education spending in Canada.
Michael Zwaagstra
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
Max Shang
Milagros Palacios
Director, Addington Centre for Measurement, Fraser Institute
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner said Friday on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” that illegal immigrants may no longer “live in taxpayer-funded housing.”
In March, Turner and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the “American Housing Programs for American Citizens,” ending “the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens.” Discussing how HUD plans to prevent illegal migrants from living in public housing, Turner said the department has already issued a letter to the D.C. Housing Authority requesting its full list of residents and those without U.S. citizenship.
“President Trump is serious not only in cleaning up the crime in our streets, but also American citizens will be prioritized when it comes to living in HUD-funded, government-funded housing,” Turner said. “We just sent out a letter to the D.C. Housing Authority, and it has been received by them. And, as you said, they have 30 days to give us a full, comprehensive account of everyone living inside of D.C. housing that are receiving Section 8 vouchers or any type of HUD funding.”
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“We want the names, the address, the number of people in the unit, the size of the unit, the cost of the unit. And they must give us their American citizenship status or eligible immigration status. No longer will we allow illegal aliens to live in taxpayer-funded housing here in America. In the last administration, in the Biden administration, they turned a blind eye. They didn’t collect the data,” Turner added. “But those days are over. We are collecting the data to make sure they’re illegal aliens. And for that criminal activity, no one doing criminal activity is living in HUD-funded housing, which is literally on the backs of taxpayers in America.”
Under the Biden administration, the border crisis became a major issue for the president as officials estimated a total of 10.8 million encounters with illegal migrants since fiscal year 2021. With a massive influx of illegal immigrants coming into the United States, Democrat mayors of sanctuary cities like Denver and New York City eventually asked the administration for funding to address the issue in 2023.
By 2024, reports indicated that due to the surge of illegal immigrants, the U.S. had an estimated shortage of 4 million to 7 million housing units, with developers struggling to keep up with the demand for homes. In addition to housing concerns, rent in 2024 saw an increase of 20.9% since 2021, which had already risen due to inflation under Biden.
According to data from the Center for Immigration Studies, an estimated 59% of illegal immigrant households use one or more welfare programs, which costs taxpayers an estimated $42 billion.
33 per cent jump in one year! Nearly 147,000 federal bureaucrats take six-figure salary
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