Elsewhere (146)

anything can be a microaggression because “there are no objective definitions to words and phrases.”
I see the students at Princeton are so busy being oppressed they don’t have time to learn basic grammar.

Can we put Bill Whittle and Barack Obama in the same room and see what happens?
It would, I think, make for an interesting exchange.
Re Mr Whittle’s video, I thought I’d share this bit too. It seems to fit the general theme:

Just a few days ago, Breitbart reporter John Nolte travelled to Oberlin College to look into widely-read rape allegations on the part of ‘progressive’ darling Lena Dunham. Dunham, you may remember, was called on by Barack Obama personally to help get out the youth vote… Nolte went to her alma mater, Oberlin College – which I can tell you from personal experience is where reason and logic go to die – to investigate Dunham’s claim that she was raped by a prominent Republican, the “campus’ resident Conservative,” a moustachioed man named “Barry” who wore purple cowboy boots, had a Barry White low voice, and hosted a radio show called Real Talk With Jimbo.
A search of school records showed only one person named Barry who was self-described as a Republican. He never wore a moustache, he never wore purple cowboy boots, he spoke in a normal voice, he was not the host of a talk show, he has never met Lena Dunham, but… he feels he has been slandered in the most vicious way by a barbaric, cruel, deeply disturbed attention junkie.
While trying to find the identity of this moustachioed, purple-boot wearing, Republican rapist named Barry, John Nolte spoke with Sophie Hess, manager of the on-campus radio station about searching the records for the existence of a show called Real Talk with Jimbo. When he explained that he was only searching for the truth, this college administrator suddenly turned cold and said, “Asking whether a victim is telling the truth is irrelevant. It’s just not important if they’re telling the truth.”
When Nolte explained that he was trying to clear the name of an innocent man, this ‘progressive’ barbarian retracted her offer to help him search the archives and then asked him to leave.

And the thing is, I wasn’t particularly surprised by the administrator’s reaction, bizarre as it was.

Previously in DunhamLand.
Not completely unrelated, I think, is this.

Thanks for these, David. This, from James Ceaser particularly caught my eye:

Moving in a reverse pyramid from the specific to the more abstract, they decried the fraternity system, privilege (the “money-fraternity complex”), and the rape culture of the South … The charges went higher and higher up the ladder of generality until the sex crime committed at UVA became a confirmation of the basic theory of privileged Western male oppression …

That “[m]oving in a reverse pyramid” is a logical and rhetorical equivalent of the three cups and a ball scam.
Like a barefaced lie, it’s of thin substance in and of itself but it can nevertheless result in a serious degree of mischief.
“How could he be so wrong and yet so right?” asks Francis Wheen of Karl Marx in his biography of the latter. Wheen continues:

When he is in prophetic mood, [Marx] sometimes thinks like a chess player devising a fatal pincer movement on the black king six moves hence – not noticing, all the while, that his opponent can mate him far sooner. If the other player makes a mistake, Marx’s calculations will be vindicated. And even if Marx loses, he can argue that he would have been proved right if only the battle had continued for a few minutes longer.

No doubt, “he would have been proved right”, no doubt.
In the much the same way that I would have been proved a millionaire had I chosen a complete different set of numbers on my lottery ticket; or the way I would have proved myself the most valuable employee the organisation had ever had, if only I had done better at that job interview; or the way I would have proved an epigrammatic genius of Wildean proportions, if only I’d thought of that witty put down during that argument.
Yes, one can indeed be quite the most brilliant winner in the never-never.
Wheen goes on:

Though unbeatable at draughts or checkers, [Marx] lacked the artful patience required for the infinite complexities of the chessboard. His style was noisy, argumentative, hot-tempered

Incidentally, Wheen then details how, according to fellow German exile Wilhelm Liebknecht, Marx was fond of announcing to other chess players in London at that time ” ‘… that he had discovered a new move by which he would drive us all under cover …'” Liebknecht also noted that as a chess player, Marx “‘… tried to make up what he lacked in science by zeal, impetuousness of attack and surprise'”.
Apparently, the pattern was that Marx would win – for a brief period only – then Liebknecht would hand his arse to him, at which point Marx would reportedly became “most disagreeable.”
It should be noted of course, that in spite of penning what I consider to be the rather perceptive account of Marx’s character and psychology, above, Wheen – to me absolutely inexplicably – still persists in admiring the ‘Moor’, not least for his “noisy, argumentative, hot-tempered” style. He even claims that Marx has been “calamitously misinterpreted.”
How can there be anything like a meaningful dialogue with people such as Wheen, whose admiration for truly appalling ideas that result in really quite calamitous consequences, when they remain completely impervious to any and all evidence they themselves acknowledge openly?
How do you have a discussion with someone who considers the truth to be so trivial?

I amuse myself:
Jonathan Gault‎Tiger Microaggressions
4 mins ·
Everyday at when I stop for a latte at Starbucks I hear people saying they want a coffee black I always think how insensitive this is to people of color. I think it would be much better if people would say they want it without anything added.
Thank you for letting me share this, I feel better.
Like · · Share

David, I’m feeling sad.
I looked at “Tiger Microaggressions”, expecting to find lots of comments I could make fun of. Instead, I saw things like:
“I refuse to believe girls poop”
The parody horizon has been crossed. Like one of Cortez’s men watching the boats burn, I stand forlorn on an alien shore, wondering if I will ever go home again.
I feel jaded, like I’ve been to too many sexy parties with The Krankies, and have vague, haunting memories of Basil Brush leering at me over a glass of Blue Nun while growling “Boom…boom!”
Thankfully I have Zeena Mubarak, the “Intersections Critic” at the Daily Princetonian, to rescue my cisgendered heteropatriarchal mojo:
“Let’s talk about ‘Tiger Microaggressions'”
http://dailyprincetonian.com/opinion/2014/12/lets-talk-about-tiger-microaggressions/
Calling out these microaggressions could be hugely beneficial for Princeton’s campus. Unfortunately, the current page is severely undermining its own cause by mixing the harmless with the offensive.
Microaggressions are a serious business, you guys!
As a minority student on campus, I do want people to be aware of my experience and the things that can make students like me feel unwelcome.
Poor Zeena. Everybody – stop studying and be aware of her experience!
However, I do not want these concerns showcased alongside harmless jokes as though the two are in any way comparable.
Thou shalt not mock the microaggressions.
Obviously, presenting the stories without context is powerful and, in particularly egregious cases, it serves to raise awareness by showing the blatant racism and misogyny that still exists on this campus.
Princeton is a hotbed of racism and misogyny.
How racist and misogynistical?
Their latest diversity stats say 42.8% of undergrads are black, hispanic, asian, or mixed race. A further 11% are “international”. There’s no diversity listing for “white”.
So about 54% of their intake are not white Americans.
Also, “48% of students in the class are female and 52% are male”
And the university has a large, well-funded “Gender and Sexuality Studies” department:
http://gss.princeton.edu//
And one for “African American Studies”: http://www.princeton.edu/africanamericanstudies/
Clearly Princeton is an awful place where women and brown people are made to feel unwelcome.
which is harmful because some might come to the conclusion that microaggressions simply do not exist and that minority students are only deliberately misconstruing certain jokes
Fancy that.

@Steve 2
I feel jaded, like I’ve been to too many sexy parties with The Krankies. . .
Some months back, I read your first reference to the Krankies on these pages. Something about “key parties,” as I recall. As an American, I felt horrible, inasmuch as I had no idea who or what the Krankies are/were. I fancied myself relatively well educated, but suddenly felt as if I’d obtained an English degree without knowing about Beowulf. Thus, did I repair to Google.
Oh. My. God.
That is a micro-. . . no . . . macroaggression, perpetrated upon us innocent colonials. I shall always hate you for that.

The parody horizon has been crossed.
During the ( ongoing ) siege in Sydney.
Wendy Bacon, Professor of Journalism tweeted:
‘Clearing of cars in CBD gives you idea of how pleasant carless city might be (despite context)#martinplace’
Via Andrew Bolt.

@Nick
Point taken re: “no meaning” vs. “no objective meaning.”
May I suggest however, that when an initially personal psychology becomes shared by an ever increasing number of people; when psychosis becomes a team sport, we cross over into new territory.
We see arguments now, that even though U.S. DOJ statistics show that sexual assaults on U.S. college campuses are significantly less than elsewhere and nowhere near the “1 in 5” trope repeated endlessly, “the vast majority of such assaults are unreported.”
Ok. Then how did we get to the “1 in 5” bit? What’s next? Throwing a few white, southern fraternity lads into a volcano to appease the “Great and Powerful Oz-Vagina?”

Speaking of crossing the parody horizon … I know how absolutely real this is and yet I can’t shake the feeling that it should be a deleted scene on The Four Lions DVD.

tonye, Everyday at when I stop for a latte at Starbucks I hear people saying they want a coffee black I always think how insensitive this is to people of color. I think it would be much better if people would say they want it without anything added
I have the occasional, slowly becoming reflexive, habit when asked by a waitress if the wife or I would like cream or sugar in our coffee, to reply “No thanks, we’re black people”. The interesting thing is every time the waitress has been black, she has found this either slightly amusing or hilariously funny. The only negative or negative-ish responses I have ever gotten were from white waitresses. Usually the college-age ones (there is a university in our town).
———–
re nick,
Western education is producing generations of psychotics. They now run (almost) everything. There’s one in the White House.
So…the gameplan from here is what

I don’t think you should take Whittle at his word when he quotes a school administrator…
The quote first appears here, in Mr Nolte’s piece. So far as I’m aware, Ms Hess has not disputed it.
And sometimes people do say it out loud.
[ Added: ]
Dom, as something to bear in mind generally, I think your point is a good one. I’m just not sure it applies in this particular instance. The words in question are apparently from notes taken at the time rather than a recording but, again, if the substance were wildly inaccurate you’d think Ms Hess or an associate would have made their displeasure known by now, some ten days later. (Obviously, if anyone spots a complaint to that effect from Ms Hess, do let me know.)

Though I think it’s important to remember that such people exist.
Can I assume that is why Minnow was allowed to continue posting the same repetitive mendacious drivel as long as he was?

Can I assume…
[ Affects air of silent intrigue. ]

“truth is irrelevant”…but of course. Because more than 20 years ago (when I was first informed of this) it was decided by the great thinkers that “perception is reality”. Solipsism uber alles. There’s really nothing new here. Same problem, just now it’s starting to affect more people. You just need to accept it, own it, and move on like people of the past have. The first step to healing is to accept that you have a problem.

I have the occasional, slowly becoming reflexive, habit when asked by a waitress if the wife or I would like cream or sugar in our coffee, to reply “No thanks, we’re black people”.
A number of years back, I was working in a publisher’s warehouse. We had a system where everyone would write on packages with color coded markers, and then feed the packages to the general queue—and if something was awry with the package, the processor of the moment would know who it came from, based on the color of the ink . . .
. . . and one day I got a package, and something was awry, looked at the writing, and called out to one of the packers. He looked up, saw the black writing on the package, held up his red pen, and announced in his native Ghanian accented English; I’m nut bleck! I’m nut bleck!! That’s somebody else’s color you’ve got there!!

All non-science university courses, classes whatever must be shut down at once and all staff sacked without compensation and their pensions confiscated. On both sides of the Atlantic.

…forgot to mention that the youtube user TheAmazingAtheist made an entertaining and informative video on the subject.
He gets quite animated at times.

nick: “Their position is not that words have no meaning. It is, rather, that words have no objective meaning, no meaning independent of the psychology of the speaker.”
This is Jeff Goldstein’s wheelhouse: the corruption of the linguistic model wherein the meaning is not only not objective, it’s determined by whole “interpretative communities.”
IOW, the meaning of what you said is determined by the teeming mob, not by your intent, and definitely not by any steeeenking reality.

Here are some more campus rape hoaxes, several of which, you’ll note, were fabricated in order to educate the public in the name of “social justice”:

Another student at Oberlin, sophomore Emily Lloyd, suggested that critics of the incredible falsehood were missing the “take back the night” group’s larger point. “So many women get their lives totally ruined by being assaulted and not saying anything,” Lloyd explained. “So if one guy gets his life ruined, maybe it balances out.”

Because the victims of such malice aren’t actual people, just numbers to be balanced in some twisted mental drama.
And this seems apposite. “False accusations are easily made yet devastating.”
Why, it’s almost as if there were a fashion on campus for self-righteous narcissists making this shit up.

Re “more progressive tolerance “…eggs, gum, and hot dogs?

Apart from the horrific way he has been targeted, he has also been terminated as a columnist for the mainstream student magazine.
Threatened, intimidated and censored.
Because he disagrees with them.

OK, I’m learning something but still not getting it. Apparently there is some question as to whether or not eggs are halaal, and so much more:
Well I’m an iranian, so I’m supposed to know all this:
Eggs (chicken eggs) are completely OK (halaal)… and there’s a saying that the prophet Mohammad actually recommended the eating of onion and garlic, something about the nomads’ mouths smelling so bad (from lack of personal hygiene) that eating onion would make’em smell better
https://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061231163457AAbbguZ
As for gum, there is some issue in context of fasting but even then it seems ok:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions. When the chewing gum does not crumble, and you do not get its taste in your throat, then a fasting person could use it,…
http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&Id=81437
I take it they weren’t Hebrew National hot dogs. Because that would be wrong. I think.

I dunno…I’m kinda with the commenters on this one. Women gathering at my door. Women gathering at my door bearing gifts of food. Never happened to me while I was living the dorm rat life. So maybe they’re a little feisty. Some people like that in their wenches.

You don’t need the silliness of the #iBelieveHer tag on twitter, you simply need to read this
Not one mention of going to the police as soon as possible. This deluded lady is a danger to herself and to others.

48% of students in the class are female and 52% are male
Is it really being suggested, in these enlightened times, that a class comprises only male and female students?
That suggestion is not so much a micro-aggression as a fully fledged Hate Crime.
It shows just how much work remains to be done.

@ Dom
Thanks for link, great piece by Brendan O’Neill,
he’s been consistently good on this topic.

James – You’re right. Princeton obviously hates gender nonconforming intersex jellyfish people.
I’m surprised Zeena, Social Justice Warrior Princess, hasn’t complained yet.

Kevin B – A cracker! 🙂

This may amuse. On grand figures of the leftist media now occupying statusful positions in academia:

If Will Hutton is the solution, what is the problem? It’s a fair bet that the author of The State We’re In wasn’t drafted in to rescue the institution’s finances. Hutton took up his position only a short time after the Work Foundation, the London think-tank he’d been running for a number of years, went spectacularly insolvent.