Elsewhere (284)
Janice Fiamengo on inclusive, decolonised, anti-rational academia:
This is probably now the top hot-button issue at Canadian universities – the move to replace ‘European-based knowledge’ as exclusionary, inadequate and subjective, and to replace it in some cases with “indigenous knowledge,” and even something called “indigenous science”… what some might say is superstition or magical beliefs… The idea that “indigenous knowledge” is not to be questioned, that it has value equal to supposedly ‘European’ science… is an incredibly worrisome and strange idea.
Do watch in full for the anecdotes about the realities of so-called “affirmative action,” and the faculty lounge response to hearing of the 9/11 atrocities. If you’re new here and unfamiliar with Professor Fiamengo’s observations on campus culture, I recommend watching this.
Somewhat related, scenes from Cape Town’s decolonised academia, where “science people” are scolded for “disrespecting progressive space” – specifically, for doubting the claim that Africans can throw lightning at their enemies.
Lia Eustachewich on Harvard’s woke racism:
A Harvard University dean testified that the school has different SAT score standards for prospective students based on factors such as race and sex — but insisted that the practice isn’t discriminatory… [Dean of admissions, William Fitzsimmons] said Harvard sends recruitment letters to African-American, Native American and Hispanic high schoolers with mid-range SAT scores, around 1100 on math and verbal combined out of a possible 1600… Asian-Americans only receive a recruitment letter if they score at least 250 points higher — 1350 for women, and 1380 for men.
The words that come to mind are systemic and institutional. See also this and this.
Further to the recent Clown Quarter hoaxing saga, Peter Boghossian on the game of Nazi-by-association:
Think about how crazy this is. We have created an environment where a sincere person cannot ask a question about a dominant moral orthodoxy – in a university system.
And via Jonathan, Abigail Shrier reviews Heather Mac Donald’s book The Diversity Delusion:
Under the diversity mantle, college administrators have mangled every aspect of universities from hiring processes to disciplinary proceedings to curricula in the humanities and even in the sciences. (An introductory chemistry course at Berkeley has as its stated primary goal “to disrupt ‘the racialised and gendered construct of scientific brilliance,’ which defines ‘good science’ as getting all the right answers. The course maintains instead that ‘all students are scientifically brilliant.’”)
And which, I’ve just noticed, pretty much brings us full circle. Ms Mac Donald’s book can be bought here (US) and here (UK).
As usual, feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
Mark Pulliam on the never-ending “diversity” shakedown.
A Harvard University dean testified that the school has different SAT score standards for prospective students based on factors such as race and sex — but insisted that the practice isn’t discriminatory…
Elizabeth Warren approves
I remember it clearly, back when I was in high school (they’d invented high school by then, but only very recently) – I was NOT “scientifically brilliant”. D@mn it – born fifty years too early… 🙁
Do watch in full for the anecdotes about the realities of so-called “affirmative action,” and the faculty lounge response to hearing of the 9/11 atrocities.
For those short on time and are curious about this specifically, it starts around the 16 minute mark or so. Kinda dispels the Nice Canadians myth.
it starts around the 16 minute mark or so.
Thanks. Link added.
the realities of so-called “affirmative action,”
The dirty secret everyone knows about.
The dirty secret everyone knows about.
As Fiamengo says, “No white men were even considered for any of the positions that were offered,” including men who were clearly much more qualified. And yet, “You weren’t allowed to object [publicly] in any way.” Because fairness. It makes me wonder how staff who aren’t true believers cope with the dissonance.
The idea that “indigenous knowledge” is not to be questioned, that it has value equal to supposedly ‘European’ science… is an incredibly worrisome and strange idea.
‘Return of the Primitive’ was not a how-to guide. (Instapundit)
The dirty secret everyone knows about.
The discriminatory practices do not only include admissions, but merit-based financial aid decisions, i.e. academic scholarships, as well. It’s actually easier to perpetrate than admissions discrimination. Unless one checks off the correct demographic boxes, academic merit-based aid is not attainable.
‘Return of the Primitive’ was not a how-to guide.
Looking through university “indigenous science” websites, it isn’t always clear what the actual science content is, beyond some basic lessons in using the internet, which are framed, rather grandly, as “digital relations” and “undoing colonial imbalances.” References to scientific methodology, for instance, are rare. You will, however, find endless complaints that “school science fails to nurture indigenous identities,” as if this were something that science should do, and indeed prioritise.
And “indigenous science” gatherings – sorry, productive spaces – seem primarily geared to political activism, “collective imagining” and churning out sour, entitled narcissists of the kind seen here recently.
…“school science fails to nurture indigenous identities”…
Except try to nurture an indigenous identity using a bell-curve and see what happens to you. And as the recent kerfuffle about Liz Warren’s DNA showed, questions about origins of “native” peoples are verboten inasmuch as the answers to such questions point to Asia instead of the Smokey Mountains. Perhaps I’m wrong, but “nurturing” identities sounds a lot like “kissing their asses.”
Perhaps I’m wrong, but “nurturing” identities sounds a lot like “kissing their asses.”
As a prole child from an unglamorous part of town, I didn’t notice my physics lessons nurturing my identity. It was more a question of trying to remember equations and other fairly humdrum stuff. But hey, we must decolonise that white devil science.
What’s the worst that could happen?
“Mathematicians who want tenure at UCLA have to do more than show a facility with numbers. They also have to pledge in writing a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusivity.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/311154/
In other news, whiteness clings to Dolly Parton.
Bad whiteness.
Bad Dolly.
Re: Dolly Parton
The distressing thing about the underlying link by Professor Jessica Wilkerson is her desperate need to assure her colleagues and associates that, although she was born and reared in Appalachia, she is most definitely not one of those hillbillys. Yea, verily, she has seen the light.
How pathetic.
Especially because we all know she’d be the first in line to laud every other culture no matter how repugnant as being, at worst, equally worthy if not morally superior to that of Eastern Tennessee.
Kinda dispels the Nice Canadians myth.
I watched the video last night and I have to say that was pretty shocking to me.
What struck me, too, was where Janice was pretty honest on what an emotional rush, a high almost, she got out of being an angry feminist during her years as a grad student. She grew up and got sober, so many never do.
National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE)
Unionized Diversity Officers. What a time to be alive.
What struck me, too, was where Janice was pretty honest on what an emotional rush, a high almost, she got out of being an angry feminist during her years as a grad student.
What was the phrase, euphoric rage…?
Especially because we all know she’d be the first in line to laud every other culture no matter how repugnant as being, at worst, equally worthy if not morally superior to that of Eastern Tennessee.
Then the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone
All centuries but this, and every country but [her] own;
…
He’s got her on the list — he’s got her on the list;
And I don’t think she’ll be missed — I’m sure she’ll not be missed!
…although she was born and reared in Appalachia…
From her bio, her parents worked in Knoxville, metro area over 800,000 people, and her family were “union organizers”, which suggests that although geographically she grew up in Appalachia, she is about 1/1024 Appalachian compared to Dolly Parton, one of 12 kids whose father was an illiterate sharecropper.
IOW, another academic phony.
Janice Fiamengo is the guest on this week’s Rubin Report. They’re always good value as a podcast.
What’s the worst that could happen?
Hmmm… The whole “believe absurdities / commit atrocities” meme comes to mind…
Douglas Murray on the idiotic hypocrisy of Teen Vogue, and why Francis Fukuyama got it right:
At the conclusion of ‘The End Of History’, the author mused on the likely behaviour of the people who find themselves at the end of the historical process as delineated by Hegel and himself. Fukuyama posits, among other things, that some people may become enraged at the end stages of the historical synthesis because they will have too little to struggle against.
As a result they may struggle “against the just cause”, and “struggle for the sake of struggle”. Fukuyama warned that in this situation, “if the greater part of the world in which they live is characterized by peaceful and prosperous liberal democracy, then they will struggle against that peace and prosperity, and against democracy”
It’s been a while since I read The End of History but I may give it another go.
In a similar vein, here’s Sean Walsh on the prevailing mindset of the American Left:
The conservative mind….retains if not a religious conviction then a religious sensibility. The conservative looks at the institutions around him and attempts to retrieve from them some distilled sense of the sacred. The leftist examines those same institutions and discerns an imperative to organise against them. More so if those institutions are protections against the illegitimate acquisition of power.
There, fixed the italics overflow.
Or did I?
How does one fix that?
I tried. You got to it first. Well done. A pickled egg for our friend here.
There, fixed the italics overflow.
Well done, that man.
Oops.
Was that down to me?
Was that down to me?
[ Room falls silent, everybody stares. ]
[Sighs, and retrieves wallet from jacket pocket]
In that case…
How does one fix that?
The trick to fixing it is pretty much what you would expect. Just put in the ending tag. The problem is that it will not appear fixed in Preview. And of course, since not using the Preview button got you in trouble in the first place, you must counter-intuitively click Post. Doing so has a certain thrill about it, I must say. Not that I’m one to encourage risky lifestyles. Which brings me to…
What struck me, too, was where Janice was pretty honest on what an emotional rush, a high almost, she got out of being an angry feminist during her years as a grad student. She grew up and got sober, so many never do.
That struck me as well. The word discipline comes to mind. Or more accurately, self-discipline. This used to be something taught in schools back when they were more greatly under the influence of religion, be they of the more overt parochial variety or in days gone by (US anyway) public schools. I’m curious if private non-religious schools make an explicit effort to teach self-discipline. Can it be done effectively over a long period of time without a religious aspect to it? I mean beyond the standard necessary to keep order in the classroom. Sure self-discipline is necessary to do one’s homework properly and to study and to achieve in arts or athletics, but can these emotional euphoric highs be channelled properly in a social context without some sense of a Divine Entity watching over you? Not that it works real well with religion itself in many of the extremely devout, but my perspective is that for most mainstream implementations of religion it does. Though maybe it’s my milage that varies here.
Heh…And I even hit preview….what I needed to say was ” Just put in the ending tag in the next post“
“Mathematicians who want tenure at UCLA have to do more than show a facility with numbers. They also have to pledge in writing a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusivity.”
In Britain, until the 19th Century, one couldn’t enter a university without joining the established Church. After the religious schisms in the Scottish church, the Free Kirk set up its own college to train its clergy, because the universities were off-limits. The building is barely 15 minutes’ walk from where I live, one of the landmarks of the Glasgow skyline (although I don’t suppose most people know what it was, these days).
I think I’ve said this before: being forced to profess beliefs you don’t necessarily hold in order to gain an education or public office is precisely the reason there’s a ban on the establishment of religion in the Constitution.
“In other news, whiteness clings to Dolly Parton.”
Well, you know this means war.
“Then the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone
All centuries but this, and every country but [her] own;”
Can’t beat a bit of Gilbert.
“It’s been a while since I read The End of History but I may give it another go.”
Yes, I think it’s been much misunderstood. The man had a point, but the title was unfortunate.
And I even hit preview
It’s no bloody wonder I water down the booze.
Wait. Did I say that out loud?
“Then the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone
All centuries but this, and every country but [her] own.”
Frankly, looking at this century, at what’s going on in the world and its likely future direction, I think there’s very little I can be enthusiastic about.
Another carefully unstated result of the affirmative action jiggering admitted to by Harvard is that the beneficiaries are almost exclusively upper-middle class suburban African-Americans and Hispanics, quite often considerably advantaged in every meaningful way compared to the Asian applicants they are provided a leg up on.
“Frankly, looking at this century, at what’s going on in the world and its likely future direction, I think there’s very little I can be enthusiastic about.”
Fair point, but if we take WSG as writing specifically about his own century, I think his point still holds. The Romantics, and specifically the Aesthetics, whom he was needling in that line, thought the world had gone downhill since the middle ages. Today’s postmodernists think they’re so much better than their Victorian predecessors, even though in many ways – their censorious moral rigidity, for example – they’re astonishingly similar. If not worse.
As Fiamengo says, “No white men were even considered for any of the positions that were offered,” including men who were clearly much more qualified. And yet, “You weren’t allowed to object [publicly] in any way.” Because fairness. It makes me wonder how staff who aren’t true believers cope with the dissonance.
Anyone who has read Solzhenitsyn or otherwise has familiarity with life in the Soviet Union will recognize this institutionalized dissonance. To some extent it’s a feature not a bug.
I watched the video last night and I have to say that was pretty shocking to me.
As Fiamengo says, “This is not a reform movement… everything has to be smashed.” Because hey, the scolding and bullying, the smashing, is the fun part, the bit that really matters, for a certain kind of person. I mean, if you’re rendered smug and satisfied, even gleeful, by the thought of thousands of random, ordinary people being burned alive, suffocated and crushed by tons of falling concrete – while the horror still unfolds on live television – what kind of creature does that make you?
Off topic, but I got nine pages of blanks before this article scrolled up. I haven’t changed anything, is it my fault?
…whiteness clings to Dolly Parton…
I am no particular fan of Dolly Parton or of country music (which I could cheerfully live without along with rap), but as I read a couple of the links in the linked article the conceit and cluelessness behind this claim of Miss Wilkerson becomes more astounding.
Riley B. King, born on a cotton plantation in the Mississippi delta, becomes a famous musician, creates much wealth personally and for all the people of various colors supporting him both via the music industry and his chain of restaurants.
Dolly Parton, born on a sharecropper farm in the Tennessee hills, becomes a famous musician, creates much wealth personally and for all the people of various colors supporting her both via the music industry and her various business ventures.
Miss Wilkerson, apparent red diaper baby, goes to many colleges getting degrees in Angry and Useless studies, becomes professor, creates nothing of real value for anyone except her own sinecure.
Seems to me based on life experiences Miss Wilkerson is the whiter shade of pale.
I haven’t changed anything, is it my fault?
Typepad is bumpy and sluggish at the moment. There may be some upgrades or maintenance underway.
without some sense of a Divine Entity watching over you?
I got self-discipline as a kid.
Turns out that some sense of a not-retired USMC Officer watching over you works pretty well, too.
Seems to me based on life experiences Miss Wilkerson is the whiter shade of pale.
How about whited sepulchure? 😉
About that euphoric rage?
I’m sure it will be shocking to find out that the defining characteristics for the person-most-likely-to-scream-in-the-streets-while-waving-placards-or-paper-mache-puppets is a liberal, post-grad female.
Turns out that some sense of a not-retired USMC Officer watching over you works pretty well, too.
True. A 2 1/2 years at the tip of the spear combat infantry army 1st Sargent can also be quite effective. But even he still can’t be everywhere. Don’t ask how I know. Not to mention that not everyone is as lucky as we were.
I’m female, moderate, independent, some college. I would protest if any protests existed for my issues.
Should we protest “No refunds credit note only” policy of You Know Who?
Kinda dispels the Nice Canadians myth.
*snort* We’re not nice. We’re smug assholes. We like to play up the “polite Canadian” myth because Canadians define themselves as not-Americans, and the myth up here is that all Americans are stupid, rude, loud, boisterous gun-toting hicks.
The Famous Canadian Pierre Berton once opined that “there is no difference between Americans and Canadians, and the surest way to demonstrate this is to point this out to a Canadian” (the joke being that you’d see stupid, rude, loud, boisterous behaviour in short order if you did so).
It makes me wonder how staff who aren’t true believers cope with the dissonance.
~ Theodore Dalrymple
Unless one checks off the correct demographic boxes, academic merit-based aid is not attainable.
A friend of mine went to high school with an emigree from South Africa – an Afrikaaner. She was drowning in university scholarship money because on paper she was an African-American woman, despite having cornsilk-blonde hair and skin as white as milk.
what an emotional rush, a high almost, she got out of being an angry feminist
Adrenaline’s a hell of a drug. Basic evo psych; men compete with each other physically for the alpha male spot in the hierarchy; women compete for social position within the harem. Successfully demonstrating your social superiority is an evolutionary success strategy for women, so biology rewards it.
Better break out the watered booze and plastic flatware.
. . . but if we take WSG as writing specifically about his own century, I think his point still holds. The Romantics, and specifically the Aesthetics, whom he was needling in that line, thought the world had gone downhill since the middle ages.
And archaeologists hear yet another round of how much more refined and cultured the ancestors were, and respond with Yeah, right, hold my tea.
Should we protest “No refunds credit note only” policy of You Know Who?
Nah. He never used the No refunds. Credit note only. line, that’s always been David who used that. What he did was to feed people to his pet snake.
scenes from Cape Town’s decolonised academia,
Road. To. Hell.
Road. To. Hell.
Watching the video again, what’s striking is the air of bad faith and opportunist dominance, of vindictive mediocrities intoxicated by the opportunity to cow and insult people more competent than themselves. And so, we have students, supposed intellectuals, demanding that they be taken seriously while insisting, based on nothing, that “Western” science, all of it, is a “product of racism,” and while claiming, based on nothing, that the scientific method and pretensions of witchcraft are just rival epistemologies and therefore somehow equal in their accuracy and usefulness.
And this transparent horseshit is indulged. By people who should be laughing, booing and throwing soft fruit.
You’d think that at some point, quite early on, some of the adults might have fathomed that prostrating themselves before spiteful little morons might not be a good idea. I mean, ideally before lecturers were actually scared of the students and looking for jobs elsewhere, and before students started burning historic artwork and smearing statues with human faeces.
As intellectuals do.
As noted at the time, I sometimes wonder if the Clown Quarter of academia might actually be a massive and rather perverse behavioural experiment, the point of which is to see just how credulous and mentally deformable human beings are.
Dolly Parton has given away more than 100 million books to young children. As such I rather suspect she has done more to educate people than her academic detractor by some orders of magnitude.
Dolly Parton has given away more than 100 million books to young children.
Specifically . . . My wife reminded me of that last night and popped in to mention it, but TomJ was quicker on the draw.
Today’s postmodernists think they’re so much better than their Victorian predecessors, even though in many ways – their censorious moral rigidity, for example – they’re astonishingly similar. If not worse.
And not just their censorious moral rigidity: Dickens was spot-on with his caricature “telescopic philanthropist” Mrs. Jellyby and her obsession with the “Borrioboola-Gha venture.”
Turns out that some sense of a not-retired USMC Officer watching over you works pretty well, too.
I’ve been fighting my sugar- and carb-cravings lately with this gimmick. I’ve never served, but I’ve seen enough clips of R. Lee Ermey to imagine him screaming at me every time I consider going off the wagon. It’s worked for the past few weeks, despite the ready availability of chocolate-chip cookies at my workplace (all gone now, fortunately!).
Today’s postmodernists think they’re so much better than their Victorian predecessors, even though in many ways – their censorious moral rigidity, for example – they’re astonishingly similar. If not worse.
Not a new idea.
On the topic of Dolly, strange how the attempt is made to claim that her broad appeal is due to “multiple (unstated) personas”, and not to anything universal in human sentiment. One might almost think the pigeonholists of the left want to divide people however they can and will assume almost any non sequitur of thought required thereby…
Dolly Parton, whose songs about overcoming adversity and being poor and suffering unrequited love are *clearly* approachable as a hallmark of how whites believe that they are better than everyone else… what? The claim she has anything do to with White Supremacy(c) is far more nonsensical than a claim Marlene Dietrich was uniquely Nazi – no self-respecting Patriarchal overlord of all would build a Dollywood mythos.
As to broad appeal, I sometimes frequent a “reactions” YouTube channel fronted by a pair of black gents – specializing in rap, but frequenting also the realms of metal, alt-rock, and even country. The merits of “Jolene” in its beat, structure, writing, and soulful singing were enthusiastically certified.
Dolly Parton has given away more than 100 million books to young children.
Time to investigate these books. I suspect more than a few colonize non-white non-cis conceptual space thereby removing it from the oppressed and transferring it to the oppressor.
Even the name “Dolly” reeks of enforced childishness, and the social, economic and intellectual subordination, and, yes, of course, rape forced upon the female listener thereby reinforcing gender stereotypes.
No, Dolly, you don’t get a pass for being a good person. Teaching kids to read and to love books only sustains the corrupt capitalist system and makes its inevitable fall and annihilation all the more prolonged and painful.
Reading is FUN? No, reading is f*cked!
@Sporktackle
‘ The merits of “Jolene” in its beat, structure, writing, and soulful singing were enthusiastically certified.’
listen to the 7″ of Jolene at 33rpm (or search youtube for the same).
its eerie and brilliant.