Colin Wright

Evolutionary Biology PhD | Senior Fellow @ManhattanInst | CEO/EiC @RealLastStand | Academic Advisor @Theory_Society

📧: cwright1859 @ gmail

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

Andrew Hartz (@Hartz_PhD) and I exposed the ideological takeover of the @APA in the @WSJ by sharing the totally absurd program of one of their Spring 2026 conferences.

The president of APA Division 39 responded in a letter to the WSJ, but ignored every substantive criticism we raised. Instead, she defended the overtly political nature of the conference political by arguing that therapists must address oppressive systems and power dynamics "within and beyond the consulting room."

But her response illustrated the very problem we were exposing.

When therapists view mental health problems primarily or entirely as products of oppressive social systems, the focus of therapy moves away from helping patients improve their own lives and toward changing society itself.

The role of the therapist is no longer to help someone navigate life's difficulties but to become (and encourage their patients to become) activists fixated on dismantling the political and social structures that are supposedly causing so much psychological harm.

This approach to psychotherapy isn't merely wrong, it can actively harm patients by convincing them that their problems are beyond their control and that meaningful improvement must wait for the revolution to succeed.

In our new @CityJournal essay, we explain why the APA's leadership has lost sight of who therapy is supposed to serve, and why its growing political activism should concern everyone.

Read our full response here:
��https://t.co/MRKwEwu971

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

The @ManhattanInst has just released their 2026 College Rankings!

Looking for a college with a strong curriculum that encourages genuine debate, prioritizes education over activism, and actually prepares students for real-world success?

First place: @UTAustin
Last place: @oberlincollege

See the full list:
🔗https://t.co/Xwluon8Zi2

[Christopher Rufo @christopherrufo]

EXCLUSIVE: We spent weeks in Napa Valley investigating Gavin Newsom's wine empire. According to a whistleblower, the operation is built on undocumented migrant labor, in violation of the law.

Illegal aliens pick the grapes—and Newsom sells the wine for up to $7,000 a bottle.

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Excellent work from the FL Attorney General here. @thestustustudio has written extensively about the DSA’s ties to hostile foreign nations, @JamesUthmeierFL is right to take action.

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

@JamesLNuzzo @Hartz_PhD @APA @WSJ My pleasure! It's all just so insane.

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

Andrew Hartz (@Hartz_PhD) and I exposed the ideological takeover of the @APA in the @WSJ by sharing the totally absurd program of one of their Spring 2026 conferences.

The president of APA Division 39 responded in a letter to the WSJ, but ignored every substantive criticism we raised. Instead, she defended the overtly political nature of the conference political by arguing that therapists must address oppressive systems and power dynamics "within and beyond the consulting room."

But her response illustrated the very problem we were exposing.

When therapists view mental health problems primarily or entirely as products of oppressive social systems, the focus of therapy moves away from helping patients improve their own lives and toward changing society itself.

The role of the therapist is no longer to help someone navigate life's difficulties but to become (and encourage their patients to become) activists fixated on dismantling the political and social structures that are supposedly causing so much psychological harm.

This approach to psychotherapy isn't merely wrong, it can actively harm patients by convincing them that their problems are beyond their control and that meaningful improvement must wait for the revolution to succeed.

In our new @CityJournal essay, we explain why the APA's leadership has lost sight of who therapy is supposed to serve, and why its growing political activism should concern everyone.

Read our full response here:
🔗https://t.co/MRKwEwu971

[Joseph Burgo @drjosephburgo]

"In the meantime, they’re likely to feel powerless, with no control over their mental health." From this excellent article, I would highlight this point. An exclusive focus on minority stress undermines any sense of agency and teaches clients to feel helpless in the face of social forces over which they have no control.

[Christina Buttons @buttonslives]

The California Supreme Court is giving prosecutors, legal scholars, victims’ families, organizations, and other interested individuals until November 24 to weigh in on Newsom’s plan to commute all 548 death sentences in California.

The anti-death penalty lobby is large, well-funded, and already submitting briefs to the court. They portray racial disparities in death sentencing as proof of racism and rely on inflated estimates of wrongful convictions.

Newsom has relied on the same flawed research to justify his opposition to the death penalty, making absurd claims that 1 in 25 death-sentenced prisoners is innocent and racial discrimination is "well-established."

This isn't a public comment period. You have to submit an amicus brief addressing the legal issues surrounding Newsom's request. But you don't necessarily need a lawyer. AI tools can help with the filing requirements and formatting.

Court case: S299513

https://t.co/R89gm77X02

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

I had a lot of friends in high school who played guitar. Some played for years and couldn't stay on the beat. Others who never played before had rhythm the moment they started. While I don't doubt a person's sense of rhythm can improve with practice, it seems like for the most part that you either have it or you don't.

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Traditional, prestige-focused college rankings don't accurately help students and families decide which schools are worth their time. City Journal's College Rankings do. ⬇️

We compiled 95 distinct measures that evaluate institutional performance across four broad categories:

Governance Quality: Assesses administrators' focus on academic standards, free expression, and meritocracy.

Educational Experience: Recognizes institutions that prioritize intellectual pluralism in faculty hiring, strive to recover core learning in Western civilization and civics, and prevent shallow and trendy political movements from taking over academics.

Student Life: Rewards institutions that foster viewpoint diversity, freedom of thought, and resistance to political radicalism on campus.

Outcomes: Recognizes schools that prepare students for successful careers beyond what would have been expected given their students’ socioeconomic and academic backgrounds—measuring the real impact schools have on their graduates, and not just whether they happen to enroll students who were likely to succeed anyway.

No school scored better than an 80 on our 100-point scale. https://t.co/0LDc8RI84J

[Suzy Shofar @suzylebo]

The @APA is hurting patients by narcissistically projecting onto them their own political
obsessions. No wonder our young people are struggling so much. Yes, of course, the outside world affects people’s mental health; but making activist causes the primary goal of psychotherapy is a violation of oath and trust.
@SwipeWright @Hartz_PhD

[Andy Ngo @MrAndyNgo]

.@Quillette has published a review of my new book, The Zizians: Inside a Trans Death Cult.

“Details such as these lend a tragicomic quality to Ngo’s accounts. On one hand, Ziz and his followers come off as overgrown middle schoolers engaged in an extended (and often farcical) act of fan-convention cosplay. On the other hand, it’s absolutely clear that Ziz is a true sociopath. And during its short life, his cult was connected to the deaths of at least eight individuals.”

My thoughts: It may not be such a short cult life after all. The cult’s second-in-command is out there completely free, and he promises to continue the group’s agenda. Another arrested Zizian was released, and his felony case was suspended. He’s been trying to help Ziz behind the scenes. https://t.co/fLD8R2DapZ

[Colin Wright @SwipeWright]

Andrew Hartz (@Hartz_PhD) and I exposed the ideological takeover of the @APA in the @WSJ by sharing the totally absurd program of one of their Spring 2026 conferences.

The president of APA Division 39 responded in a letter to the WSJ, but ignored every substantive criticism we raised. Instead, she defended the overtly political nature of the conference political by arguing that therapists must address oppressive systems and power dynamics "within and beyond the consulting room."

But her response illustrated the very problem we were exposing.

When therapists view mental health problems primarily or entirely as products of oppressive social systems, the focus of therapy moves away from helping patients improve their own lives and toward changing society itself.

The role of the therapist is no longer to help someone navigate life's difficulties but to become (and encourage their patients to become) activists fixated on dismantling the political and social structures that are supposedly causing so much psychological harm.

This approach to psychotherapy isn't merely wrong, it can actively harm patients by convincing them that their problems are beyond their control and that meaningful improvement must wait for the revolution to succeed.

In our new @CityJournal essay, we explain why the APA's leadership has lost sight of who therapy is supposed to serve, and why its growing political activism should concern everyone.

Read our full response here:
🔗https://t.co/MRKwEwu971

[Steve Stewart-Williams @SteveStuWill]

The Truth About Sexism in Science

“Their overall conclusion is that the evidence simply doesn’t support claims of pervasive anti-female bias in science. In fact, in some domains, it’s now men who face discrimination.”

https://t.co/20bCRoT7js

[Jimmy Carter’s Peanut Farm 🥜🚜🥜 @CartersPeanuts]

Bizarre to me how much of this discussion has centered on the personal injury to Sabatini (tbf: the actual topic of the suit he won) rather than the revelation that a professor maliciously destroyed the career of another, that she lied and withheld relevant information, and that the net result of these revelations is not only that MIT apparently ran a kangaroo court but that it has no interest in restoring a reputation it harmed, in punishing sociopaths on the faculty, or even in re-allowing a gifted and extraordinarily productive scientist to continue his work. This has much deeper implications about publicly funded science than a simple episode of workplace drama.

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

"How did so many schools outrank the Ivies?"

Okay, let's say you go to Harvard. If you even get in, that is—it may depend on your race. Grades are so massively inflated that it's not clear how much you're even learning. When they try to end grade inflation, your classmates revolt. You walk to your remedial math class, dodging the tents your classmates set up to protest Israel. After class, you turn on the TV and see @EliseStefanik ask your university's president, Claudine Gay, if calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s rules on bullying and harassment; she says it depends on the context. Later, you check @christopherrufo's Twitter and see that Gay plagiarized her Harvard dissertation. @FreeBeacon finds even more plagiarism. After a few years, you get a degree—you graduate top of your class. So does everyone else.

Is this really providing the rigorous education students are promised? Is this preparing graduates to be productive members of society? Was this a worthwhile investment?

Is this how we want to shape our country's future?

Parents, consider this: Perhaps there's a better way to decide which schools are deserving of your time, your money, and, most importantly, your trust.
https://t.co/Mb8tWuJ33O

[City Journal @CityJournal]

We scored 115 of America's most prominent colleges and universities based on what actually matters.

On our 100-point scale, not one of these schools scored above 80. Only seven earned a 70 or higher. Eighty-seven received scores below 60.

The average score of an American school of higher education this year was an abysmal 50/100.

City Journal’s 2026 College Rankings are here, and they answer the ultimate question: Are America’s colleges and universities delivering the education that students and the country need? https://t.co/G5OWiDQHL6

[Neetu Arnold @neetu_arnold]

What makes parents ignore test results?

I’m seeing more stories of families shocked that their straight-A kids are actually struggling

A common theme is parents trusting report cards & ignoring test results

For @CityJournal, I show how often this happens & why ⬇️

[Manhattan Institute @ManhattanInst]

Over 30 states have opted into the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Program, but teachers' unions are still fighting it.

Rather than informing members about the program and helping them get dollars to their students, the largest teachers’ unions have tried to stop the flow of money. They keep insisting that the program is a “voucher” and refuse to explain to their members that it could benefit their students.

[Brian Anderson @BrianAcity]

UT Austin, Florida, and Notre Dame lead City Journal’s 2026 College Rankings. Our rankings award no points for reputation or selectivity. The key question is what colleges actually do for students in terms of educational quality, student life, and outcomes —not how hard they are to get into. Kevin Wallsten introduces the second season of our rankings here: https://t.co/TMbxAz6n5d

[Will Chamberlain @willchamberlain]

If I were sending my kid to college in the near future I'd be paying attention to these rankings