Things That Tell Us Who They Are
Elisa Parrett teaches at a public technical college outside of Seattle called the Lake Washington Institute of Technology. Last June 19, in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the school held an event called Courageous Conversations which was based partly on Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility.
In short, a two-hour racial struggle session based on stupefying woo.
Dr Parrett used the session, attended by close to 200 educators, to air some fairly obvious concerns, regarding tribalism, zealotry, and the racially segregated nature of the gathering, speaking for a total of four minutes. A summary of Dr Parrett’s comments can be found at the link above and here, where Jesse Singal shares a longer, more detailed account. Readers are invited to search out anything particularly scandalous.
Five days later, Parrett got an email from President Amy Morrison… It read in part, “Because of your egregious behaviour which has led to substantial harm to hundreds of colleagues on campus, I have asked [Vice President of Instruction, Suzanne] Ames, Dean Doug Emory, and [executive director of H.R.] Meena Park to meet with you in the next few days to have a serious conversation about how successful you can possibly be on campus in the future.” Two days later, Parrett was placed on administrative leave… A disciplinary complaint was filed against Parrett by the vice president… The complaint alleged Parrett had behaved in a “corrupt, insolent and insubordinate manner.”
And because this is Clown World, where there’s always more,
When [Jesse] Singal emailed the Vice President about the story, she doubled down and claimed that Parrett had been “aggressively yelling at folks in the meeting.” At the time, she was apparently unaware that Singal had the audio of the entire session. When he sent her a copy and asked her to point out where Parrett had yelled at anyone, a university spokesperson suggested Parrett’s “visible anger” wasn’t conveyed by the audio.
It was, it seems, a kind of aggressive yelling that was radiated at inaudible frequencies and which therefore cannot be captured by mortal recording devices.
And so, we’re expected to believe that hearing just one person briefly disagreeing with the premise of a racial scolding session has resulted in “substantial harm to hundreds of colleagues on campus,” albeit in ways left unspecified and intriguing. And further, according to Vice President of Instruction, Suzanne Ames, that the experience of hearing dissent was “super-stressful,” resulting in ringing ears, “sweating,” and an “out-of-body experience.”
Taken at their own words, these educators sound somewhat unhinged and hysterical. Unless, of course, they’re merely dishonest and are feigning a kind of hysteria in order to conform with some woke ideal. Either way, readers may wish to mull whether these are the kinds of personalities to whom they would happily entrust the education of their children.
Update, via the comments:
Commenter [+] quips,
Today’s word is ‘madhouse’.
Well, quite. If just one person’s objection to zealotry and racial segregation can reduce a grown woman, a supposedly professional educator, a Vice President of Instruction, to a twitching, sweating, disembodied mess – or can oblige her to publicly pretend such – then I think it’s fair to say that something is amiss. And I think it’s fair to say that an environment in which such dramas are considered normal – indeed, a basis for status – is itself dysfunctional and absurd.
It’s worth pondering the ongoing spread of this phenomenon, this neurotic role-play. From a wariness of saying the obvious yet oddly unacknowledged, to the kinds of farcical contortion quoted here pretty much every week. And to ponder what follows from that. Say, the shrinking range of socially permissible facts and socially permissible questions; or the creation of environments in which dishonesty is not only commonplace, but necessary for promotion or continued employment. Even becoming competitive, a ratcheting unrealism.
And then to ask what kind of people are likely to flourish in such environments.
Today’s word is ‘madhouse’.
Well, as is often pointed out, if one can hear the dog whistle…
they’re merely dishonest and are feigning a kind of hysteria
That.
I’m regularly amazed by how many worker ants in the radical left will willingly humiliate themselves publicly with claims of emotional harm that are downright infantile.
“Those words frighten me! I’m afraid! I don’t feel safe!”
This, coming from so-called adults in response to someone’s contrary opinion? It’s telling the world you have the maturity of a 10-year-old.
It’s obviously a tactic. But what kind of adults would debase themselves so by using it?
But what kind of adults would debase themselves so by using it?
Well, a quick flip thru a search engine seems to show that all but one of the individuals mentioned by name are white women…
So there’s that.
And further, according to Vice President of Instruction, Suzanne Ames, that the experience of hearing dissent was “super-stressful,” resulting in ringing ears, “sweating,” and an “out-of-body experience.”
Some drugs do that. But you need a good and knowledgable dealer for those out of body experiences.
according to Vice President of Instruction, Suzanne Ames… the experience of hearing dissent was “super-stressful,” resulting in ringing ears, “sweating,” and an “out-of-body experience.”
Are there any adults in the room?
Today’s word is ‘madhouse’.
Well, if just one person objecting to zealotry and racial segregation reduces you to a twitching, sweating, disembodied mess – or obliges you to publicly pretend such – then I think it’s fair to say that something is amiss. And to say that an environment in which such dramas are considered normal – indeed, a basis for status – is itself absurd and pathological.
It’s obviously a tactic. But what kind of adults would debase themselves so by using it?
Far more adults debase themselves by actually believing it. And similar tripe. Many of them are people I know and once respected as friends and colleagues.
If you break out in a cold sweat when someone disagrees with you, seek medical attention.
… especially if it lasts more than four hours.
Back in my teaching days, a student who suspected I was a secret shitlord asked me if I didn’t find some campus policy “traumatic” (why, in other words, wasn’t I joining the Two Minutes Hate)? I replied “Because I’m a grown up.” That alone will be enough to get me a tenner under Article 58, but the look on the students’ faces was worth it.
More snapshots of the psychodrama can be found in this thread.
I was given a Very Naughty Boy badge from HR for the heinous crime of asking a “facilitator” if she could name the leading cause of death for black males aged 15-29.
I’ve come to understand that a “sense of perspective” is not what the company was going for in that particular “conversation.”
Outside of Parrett, apparently not.
As much of higher education is simply advanced day care it may a bit much to expect a mature outlook.
As much of higher education is simply advanced day care it may a bit much to expect a mature outlook.
And these are the people from whom impressionable teenagers are, in theory, supposed to take their cues, their expectations of adulthood. Of how to carry on in the world. As a clever person.
Except for the hierarchy at play, this reminds me of the tactical considerations of filing a sexual abuse complaint at colleges. If Parrett had remained quiet and kept a recording as evidence then she could possibly have filed damaging reports (with the trustees?) on several people. Instead she behaved like a reasonable person and a report was filed on her first.
More snapshots of the psychodrama can be found in this thread.
Including hyperventilations from twits going on about “literally insurrection”, “literally a coup”, and how she should by drawn and quartered for attending the Jan 6 rally, so her complaints have no merit, and anything she got from her dissention in the struggle session was probably less than she deserved.
I need a drink. and one of those ambulatory bar snacks
Twentysomething years ago at my Cincinnati-based “capitalist” corporation, CEO board I later discovered consisting of strong Republicans whose support of Mitt Romney was unanimous. At this corporation HR posted one of their increasingly numerous “lessons” in the break room bulletin board informing us of a new rule. The Platinum Rule. See, the Golden Rule as I’m sure all here are aware being “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” which having been around for thousands of years was no longer sufficient. The new, improved Platinum Rule being “Treat others as they would prefer to be treated”. Now up to that point in my life, the Golden Rule was just something I had pretty much taken for granted as standard moral code. I hadn’t really put much thought into how excellently it balances out. Seeing this new Platinum Rule juxtaposed with the Golden Rule, seemed there was quite an imbalance with the PR. The self-correcting mechanism of the Golden Rule was being obliterated by…damn, looked like…if taken seriously…infantile tyranny. I had one of those AYFKM moments that don’t seem to effect other people so much…apparently. I mentioned it to some “conservative”, even “religiously conservative”, coworkers. More in a joking manner than anything. I try to be very careful not to bring such things up out of the blue as I find it very awkward myself. Just in the context of lunch conversations that were already diverged into such issues, as they sometimes do among friends and such. I am very conscious of not being “that guy”…well used to be until a year ago…but I digress. In a kind of “get a load of the new stupid from HR” sense. I was somewhat taken aback by the ready acceptance of this new “rule”. Being taken aback, I tried to point out where such idiocy might possibly lead. I don’t recall exactly how I put it but even in my worst imagination, I didn’t think it would lead to something like what we are seeing here today. If I had predicted exactly this thing, that exactly this sort of Clown World crap would be taught in colleges, universities, and even from HR departments in the future, I am quite certain I would have been disregarded as being a bit of a looney.
Now I see many of my “conservative” and even “religiously conservative” friends bitching and moaning about the current state of things. Things like this. And I can’t help but think to myself, fuck everybody.
I am so glad that 25+ years ago I decided to leave the halls of academia and never return.
“Courageous Conversations”
It is to laugh. The only person engaging in a Courageous Conversation was Elisa Parrett, the unperson.
The new, improved Platinum Rule being “Treat others as they would prefer to be treated”.
This spectacularly flunks an “exchange of variables” analysis. If “A” prefers to be treated with cringing respect and groveling, then “B” must comply? What if “B” wants the same thing? Then must “A” comply?
It’s totally unworkable, and obviously the product of a rather dull mind. (If you’ll pardon the exaggeration.)
The new, improved Platinum Rule being “Treat others as they would prefer to be treated”.
That’s the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. My response would be that I prefer for the head of HR to mow my lawn once a week. And I prefer for the CEO to pay off all of my loans and credit cards. Also, I prefer to be guaranteed employment for life, relieved of all responsibilities, and given a 500% raise, effective immediately. No arguments, please; it’s what I prefer, so you have to do it. The Platinum Rule says so.
“Treat others as they would prefer to be treated”
I identify as Emperor Norton II, and my pronouns are “your Imperial Majesty”.
all but one of the individuals mentioned by name are white women
High school mean girls. That’s all it is. You can replace “white privilege” with “last season’s shoes” without loss of semantics.
Today’s word is ‘madhouse’.
As goes academia, so goes even the worker bees in media.
Money quote:
Money quote
She isn’t wrong, but then anyone who’s outside the norm is going to attract people who exotify their traits. I know of a guy who’s a cop who hides that fact when dating until the third or fourth date – “I work for the city” – so as to weed out the badge bunnies.
So yet again, we have a woman taking something that happens to everybody making herself out to be some kind of specially oppressed person because she’s encountered it. With an added soupçon of starting a relationship under false premises in pursuit of her own agenda.
if not in the beginning, definitely by the end of our relationship
The subtext screams volumes.
High school mean girls. That’s all it is. You can replace “white privilege” with “last season’s shoes” without loss of semantics.
The psychology is essentially the same. See, for instance, the second item here.
badge bunnies
I learned something today.
And in woke Marvel news.
And in woke Marvel news.
“He continues, ‘He tells them what they’ve always longed to hear. That they are secretly great. That the whole world is against them. That if they’re truly men, they’ll fight back.’ It is a gross oversimplification of Jordan Peterson actually teaches, to put it mildly.”
Replace “oversimplification” with “misrepresentation”: Jordan Peterson does not tell kids that the world is against them.
Oh well, just one more reason to regard Ta-Nehisi Coates as malevolent vermin.
I learned something today.
This is how plenty of girls engage with various subcultures. If becoming “pen pals” and visiting murderers is a thing for some then seeking out race car drivers or cops or anything else seems a whole lot less weird.
Replace “oversimplification” with “misrepresentation”
Or, better: “projection”. Add this message on top of black’s notorious racial solidarity and you’ve got BLM.
You’re great. You’re just trying to live your life and all these people are keeping you down. They can’t keep you down if you fight back. So get out there and break things until they stop and acknowledge your greatness (by paying you off like a petulant barbarian/child).
Sylvia Hong: “… making them aware of their privilege every day that they’re with me.”
So Ms. Hong believes that any lad, allowed by her to enter her exclusive oriental ‘orbit’, is privileged so special is she. I presume she radiates a glowing aura of some kind, but, to me, she is a pretentious, self-indulgent brat. There’s an old saying that fits her: she’s so up herself she thinks her s**t doesn’t stink.
Dr. Chaotica & Daniel Ream, you took the words right out of my mouth. Or would have if you had been there 20 years ago. Almost precisely what I said at the time. Or mostly what I said before the crickets told me I oughtta shut up. Because I was the one being a bit silly, you see. And here we are…
I learned something today.
This is how plenty of girls engage with various subcultures. If becoming “pen pals” and visiting murderers is a thing for some then seeking out race car drivers or cops or anything else seems a whole lot less weird.
Think of it as simply seeking out alpha males, be it cops, athletes, musicians, or what have you. Pretty much every field has groupies.
Outside of Parrett, apparently not.
—
…I am quite certain I would have been disregarded as being a bit of a looney.
Quoting Saint Antony is fast approaching cliche.
The subtext screams volumes.
My own immediate thought upon finishing that sentence was, “COULD THERE BE A CONNECTION, SALLY??”
Pretty much every field has groupies.
Including murderers upon their release from prison.
Depressing Fact for Today.
And in woke Marvel news.
If it’s any consolation, there’s no risk of defamation because nobody reads any comic Coates writes. During the Secret Empire arc, Rich Meyer dug up ample evidence that Marvel was shipping unordered copies of the issues to comic book stores and marking them as sales to hide the fact that no one was buying them. Worse than that, they were driving customers away; he shared an email from one shop owner who said he had to bin the issues the moment they showed up because customers walking into the store would turn around and walk right out if they saw Secret Empire titles on display.
DC has followed them down the rathole. I really hope there’s something to the rumour that Warner is looking to shutter DC Comics and license the entire IP out to a third party.
“If becoming “pen pals” and visiting murderers is a thing for some then seeking out race car drivers or cops or anything else seems a whole lot less weird.”
Look online for the Mark Twain sketch “Lionizing Murderers,” and remember he wrote that back around 1870.
DC has followed them [Marvel] down the rathole…
I have heard it claimed that it no longer matters if Marvel comics make any money at all, because the revenue from Hollywood licensing is larger by many orders of magnitude.
Getting more on track after the comic book news, and not totally off the original topic, we find another well reasoned response to a troubling situation.
unhinged and hysterical. Unless, of course, they’re merely dishonest and are feigning a kind of hysteria
I don’t think any of them know any more. They’re so far removed from the truth it is almost irrelevant to ask if they are lying.
Some drugs do that.
A combination of ecstasy and ketamine would probably do the trick.
it no longer matters if Marvel comics make any money at all
US comic book/graphic novel industry annual sales: $1.2bn
Avengers Endgame revenues: $2.8bn
I don’t know what Marvel gets out of its licensing agreement, but it seems likely that it can get away with printing any old nonsense from now on. It’s a bit like the Guardian newspaper in the UK, which loses money hand over fist, but has a £1bn trust to support it.
US comic book/graphic novel industry annual sales: $1.2bn
Avengers Endgame revenues: $2.8bn
That’s a lot of comics and graphic novels. Bigger than I realized. Oh well, so much for the “orders of magnitude” claim.
It’s a bit like the Guardian newspaper in the UK, which loses money hand over fist, but has a £1bn trust to support it.
If only they would hire some utter incompetents to manage their money and turn that £1bn into £1mn.
If only they would hire some utter incompetents to manage their money and turn that £1bn into £1mn.
How do you make a small fortune?
Start with a large one.
Oh well, so much for the “orders of magnitude” claim
Note that that is all comic books and all graphic novels from all publishers for an entire year, vs. the revenue from a single movie. “Orders of magnitude” is about right.
The comics divisions of Marvel/DC haven’t been profitable for decades at this point; it’s the TV and movie properties where all the money is. So yes, that means Marvel (and DC) can get away with printing any old nonsense.
In other doubling-down-on-the-wokery pop culture news, the USA Network TV show Leverage is getting a reboot.
So yes, that means Marvel (and DC) can get away with printing any old nonsense.
For a while, I suppose – but at some point they have to have new material that’s worth licensing, don’t they? After publishing 20 years of – what was that – Snowflake and Safespace? can they still make money franchising Peter Parker or the Hulk?
It’s all around us, everywhere, including under the bed.
Via Damian.
If it’s any consolation, there’s no risk of defamation because nobody reads any comic Coates writes.
His ham-fisted, heavily politicised Black Panther series, essentially a Black Lives Matter screed about gentrification and police-robot brutality, instantly shrank the readership by an order of magnitude before being abruptly cancelled. It was that good. Naturally, the woke-lings at Gizmodo and io9 blamed the cancellation on racism and poor marketing – despite umpteen gush-pieces – not the product’s quality or its grating, patronising tone. I remember one thread, probably at the one of the above sites, in which anyone who dared to acknowledge the issue of quality was promptly denounced as ignorant and treacherous.
It’s all around us, everywhere, including under the bed.
Traditional racists see Jews under the bed (and negroes in the woodpile_, while woke racists see Jews and whites and Asians–well, everyone but blacks–under the bed.
His ham-fisted, heavily politicised Black Panther series
One commenter described it as “Mary Sue for black racists”. (Seen somewhere on the internet not long after it came out.)
Surely the lady should be saying “I can’t breath” rather than “AHHH!!!”.