For newcomers and the nostalgic, some items from the archives. Think of this batch as a kind of “critical race theory” special edition.
Beneath The Planet Of The Bedlamites.
Oh, the thrill of being screamed at by mad people.
Regarding Robin DiAngelo and her lamentable bestseller
White Fragility, some of you may have been wondering, “What kind of person is drawn to and internalises this neurotically demented horseshit?” Well, here’s a possible answer, captured for posterity during a live-streamed meeting of the New York City Community Education Council. In a mercifully abridged video, embedded below, we see “public education advocate” and gratuitous declaimer of pronouns Ms Robin Broshi using the meeting to chase away the demons nesting in her head.
You see, when you’re bouncing your friend’s young nephew on your lap, you’re not being affectionate or delighting in babyness, you’re actually “exhibiting [your] power over people of colour.” And therefore require immediate “anti-racism training.”
You’re Reading The Comments, Right?
When wokeness collides with logic, only one can be allowed to prevail:
Pst314 and Mr Muldoon point us to an “analysis” piece in
Scientific American, in which we’re urged to fret about “the violence Black men experience in [American] football,” and in which we’re told that the physicality of the sport “disproportionately affects black men.” This is framed so as to imply some systemic racial wrongdoing – “anti-Black practices” that are “inescapable” – rather than, say, being an unremarkable reflection of the sport’s demographics, in which, at professional levels, black players are a majority. Or to put it another, no less scientific, way –
the risk of injury while playing a contact sport disproportionately affects those who actually play it.
No evidence is offered, at all, to establish that injuries are more frequent among black players compared to their white peers – which is pretty much the article’s premise – or to support the conceit that any such disparity, should it exist, must be driven by racism. And yet we’re told, with an air of satisfaction, “These playing fields… are never theoretically far from plantation fields.” Albeit a plantation with fan mail, lucrative endorsements, and an average salary of around $2.7 million.
Have You Tried Less Tiresome Music?
On the word you mustn’t say but must love hearing.
It’s also worth noting how one of the most hazardous of words to use – one that may result in a kicking or sudden unemployment, and from which All Decent Non-Racist People are expected to recoil – is simultaneously one to which All Decent Non-Racist People are supposed to be drawn, or at least happy to tolerate. Provided it’s being mouthed, endlessly, by idiots of a certain hue. And failing to have a taste for this experience is, we’re now told, evidence of racism.
Also, open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
LOL. The SCIENCE™ is settled.
“we’re told, by Dr Jeremy McCool and Dr Tyrone Smith, two devotees of ‘critical race theory,’ that a failure to gush with enthusiasm is a result of ‘systemic bias and inherent prejudice,’ and is suppressing such innovation. It is, they say,’The silencing of intellectuals in music.’ “
Intellectuals. (spit) As if those two clowns are capable of intellection or would recognize it when used to demolish their lies.
And note their invocation of “inherent prejudice”: Inherent? They are not speaking analytically, much less with honesty. They are merely throwing words around for a desired effect.
The German Nazi Party attracted large numbers of people with little intelligence but lots of resentment and ambition. Critical Race Theory attracts the same sort of people.
Well, that’s the thing. You say it out loud, even to yourself, and the error of the piece, its central conceit, is kind of hard to miss. And yet when presented with comments to that effect, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Laura Helmuth, seemed impervious and immediately started denouncing her own readers as racist.
At Scientific American, this is now the standard, it seems.
Damian Counsell has just started a Substack. Could be amusing, I think.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11831307/We-Need-Talk-Bill-Cosby-Sex-therapist-calls-women-drugged-money.html
“Sex therapist causes outrage after calling for women to be drugged for money so men who want to ‘get out their kinks’ can have sex with them”
Presumably the next step, and there’s always a next step, will be to move seamlessly onto drugging kiddos to facilitate MAPs “getting out their kinks”.
P.s. Had this oversized piece of effluent been featured on here before. Or are they legion?
Yes, and yes.
The editors at Scientific American seem determined to make themselves illustrative examples for the famous essay “Who Goes Nazi?”
That.
Can’t decide if she needs medication or an exorcist.
As regular readers may have deduced, I have a fairly strong dislike of neuroticism. It chafes my temperament. And in our new, super-progressive age, neuroticism is very much a thing to cultivate, exacerbate, and roll around in. Often while shrieking and flailing one’s arms about. For the self-styled woke, it’s pretty much the new ideal.
Some never outgrow their toddler-hood.
It’s not just the lack of self-possession or the emotional incontinence. It’s the mouthing of absurdly unrealistic or conflicting ideas – for instance, the rules regarding the racial epithet mentioned above – and the kind of pretentious, twitchy posturing that tends to result.
Have You Tried Less Tiresome Music?
Not unrelated…
“I’m here to help you.“
… women to be drugged for money so men who want to ‘get out their kinks’ can have sex with them …
Shows how depressing the whole discussion of consent can become when it’s made the ruling principle of sexual morality and taken out of a context of, I don’t know – normality? reasonableness? decency?
That lady has been discussed here before.
… the famous essay “Who Goes Nazi?” …
A lot of characters to keep track of there. I feel like I’ve just watched a 2h55m David Selznik epic.
Quaint that the author Dorothy Thompson thinks that the least likely Nazis are a type of founding-stock Americans probably not unlike herself and her friends – tasteful, restrained, comfortable in their own skin, not needing to grubby themselves with social striving or money-making, not necessarily intellectually brilliant but implicitly embodying the political intuitions of the founding fathers.
Nowadays the correct answer is that all of the whites at the cocktail party are potential Nazis all the time, most of all the WASPs. The author herself, with her belief that quote-unquote nice people can’t be Nazis would especially be under suspicion. What really endures from the essay is the initial concept that whites should constantly be under suspicion of being fascists.
“To be ‘quare’ means to recognize ‘the reality of non-binary vaginas and biologically femme penises.”
This. But don’t try to make that argument decades ago in a public school. They dismiss it as silly. You’re only supposed to think so far and not one step further.
I used to read every issue of Scientific American and Discover. If I do read them now, I have to skip many articles because of the hectoring and implausible catastrophism on view.
Neuroticism: unlike actual medical conditions like bipolar or major depression, neuroticism can be overcome. As that great video from Australia puts it “toughen the fuck up!!”. But only if you want to.
Who would become nazis? The authoritarian impulse is the problem whether commie or nazi or a king. The Chinese emperors over the past 1000 yrs had no trouble at all issuing edicts restricting your life, including what you could wear, what houses could look like, etc., all without any modern ideology.
The impulse is visible in the crazy covid response, when local government arrested a surfer, in the ocean, alone, for not wearing a mask. In the glee with which authorities locked people in their homes. The impulse to censor now is all through the gov.
“To be ‘quare’ means to recognize ‘the reality of non-binary vaginas and biologically femme penises.”
I see. Evidently neither this Tinsey person nor her collaborators know the meaning of either “reality” or “scholarship”.
biologically femme penises.
I think I see your problem right there…
Totally rethought the joke….Didn’t non-binary vaginas open for biologically femme penises at Live Aid? Sorry. I had to…
Speaking of bedlamites, our Wise and Smart superiors are now instructing us to sympathize with and approve of adults who have a baby/diaper fetish.
When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.
I know it’s unwise to concede anything to these people but just this once (except it never is) they can have “Quare”.
Interesting. There’s a mainstream movie from 2011 with almost the exact same premise called “Sleeping Beauty”. Definitely NOT the Disney version.
David,
I worry that people like this councilwoman railing about racist lap bouncing cannot be reasoned out of their position. And I worry that once you have read Ibram X Kendi or Robin DiAngelo, and you get into a position of power, you cannot be stopped and you will not stop until you have destroyed the institution.
As the kids that say these days, this makes me feel rather black-pilled.
Have you seen, or are you seeing, examples of people who change their minds? People who can repent of this civilization-collapsing worldview?
I’m nod along, and I read and read and read articles by you and other stalwarts, and I worry that we are drowning.
So what suppose I’m looking for a little hope here that by exposing these things, shining light in the dark corners, things can change for the better.
I don’t think I’ve shared this here before. Note the significance of the day. Beth Clawson, mother of “trans girl” Kirin, age 9, silently mouths the words the child is saying. Coached? Rehearsed? Ventriloquism? Munchausen by progressive?
https://www.today.com/parents/parents/50th-anniversary-title-ix-trans-athletes-are-still-fighting-play-rcna34966
…the reality of non-binary vaginas…
They may be on to something, though accidentally and not what they think,
IOW, non-binary vaginas are normal.
Even Nostradamus himself could not have predicted this unexpectedly unexpected outcome.
Those people are not going to change their minds. But the ignorant imbeciles who give them that power can have their minds changed. Not the smart(er) ones but the masses, the critical mass, of others. Like all humans throughout history who need to belong to a larger group, they can surprisingly easily be intimidated by the fear of being rejected by the larger group. The trick is to not try to do so in a direct manner. As the saying goes, it’s easier to con a man than to convince him he’s been conned. But if you can mock and expose the stupidity of what they believe, not by directly aiming at those people themselves who believe it but by tying the beliefs to the (inevitable) failures, the fear will encourage them to find another “logical” path away from the failures. The trick is to lead them to think that they reasoned it out for themselves.
It does seem fair to wonder if Ms Broshi is farcically agitated for reasons she doesn’t fully understand and wouldn’t care to admit. Hence the tag psychodrama. And I would guess that the market for books by Ms DiAngelo and Mr Kendi, to which Ms Broshi refers repeatedly, is in very large part one of white ‘liberal’ women much like Ms Broshi, a demographic prone to neuroticism. I gather someone has coined the acronym A.W.F.U.L – affluent, white, female, upper-middle-class liberal.
Though in fairness, white, ‘liberal’ men aren’t exactly far behind.
Some must exist. But none come to mind.
It’s worth noting that Ms Broshi’s super-woke shrieking session was supposedly triggered by the scene screen-grabbed below. If you squint, you’ll see the allegedly outrageous baby bouncing in the small, top-centre frame, at the right-hand edge of frame, when Mr Wrocklage is briefly handed the child by his friend, Myesha Moore, in order for said friend to free up her hands.
That’s it.
That tiny, barely visible moment, lasting mere seconds. And which resulted – days later – in a meltdown one might call hysterical and nakedly vindictive. That tiny, unremarkable event had been stored by Ms Broshi as ammunition. Damning proof of Mr Wrocklage being “racially incendiary” – indeed, proof of his “white supremacy” – and resulting in a written demand that Mr Wrocklage “resign immediately.”
Just in case the saga didn’t seem quite mad enough. And it’s hard to see how one returns to reality from that far out.
The rare condition gave the 31-year-old a double uterus, two sets of ovaries and two vaginas — and they’re all fully functional.
I think I know the perfect man for her:-
https://youtu.be/UQ6L7XZ42-E
You can’t fix people that f*cked up.
Well, no. Quite.
It’s also worth noting that Ms Broshi’s unhinged behaviour was merely the most notable example among many. The bubble she inhabits, and on which she and others base their political identities, their careers, their social standing, is pathological. It generates pathology.
Other participants, all equally ‘progressive’ and “anti-racist,” were soon voicing ludicrous, competitive denunciations of both Mr Wrocklage and each other. The use of a whiteboard to list key points – a white board – was also construed as “hurtful” and “racist.” All of these creatures were desperate to establish their own intersectional credentials, their place in their own hellish pecking order, and would seemingly perform any contortion to that end.
The few participants who cautiously demurred and said they saw nothing racist were promptly told that they too needed “anti-racist training.” And so the farce went on. With council members telling each other, emphatically, to read DiAngelo or Kendi, or some other laughably awful, stupefying book.
When I say these people are broken and neurotic – hopelessly, irretrievably so – I don’t think I’m being fanciful.
An entire generation, or at least a plurality thereof, has now been infected to some degree by the media, cultural and educational indoctrination.
But maybe a new development is imminent. All of the lucrative positions, as exemplified by the talking heads on that zoom, have been filled and those on the public sector gravy train aren’t ever getting off. So what about the next generation for whom those cushy jobs are unobtainable through being already occupied, effectively the non-academic equivalent of tenure, or else ring-fenced for those less able and qualified but more diverse or deluded?
I’m not just talking about academia and government. The destruction of western manufacturing pretty much leaves the service industries where you know you are going to be undercut at both ends of the spectrum whether by Consuela doing the cleaning, Juan with his dry wall business or Saj and his H1B visa doing the heavy lifting in IT.
A significant proportion of black youth already recognise this. Positive attributes are derided, family values are history and ambition centres around either being the biggest gangster in the city or blagging the best life you can on welfare. Others of all ethnicities will become more and more resentful as their optimistic teenage years meld into twenties and then middle age. Just how much Kool-aid (or fentanyl) will be needed to keep them onside? Perhaps the utter illogicality of the all-pervasive trans-worshipping movement will be the straw that breaks the camels back.
To paraphrase the Stranglers “Somethings (definitely) gonna change”.
adults who have a baby/diaper fetish.
I know a priest in a Southern California diocese who is in this group. He was repeatedly raped as a child by his own father. Horrific, but what is also distrubing is that the diocese knew of his past – but not the ABDL fetish – and ordained him with ZERO psychological counseling or even the consideration that maybe, just maybe, he was not the material for priesthood. The ABDL aspect has since come to the diocese’s attention – the same diocese where he remains a priest “in good standing.”
That.
And yet we’re assured that the ostensibly adult men who get aroused by wearing nappies and imagining themselves as weirdly sexualised infants are being given “the opportunity to express their true selves.” At which point, the word irony comes to mind.
See also, sexual dysmorphia.
At which point, the word irony comes to mind.
Speaking of which, from the comments at your link:
Pseudoscience and “trans” people’s healthy sense of self. OK, then.
I am not at all sure this clown (he/him “into public health/medicine/equity/justice/shiny things”) knows what either of those, or “healthcare”, actually mean.
Speaking of “trans” people’s healthy sense of self, The People’s Exhibit A.
“Authentically”.
https://twitter.com/ttexulansic/status/1642907065382494208?s=46&t=cGznVa6cu3fowLICcwJBRA
An (assistant) professor speaks.
An (assistant) professor speaks.
TBF, her mother apparently didn’t like her.
This is totally the behavior I would expect from a well connected and respected “academic”.
What was the sin she claims to be punishing?
What was the sin she claims to be punishing?
Unclear, but if you wade through Exulansic’s twitter one can see it appears to be a pattern of behavior for her, and that she believes she is above reproach or consequence.
An interesting conversation with Exulansic (long but you can skip around to see where it is going).
See David Burge.
Thanks.
Won’t someone think of the poor picked upon drag queens?
Delusional hot take of the day – upper Midwestern towns destroyed by (cleans glasses) hillbillies.
I’m tempted to ask exactly how many examples constitute a pattern, a thing one might bear in mind. Say, as a parent.
Went to that link earlier but didn’t have time to peruse it. Now it seems it’s gone?
Now it seems it’s gone?
Still there, it takes a bit of wading, e.g., 23 hours ago...
More wading and more stellar behavior from the Ass. Prof. appearing to threaten Exulansic.
I’m still trying to process the whole making-public-videos-from-under-the-duvet thing,
Looking at and listening to that Assistant Professor it seems Disney missed a trick when casting the role of Ursula for the live action remake of The Little Mermaid.
…making-public-videos-from-under-the-duvet thing,
She’s autistic, just ask her, not that more often than a vegan will she’ll tell you, just as real autistic people do.
… upper Midwestern towns destroyed by (cleans glasses) hillbillies.
So he’s found a group of immigrants who aren’t just like us only better.A group of immigrants who don’t dream of our freedoms and opportunities and protections except as a soft touch for transplanting their dysfunctional culture. A group of immigrants who as soon as they have sufficient numbers corrupt the political process and make a nice country worse. A group of immigrants who probably shouldn’t have been allowed to settle because their illiterate inbred honor culture where grudges are nurtured for generations isn’t compatible with having a nice country to live in.
But there’s no analogy to be drawn here and no general principle conceded. This only applies to Scots-Irish migrants, not to any other migrant group.
Zck: I believe the hillbillies thing was satire. Obviously the midwest was not a racially diverse paradise until hillbillies moved in (there is no great hillbilly migration).
I think the human race can do without every member of this family.
I believe the hillbillies thing was satire.
S. de La Grave was sarcastic, mattparlmer, not so much.
I think the human race can do without every member of this family.
For those of you who wisely have no truck with zuckerberg’s abomination, the story is here.
Big video here.
Cue evasions and hand-waving.
Couldn’t stop watching the woman in the background…
Well, trying to follow the logic, or supposed logic, takes some concentration. From what I could make out, it’s basically,
Or, if you prefer an actual quote,
And their politeness, or complicity, is the sole yardstick of what is real, you see. There being no other basis on which to make a determination.
This is followed almost immediately with claims of feeling “not safe” among people who, while polite and in no way threatening, may not feel obliged to play the pretend game. Because a reluctance to pretend is some kind of mortal threat to a supposedly unshakable and very real identity that requires continual external validation and must never, ever be in question.
As trains of thought go, it’s a bumpy ride.
As trains of thought go, it’s a bumpy ride.
To paraphrase the gist of what he is saying, “I know I am a woman because some one else who isn’t a woman but thinks he is told me so.”
As trains of thoughts go, that is not so much a bumpy train ride as going over a cliff in a shopping cart with four bent wheels.
From the same Walsh talk and another ride in the shopping cart, an EMT is baffled.
Well, yes. And invoking the affirmation of people whose own perceptions are by definition unreliable is a bold strategy.
And invoking the affirmation of people whose own perceptions are by definition unreliable is a bold strategy.
In related news, Kylie is a “sancti-mom of a stillborn”.
At the same time over at the Daily Mail, a lede of note regarding a surprise.
They were expecting, in much the same way as I expect a package, having had nothing to do with the manufacture or delivery of the item.
Writer Janet Fraser says:
But fails to realize that it is not compassionate to accept and encourage a lunatic’s delusions.
As I’ve said, there is no logic nor even supposed logic to follow. It’s entirely an emotional domain.
In the world in general, for all intents and purposes, this the sole yardstick of what is real. What people see and feel inside their heads in the context of a society willing to support their delusions but financially and emotionally is all that matters. There’s a lot of ruin in a society. Especially the wealthiest of societies (by leaps and bounds) that has ever existed.