Elsewhere (290)
Dave Huber reports from the bleeding edge of intersectional scholarship:
Rutgers University’s Brittney Cooper… an associate professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies… says that the very concept of time itself is racially biased. In an interview with NPR last week, Cooper said that the way we “position ourselves in relationship to time comes out of histories of European and Western thought”; in other words, “white people own time.”
According to our feminist educator, time “doesn’t feel linear” for black people – all of them, presumably – because, she says, they live with “the residue of past historical trauma.” You see, for “African-American folks,” the present “feels like the past” – specifically, “narratives of race that are rooted in violence and a lack of freedom” – i.e., slavery – “can become our reality again at any moment.”
And John Paul Wright and Matt DeLisi ponder leftist theories of crime:
Criminologists’ lack of direct contact with subjects, situations, and neighbourhoods—their propensity to abstraction—invites misunderstandings about the reality of crime… The gulf between numbers on a spreadsheet and the harsh realities of the world sometimes fosters a romanticised view of criminals as victims, making it easier for criminologists to overlook the damage that lawbreakers cause—and to advocate for more lenient policies and treatment. Evidence of the liberal tilt in criminology is widespread. Surveys show a 30:1 ratio of liberals to conservatives within the field, a spread comparable with that in other social sciences.
At which point, readers may recall a Guardian interview with lawyer and activist Clive Stafford Smith, who airily dismissed burglary as “really quite inconsequential,” thereby implying that the wellbeing of burglars is more important than the wellbeing of their numerous, often very poor, victims. Especially if the burglar is a “young black person.” According to Mr Stafford Smith and Guardian columnist Decca Aitkenhead – for whom, such things are largely theoretical and not a routine fact of life – anger at being burgled and the subsequent sense of violation are somehow trivial, plebeian and unsophisticated. And so, these enlightened creatures pretend to feel sympathy for career criminals who may prey on their neighbours for years, while disdaining the victims’ expectations of lawfulness, and justice, as “idiotic attitudes.”
Update, via the comments:
Note that the woke position – the one that apparently isn’t idiotic – is that if your elderly parents are burgled and left fearful and distraught, and if this upsets you, then you, and they, are just bourgeois reactionaries, unschooled in modern theory. Because the correct, more progressive view is that it’s unfair for “poor people” – Mr Stafford Smith’s eye-widening euphemism for habitual criminals - to “end up in prison” for repeatedly committing crimes that, according to the Guardian, nobody should care about. Say, when returning home to find the door kicked in and anything of value, however modest, stolen or destroyed by sociopathic predators.
And hey, burglars have feelings too.
As usual, feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
People only mind being burgled ‘because we’ve trained people to have these idiotic attitudes!’
Someone should test his theory.
The only thing more useless than a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies is a rock music critic.
Higher ‘education’ is the second most corrupt activity in American society.
Someone should test his theory.
It would, I think, be interesting to see how our super-woke lawyer reconciles his preening with actual reality, up close, first-hand, and to see how well that smugness stands up to the kind of fear and degradation that he so casually dismisses when it happens to other, poorer people.
Both Mr Stafford Smith and Ms Aitkenhead insist that being burgled has “zero” emotional impact and no real material repercussions – and is therefore trivial and unworthy of serious punishment. Which is much easier to claim if, like Stafford Smith, you’re well-heeled and from a very comfortable background of upscale boarding schools, costing a mere £12,000 a term. Neither of them pauses to consider the impact of burglary, even repeatedly burglary, on someone who is, say, elderly and isolated, and perhaps uninsured, and who has no means of replacing whatever possessions were stolen or destroyed. The victim’s violation, and the subsequent anxiety, and the sense of injustice, are dismissed as trivial. An “idiotic attitude.”
It’s quite a thing, the interview. The self-admiring duo casually insult the victims of crime as if doing so were a credential, proof of piety, and the moral idiocy just gushes out. Mr Stafford Smith also boasts that he dislikes Conservative voters more than muggers and carjackers, presumably on grounds of “social justice.”
He’s so terribly grown-up.
CPT or BPT (whichever you’re comfortable with…).
I’ve seen it on sidewalks on city streets, walking down the middle of the road in a parking lot, pushing a cart in a store, any number of grocery store checkout experiences…
This one seems legit.
“airily dismissed burglary as ‘really quite inconsequential’”
Well, yes, if you compare it to the sun eventually exploding and killing every single living thing on Earth – he’s quite right.
The Physics Envy in the Clown Quarter is… interesting and not in a good way.
An “idiotic attitude.”
Lefties project.
Lefties project.
Well, the woke position – the one that apparently isn’t idiotic – is that if your elderly parents are burgled and left fearful and distraught, and if this upsets you, then you, and they, are just bourgeois reactionaries, unschooled in modern theory. You see, the correct, more sophisticated view is that it’s unfair for “poor people” – an eye-widening euphemism for habitual criminals – to “end up in prison” for repeatedly committing crimes that, according to the Guardian, nobody should care about. Say, when returning home and finding the door kicked in and anything of value, however modest, stolen or destroyed by sociopathic predators.
Because, hey, burglars have feelings too.
This one seems legit.
Like Hawaiian Time (where when the repair guy says he’ll be there tomorrow around 0900 it really means sometime this week, maybe) there is a difference between being lazy, disorganized, and/or disinterested and the dreck this young miss is pushing, not that I don’t take anything from the “Crunk Feminist Collective” with all the seriousness something so named deserves. However, this statement regarding the criminologists…
…also applies as I am willing to bet the back 40 that our erstwhile assistant professor has spent nigh zero time (pasts, presents, or futures, real or imagined) with “African-American folks” other than in her circle of “academics”, for example, former sharecroppers of the Mississippi delta who actually experienced the troubles she is trying to claim as her own – gotta be an oppressed victim what with spending your entire adult life in the hardscrabble world of universities. Up before dawn, scratching through rows and rows of books in an air conditioned library, backbreaking discussions in the faculty lounge till after sundown, day after day…
If only Muddy Waters were still alive, the song he would write about that.
You see, the correct, more sophisticated view is that it’s unfair for “poor people” – an eye-widening euphemism for habitual criminals – to “end up in prison”
If more burglars were shot and killed, ending up in prison wouldn’t be a problem.
If more burglars were shot and killed, ending up in prison wouldn’t be a problem.
I have to say, the savings in incarceration costs, and the unlikelihood of recidivism, are factors in its favour.
I’ve heard people who, erm, aren’t so enthusiastic about vibrancy levels use the term CPT – coloured people time – to describe the inability of certain groups to do anything in a timely manner, including turning up. It’s rather amusing that the wokest of the woke tend to agree with this concept.
Mark Bauerlein on “diversity” versus standards.
One of western civilization’s upcoming epitaphs will be how it bred markets for everything – in these many examples how its excesses allowed incentives for peddling actual internal lunacy.
This crap circulates with all the intellectual horsepower of a furry convention. They’ll probably get both of them listed on a stock exchange somewhere.
“says that the very concept of time itself is racially biased”
This has long been used an excuse for “people of color” chronically not showing up for work on time–which is thus evidence that “the white man’s time” is oppressing them. I actually had a Native American say that to my face (he also had great difficulty constructing a clear, linear narrative of any event or chain of logical reasoning), but prudently refrained from suggesting that it was merely a lack of self-discipline brought about by faulty upbringing.
“CPT – coloured people time”
The Woke terminology for “lazy and shiftless but have a great sense of rhythm.”
It’s simultaneously hilarious and disheartening.
It’s rather amusing that the wokest of the woke tend to agree with this concept.
I try to be an equal opportunity misanthrope, but the perpetual propensity of the wokest of the woke to get out their broad brushes and thin paint to cover entire populations is not only tiresome, but insulting to members of their own [insert group here] who don’t buy into their claptrap and psychopathology.
Yes, racism matters to you because your livelihood depends upon it, to the legions of blacks and people of other tints who get up and go to work every day who you insult by saying they can’t function in “white time”, not so much.
@fnord
“The only thing more useless than a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies is a rock music critic.”
That’s a bit harsh on the rock music critics. I genuinely enjoy their work.
. . . the way we “position ourselves in relationship to time comes out of histories of European and Western thought”; in other words, “white people own time.”
Awhile back I met a rabbi who had earlier been a Zen monk for a number of years. His comment on his initial encounter with Zen included his having some general idea that the practice of the Buddha Dharma involved just going with some flow, cool, man, time is like whatever, y’know . . . and then when taking up the actual Buddhist practice, he found instead the actuality that while yes, everything does occur in its time, that particular moment of time is always RIGHT NOW.
That’s a bit harsh on the rock music critics.
It takes a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies to make rock critics seem unpretentious.
says that the very concept of time itself is racially biased
If this were a sane world people like this would be working in a circus tent, hideously freaksish but ultimately harmless.
Let me try this Instapundit style…
SHOT:
CHASER:
“The uncertain predictive value of the GRE exam is far outweighed by the toll it takes on student diversity.”
So the only way to stop inequality is to stop measuring anything? Ah, the head in the sand strategy. That will work.
https://thompsonblog.co.uk/2018/06/the-unsayable.html
I do like it when people quote me.
[ Licks own eyebrows. ]
So the only way to stop inequality is to stop measuring anything?
Yes, pretty much. Also, hiding elephants under tea towels.
It’s a solid bet that Clive Stafford Smith & Decca Aitkenhead have security systems installed in their residences, indicating neither consider burglary quite as ‘inconsequential’ as they claim it is.
SHOT:
Rutgers University’s Brittney Cooper says slavery “can become our reality again at any moment”
CHASER: [Lori Lightfoot] The Chicago lawyer and activist, an out lesbian, has been elected as the city’s first black female mayor…
Some slavery at any moment.
“slavery can become our reality again at any moment”
Whenever leftists gain power.
Mr Stafford Smith also boasts that he dislikes Conservative voters more than muggers and carjackers, presumably on grounds of “social justice.”
This is a feature of leftist “justice” and has its roots in Leninism and Stalinism. The on-the-ground camps of the Gulag were “supervised” by real criminals (murderers, thieves, rapists, etc.) who made life even more difficult for the “politicals.” Mr. Stafford just continues the tradition and would, no doubt, impose a similar hierarchy if he were in charge.
[Lori Lightfoot] The Chicago lawyer and activist, an out lesbian, has been elected as the city’s first black female mayor…
I see she ran on an anti-corruption platform. Cue up the first report of corruption in 3,2, 1… Never forget, leftists project.
“poor people” – Mr Stafford Smith’s eye-widening euphemism for habitual criminals
‘Poor people’ with expensive drug habits.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-34219015
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022042616678613
Let’s ask Frank Zappa what he thinks about music journalism: “People who can’t talk interviewed by people who can’t write for people who can’t read.”
I’ve been stripping Encarta’s Book of Quotations for a project, so I’ll be here all month, unless the host deems otherwise.
Ref Lightfoot
She is already disapproved by the woke crowd.
Apparently actually wants to do something about crime.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/04/chicago-makes-history-by-electing-citys-first-black-lesbian-mayor-radical-progressive-left-hardest-hit/
Rich people don’t need the rule of law. They’re quite capable of hiring whatever help they need to protect themselves. And to a lesser degree, so too the middle class. It’s poor people who need the rule of law to protect what few resources they have and to give themselves a chance to better their condition.
Could it be that Social Justice Warriors despise the oppressed? So much of what they do seems designed to keep the poor in their place while pretending to work in their interests.
Ref Lightfoot
She is already disapproved by the woke crowd.
Apparently actually wants to do something about crime.
According to the Second City Cop blog, her opponent Preckwinkle is very anti-law-enforcement and pro-criminal. See Steve E’s very apt comment “This is a feature of leftist ‘justice’ and has its roots in Leninism and Stalinism.”
She is already disapproved by the woke crowd.
I see, so Sudden Slavery™ is going to be brought on by a black lesbian – how awesome is that ?
thereby implying that the wellbeing of burglars is more important than the wellbeing of their numerous, often very poor, victims
In a similar vein, when three hoodlums, armed with brass knuckles and knives, broke into a home while the owner was sleeping, and the owner promptly shot them all, there was considerable outrage.
At the homeowner.
The complaint was that it wasn’t fair to the poor burglars to be outgunned so badly.
Of course, they were expecting to face an unarmed homeowner, with only knives and brass knuckles. Because apparently, three armed men and one unarmed man is more fair.
“badge bunnies”
I learn something here every day.
Instalanche.
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/326502/
Instalanche.
Better stash your valuables in your shoes.
and the owner promptly shot them all, there was considerable outrage.
One hopes his aim was true and his caliber adequate.
“Rutgers University’s Brittney Cooper… an associate professor”
Professor, my ass.
Academic fraud … there, fixed it.
According to our feminist educator, time “doesn’t feel linear” for black people – all of them, presumably – because, she says, they live with “the residue of past historical trauma.” You see, for “African-American folks,” the present “feels like the past” – specifically, “narratives of race that are rooted in violence and a lack of freedom” – i.e., slavery – “can become our reality again at any moment.”
Sounds like a great argument for giving them longer prison sentences.
Theodore Dalrymple’s book “Our Culture, What’s Left of It” is a must-read regarding crime, criminology, and leftist rubbish pertaining thereto.
If one were to read Daniel J Boorstin’s excellent “The Discoverers” one would learn that the western concept of time is. perhaps, not what humankind used to understand as time. The entire first part of the book explores that concept. For those who aren’t aware, Boorstin was a Librarian of Congress, a scholar of no mean repute, and a prolific author.
Here is a nice read that is online: http://www.exactlywhatistime.com/other-aspects-of-time/time-in-different-cultures/ which deals with societies’ relationship to the concept of time.
So, while the interview with the professor is absurd for the most part, she is correct (although most certainly wrong about the definitions that she uses) regarding the perception of time in re: linear vs non-linear.
There have been numerous lame-o progressive attempts to reorganise time itself, going back as far as the embarrassing French revolutionary calendar. (One of my favourite stories of revolting peasants deals with the time when the authorities shifted to using the modern 365/366 day calendar, which meant taking a few days off the current calendar to align it with the rest of Europe – an angry mob took to the streets, shouting ‘give us back our 11 days!’)
I think we can all agree, though, that daylight savings is an utter abomination, and anyone who doesn’t agree with me is a communist. 😉
The idea of linear versus circular or seasonal time is a Western concept. Most cultures think in terms of weeks, seasons, years, repeated festivals, etc. It is Judeo-Christian, not even Greek, Roman, Nordic, Persian, to think of the world in terms of beginning, middle, and end. She sorta got that right. But she missed the part where this has resulted in enormous gains in feeding the poor, rights for women, medical advances, etc.
My straight white cisgendered male attitude confines me to the belief that doing good for the suffering and distraught is actually a good thing.
I understand the aggravation factor of the daylight savings time change, but honestly, the chance for a free extra hour of sleep once a year is worth it for me. 🙂
I was the victim of a Burglary last year- walking into my home while they were there stealing. Very dangerous and my whole family is still dealing with stress related issues from that. The burglar got away and was eventually caught- we spent a long summer dealing with the legal system in California. Just awful experience all around.
DA’s office didn’t want to prosecute to fullest extent of the law. A Public Defender that didn’t think the crime was “that big of a deal”. A judge who eventually let him off with probation. despite this crime requiring 2 4 or 6 years in state prison as a mandatory sentence.
They let him go on probation. He lasted less than a week. just 4 days later the burglar went to another town, committed 3 Armed Robberies, then kidnapped and raped 2 women from one of the businesses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopi_time_controversy
I read Whorf when I was a teenager, and my mind was blown by the possibility that learning this exotic language could free one from the square, oppressive Western notions of time and space. Knuckling down to the Hopi grammar books would be like taking LSD without all the squidgy biochemistry.
But if you take Whorfian thinking literally, Hopi native speakers are going to have trouble understanding a wall calendar, so what chance would they have of graduating high school or mastering any modern technology. For parents to want to pass on such a language to their children would be like a cognitive equivalent of foot binding or genital mutilation.