Elsewhere (298)
From the archives, Amy Wax on the contortions of “affirmative action”:
On the one hand, all good people are for affirmative action. That’s a sign of virtue. On the other hand, to talk about the predicate, the reason that affirmative action is needed, which is that there are these gaps in educational achievement and proficiency, is verboten. So, we kind of twisted ourselves in knots that we have to embrace something but deny the factual underpinning of it.
And Heather Mac Donald on pantomime claims of “systemic racism” and their corrosive and farcical effects:
It has been taboo to hint at the reason that the millions of dollars already expended on campus diversity initiatives have yet to engineer exact proportional representation of blacks in the student body and on the faculty: the vast academic skills gap. Now this truth will be even more professionally lethal to anyone who dares mention it. The highest reaches of the university have declared as a matter of self-evident fact that systemic racism is the defining feature of American society, one that explains every inequality. Fighting against that racism has now officially become colleges’ reason for being…
The dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, pronounced himself “absolutely dedicated” to turning the engineering school into an “anti-racist organisation.” Doing so “crucially includes unconscious bias work we must do within ourselves,” he added. How that work will interact with research on nanoparticles and viral transmission, say, was unspecified… The chairman of the earth and planetary sciences department at the University of California at Davis announced an “anti-racist reading group” for faculty and students. The group’s purpose was to confront the “structural racism that pervades” the field of geology. Such structural racism in the study of igneous rocks is apparently so obvious that the chair did not bother to elaborate further. Failure to attend the reading group would undoubtedly count against any faculty member during his promotional review, as a sign of insufficient enthusiasm for “diversity.”
Worth reading in full. As Ms Mac Donald notes, with the question of disparities in academic performance effectively short-circuited, and “systemic” but unspecified “racism” the go-to explanation, the all-but mandatory conclusion, any hope of addressing underlying behaviour and suboptimal choices recedes even further. Instead, we can look forward to more unearned resentment and grandiose entitlement, quotas for the unqualified, and more pretentious self-incrimination. In the name of “social justice.”
As usual, feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
the “structural racism that pervades” the field of geology.
I don’t want to live on clown world.
I don’t want to live on clown world.
Presumably, the racism is hidden underneath those sedimentary layers. Or hidden deep within the unconscious, lurking invisibly, in ectoplasmic form. What’s interesting, I suppose, is that, as Ms Mac Donald illustrates, evidence of all-pervasive racism, or indeed any racism, is deemed unnecessary. It is simply asserted. And everyone nods.
Whyte Liberal Guilt is the most destructive force in the Universe.
From the Heather Mac Donald article, this:
Heh.
See also, the “campus rape culture” hysteria, according to which parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to send their daughters to a place in which rape is supposedly much more commonplace than in some third-world war zone.
The effect of cold on white skin cannot be mentioned anymore in the casualty department:
https://t.co/5oIJ7pah6P
…evidence of all-pervasive racism, or indeed any racism, is deemed unnecessary. It is simply asserted. And everyone nods.
Identity is their God, and as Jung might have put it, they are drunk on it.
From the Amy Wax interview:
[T]his rhetorical trick of, “I’m offended, I feel unsafe. I feel disparaged, marginalized,” [ … ] This is entirely subjective. It’s unanswerable. There are no external checks on it, criteria or gauges for its validity. Just to utter it is to validate it. And that, of course, is a very, very dangerous device that can be used to eliminate, de-platform and banish any kind of disfavored idea whatsoever. It is ultimately a[n] instrument of power. Power becomes the substitute for reason [ … ] One of the things that frightens and grieves me the most is that I see a generation coming through that doesn’t seem to value [truth] at all, indeed sees it as antithetical to the main project, which is, I guess, diversity, inclusion, niceness and making everybody feel good about themselves.
The whole of that interview, I think, is interesting in view of UK student Melz Owusu’s project to fund a Free Black University in the UK.
Owusu, who has just graduated from the University of Leeds (where she was also elected by fellow students to the position of Education Officer in the Student’s Union), is due to begin a PhD at the University of Cambridge in just two months’ time.
Bearing those details in mind sheds interesting light on the way she chooses to describe her experiences of British higher education:
“Universities are layered with racism and colonialism; it exists in the curriculum,” the 25-year-old told The Voice.
“Learning from that knowledge system, one that is based on subjugation, has an unspoken effect on mental health.
Added to this, the lack of diversity in staff and on campus leads many black students to feel like “outsiders occupying colonial space”, Owusu said [ … ] “Institutions are inherently colonial, and the capacity in which they have for change is extremely limited.
The Voice article then goes on to give an update on the progress of Uwusu’s proposal:
The Free Black University has been met with enthusiasm, for the most part.
Universities are keen to help make the vision a reality, and Owusu has been engaged in talks with a university director who is interested in supporting the project financially.
That her own experience appears to be a clear and visible living contradiction of the very argument she is trying to make would appear to warrant some kind of acknowledgement.
At the very least, you would expect the onus to be on her to justify the basis of her claims not to the general public so much, but to her own black peers also at university given that what she is saying about their experience very evidently seems to have had no obvious impact on hers (raising the obvious of question of what factors have made her experience so different to theirs).
Yet instead it’s simply passed over in silence – as if there were an expectation that it should neither be noticed nor commented on.
How strange!
Yet instead it’s simply passed over in silence – as if there were an expectation that it should neither be noticed nor commented on.
It’s an age of pretending, of carefully not noticing.
Speaking of the Racial Ectoplasm Game, let’s not forget Professor Jon Rowe of Birmingham University, who eagerly spends taxpayer money on eradicating presumed racial bias, while admitting that no evidence whatsoever of prejudice against minorities has been found, and admitting that previous attempts to probe “unconscious bias” were also failures, and who nonetheless hopes to inflict discomfort on those deemed sufficiently pale and therefore suspect by default. As if, in itself, this would be some kind of triumph.
It does rather hint at the kinds of motives in play. The kinds of people such activities will, and do, attract.
What about the structural pedophilia and unconscious pedophilia?
If someone tells me that I have unconscious racism I ask them about their own unconscious pedophilia.
If they ask for evidence I tell them, “You first.”
If someone tells me that I have unconscious racism I ask them about their own unconscious pedophilia.
[ Slides complimentary drink along bar. ]
Oh dear God. I find myself in the very unusual position of hoping somebody accuses me of unconscious racism. How very strange!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to write a 64-page bestseller called Pedo Fragility…
I find myself in the very unusual position of hoping somebody accuses me of unconscious racism.
And the people who mouth this “unconscious racism” bollocks do tend to gravitate towards environments filled with young people – universities, schools.
What?
I’m just sayin’.
Today’s words are two can play that game, sunshine.
Heavens, the very world we stand upon is racist.
But should some mal pensant agree watch the feathers ruffle.
‘Black privilege’
https://www.thecollegefix.com/campus-black-privilege-explained-history-prof-spells-out-what-it-is-why-its-counterproductive/
Hey! Math majors! I think that this, “… evidence of all-pervasive racism, or indeed any racism, is deemed unnecessary. It is simply asserted. And everyone nods” is called “axiomatic”? I guess that this is why the AMS thinks they have to fight racism – ’cause it has axioms. Seems to me that Ms. MacDonald called it. All of this self-flagellation is without critical thinking, “Could we be wrong? Could there be another explanation? Do we have a cart & horse issue?”
19th century suffragette not woke enough. Must be cancelled.
Anyone see the footage of Marquise “Keese” Love putting a boot through Adam Haner’s skull in Portland the other night? If you haven’t, don’t! It’s infuriating and terrifying and saddening all at once, and it definitely won’t help your blood pressure. I’m pleasantly surprised to hear that Mr. Haner is recovering, as I honestly thought I had witnessed a murder.
The whole thing has me confused, though. I mean, it’s obvious that Antifa is piggybacking off of BLM to start a race war, and how better to do that than with dramatic footage of a savage young black man cruelly kicking in a defenseless white guy’s skull? So why are so few news agencies carrying any stories about the incident? The footage is absolutely made for Antifa propaganda videos, so where is MSNBC?
I can only assume that they’re not quite ready to spark open warfare just yet. There’s no other reason why this wouldn’t be carried 24/7 by all the usual suspects, introducing the footage with their mournful “Caution is advised; this shows graphic violence that many viewers will find disturbing.” I wish they’d get their shit together already, though. The waiting is starting to get on my nerves.
In related news, I still can’t get ammunition from my regular shop. It’s as though everybody in the greater Twin Cities metro is stocking up on guns and ammo for some reason.
Antifa is piggybacking off of BLM
I would call them co-conspirators.
Melz Owusu
Melz is a queer black transmasculine/ non-binary person (pronouns: They/ Them)
I was curious as to why Melz Osuwu was only graduating at the age of 25. Its LinkedIn profile is “interesting”
Melz Owusu
How on Earth is a university in the heart of the Empire “colonial”? If anything, it’s Owusu and its fellow travelers who are colonizing Leeds and Cambridge.
Squid, they are hoping to provoke angry white men into retaliation, so they can scream “White Supremacy”.
Luckily for them, your brothers are still taking the view that it is too early to shoot the bastards.
The theory of plate tectonics is white-supremacist patriarchal twaddle. The idea of continents repeatedly slamming together and then ripping themselves asunder is little more than white male rape fantasy that erases indigenous earth-creation narratives. Geology must decolonize itself from this oppressive fable.
Besides, the ancient Egyptians (who were black, BTW) discovered plate tectonics 3500 years ago, along with the microchip. Plus Alfred Wegener was a transphobic racist.
It has been taboo to hint at the reason that the millions of dollars already expended on campus diversity initiatives have yet to engineer exact proportional representation of blacks in the student body and on the faculty: the vast academic skills gap.
It’s almost as if there’s something more fundamental at work here.
Almost.
Besides, the ancient Egyptians (who were black, BTW)
I suspect you were kidding, but just in case you weren’t, no, the Egyptians weren’t black. The tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor feature frescoes depicting Egyptians in their war chariots riding down black Nubians. The difference between the two is stark.
This is for our gracious and witty, but heat sensitive host: Temps in the aptly-named
https://news.yahoo.com/scorching-temperature-uss-death-valley-135311620.html Death Valley, CA reached a record 130 degrees F / 54.4 C.
Possibly a global record.
Fron Ms. Wax: ” … all good people are for affirmative action. That’s a sign of virtue.”
Hmm … so. it’s a sign of virtue to advocate the favor of one person over another because of the color of their skin?
Seems rather problematic, unless one is a racist.
Seems rather problematic, unless one is a racist.
No, no, no! See, racism is when you think your race is superior to all others. Doubleplus goodthink is when you think your race is inferior to all others.
Really, it’s best if you don’t think about it too deeply. But if you need more material to help you understand, my book is available for a modest sum.
. . . war chariots . .
. . .black Nubians . . .
. . . modest sum
Band names.
I guess, diversity, inclusion, niceness and making everybody feel good about themselves.
Everybody.
Except for YT who must pay and pay and pay some more
Black students demand segregated spaces from white students
Apartheid Redux
Possibly a global record.
Nope, only 3rd highest. “Death Valley famously holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, which is 134 degrees. This record was set on July 10, 1913.”
‘Diversity’ training…
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/394811/
Note the word “Possibly”.
. . . war chariots . .
. . .black Nubians . . .
. . . modest sum
Band names.
Jog my memory on the heading of the previous post, “The Humiliations Will Continue Until Morale Improves” – wasn’t that the title of a 17-minute Frank Zappa instrumental on Return of the Son of Shut Up ‘n Play Your Guitar?
“Systemic racism” is just a synonym for “longterm Democrat party rule.” I mean, really, just look at the cities they rule and what they have done to blacks.
Oh, and be sure to view this: https://twitter.com/kimKBaltimore/status/1295461903268040707