Elsewhere (168)
Katherine Timpf on a “white privilege” conference for teachers and school administrators:
“Many white people in Oregon have no idea that our schools and state are immersed in white culture and are uncomfortable and harmful to our students of colour, while also reinforcing the dominant nature of white culture in our white students and families,” one of the conference documents explains. The manual defines this “white culture” with a list of values, such as “promoting independence, self-expression, personal choice, individual thinking and achievement,” because apparently those are strictly “white” concepts and not emphasised in black communities.
Educators of pallor are being told, at public expense, that in order to become “anti-racist white allies,” they must first embrace the conceit that “All white people are racist. [Therefore] I am racist.” If that sounds not only absurd but a little sinister, practically Maoist, that’s because it is.
Here’s one of the many reasons why the leftist website Salon gets laughed at quite a lot.
And Fraser Nelson agrees with Charlotte Church and Polly Toynbee, perhaps more than they would like:
At the end of our tax returns, we declare how much tax we owe. [George] Osborne can introduce a new line in the tax return saying: if you think this isn’t enough, how much extra would you like to pay? People like Ms Toynbee and Ms Church can then fill in the extra so they can pay 50 per cent, or even 70 per cent, if they like. This ‘nudge’ tax reform would be consistent with the liberal principles of a Conservative government while allowing left-wingers to act along with their conscience and hand over more of their income to the government. So next time, rather than complain that they would be happy to pay 70 per cent tax, such people can proudly claim that they do pay 70 per cent tax. And they will have the tax return to prove it.
However, as we’ve seen, Polly is much more troubled by what you earn and keep than by what she earns and keeps – which, given her six-figure Guardian income, plus appearance fees, royalties and property portfolio, is quite a feat. Like many of her peers, Ms Toynbee thinks that voting for the state to confiscate even more of other people’s earnings is somehow an act of altruism. It’s also, conveniently, presented as an excuse for not using her own considerable resources personally, directly, to help those she deems deserving. And if a well-heeled leftist bangs on week after week about how terrible unequal incomes are and how something must be done urgently – and then says she won’t do what she insists is morally imperative unless the state forces her to do it – this isn’t a resounding affirmation of her professed principles.
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OMG! This didn’t get included in the last thread of my Twitter convo: https://twitter.com/TimothyCGrome/status/613139044185169920
Me: I criticize your self-righteous displays of piety. Normal self-criticism should stay under the hood, not be a halo.
Him: Ppl under the hood are not critical because they see their racism is justified.
Me (plotzing): The hood of a CAR, not a KKK costume. Wasn’t I talking about ostentation vs. non-ostentation?
I don’t think he’ll be back.
For sheer, poorly reasoned, ignorant, pretentious, self-congratulatory twaddle, Ali Michael, PhD wins by a furlong:
Rachel Dolezal is a fascinating case study in White racial identity development.* She is stuck in the immersion/emersion stage, in which White people, having learned extensively about the realities of racism, and the ugly history of White supremacy in the U.S., “immerse” themselves in trying to figure out how to be White in our society, and “emerge” with a new relationship to Whiteness. Only in the case of Dolezal, her way of dealing with the pain of the reality of racism, was to deny her own Whiteness and to become Black.
She is an extreme example of a common phenomenon. The “immersion” stage is typified by White people taking more responsibility for racism and privilege and often experiencing high levels of anger and embarrassment for racism and privilege, which they sometimes direct towards other Whites. They sometimes try to immerse themselves in communities of color, as Dolezal did. She’s not alone.
I definitely experienced this. There was a time in my 20s when everything I learned about the history of racism made me hate myself, my Whiteness, my ancestors… and my descendants. I remember deciding that I couldn’t have biological children because I didn’t want to propagate my privilege biologically.
Remember, that is PhD level stuff.
That deserves a thorough fisking. Or, even better, a Stevaggeddoning. Unfortunately, I don’t have time, and am not Steve2.
Remember, that is PhD level stuff
Much like Nobel Peace Prizes, the trend seems to be to hand out PhD’s with each oil change. So long as you can afford, or get someone else to pay for, that rather expensive oil change.