The Downtrodden
According to the student activists, to disagree with any part of their agenda is to admit to racism.
Christopher F Rufo on the pantomime politics of spoiled children:
Keep in mind that [The United Nations International School] is the school of choice for the world’s elites, teaching the children of diplomats and leading figures in international banking, finance, technology, and business at a cost of up to $44,000 a year. The school’s political climate was already thoroughly liberal and progressive… The dynamics at this bastion of elite progressivism reveal something important about the American political environment. The children of the most privileged people on the planet have donned the mantle of oppression to satisfy their moral narcissism and to exercise power over their elders. The adults, crippled with anxiety about any threat to their status, immediately bow to anonymous teenagers leading an online mob.
Needless to say, the well-heeled youngsters have eagerly embraced the buzzwords of woke status, such that “intersectionality” trips off the tongue, and standards and expectations are to be “decolonised.” The school must, we’re informed, “revolutionise the curriculum.”
Judging by the various demands and hyperbolical Instagram posts, it seems we’re expected to believe that the wealthy and statusful are paying $44,000 a year to have their own children abused by “oppressors,” that any kind of “disparity” is proof of bigotry, and that having one’s phonetically unobvious name mispronounced, even once, is “thinly-veiled racism” and a form of “racial trauma.” A trauma inflicted by “the white man’s mouth.”
Faced with an upsurge of opportunist theatre – and asked whether he is, as claimed, a “racist” and an “oppressor” – the school’s director, Dan Brenner, has shown all of the probity and spine one might expect. And so, the supposedly downtrodden Mao-lings behave more like aristocracy, with expectations of deference and impunity, as if they were entirely unaccustomed to be being told no.
Via Nikw211, who adds,
If this is how, as children and adolescents, they are capable of treating people whose names they know, whose faces they recognise, and who they interact with on a regular basis, just imagine the kind of crude, stunted stuff that will have to pass for something like empathy when they inevitably move into the ranks of elite influencers in business and politics.
And they will have learned so much from ‘progressive’ educators.
“…students discovered that pompous teachers who catechized them about academic freedom could, with a little shove, be made into dancing bears.”
From Allan Bloom’s “The Closing of the American Mind”. The events he describes were in the seventies, if I’m not mistaken.
having one’s phonetically unobvious name mispronounced, even once, is “thinly-veiled racism” and a form of “racial trauma.” A trauma inflicted by “the white man’s mouth.”
Glad to see the kids aren’t racist themselves.
Glad to see the kids aren’t racist themselves.
Well, indeed. And one has to wonder just how punctilious the children are about pronouncing the names of those they deem unenlightened and inferior. Which would seem to be all of us.
And given the pretence of radicalism and fearless mental autonomy, it’s strange how the Mao-lings always seem to be regurgitating the same set of lecture notes. As if their opinions had been bought wholesale and delivered in a box.
Interesting to see this from one of our home-grown activists-in-training (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9207959/Barrister-called-woman-stroppy-teenager-colour-sacked.html):
’He seemed so proud to say it, showing how much privilege someone has to write whole articles on a topic they know nothing about. I’m just fighting for the same school rules that others have.’
My, but that beam in her eye is mighty large…
From some random tweet:
“Children of the scorn” 😀
.
From the stroppy teenager of colour:
“I’m not against people expressing their opinions…”
Yeah. Except when, you know, I disagree with them.
As if their opinions had been bought wholesale and delivered in a box.
That.
This has long been the case. Going to Cambridge Uni from my local comp just over a decade ago I was amazed at how much more left wing (and woke) the private-educated, now-at-Cambridge crowd were compared to my mates from back home. The woke crowd have always been the most spoilt, privileged crowd of all.
“ He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath: “‘The horror! The horror!”
More from the seemingly never ending postmodern live performance art remake of Heart of Darkness‘s colonial expansion and exploitation:
“Every class this year has had an obsessive focus on race and identity, ‘racist cop’ reenactments in science, ‘de-centering whiteness’ in art class, learning about white supremacy and sexuality in health class.”
That comes from an anxious parent who had written to John McWhorter after he’d written about their child’s school, Dalton, in New York.
In the same blog post here, McWhorter adds this:
In the Atlantic piece I wrote of how “antiracist” protest shut down Bryn Mawr last semester. The protest actually spread to allied schools Haverford and Swarthmore. I have it on good authority that at Swarthmore, the President simply folded arms and said “no” to the protesters, upon which they basically folded in their tails and went away.
Why? Because the President is a black woman, Valerie Smith. This is key here: she knew she could respond to melodramatic performance art with the refusal it deserved because no one could call her racist. As in: the reason Kim Cassidy over at Bryn Mawr caved, snuff-video style, to the protests on her campus was because she was deeply afraid of being tarred as a racist on social media, along with attracting that same judgment to her institution. To wit: being black allows you to respond to this agitprop with basic sense, including affording these performance artists the fundamental respect of calling them on their bullshit.
If it is the case that all it takes to shut down this idiocy is to be of one colour rather than another, then perhaps needless to say the real racists here have exposed themselves.
I tend to think, though, that you do not have to be non-white in order to “simply fold your arms and say “no” to the protesters”.
Via Nikw211
Does that entitle me to a free sausage roll?
The woke crowd have always been the most spoilt, privileged crowd of all.
The statusful, or those who covet status. Very much related.
Does that entitle me to a free sausage roll?
Just let me get one out of… storage.
[ From the kitchen, sounds of a pedal bin. ]
The woke crowd have always been the most spoilt, privileged crowd of all.
When building their Golgafrincham Ark B, make sure the seats are very comfortable.
[ From the kitchen, sounds of a pedal bin. ]
Ah! You’ve started keeping them in one of those Victorian enamel bread tins?
I knew if I stuck around long enough the place would eventually get more upmarket.
I tend to think, though, that you do not have to be non-white in order to “simply fold your arms and say “no” to the protesters”.
Well, you do if you want to keep your job. The various layers of governance put in place to ensure there can’t be a single unaccountable autocrat also means that anyone can be fired. Any huwhite administrator who dared to tell the stroppy teenagers of protesting to go away or be expelled would shortly be terminated themselves.
I have a number of friends in the US with children of about-to-go-off-to-college age and in their comm channels I’m seeing more and more requests and recommendations for private colleges that still provide an effective STEM or liberal arts education and don’t bend the knee to woke activism. In the short term it’s going to lead to more polarization; I fear in the long term it’s just going to serve to handily round up all the deplorables in one place for easy targeting.
One does hope these enthusiastic youngsters find themselves under the care of a physician whose standards of training have been “decolonised.”
[ From the kitchen, sounds of a pedal bin. ]
It was hovering, like an angel !
Well, you, my friend, have crossed the line that divides Man and Bum. You are now a Bum.
[ From the kitchen, sounds of a pedal bin. ]
Are Willie and the Poor Boys giving a concert in the kitchen?
I have a number of friends in the US with children of about-to-go-off-to-college age
A few years ago, when my son was about to graduate, we made the tour of a number of colleges in the northeast. The woke pieties were there, but not quite in obviously large numbers.
One of the highlights was at Lafayette College, a high-ranked school, where in the gym during the opening event, an official proudly announced that last year a group of students was taken on a tour of North Korea, and discovered “they were just like us.” Even my son did an eye-roll at that one.
Another commonality among the schools were that they pointed out the lighted call boxes and promised that, when the button was pushed, a police officer will come a-running. This could be proved comforting at University of Pennsylvania and Drexel, located in high-crime areas, but seemed a bit silly at Bucknell, located in a town so small and safe that it makes Mayberry look like downtown Philly.
Another amusing insight was discovered in New York state, where Rochester Institute of Technology is located. The campus is very compact, and as we walked among the bricked canyons it created a wind tunnel effect that was very uncomfortable. We learned later they had bought the building plans wholesale from a university in the American Southwest. It’s very hot there, and the breezes were comforting. In the American Northeast, known for winter temperatures that can freeze your balls off, you get the opposite.
In the end, it was all for naught. My son reluctantly picked a school and proceeded to flunk out after a semester. Turns out his 4.0+ average and astonishingly high SAT scores were caused by his boredom with schoolwork, and he much preferred working with his hands.
A few years ago, when my son was about to graduate, we made the tour of a number of colleges…
Did the same with my son. One common feature we noticed was each College we visited had an Indigenous Student Centre and a whole section dedicated to Indigenous students in the library. My son is adopted from Guatemala and has a considerable amount of Mayan anscestry. He wanted nothing to do with these centres. I went into one while he was on a tour and asked if Indigenous meant Indian or if Mayan’s counted. The person I spoke to had no idea.
…in New York state, where Rochester Institute of Technology is located…
RIT used to be in downtown Rochester, but sometime in the late ’60s it built the brand new campus noted above, but it is not in Rochester, but actually in Henrietta, and for those of us familiar it was called South Henrietta, so it is obvious why they stuck with RIT.
Talk about being a Hen-Pecked Husband Or is a Beijing Her-pecking priority.
I am impressed that the stroppy teenager despite regularly missing school for 3 years is now a student at the University of Manchester.
a tour of North Korea, and discovered “they were just like us.”
Violently oppressed by a Communist elite that will unperson and disappear you for wrongthought?
Sounds about right.
The woke crowd have always been the most spoilt, privileged crowd of all.
Wokeness requires more free time and money than most parents and working people can spare. There’s a reason for the massive over-representation of childless grad students and community organizers in the ranks of the woke. When you’re working 45 hours a week to pay for your mortgage and your kid’s piano lessons, you can barely keep track of the footy scores, much less stay current on the preferred pronoun of the week.
On a related note, an acquaintance of mine was bemoaning the return of his 20-something daughter to the household. His complaint (paraphrased) was that her five years at University gave her a hundred ways to explain the challenges and unfair structures keeping her from earning a living, but not a single useful lever for overcoming any of these challenges.
I’ll definitely be keeping tabs on him; I’m curious to see how the power dynamics will shake themselves out.
I am impressed that the stroppy teenager despite regularly missing school for 3 years is now a student at the University of Manchester.
If said stroppy teen was melanin-gifted or could claim to be, or has one of the winning hands in Intersectional Grievance Poker, it’s not surprising at all. David did a post on that, last year? the year before? on how in the US, Highschoolers of Color were being (or the article said they should be if not) graduated despite bad grades, not doing any schoolwork, or heck not even bothering to show up to school at all. So yeah – not only are they being graduated for not doing anything, they are being accepted to university with priority over ytes and those darned Asian kids who do so well in school yet are Minorities of Color (except when it’s inconvenient to the Narrative).
David did a post on that, last year? the year before?
Oh yes, so I did.
Behold ye. Equity.
I’m curious to see how the power dynamics will shake themselves out
If she spent five years at a university getting a degree in Angry Studies and has been allowed to move back home and sponge off her parents, I’d say that ship has sailed.
Behold ye. Equity.
And now the US has a government fully controlled by the purveyors of said Equity, and they’re gonna give it to us good and hard.
It’s like they learned nothing from Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
Decolonisation n.
Colonisation by transnational Leftists.
Does that entitle me to a free sausage roll?
Somebody has to make a dint in that skid of boneless, inverted pork rectums.
Somebody has to make a dint in that skid of boneless, inverted pork rectums.
How about the people who want us to stop eating beef and pork, and start eating bugs and worms?
How about the people who want us to stop eating beef and pork, and start eating bugs and worms?
Should they volunteer to be food for the worms, I pledge to eat those worms thereafter.
:o)
What if the worms refuse, saying they have standards?
Romani ite domum!
Decolonisation n.
That’s when someone has your guts for garters.
Decolonisation n.
And, presumably colonisation is a shitty deal
Thank you, but no sausage roll. I know where it’s going.
When the polytechnics magically morphed into universities in the ’90s many could not take the traditional route of the University of <city name> aka <city name> University, because <city name> University had existed for decades, and so inserted the word City to distinguish themselves; hence Birmingham Poly -> Brum City Uni. Urban legends relates Newcastle Poly got as far as printing a letter head for the City University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne before realising it was a bad idea and going with Northumbria University
My Jesuit-in-name-only high school alma mater is in the full throes of wokeness. Not a Jesuit to be found on the faculty but lots of teachers who think teaching history means reading passages from Howard Zinn, an administration that offered a “safe space” after the “trauma” of the 2016 election, a religion
department preaching there are multiple genders, and lots of affluent white teachers shoving race race race down the throats of students all day long. The classical curriculum has been dumbed down repeatedly and woefully unqualified students are admitted to the school because “diversity!” Cost: 26,000 USD per year.
Woke lefties are most noxious, useless, two-faced, hypocritical, preening, cult-like, envious, mediocre, bitter sh*ts on the planet. They suck at everything they do except wag their fingers at successful, competent people. They are a cancer on humanity.
“before realising it was a bad idea and going with Northumbria University”
In one of his memoirs, Dan Rather (disgraced TV “reporter”) told the same story, only about the Sam Houston Institute of Technology in Texas.
“No”. Great little word, when used properly. “Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as passive resistance” ~ Melville
Does that entitle me to a free sausage roll?
===
With or without lint?
It’s like they learned nothing from Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
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On the contrary, they’ve learned well, it’s just that this is their goal. After all Mugabe and friends had a rather plush lifestyle
In one of his memoirs, Dan Rather (disgraced TV “reporter”) told the same story, only about the Sam Houston Institute of Technology in Texas.
Don’t forget the episode of The Simpsons that was set at the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology.
Don’t forget the episode of The Simpsons that was set at the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology.
Sorry, I’ve completely forgotten.