It's hard for me to blame or resent black people who, coming up under the white liberal dispensation that rules American culture (most esp in academia, media, Hollywood and publishing), take all the jobs, awards, checks, genius grants, Pulitzers, Oscars etc that white liberals are desperate to bestow upon them, in their eternal neurotic quest to perform (and receive) public atonement and to be given the official stamp of being One of the Good Ones.
If you woke up one day to find yourself appointed sacred cow and had all sorts of anxious apparatchiks wanting to shine your shoes and pay your mortgage, would you tell them it was all infra dig, or would you take what you could—especially if you don't come from money, and see all this as a chance to get some security for you and yours?
But now that the poisoned chalice of DEI (which is more or less Affirmative Action as if overseen by the Soviet Politburo) has been drunk to its dregs, the poison has begun to kick in: it's just going to be hard going forward trusting any black professionals and their credentials and achievements, because it's obvious they've been rewarded not for merit but because of politics and because of the First Commandment of the Social Justice faith: Thou Shalt always center, support and applaud any and all POCs.
Once again, black people have become props in a white American Civil War and once again they will be left with pockets full of wooden nickels when the politics shift. White liberals needed to appropriate their history of oppression for their immediate political needs—the ultimate form of stolen valor—and did them no favors by treating them as symbols instead of humans.
No one would benefit more from the dismantling of the DEIocracy than black Americans.
I can feel a bit of resentment for rich kids who went to Exeter and Stanford crying about oppression. And to top off the Op-Ed in the NYT. She sounded exactly like Otter defending Delta House in front of Dean Wormer. At least Otter knew he was FOS.
It is hard to extend any charity toward Gay, knowing especially that she would extend none toward anyone who got in her way, esp that Great Satan, the White Man.
But she's just playing a role and reciting a script that other people wrote—she wanted to be a symbol (of supposed oppression) and now she will have to live with getting what she wanted, except she's become a symbol of fraud, dishonesty and incompetence.
yup. someone from the black community needs to step up and tell the truth about the state of America and its current assigned role for blacks.
the Democrats have, for decades, weaponized Black Pain and used it as a cudgel to beat their political opponent...that’s not me saying that, it’s Malcom X.
say what you will about Brother Malcolm, but he had this game sussed out 60 years ago.
if systemic racism still exists, it exists in the place it has always existed: The Democrat Party.
never forget the words of LBJ during the Civil Rights bill: “we may have lost the South forever…but we will have those N****rs voting for us for the next 200 years…”
I am done giving these people the benefit of doubt. She is the living embodiment of the rot of our educational system.
What is so outrageous (and dangerous) about this incident imo is the same reason it will eventually implode:
They can't even think of how to make plagiarism look novel (Pretty sure all of us would've been able to figure that out in fourth grade)!!!
Which means they can't even build upon prior knowledge because they can't understand contributions of knowledge from those prior to them.
Knowledge about knowledge is the true measure of intellectual prowess. These people neither have the capacity nor the scruples to acquire the most important aspect of academics.
In other words the university is selecting against wisdom, ergo novelty
Benjamin Button Academia can't go below zero. Right now it's hovering around Kelvin and any dean worth their salt should be white hot with anger.
El Gato is great. Among the great satirists among many great investigative journalists and creative and innovative thinkers. And yes, with a "then" instead of "than" (it took me a second) the phrase is simple, brilliant, succinct and Menckenian.
Something that even most conservatives have yet to fully look in the eye is that this Claudine Gay blow up scandal is at bottom not even really about black people. Yes it's about a kind of 'racism' but of a really weird (and I think historically unprecedented) kind. A kind that's been festering in the intelligentsia for some decades now....a white-on-white racism. The academia DEI shenanigans is the tip of a gigantic iceberg of cultural-self-hate that could well sink Western liberalism by mid century.
Yes you got my point. But even when one sees this cultural-self-hate for what it is, one is still left scratching one's head and asking...... but Why? Why are we doing this to our civilization?
Marcuse and his minions (among other Marxists) were not only implacable but eventually found their moment and struck American gold by transforming their project of "socialist liberation" into a (seemingly) natural and authentic extension of the Civil Rights Movement.
Thus they crafted a new morality at the same moment as various old moralities were beginning to fade or rot—most esp the Enlightenment project, Christianity and Americanism, the former of which seemed to be killed in WW2 and the latter by Vietnam.
Fast forward 50ish years, add in the tremendous alienation of the modern world, secularization, financialization, immigration, sexual liberation, the vulgarization and crapification of everything, and there is only one new, strong morality project left standing: Social Justice.
SJ built its church on the rock of the obvious fact that in the American/European past minorities were often abused, esp black and brown people, women and gays. They take from this fact not the idea of reform (no one young and alive has their soul stirred by the idea of "reform"!), but that a great crusade must be embarked upon to rectify all historical disparities and thus usher in a reign of Justice and Equality.
No one fights or dies or kills for Liberalism and its dry proceduralism and lessons about respecting rules and historical norms etc—but remaking the world and every brain in it according to your precise specifications, this is the kind of thing that makes life worth living (for a certain type of person, most esp the young, the idealistic, the opportunistic or some combo thereof).
This makes sense. Everything good has been soiled and destroyed and people need something they feel is “good.” People do see this crap as the “New Civil Rights Movement.” They want to be on the “right side of history” and be a “hero” for the rest of their lives.
Too bad it’s misguided, Marxist, and destructive. The most dangerous people are those who think they are doing good but in reality are destroying what is good and right.
You might be right, but, in that case, it will collapse under its own weight. Indeed, right or wrong, the SJ project is already falling apart as it requires far too many moving pieces, such as Gay not being looked at closely, George Floyd not being looked at closely, Jan. 6th not being looked at closely, etc. All of these things only work at first glance, and the more people wonder about them, think about them, the more holes they see.
The whole edifice only works if everyone believes it does, not if they question it in any way.
If we can split the whole Social Justice project into 2 parts, Part 1 being what I call Social Justice Inc, the adoption of this ideology by the global corporate state and in America esp the Dem Party, the MSM, upscale academia, the HR depts of every institution plus arts and culture; and Part 2 being (from my perspective) the fact that the SJ worldview and esp its morality is the sacred belief system of just about every educated urbanite under, say, age 35, and most especially shapes the thoughts and actions of the people who create and control our culture...
I would say then that I could easily see Part 1 dying out, especially if it begins to cause real financial and/or political pain; but as for Part 2, I don't see how you undo this or change the fact that a very large and influential chunk of our society has invested their hearts and brains (and futures) in the SJ project.
I agree with you re part 1. It will die, and businesses will move on as it causes real financial issues; the bottom line of SJ does not relate to profit. And this butchers bill is coming due, as we see with Bud Light, Disney, and so on. It will take time, and will probably produce a generation of conservatives in the process, as many of us can see where it is going (and this is the big failure of academia and the decline in enrollment).
Part 2 will do exactly what it did after the political death of Jimmy Carter, go underground and rebuild. Because, lets face it, this religion has always been around, in one form or another. The idea that you can create heaven on earth, and it can be done by pulling the right levers and installing the right person.
Did you ever see the movie Groundhogs Day? There is a scene in it were Bill Murry spends the evening seducing Andi McDowell, and almost pulls if off. And, when he tries the next night, everything falls apart, nothing goes as planed. Obama was that first night, and they almost pulled it off. And now we are in the second night, only with Joe Biden, who was a fuck up even before his mind started to whither away. So, nothing is going right, and all they can do is keep trying the same old tricks, because that is all that generation of Progressives know.
The best explanation I can drum up is, per Epstein, there are too many compromised people who give in to the demands of the CCP. The idea of Soviet penetration into every level of government, industry, media and "education" was not a conspiracy theory. McCarthy was not wrong about everything. The CCP talking head on Tucker's show in December 2020 gave away the secret: the CCP has followed the Soviet playbook.
I can't help but feel for all the blacks who are hired legitimately as the truly best qualified candidate for any given job, but have to live with fellow employee's doubts that they didn't get hired because of their merit. I would resent the heck out of DIE ideology.
I don't think that's really as big a problem, if you're working with someone you normally can see past the bullshit at some point, if you are competent people will notice eventually, even if some are dismissive at first.
“when you’ve always had privilege, equal treatment feels like oppression”
well, I guess this little quip gets turned around again.
the elite vanguards are so used to being able to write the narrative and get away with double standards, we are now seeing what just a small amount of pushback can do.
in the last 6 weeks I have seen almost every liberal screecher direct their rage at the NYT of all places, for not calling Trump a fascist enough and eventually admitting that Claudine was a fraud. pretty hilarious...
It’s the same thing as working for a family owned company and the owner puts his idiot child in charge. Got the job for who they are, not for their skill, ability, or knowledge.
Whenever I see a black person high up in the government, media, or academia, I automatically assume the color of their skin is their sole qualification.
That's really the kicker, isn't it? Black people who do excellent work don't get the recognition they deserve because people (understandably) are wondering if they just got to where they are because of being black.
I think a mistrust in anyone in positions of power makes sense, regardless of their DEI characteristics. Nepotism till proven competent. It's not like all white people got where they are on merit, especially in large organizations it often comes down to an entirely different skill-set than the one required to actually do the job.
I agree. This is also a good point. I know a lot of white people who are good talkers and aren't worth a damn and they have been put in positions of power.
Of course that doesn't mean that there isn't a big chunk of meritocracy still left at least in the private sector. Otherwise everything would be going to shit a lot faster.
It's often inherent for large organizations that are not run by their owners that the profit motive really only exists as far as it's necessary to keep the whole thing alive. If you can simply issue new stock to sell or borrow money for little to no interest it can take a long while for the whole thing to tank. It's not something many small business can or or want to afford since it ultimately comes out of the pockets of the owners.
In keeping with Harvard’s progressive policies, I’d recommend that their next president be an AI. Transitioning to human (gender to be determined later). If that new lawsuit alleging massive plagiarism from hundreds of non-fiction books is not too much of a problem. That would be progress. Right?
My unscientific poll of my X feed shows that those backing Gay are media figures, Humanities Profs, and a few lawyers. Those against her represent just about everybody else. But the supporters are well ensconced in their institutions and have a confidence that is born out in the fact that they are in line with how the institutions they represent. That confidence which radiates as arrogance is vey scary as they know where the power is. October 7 threw off the mask. It forced them to come out in the open. Ackman is the representative of the Left that bought, and paid for, all of this crap either as a shield from criticism or to gain absolution via their virtue. Now that they are fighting back there may be a chance but its very late in the game and we are behind.
I have no idea of why conservatives see this as a “win.” She’s still got a teaching job teaching nonsense for $900K a year. She’s become a saint and a hero. It’s like giving a drunk driver that’s killed a family the keys to the city and a large monetary reward.
It's hard for me to blame or resent black people who, coming up under the white liberal dispensation that rules American culture (most esp in academia, media, Hollywood and publishing), take all the jobs, awards, checks, genius grants, Pulitzers, Oscars etc that white liberals are desperate to bestow upon them, in their eternal neurotic quest to perform (and receive) public atonement and to be given the official stamp of being One of the Good Ones.
If you woke up one day to find yourself appointed sacred cow and had all sorts of anxious apparatchiks wanting to shine your shoes and pay your mortgage, would you tell them it was all infra dig, or would you take what you could—especially if you don't come from money, and see all this as a chance to get some security for you and yours?
But now that the poisoned chalice of DEI (which is more or less Affirmative Action as if overseen by the Soviet Politburo) has been drunk to its dregs, the poison has begun to kick in: it's just going to be hard going forward trusting any black professionals and their credentials and achievements, because it's obvious they've been rewarded not for merit but because of politics and because of the First Commandment of the Social Justice faith: Thou Shalt always center, support and applaud any and all POCs.
Once again, black people have become props in a white American Civil War and once again they will be left with pockets full of wooden nickels when the politics shift. White liberals needed to appropriate their history of oppression for their immediate political needs—the ultimate form of stolen valor—and did them no favors by treating them as symbols instead of humans.
No one would benefit more from the dismantling of the DEIocracy than black Americans.
I can feel a bit of resentment for rich kids who went to Exeter and Stanford crying about oppression. And to top off the Op-Ed in the NYT. She sounded exactly like Otter defending Delta House in front of Dean Wormer. At least Otter knew he was FOS.
It is hard to extend any charity toward Gay, knowing especially that she would extend none toward anyone who got in her way, esp that Great Satan, the White Man.
But she's just playing a role and reciting a script that other people wrote—she wanted to be a symbol (of supposed oppression) and now she will have to live with getting what she wanted, except she's become a symbol of fraud, dishonesty and incompetence.
I give her credit for writing the script. Lord knows if she did, she would not cite anybody else anyway.
(Her latest script is also a ripoff. Ha ha!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROxvT8KKdFw
yup. someone from the black community needs to step up and tell the truth about the state of America and its current assigned role for blacks.
the Democrats have, for decades, weaponized Black Pain and used it as a cudgel to beat their political opponent...that’s not me saying that, it’s Malcom X.
say what you will about Brother Malcolm, but he had this game sussed out 60 years ago.
if systemic racism still exists, it exists in the place it has always existed: The Democrat Party.
never forget the words of LBJ during the Civil Rights bill: “we may have lost the South forever…but we will have those N****rs voting for us for the next 200 years…”
let’s prove him wrong...
"Democrats have, for decades, weaponized Black Pain and used it as a cudgel to beat their political opponents..." 🎯
every American who wishes to see the big picture behind DEI etc should read The Autobiography of Malcom X.
I don’t agree with some of his solutions, but he had diagnosed the disease as accurately as anyone...
Gold.
thanks!
I am done giving these people the benefit of doubt. She is the living embodiment of the rot of our educational system.
What is so outrageous (and dangerous) about this incident imo is the same reason it will eventually implode:
They can't even think of how to make plagiarism look novel (Pretty sure all of us would've been able to figure that out in fourth grade)!!!
Which means they can't even build upon prior knowledge because they can't understand contributions of knowledge from those prior to them.
Knowledge about knowledge is the true measure of intellectual prowess. These people neither have the capacity nor the scruples to acquire the most important aspect of academics.
In other words the university is selecting against wisdom, ergo novelty
Benjamin Button Academia can't go below zero. Right now it's hovering around Kelvin and any dean worth their salt should be white hot with anger.
Classic comment. They are that stupid. Well...some are evil, but yes, some are plain-Jane stupid.
Have you ever popped in on gato's stack? He has one of the most pithy phrases about this phenomena .
It goes something like this:
"If all you've ever experienced is preferment then being treated equal will feel like maltreatment/oppression"
El Gato is great. Among the great satirists among many great investigative journalists and creative and innovative thinkers. And yes, with a "then" instead of "than" (it took me a second) the phrase is simple, brilliant, succinct and Menckenian.
Thanks I just edited it. Fat thumbs and eyes are going bad!...lol
Something that even most conservatives have yet to fully look in the eye is that this Claudine Gay blow up scandal is at bottom not even really about black people. Yes it's about a kind of 'racism' but of a really weird (and I think historically unprecedented) kind. A kind that's been festering in the intelligentsia for some decades now....a white-on-white racism. The academia DEI shenanigans is the tip of a gigantic iceberg of cultural-self-hate that could well sink Western liberalism by mid century.
Good point. Minorities are used as pawns for the woke whites tearing down western culture and whiteness - if I got your point correct.
Yes you got my point. But even when one sees this cultural-self-hate for what it is, one is still left scratching one's head and asking...... but Why? Why are we doing this to our civilization?
"Why? Why are we doing this to our civilization?"
I'm gonna go for now with the human conception of the Sacred and its pursuit, with Ernest Becker's concept of the "immorality project" as my guide.
https://ernestbecker.org/about-becker/beckers-synthesis/
Marcuse and his minions (among other Marxists) were not only implacable but eventually found their moment and struck American gold by transforming their project of "socialist liberation" into a (seemingly) natural and authentic extension of the Civil Rights Movement.
Thus they crafted a new morality at the same moment as various old moralities were beginning to fade or rot—most esp the Enlightenment project, Christianity and Americanism, the former of which seemed to be killed in WW2 and the latter by Vietnam.
Fast forward 50ish years, add in the tremendous alienation of the modern world, secularization, financialization, immigration, sexual liberation, the vulgarization and crapification of everything, and there is only one new, strong morality project left standing: Social Justice.
SJ built its church on the rock of the obvious fact that in the American/European past minorities were often abused, esp black and brown people, women and gays. They take from this fact not the idea of reform (no one young and alive has their soul stirred by the idea of "reform"!), but that a great crusade must be embarked upon to rectify all historical disparities and thus usher in a reign of Justice and Equality.
No one fights or dies or kills for Liberalism and its dry proceduralism and lessons about respecting rules and historical norms etc—but remaking the world and every brain in it according to your precise specifications, this is the kind of thing that makes life worth living (for a certain type of person, most esp the young, the idealistic, the opportunistic or some combo thereof).
Hope that makes sense!
This makes sense. Everything good has been soiled and destroyed and people need something they feel is “good.” People do see this crap as the “New Civil Rights Movement.” They want to be on the “right side of history” and be a “hero” for the rest of their lives.
Too bad it’s misguided, Marxist, and destructive. The most dangerous people are those who think they are doing good but in reality are destroying what is good and right.
You might be right, but, in that case, it will collapse under its own weight. Indeed, right or wrong, the SJ project is already falling apart as it requires far too many moving pieces, such as Gay not being looked at closely, George Floyd not being looked at closely, Jan. 6th not being looked at closely, etc. All of these things only work at first glance, and the more people wonder about them, think about them, the more holes they see.
The whole edifice only works if everyone believes it does, not if they question it in any way.
If we can split the whole Social Justice project into 2 parts, Part 1 being what I call Social Justice Inc, the adoption of this ideology by the global corporate state and in America esp the Dem Party, the MSM, upscale academia, the HR depts of every institution plus arts and culture; and Part 2 being (from my perspective) the fact that the SJ worldview and esp its morality is the sacred belief system of just about every educated urbanite under, say, age 35, and most especially shapes the thoughts and actions of the people who create and control our culture...
I would say then that I could easily see Part 1 dying out, especially if it begins to cause real financial and/or political pain; but as for Part 2, I don't see how you undo this or change the fact that a very large and influential chunk of our society has invested their hearts and brains (and futures) in the SJ project.
I agree with you re part 1. It will die, and businesses will move on as it causes real financial issues; the bottom line of SJ does not relate to profit. And this butchers bill is coming due, as we see with Bud Light, Disney, and so on. It will take time, and will probably produce a generation of conservatives in the process, as many of us can see where it is going (and this is the big failure of academia and the decline in enrollment).
Part 2 will do exactly what it did after the political death of Jimmy Carter, go underground and rebuild. Because, lets face it, this religion has always been around, in one form or another. The idea that you can create heaven on earth, and it can be done by pulling the right levers and installing the right person.
Did you ever see the movie Groundhogs Day? There is a scene in it were Bill Murry spends the evening seducing Andi McDowell, and almost pulls if off. And, when he tries the next night, everything falls apart, nothing goes as planed. Obama was that first night, and they almost pulled it off. And now we are in the second night, only with Joe Biden, who was a fuck up even before his mind started to whither away. So, nothing is going right, and all they can do is keep trying the same old tricks, because that is all that generation of Progressives know.
Yes that makes a lot of sense. I would only add that I'm a bit of a Spenglerite...as in 'all things must pass'. Or maybe it's just getting old!
all things definitely pass, the only question is if will we pass first ;))
The best explanation I can drum up is, per Epstein, there are too many compromised people who give in to the demands of the CCP. The idea of Soviet penetration into every level of government, industry, media and "education" was not a conspiracy theory. McCarthy was not wrong about everything. The CCP talking head on Tucker's show in December 2020 gave away the secret: the CCP has followed the Soviet playbook.
I can't help but feel for all the blacks who are hired legitimately as the truly best qualified candidate for any given job, but have to live with fellow employee's doubts that they didn't get hired because of their merit. I would resent the heck out of DIE ideology.
I don't think that's really as big a problem, if you're working with someone you normally can see past the bullshit at some point, if you are competent people will notice eventually, even if some are dismissive at first.
It's worse for people who just graduated.
“when you’ve always had privilege, equal treatment feels like oppression”
well, I guess this little quip gets turned around again.
the elite vanguards are so used to being able to write the narrative and get away with double standards, we are now seeing what just a small amount of pushback can do.
in the last 6 weeks I have seen almost every liberal screecher direct their rage at the NYT of all places, for not calling Trump a fascist enough and eventually admitting that Claudine was a fraud. pretty hilarious...
I'm really starting to wonder about the Pritzker Family role in Obama's ascendancy, which would put them in the middle of the plan to kill America.
When are the woke left gonna figure out that no one wants to buy what they’re selling?! (Be it products or ideologies)
Brad!! Did you see all the news outlets have the same headline? Literally word for word. How conservatives have a new weapon. Plagiarism 😂.
Yes!
A melanin marionette in the never ending Punch and Judy Racialist Show travelling from village to village across the fruited plain...
It’s the same thing as working for a family owned company and the owner puts his idiot child in charge. Got the job for who they are, not for their skill, ability, or knowledge.
Whenever I see a black person high up in the government, media, or academia, I automatically assume the color of their skin is their sole qualification.
That's really the kicker, isn't it? Black people who do excellent work don't get the recognition they deserve because people (understandably) are wondering if they just got to where they are because of being black.
Exactly. All are tainted by woke white virtue signaling. Takes away from blacks who are worthy of academic positions.
I think a mistrust in anyone in positions of power makes sense, regardless of their DEI characteristics. Nepotism till proven competent. It's not like all white people got where they are on merit, especially in large organizations it often comes down to an entirely different skill-set than the one required to actually do the job.
I agree. This is also a good point. I know a lot of white people who are good talkers and aren't worth a damn and they have been put in positions of power.
Of course that doesn't mean that there isn't a big chunk of meritocracy still left at least in the private sector. Otherwise everything would be going to shit a lot faster.
I definitely think there is decay. Then I wonder how far it will go. Hopefully the profit motive will be strong enough to stop it from going too far.
It's often inherent for large organizations that are not run by their owners that the profit motive really only exists as far as it's necessary to keep the whole thing alive. If you can simply issue new stock to sell or borrow money for little to no interest it can take a long while for the whole thing to tank. It's not something many small business can or or want to afford since it ultimately comes out of the pockets of the owners.
Condi rice and Carol Swain were both available
In keeping with Harvard’s progressive policies, I’d recommend that their next president be an AI. Transitioning to human (gender to be determined later). If that new lawsuit alleging massive plagiarism from hundreds of non-fiction books is not too much of a problem. That would be progress. Right?
My unscientific poll of my X feed shows that those backing Gay are media figures, Humanities Profs, and a few lawyers. Those against her represent just about everybody else. But the supporters are well ensconced in their institutions and have a confidence that is born out in the fact that they are in line with how the institutions they represent. That confidence which radiates as arrogance is vey scary as they know where the power is. October 7 threw off the mask. It forced them to come out in the open. Ackman is the representative of the Left that bought, and paid for, all of this crap either as a shield from criticism or to gain absolution via their virtue. Now that they are fighting back there may be a chance but its very late in the game and we are behind.
It's the increasing disgust with DEI. The plagiarism is just the excuse.
I have no idea of why conservatives see this as a “win.” She’s still got a teaching job teaching nonsense for $900K a year. She’s become a saint and a hero. It’s like giving a drunk driver that’s killed a family the keys to the city and a large monetary reward.
'Nonsense'. Thank you.
Great essay.