Elsewhere (225)
Heather Mac Donald on the farce and scope of UC Berkeley’s cultivated victimhood:
UC Berkeley’s Division of Equity and Inclusion has hung vertical banners across the main campus reminding students of the contemporary university’s paramount mission: assigning guilt and innocence within the ruthlessly competitive hierarchy of victimhood… “I will acknowledge how power and privilege intersect in our daily lives,” vows an Asian female member of the class of 2017. Just how crippling is that “intersection” of “power and privilege”? The answer comes in a banner showing a black female student in a backward baseball cap and a male Hispanic student, who together urge the Berkeley community to “Create an environment where people other than yourself can exist.” A naïve observer of the Berkeley campus would think that lots of people “other than himself” exist there, and would even think that Berkeley welcomes those “other” people with overflowing intellectual and material riches. Such a misperception, however, is precisely why Berkeley funds the Division of Equity and Inclusion with a cool $20 million annually and staffs it with 150 full-time functionaries: it takes that much money and personnel to drum into students’ heads how horribly Berkeley treats its “othered” students.
Jade Haney on blatant indoctrination and replacing facts with pretentious guilt:
Jack Flotte, a member of Regis University’s Social Justice and Spirituality Committee, opened the session by scolding his white peers and professors on their state of “white fragility,” saying, “Like it or not, we are already accomplices. The question becomes: to what end are we partners in the crime of continuing to perpetuate these systems that dehumanise and oppress people?” Flotte also advised white students and faculty to “spend less time being upset about accusations that you’re complicit and that white people are bad and spend more time being mad at the racism and suffering,” adding, “Stop changing the subject when race does come into a conversation. Not that you understand this concept of white fragility. You’re going to be made uncomfortable as white folks when the conversation of race comes up. But, just get over it and then channel that energy. Channel that guilt into activism.”
See also, Laurie Penny.
Speaking of dehumanising people, and added via the comments, here’s Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Yusra Khogali being every bit as charming as you’d imagine. What’s particularly endearing – after all the boasting of genetic superiority, and her claim that “melanin directly communicates with cosmic energy” – is when she asks Allah to give her the strength “to not kill these men and white folks.”
Anthony Gockowski on paranoid parents:
Evergreen State College will soon host a workshop for eager parents who wish to pre-empt their toddlers from developing [racial] “bias” before it’s too late. The February 17 event, titled “A is for Anti-Bias,” will apparently “help family members interested in anti-bias education for children ages 3-6 to hear and talk about strategies, books, and resources that can be used at home.”
And Kevin Williamson on the importance of life outside politics:
Earlier this week, I expressed what seemed to me an unobjectionable opinion: that politics has a place, that politics should be kept in its place, and that happy and healthy people and societies have lives that are separate from politics. The response was dispiriting but also illuminating. Among those who directed tut-tuts in my direction was Patti Bacchus, who writes about education for the Vancouver Observer. “That’s one of the most privileged things I’ve ever heard,” she sniffed. Patti Bacchus is the daughter of Charles Balfour, a Vancouver real-estate entrepreneur, and attended school at Crofton House, a private girls’ school whose alumni include Pat (Mrs. William F.) Buckley. It is one of the most expensive private schools in Canada. I do enjoy disquisitions on “privilege” from such people.
Feel free to add your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
You have to wonder where the oneupmanship ends, perhaps with some Opus Dei type self-flagellation. What will be the bridge too far?
You have to wonder where the oneupmanship ends
As it appears to be driven not by reality or any sense of proportion, but by feelings, vanity and psychodrama, and as it doesn’t seem amenable to real-world experience or factual rebuttal, it’s hard to set any upper limit. I mean, for instance, when you’ve got 150 full-time employees, plus part-timers, relentlessly telling students how oppressed people are at one of the most expensive and prestigious educational institutions on Earth, a place of almost limitless cossetting and indulgence, it’s hard to know where embarrassment might eventually kick in.
And remember, that relentless propagation of fantasy, of delusional victimhood, results in behaviour like this. It’s as if the goal were to churn out narcissists, pricks and moral delinquents. Because if that were the objective, the ideal end result, what, if anything, would you do differently?
“Black-on-black murder is not a thing. It’s just a bad argument. Black-on-black crime is not a thing. Don’t talk about it. Shut it down when people talk about it.”
Don’t let anyone mention facts that run counter to The Narrative.
Don’t let anyone mention facts that run counter to The Narrative.
Yes. “Shut it down,” indeed. Now imagine how far down the rabbit hole you’d have to be to not hear how that sounds.
If they want real oppression, they should be wearing rags and mucking around in filth on some field while some mythical king and his retinue clops past…
David,
Certainly, the 150 staffers have a vested interest in perpetuating this for as long as possible, but this constant need to out do each other for ‘best self-hating white person’ will ultimately be the undoing of this nightmare. Well, I like to think so, anyway. In fact, it is my sincere hope, that the demands for ever greater demonstrations of self-abasement, will reach a limit, at which point the youth will lose interest.
Here’s hoping.
Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Yusra Khogali is as charming as you’d imagine.
One has to wonder at how seriously the faculty at Berkeley take these statements:
“Respect the full humanity of others,” urges Na’ilah Suad Nasir, the $215,000-a-year vice chancellor for equity and inclusion.
and:
“Keep an open mind and listen with integrity,” from Joseph Greenwell, the associate vice chancellor and dean of students.
when they obviously don’t believe they should apply to Trump supporters.
Jonathan, indeed. How did the diversity dept earn its paycheck at the Milo root? Were they in the crowd, trying to keep the mood light? Did they bravely confront the black bloc and their juvenile nihilism?
Did they do anything except clock off at 1700 and pretend this was nothing to do with them?
I’d love to know, though obviously I have my suspicions…
Hmmmmm, possibly ‘not enough’ http://diversity.berkeley.edu/news/ei-vice-chancellor-leaving-uc-berkeley
Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Yusra Khogali is as charming as you’d imagine.
When can we start calling BLM what it is -a race hate group?
Dear black Americans, the only people who give a damn about you are in fact white Americans. In the unlikely event that you ever succede in knocking the whites off of the top of the tree, you will find that “We wuz slaves. Gibs me dat.” Has no effect whatsoever on President Hernandez.
When can we start calling BLM what it is -a race hate group?
Careful, you’ll set off the WrongThought™ detector. Now repeat after me, “The effect of Black Lives Matter has been wholly positive.”
Swedish feminists.
https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/830798952761016320
More on Ms Khogali here. What’s particularly endearing – after all the boasting of genetic superiority, and her claim that “melanin directly communicates with cosmic energy” – is when she asks Allah to give her the strength “to not kill these men and white folks.”
black ppl simply through their dominant genes can literally wipe out the white race if we had the power to.”
Hang on a sec – black ppl are “superhumxns” who, “have the numbers”, are genetically superior, and chock full of cosmic energy, but don’t have the power the wipe out the genetic defects ? Well, OK, but that would be a first in the history of evolution.
melanin is directly linked to strength of neuro systems affecting capacities like intelligence, memory, and creativity
I will preemptively denounce myself by noting that in her case the link is evidently inverse.
Please check your privilege and cosmic energy here:
Jack Flotte, a member of Regis University’s Social Justice and Spirituality Committee, opened the session by scolding his white peers and professors on their state of “white fragility,” saying, “Like it or not, we are already accomplices. The question becomes: to what end are we partners in the crime of continuing to perpetuate these systems that dehumanise and oppress people?”
As someone who’s only marginally white and whose ancestors have been demonised, persecuted and slaughtered in very large numbers by non-white people, I prefer living in a majority white country to any other kind.
I’d really like to know what the desired endpoint of the continuous drumbeat of hatred for white people is on the left. Anyone?
Jonathan asks: “I’d really like to know what the desired endpoint of the continuous drumbeat of hatred for white people is on the left. Anyone?”
In keeping with the theme, “A boot, stamping on a human face, forever.”
Because these retards like the idea that they might get to wear the boot once in a while. That’s the type of people populating the Left.
More likely Soviet Russia, where everyone was crammed into the same crumbling apartment blocks, made of concrete with too much gravel in it.
Because gravel is cheaper and we have to make quota, Comrades. Tough shit if it collapses and kills them all, I’ve got a dacha.
Second opinion: There isn’t any. Nobody’s in charge. Nobody’s driving the thing. There’s nothing vaguely resembling a consensus plan on the left that can be said to coherently “desire” any endpoint.
I’d really like to know what the desired endpoint of the continuous drumbeat of hatred for white people is on the left. Anyone?
It’s difficult to gauge whether a group that operates in such bad faith seriously believes that they will be afforded the power, prestige, and money commensurate with their perceived place in the world (and, importantly, others losing theirs). Or, if it’s just a scam to justify a paycheck, a shockingly large one at that.
Indeed, the private sector has nothing on them. Average CEO salary ranges (depending on source) from 150-170k. It is likely both receive pensions, and possibly both receive bonuses. For a scam, it’s genius.
Society has come to a pretty pass when the “in thing” to be is a victim. Doesn’t matter what of. Take your pick — or invent a new category (latest is ‘winning the lottery’; see if you can top that!). I would find claiming victimhood to be demeaning, implying that I had neither the wit nor wisdom to exercise any control over my life. Clearly, something’s wrong with my genetic makeup….
In other, not terribly shocking news, former BBC economics editor and avowed communist Paul Mason doesn’t like the proletariat. If you don’t vote as he says you should, you’re a toe-rag, “antisocial” and probably a bike thief.
Mr Mason’s strange mental adventures have been noted here previously.
How can Paul Mason be sure it was a Ukip voter that nicked his bike? I bet he didn’t even own a bike in the first place.
How can Paul Mason be sure it was a Ukip voter that nicked his bike?
If you’re relying on Mr Mason for anything coherent or factually accurate, you’re pretty much buggered.
He’s a fan of Laurie Penny, you know.
Victor Davis Hanson has a tale of two Californias:
See also, The Simon Schama Tendency.
Katherine Kersten on the ruinous legacy of ‘progressive’ education policies.
To expand a bit on my comment to Jonathan that “There isn’t any”:
If I may attempt a relatively language-neutral generalization, the modern left is a coalition of social reformers and the modern right is a coalition of anyone resisting proposed social reforms (and/or wanting to undo recent ones).
The righties generally have something like a plan: a founder, a vision, a scripture, a charter, a constitution, or some historical reference point for How Things Should Be. They’re solution-oriented. The lefties, by contrast, tend to be joined more around a vision of Things Should Not Be This Way. They’re problem-oriented.
Without denying that righties can get caught up in “fake solutions”, I will emphasise here how lefties can get caught up in “fake problems” – which I think is a driver of the ‘continuous drumbeat of hatred for white people’ and the lack of a coherent desired endgame. Because when you’re in a group of habitually problem-oriented people, then inventing and aggravating problems is like a buzzfeedian One Simple Trick for hijacking a movement. The louder you scream about how horrible White Privilege is, the more you demonstrate your problem-orientation credentials and your supposed social sensitivity.
Which leads to a vicious circle of being louder and louder and more hyperbolic and more punitive about how white people must be torn down, and once this view is entrenched as the issue du jour, other people wanting to show off their own credentials may be apt to jump on the same bandwagon rather than try to invent a new issue from scratch. All without planning an endgame, of course. So there’s an element of a self-reinforcing feedback loop at work, grinding against sanity, and only time will tell where the breaking point is. At some point, something’s got to give. People will come to their senses and the echo chamber will fall away to the fringes. What can’t go on forever, won’t. But I’ll be damned if I know how or when it’ll stop.
It’s difficult to gauge whether a group that operates in such bad faith seriously believes that they will be afforded the power, prestige, and money commensurate with their perceived place in the world…
The money may well dry up. In fact, it is already, given that a)there are too many colleges chasing too few students, and b)parents are becoming less inclined to co-sign for massive student loans in order to submit their children to four years of abuse. Indeed, many state legislatures are using the power of the purse to rein in some of the more outlandish behavior at public universities.*
For a university, the business is teaching. “Diversity” programs are a luxury. When the money is short, the university trustees can cut either academics or administration. They can only cut so much of the former before they cease to be a university and spiral into bankruptcy.
*The ultra elite private colleges and a few public universities with sufficient cachet will continue for awhile longer, I suppose, but universities like Regis will face a reckoning sooner rather than later.
One has to wonder at how seriously the faculty at Berkeley take these statements… when they obviously don’t believe they should apply to Trump supporters.
As so often, the words become unmoored from their conventional definitions, almost inverted, and so “diversity” comes to mean mental uniformity, and “critical thinking” comes to mean the credulous acceptance and regurgitation of leftist boilerplate, and so on. The bad faith, mentioned upthread, is habitual, fundamental. It’s written in.
I mean, consider the motherlode – “social justice,” a conveniently woolly buzzword and general marker of leftist piety. But one of the things it seems to entail is treating people not as individuals but as categories, as mascots, and judging a person based primarily on which Designated Victim Group they supposedly belong to, and assigning various exemptions and indulgences depending on that notional group identity and whatever question-begging baggage can be attached to it. And conversely, assigning imaginary sins and “privilege” to someone else based on whatever Designated Oppressor Group they can be said to belong to, however fatuously and regardless of the particulars of the actual person or their actual argument.
Which is to say, “social justice” is something close to racism and the opposite of justice. It’s utterly pernicious. And yet, among many, it’s the latest must-have. The way to let people know how much better than them you are.
How do you convince people that are on the other side of a debate? The first thing you do is acknowledge their concerns. You make clear that you are listening and understand their point of view.
Flotte has another tactic. He tells white folks they don’t understand anything and gives their concerns a swift quick in the nuts. There’s a winning strategy.
But, the thing is, black lives are way cooler than other sorts of lives. As are black students: http://bit.ly/2jw2bgd Erm…
There are about 40,000 students at Berkeley. That means Berkeley funds the Division to the tune of $500 per student per year, or $2000 over the course of a typical undergraduate degree.
Stupid question: what do these 150 people do all day?
I think things are a bit more sinister than other commentators observe.
Trump directly challenges the status quo, and the so-called “deep government”
The ratcheting up of hysteria and hate, I think has an end point which is the assassination of Donald Trump “for the greater good”
what do these 150 people do all day?
Some of them probably do things like this. Again, note the unrelenting distortion of language. Such that simply being quoted verbatim now constitutes “bullying.”
Ms. Kogali’s style of racism has been floating around in certain race radical circles for a while. BLM activism is merely a new nucleus for it. There’s an entire Blavatsky-esque (but Afro-centric) mythology lurking in the background.
If it’s not already been pointed out by David or others, the emphasis on the quasi-mystical properties of race is implicit in the earlier post on supposed “intergenerational trauma” which is passed on “genetically”.
https://thompsonblog.co.uk/2017/01/a-peep-hole-into-bedlam.html
Second opinion: There isn’t any. Nobody’s in charge. Nobody’s driving the thing. There’s nothing vaguely resembling a consensus plan on the left that can be said to coherently “desire” any endpoint.
If that were true, they’d have run out of momentum from the lack of focus, the way a flooding river’s impact is high in a narrow channel and much lower in the wetland delta area.
They are not unfocused: they know exactly what they’re doing and what they want.
The point of the exercise is to OVERTHROW THE CURRENT ORDER and put themselves in charge. Turning society exactly on its head and fomenting chaos and violence leads to (a) enormous demoralization of the society, so it can’t summon the will to defend itself (b) people crying out for SOMEONE to impose law and order & keep the peace.
It’s how the Taliban took Afghanistan, after the withdrawal of the USSR left the place flailing about with naught but warlords and gangsters stirring it up. The righteous Taliban (students) emerged from the radical madrassas in Pakistan, displayed themselves capable of imposing order, and then when the country was pacified they lowered the boom.
Here in the West, demonizing the majority into submission is a helluva tactic, but damn if it’s not succeeding. It took decades of “white guilt” and similar maneuvers—not least of which is the heavy influx of immigrants who are neither white nor who have the desire to defend Western Civ—as well as the dissolution and denigration of the nuclear family, dumbing-down of public education, and the long march through the institutions.
Chaos favors the tyrant; chaos followed by tyranny is their goal. They’ve been patient: setting the foundations and scaffolding for a good 100 years.
Now they’re at the point where they can take “direct action” in the streets, and they’re salivating at the chance to finally flip this baby over.
“Top down, bottom up, inside-out.” — Van Jones
Ms. Kogali’s style of racism has been floating around in certain race radical circles for a while.
Her “defect” rant reminded me immediately of something I read in a buddy’s copy of Apocalypse Culture II, published IIRC in 1987. The author of the piece, a “Dr.” of something-or-other, seemed to be confusing melanin with melatonin at various points from what I remember. This kind of silliness appears to be standard issue in the Nation of Islam (Islam II).
Here in the West, demonizing the majority into submission is a helluva tactic, but damn if it’s not succeeding.
In the US and A it only succeeds in uncivilized places like west of I5 between LA and San Fransisco, east of I95 from DC to Boston, and a few other big cities. Nobody except a few outliers in the civilized states is buying these buffoons crap.
Now they’re at the point where they can take “direct action” in the streets…
Note that they only take “direct action” in places where they know no one will fight back. “Occupy Oakland” never left the Berkeley campus, there is no “Occupy East St. Louis”, or “Occupy Name of Place Where the Ordinary Citizens Will Split Our Wigs”. If they tried to “flip this baby over” for real they would find themselves woefully inadequate to the task remarkably quickly.
If they tried to “flip this baby over” for real they would find themselves woefully inadequate to the task remarkably quickly.
Yes, I’ve heard the refrain “Why do you want a civil war so badly when our side has all the guns?” a lot lately. I think there’s an assumption on the left that the militarized police have bigger guns than the law-abiding right, and are in some sense on the anarchists’side or at least won’t interfere. Which might be true, especially in large Democrat-run cities.
If things really go to hell to the point that posse comitatus is suspended and the army is called in to restore order, the weedy 20-something anarchists and professionally angry race-baiters are going to discover that the rank and file of the US military has 1) even bigger guns and 2) no patience for this crap. The top brass may have been politicized, but they aren’t the ones with their fingers on the triggers.
If it gets that bad, though, we’re looking at Civil War II and all bets are off. I’m becoming increasingly afraid of this eventuality.
More Yvette Felarca.
More Yvette Felarca.
The dishonesty and projection are quite extraordinary. The more people who see this woman speak, and see her ‘activism’, the better. Although probably not in the way she imagines. As I said before, it’s not so much politics, even of the far-left kind she espouses. It’s more like a personality disorder clutching an excuse.
My guess is that, like many of her comrades, Ms Felarca just likes hurting people, scaring them, and enjoys the feeling of power offered by mob coercion. The rest is window dressing, an elaborate, rather contorted excuse. Which may explain why it’s so unrealistic and absurd, so poorly argued. I mean, she’s excusing her mob’s behaviour – assaulting random women with metal bars – by accusing Milo of genocidal intent and “homophobia.”
[ Edited. ]
I do enjoy disquisitions on “privilege” from such people.
It’s all about the unearned guilt. People who suffer from that get up to all kinds of mischief.
Meanwhile, in Tesco.
How perceptive of Tesco’s to recognise that most feminists will spend Valentine’s day alone.
I think you’re leaning far too heavily on an abstract metaphor in this argument.
she’s excusing her mob’s behaviour – assaulting random women with metal bars – by accusing Milo of genocidal intent and “homophobia.”
So that’s what a mad woman looks like.
So that’s what a mad woman looks like.
There is, I think, something faintly creepy about her.
I suspect she’s a more extreme version of Lierre Keith, the militant vegan and advocate of vandalism turned militant meat-eater and advocate of vandalism, and whose lifestyle and persona shifted from one ‘radical’ cause to another, retaining only the enthusiasm for dogma, for “rage,” and for acts of gratuitous destruction, or as she puts it, sabotage. Like cutting power lines and leaving people to freeze in the dark, in the name of “class consciousness.” Ms Keith, who longs for “complete economic collapse,” now describes herself as a “radical feminist and gender abolitionist,” and her enthusiasm for sadistic power fantasies – the only real constant – is undiminished.
Again, not so much politics as a mental health issue.
Victor Davis Hanson has a tale of two Californias:
Too bad that the failure of the Oroville dam isn’t going to flood San Francisco. Heck, the Californians I know all point out that the government’s failure to build adequate water supply seems like a deliberate attempt to create a permanent water shortage which the State can use to control people’s lives.
Meanwhile, in Laurie World:
“Every time.”
I had the displeasure of seeing Ms. Felarca on Tucker Carlson last night and what struck me most was the obvious pleasure she takes in fomenting violence. The unlovely Yvette had a very difficult time containing the smile that kept giving away her delight. That chick has sadist written all over her.
That chick has sadist written all over her.
It makes me wonder what her teaching of middle-school children is like.
If it gets that bad, though, we’re looking at Civil War II and all bets are off. I’m becoming increasingly afraid of this eventuality.
When one looks at incidents like those at Berkeley, it’s easy to become disheartened. Still, there are those maps of county election results for 2016 which tell a different story. The Left certainly fantasizes about a grand insurrection to overthrow the established order, but in truth, the Left’s influence is disproportionate to its actual representation among the populace. There might be substantial civil disruption, but it’s likely to occur in places where the Bolsheviks are beating the shit out of the Mensheviks.
Note that they only take “direct action” in places where they know no one will fight back.
Yep. And in those cities, they only target businesses where they know there won’t be a owner standing guard with a shotgun.
Hence, Starbucks takes a brick through the window every time. It’s a soft target.
Which might be true, especially in large Democrat-run cities.
Not even then, I suspect. It has been reported that the Berkeley 5-0 were ordered to stand down, which, having seen the video of Miss Felarca and her gang of goons beating up the Trump supporter with the cops just standing there, is easy to believe, but stand down order or not, I really doubt that they would if these maggots were in their neighborhoods threatening their families and property.
Still, there are those maps of county election results for 2016 which tell a different story.
Indeed, but even that is a bit misleading, if you take out anomalies like the Mississippi Delta and the Alabama Black Belt* all you are left with is mainly urban centres (note that the giant blue San Bernardino County – larger than the lower third of New England – would be red if not for San Bernardino the city, likewise the almost as huge Coconino in Arizona which is afflicted with Flagstaff).
There might be substantial civil disruption, but it’s likely to occur in places where the Bolsheviks are beating the shit out of the Mensheviks.
Exactly, all those red counties are not going to be particularly perturbed because the rioting in Palo Alto has delayed the latest Adobe releases, but if they want to block the highways so food and other essentials from the hinterlands can’t get through, it will suck to be them. I suspect strategic planning and logistics are not among Angry Studies coursework. It might be the first time in history a group laid siege to them selves, so it could be interesting.
*(This time I will not denounce myself, it is so named because of the soil, not the inhabitants.)
Apologies for those who have heard this before, but it was news to me so was very excited at how relevant it was to the discussion above.
One of the recent ‘In Our Times’ dealt with Nietzche and the genealogy of morality. And during the discussion about the master/slave relationship they talked about the concept of ‘ressentiment’. It’s fascinating, and incredibly relevant to the modern social justice warrior phenomenon, I think. Very much worth a listen. It gives an insight into why they will never be satisfied. Why it is impossible to buy them off.
Very much worth a listen.
Is a link available?
It might be the first time in history a group laid siege to them selves, so it could be interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5ba1OKY7Xc
The Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, pushed through legislation which forbad the importation of slaves into Upper Canada as of 1795. Due to ‘public’ pressure, slaves brought into the colony prior to 1795 were legal, but had to be freed within 25 years.
York replaced Niagara-on-the-Lake as capital of UC, and was later renamed ‘Toronto’.
Cheers
I invented a sugar pill that cures white privilege and you only ever need to take one, it costs a mere 10 cents, and the science behind it is unassailable.
How much do you think the left will pay me to keep it off the market?
How much do you think the left will pay me to keep it off the market?
Nothing—It’s obviously fraudulent.
You need to charge “only” fifty seven cents a pill and add that sales will be refused for being too “expensive” . . .
Ah, you’re a science denier!
But a marketing genius.
Ah, you’re a science denier!
But a marketing genius.
If you’re giving it away at only ten cents a pill, then obviously there is no value to it and you’re clearly commuting fraud. So what you need is a collection of online black bloc fascists–yes, I repeat myself—loudly denouncing you for being a vicious profit monger, so that you are then forced cut your price to twenty five cents—easier for the buyers to add, that way—and then be forced to sell for merely twenty five cents a pill . . . . .
I rest my case….
https://twitter.com/RealPeerReview/status/831980751113576454
Referencing Laclau’s perception of “hauntologies” to texts (adapted from Derrida) I posit that the presence/specter of the queer villain Moriarty can be read as a caesura challenging performed hegemonic masculinity.