Althouse: "Who cares what some paper-pushing apparatchik thinks? It’s all a bit creepy and unsettling."

June 6, 2020

"Who cares what some paper-pushing apparatchik thinks? It’s all a bit creepy and unsettling."

"Why must this university’s senior administration declare, on behalf of the institution as a whole and with one voice, that they unanimously—without any subtle differences of emphasis or nuance—interpret contentious current events through a single lens? They write sentences such as this: 'We have been here before, and in fact have never left.' Really? This is nothing but propaganda. Is it supposed to be self-evident that every death of an 'unarmed black man' at the hands of a white person tells the same story? They speak of 'deep-rooted systems of oppression; legacies of hate.'... Is it obvious that 'hate'—as opposed to incompetence, or fear, or cruelty, or poor training, or lack of accountability, or a brutal police culture, or panic, or malfeasance—is what we observed in Minneapolis? We are called upon to 'effect change.' Change from what to what, exactly? Evidently, we’re now all charged to promote the policy agenda of the 'progressive' wing of American politics.... This is no reasoned ethical reflection. Rather, it is indoctrination, virtue-signaling, and the transparent currying of favor with our charges...."

Writes Glenn Loury in "I Must Object/A rebuttal to Brown University’s letter on racism in the United States."

141 comments:

Mark O said...: Well written and persuasive. We need to stand against the Stalinist mob. Do we want these people to rule over us?; 6/6/20, 8:53 AM
Temujin said...: Of course this appears in the great publication, City Journal. The NY Times or WaPo would not have touched this.; 6/6/20, 8:53 AM
h said...: Only a black person could express this opinion.; 6/6/20, 8:54 AM
RK said...: With our never-ending fight against racism, pretty soon you won't see a single white person in a television commercial.; 6/6/20, 8:57 AM
Fernandinande said...: Great response.

We are called upon to 'effect change.' Change from what to what, exactly?

Exactly.; 6/6/20, 8:59 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS,...; 6/6/20, 9:07 AM
Wince said...: Even with tenure, a white professor would not be allowed to write something so truthful, cogent and persuasive.

Thank you, Professor Loury.; 6/6/20, 9:09 AM
Temujin said...: Of course what he wrote is true and correct. Especially the part about university administrators. But it will not make his job at Brown any easier.; 6/6/20, 9:16 AM
gblanch said...: Watch the video from Candace Owens on YouTube; 6/6/20, 9:17 AM
wild chicken said...: Now I miss blogging heads.; 6/6/20, 9:17 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/6/20, 9:19 AM
Big Mike said...: I read the text of his letter yesterday. I had not previously been impressed with Glenn Loury, but I think I need to take another look.; 6/6/20, 9:21 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: CEO's everywhere are pimping the same dreadful progressive speech codes and virtue signalling.

White Proggy Vermont Ben and Jerry started it all.; 6/6/20, 9:21 AM
Balfegor said...: All this nonsense -- the protests, the academic and journalistic cant about "systemic racism" -- is an effort to take an incident where approximately 100% of people were in agreement, from the President on down to the lowliest Antifa scumbag, and leverage it to bully people into accepting positions that are supported only by an extremist minority. But believing it's obviously wrong for a policeman to kill a petty crime suspect who isn't resisting (or stand around and watch a fellow policeman do as much) doesn't logically imply that you have to buy into a barmy theory about white supremacy. Or that you have to believe police should be abolished. The protests and the opeds and the riots operate to blur all gradations and distinctions with a wash of unthinking emotion. The mythologization of national history into an impressionistic, moralistic, didactic narrative, like the 1619 project. An aestheticisation of politics, in which the work of politics and governance is transformed a kind of mass performance. Black uniforms and black masks. A politics of symbolic gestures. Marches, rallies, wild-eyed, spittle-flecked speeches, and broken glass.

This isn't what democracy looks like. This is what fascism looks like. And it is repellent.

On a more humdrum note, I think the linkage between racism and police violence is overblown in a way that obscures practical and realistic fixes. Here in Tokyo, the police are, of course racist. Almost certainly more frankly racist than anywhere in the US. They unapologetically practise racial profiling, e.g. they tracked everyone who visited mosques and halal restaurants to monitor them for potential terrorist ties. There are also far fewer legal protections for suspects in Japan than in the US. But you are far, far more likely to be shot dead by the police in the US than in Japan. Racism isn't the differentiating factor here.

Accordingly, I think a solution that treats racism, systemic or otherwise, as the "root cause" is pretty much doomed to fail at solving the problem here. It's like trying to fix crop failures by burning sacrifices in a giant wicker man. You can kill as many sacrifices as you like -- it won't bring back the honey.; 6/6/20, 9:24 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Reparations needed to happen decades ago - for the actual slaves.; 6/6/20, 9:29 AM
NCMoss said...: Since it's forbidden to say All Lives Matter, this will do.; 6/6/20, 9:30 AM
Wilbur said...: It's evident that all of these statements issued by corporations and other concerns, viz., the sports leagues, are all filed with nebulous language like "we stand with you" and "until justice is done" or "until racism disappears".

No specifics, no details ... just a hope that the crocodile eats them last.; 6/6/20, 9:34 AM
Gahrie said...: With our never-ending fight against racism, pretty soon you won't see a single white person in a television commercial.

I teach high school in Southern California. I tell my kids that California is a strange place, and not like most of the rest of the country. 85% of the kids who go to my school are Hispanic. Less than 10% are White.

My kids are stunned and disbelieving when I tell them that 75% of the population is White, that less than 5% is gay and far less than 1% transgender.

The complaints and phone calls from home start when we talk about crime statistics.; 6/6/20, 9:35 AM
loudogblog said...: According to the Los Angeles Times, LAPD shootings in 2019 hit a 30 year low.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-12/lapd-use-of-force-report#:~:text=Shootings%20by%20Los%20Angeles%20police,compared%20with%20115%20in%201990.; 6/6/20, 9:35 AM
ColoComment said...: Just an interesting side note.
As I had thought I'd noticed earlier, and as Andrew Branca points out in his 4 June video at his blog "The Law of Self Defense," there is to date no, repeat no, evidence that racial animus drove, or indeed was any part of, the Chauvin-Floyd incident.
...not in the video. Not in the charging documents. And I've seen nothing in the mainstream or blog media evidencing past racial animus on the part of Chauvin (and you know they're looking. Really hard.)
Other than one party being white and the other party black, I've seen nothing that points to racism as a factor in the death of Floyd.
Has anyone?; 6/6/20, 9:39 AM
wendybar said...: Why didn't Tony Timpa death matter?? Because he was white?? It didn't matter that he was killed the same way that George Lloyd did, because that didn't fit the lefts agenda that the right is racist https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/02/us/dallas-police-body-cam-footage-captures-death/index.html; 6/6/20, 9:45 AM
I'm Not Sure said...: "We are called upon to 'effect change.' Change from what to what, exactly?"

From doing what you want to doing what we want, of course.; 6/6/20, 9:49 AM
narciso said...: actually a great number of corporations and municipal numbers, follow this narrative to the letter.; 6/6/20, 9:52 AM
Yancey Ward said...: You think Loury can get away with this by being black himself? I don't think so. The mob is about to be unleashed on him, and he will be lucky to survive it. A brave man.; 6/6/20, 9:52 AM
I'm Not Sure said...: "Black people continue to live ... at times in fear of the very systems and structures that are supposed to be in place to ensure safety and justice."

Remind me again- historically, which political party do blacks overwhelmingly support?; 6/6/20, 9:53 AM
James K said...: What does it say about the state of academia that if a white professor had written that letter, he would have been destroyed?; 6/6/20, 9:54 AM
Oso Negro said...: CRACK IS BACK! Crack, no reparations will ever be satisfactory. Can't we just go for mass white suicide or repatriation instead?; 6/6/20, 9:55 AM
madAsHell said...: It's racist to think......; 6/6/20, 9:56 AM
rhhardin said...: Faculty should be deputized to beat the shit out of administrators whenever they encounter them. Have a faculty badge.

Problem solved.

It always comes out that the people hired to order pads and pencils wind up in charge of the institution.; 6/6/20, 10:00 AM
Howard said...: Is it obvious that 'hate'—as opposed to incompetence, or fear, or cruelty, or poor training, or lack of accountability, or a brutal police culture, or panic, or malfeasance

100% agree. These reasons are much much worse because they are so easily fixed body fat f*** blue brotherhood and their right-wing cheerleaders could not be bothered to change that culture.

this is exactly what Obama was talking about.; 6/6/20, 10:02 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: h said...Only a black person could express this opinion.

Except now Dr.(phd) Glenn Loury is going to be roundly denounced as NOT being an authentic Black person. Called an Uncle Tom. Ostracized for having a dissenting opinion. How DARE he!!!!

There is no room in leftist orthodoxy for dissenters and heretics. We will all be forced to bend and comply.; 6/6/20, 10:03 AM
rhhardin said...: Oberlin college president communicates with the peons:

To the Oberlin Community,

These last few days I have found myself at a loss. At a loss for words. At a profound loss of self, and at a loss for a community that I love, and of which I am a part.

At every turn it seems we are watching in anguish a world that views African-Americans as less than human and unworthy of dignity. Not deserving of life itself. The black community - my community - is in excruciating pain. We are contending with what appears to be an unending well of racism and bigotry.

George Floyd's agony was palpable. It would be natural for some to avert their eyes. To reframe recent events and to make them singular so that they do not seem like a societal ill, but rather a moment in isolation. But I can assure you that these events are not isolated and they are not singular.

We are witnessing an unraveling and a democracy that is now in search of its foundational societal norms. Hatred, anger, illness, and death fill our screens. There is grief at the abandonment of our ideals and a tearing of the heart as we see the impact on our children.

Sending young people out into the world to reshape it, and to make it different, is how I have spent my career. Oberlin has had from its founding a commitment to solving racial inequity. We view our institution as a place where students come first to be educated, but where they also translate that education into something more. We seek understanding and creative ways of advocacy. We work so that the marginalized are no longer at the edges but rather at the center.

It is clear that we are falling short as a nation. Every George Floyd reminds us of the truth. We wonder if we are standing still, or even worse, if we are retreating.

Yet, each day I hope. I hope because I simply refuse to despair, and because I see reason to hope every September. My hope is with the students who grace this campus. Every year we observe a different unending well here at Oberlin. Students arrive in the fall with a seemingly insatiable level of curiosity, a love and appreciation of difference, and an unyielding view that what has always been, does not have to be.

My hope is with our students. Hoping that they will have the courage to face the world as it is, and to be unrelenting in their desire to see it change.

To that end, this upcoming year I will establish a Presidential Initiative for faculty and students that seeks to address issues of violence, police-community relationships, and racial injustices. One could imagine courses, co-curricular initiatives, community engagements, and internships focused on the very issues that the death of George Floyd invokes. The primary goal of this initiative is not purely for learning, but for learning that demonstrably is applied to our world.

This small effort will not change what happened to George Floyd, but it is in keeping with who we are at Oberlin. I believe in our students and their impact on a generation that can place our nation back on the right path.

My hope is with our students. I see their passion and commitment and desire to do good in the world, and it moves me.

This country needs that hope now more than ever before.

President Carmen Twillie Ambar; 6/6/20, 10:03 AM
Michael K said...: RK said...
With our never-ending fight against racism, pretty soon you won't see a single white person in a television commercial.

Or, if you see one, it will be part of an interracial couple. You would think blacks are 50% of the population if you watch TV,; 6/6/20, 10:04 AM
Charlie said...: I expect him to be fired on Monday.; 6/6/20, 10:05 AM
Narr said...: As Private Pyle might say, "Surprise surprise surprise!"

Good on Prof. Loury, and on Prof for highlighting it.

Narr
Should we start an apology countdown?; 6/6/20, 10:07 AM
Dan in Philly said...: The left is not using logic or coherent reasoning of any kind. It's all about feelings. It's the only sort of argument they can win, logic fails, persuasion fails, only feelings matter.

I'm reminded of Cindy Sheehan back when the left was trying to destroy George w Bush, the Hitler of his day of course. What was the quote? Something about the moral authority of parents who have lost children in a war is absolute? That had nothing to do with logic, with Bush's responses, or anything other than feelings. The great thing about feelings is everyone has them, everyone's entitled to them, and you simply cannot argue against them.

The fact that the left constantly resorts to such things should be an indication that they're losing, but human history is filled with people with bad arguments winning.; 6/6/20, 10:09 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Mr. Loury is spot on.

"This is nothing but propaganda. Is it supposed to be self-evident that every death of an 'unarmed black man' at the hands of a white person tells the same story? They speak of 'deep-rooted systems of oppression; legacies of hate.'... Is it obvious that 'hate'—as opposed to incompetence, or fear, or cruelty, or poor training, or lack of accountability, or a brutal police culture, or panic, or malfeasance—is what we observed in Minneapolis? We are called upon to 'effect change.' Change from what to what, exactly? Evidently, we’re now all charged to promote the policy agenda of the 'progressive' wing of American politics. "

Obey.; 6/6/20, 10:10 AM
Martha said...: and a companion piece in the WSJ: Violent Protest and the Intelligentsia
Scholar Gary Saul Morson sees disturbing parallels between Russia before the Revolution and contemporary America.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/violent-protest-and-the-intelligentsia-11591400422; 6/6/20, 10:11 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: There's a reason why Brown was traditionally thought of as a "fallback" school if you can't get into a real Ivy League university. Not that anybody would necessarily want to get into an Ivy League university, real or otherwise. But the administration at Brown is apparently second rate at best.; 6/6/20, 10:12 AM
Jupiter said...: "THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS,.."

And the Nigerians are already figuring out how to scam them.; 6/6/20, 10:12 AM
AlbertAnonymous said...: You must obey. You will be made to care.

See, e.g. Drew Brees.; 6/6/20, 10:13 AM
tim maguire said...: Good for Glenn Loury. It’s been evident for years that too many people in leadership positions lack the character or intellect for their roles.

It is natural and expected that students will have more passion than wisdom. It is the job of the university to mold that passion, temper it with knowledge, teach the skills that will help tame their passions with wisdom. and they have failed utterly. The students have not failed, they have been failed, not by our society, but by their society. The people we have put in charge of them have failed them.; 6/6/20, 10:14 AM
Sebastian said...: "Who cares what some paper-pushing apparatchik thinks? It’s all a bit creepy and unsettling."

A nice sentiment, but a little naive. The apparatchiks hold real power, and they will have their way.

"Why must this university’s senior administration declare, on behalf of the institution as a whole and with one voice, that they unanimously—without any subtle differences of emphasis or nuance—interpret contentious current events through a single lens?"

Well, because they hold power, and they are progs. Progs in power don't do nuance and prefer one voice. Everything is easier that way.; 6/6/20, 10:17 AM
Michael said...: The President of Brown might as well just wear a signboard saying: "I'm one of the good guys. Eat me last."; 6/6/20, 10:17 AM
GatorNavy said...: He shall be purged in...three...two...one; 6/6/20, 10:20 AM
chickelit said...: The Crack Emcee said...THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS,...

In Madison it sounds more like Seven Bribes For Seven Brothers.; 6/6/20, 10:21 AM
mezzrow said...: Nobody better at asking questions no one else will ask than Glenn Loury.

I am addicted to his Glenn Show on YouTube.; 6/6/20, 10:24 AM
daskol said...: Large corporations are as bad as universities at this point. The drivel that emanates from the paper-pushing apparatchiks who occupy senior leadership positions in major corporations is the same sort of propaganda university leaders propound. The march through the institutions is complete, and those which have been captured are just fucked. Regular people are our only hope.; 6/6/20, 10:30 AM
Jim Gust said...: As RK pointed out, you already don't see white people in commercials any longer. The favorite "type" is a woman of indeterminate race.

There's a reason that Friends was so popular for so long on Netflix, and it was the quality of the jokes.; 6/6/20, 10:31 AM
Francisco D said...: I Have Misplaced My Pants said...If only people who still have to work for a living had the freedom to say such things in public.

It is Mao's cultural revolution, all over again in the sports world.

White players who make bland statements that are not woke enough are severely castigated and bullied into repentance.

Re-education camps are right around the corner. Dr. Loury is on the list.; 6/6/20, 10:59 AM
RK said...: UW-Madison's chancellor came out with a similar statement, as I'm sure all universities did or will. I bet there's a lot of plagiarism going on. Some enterprising fellow could've made some quick cash writing and selling these to chancellors and CEOs.; 6/6/20, 11:00 AM
MayBee said...: Balfegor said...

Such good stuff, Balfegor.
I remember the signs that would be posted on the community bulletin boards letting us know that a "foreigner" had been arrested for some petty crime in the neighborhood. Always a "foreigner". I stress petty crime because that was almost the only kind of crime that happened.
Lack of major crimes leads to a lot fewer police shootings and beatings, that is for absolute sure.; 6/6/20, 11:05 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Crack, you could throw a brick through a jewelry store window and grab your reparations. It’s not even against the law anymore, and no cop lighter than a paper shopping bag would try to stop you, but you’re too much of a pussy to try it, and you’d rather bitch.; 6/6/20, 11:07 AM
Drago said...: Howard: "100% agree. These reasons are much much worse because they are so easily fixed body fat f*** blue brotherhood and their right-wing cheerleaders could not be bothered to change that culture."

And just like that, silly Howard transfers the decades long history of democrat dominant or total control of major american cities and their departments from democratics to republicans.

Lets see what Howards next trick will be.

I am going to guess that he and Inga will next claim that hawaiian-shirted Breakin' 2-Electric Boogaloo boys have been undermining the reform efforts of democrat city leaders for the last 50 years.

Lets all pay close attention....; 6/6/20, 11:21 AM
rehajm said...: THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS

I'm more cynical. It is complete exploitation of blacks in an election year by a cobble of political organizations and special interest groups funded in part by a European Socialist intent on bending the United States into a EU style state.; 6/6/20, 11:26 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Where is the discussion of Minneapolis police training policy?

nope. Instead, burn America to the ground while Antifa whitey will help spread lighter fluid.; 6/6/20, 11:27 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: You are exactly right, Francisco, but making my own point, I decided to delete my comment.; 6/6/20, 11:28 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Meanwhile- this guy will not be featured on CNN or Maddow or Drudge

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/378292/; 6/6/20, 11:28 AM
Ampersand said...: It is difficult to see the logic of contemporary higher education as anything more than a lengthy exercise in indoctrination, blind credulity and conformism. Doing this to your young adult child is abusive. We have to find alternatives to the institutions captured during the long Gramscian march. This is not going to be easy.; 6/6/20, 11:29 AM
traditionalguy said...: The branding of a college educated upper middle class has flipped from display of knowledge level to display of Bolshevik Police State rank. Ergo: the time to buy lots of guns and ammo has arrived. You will have to be your own SWAT Team. Calling 911 will just get you laughed at.; 6/6/20, 11:29 AM
Matthew Heintz said...: With the billions of $$$ in damaged property, lost jobs, lost lives, stolen property and general criminal acts by the mostly black looters, seems to me reparations were just paid, in full!; 6/6/20, 11:31 AM
rehajm said...: Republicans are making inroads into multiple minority groups while Democrats are rising in the white burbs. Lefties need to hold off the transition long enough to get enough of them into office so elections won't matter anymore.

That's been the plan since they discovered the SCOTUS backstop loophole the founding fathers didn't close...; 6/6/20, 11:32 AM
Fernandinande said...: Lileks -

"I know, I know, this isn’t fair. She [Olivia Gatwood, "poet, writer, activist, and educator"[sic]] is a fool, and her politics have filled the space where a heart should be, and she believes that the nobility of ideas, the lovely incandescent bloom of her anger, are more than enough proof of her goodness. It’s still something to be sitting in a city with the helicopters overhead and the night still raw and ready for horror, and read of someone in California point a manicured finger at the people who are hurting, and say fuck you."; 6/6/20, 11:34 AM
William said...: Brown should be renamed Michael Brown University in honor of that fallen hero. A statue of him should be erected in the middle of the quadrant. I don't think the statue should be any taller than ten stories high. Any higher would disturb the symmetry of the quadrant. I know many would prefer that he be posed with his hands up, but that would betray the spirit of his movement. I would prefer him to have one hand upraised in a clenched fist and the other holding a brick. Such a statue would remind all the students of their complicity in his murder and, moreover, remind me that of what they came to Brown to learn.; 6/6/20, 11:34 AM
Kevin said...: THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS,...

Must be why everyone’s scrambling to get the weed shops up and running.; 6/6/20, 11:38 AM
Fernandinande said...: At every turn it seems we are watching in anguish a world that views African-Americans as less than human and unworthy of dignity.

Said the black university president, and beneficiary of white people's largess and pro-black racism.

One could imagine courses, co-curricular initiatives, community engagements, and internships focused on the very issues that the death of George Floyd invokes.

Courses, co-curricular initiatives, community engagements, and internships focused on not trying to pass counterfeit money and not overdosing on fentanyl.; 6/6/20, 11:50 AM
Achilles said...: Howard said...

100% agree. These reasons are much much worse because they are so easily fixed body fat f*** blue brotherhood and their right-wing cheerleaders could not be bothered to change that culture.

this is exactly what Obama was talking about.

Democrats were in charge of every office that was in charge of Derek Chauvin for 50 years.

At every step it was a democrat that protected him and looked over his crimes.

Democrats are in control of every institution in Minneapolis and heave been for generations.

Democrat voters are responsible for the death of George Floyd.

You have blood on your hands Howard. You are a piece of shit.; 6/6/20, 11:50 AM
Narr said...: "Anti-racism" has been, for a while now, a tool of elite whites and their house . . . pets to use against non-elite whites.

I too received a PC email from the white male president of my alma mater/former employer assuring me that everything that can be done will be done, to eradicate the scourge of racism in all places and at all times, especially on our campus!

These things always make me wonder how, in such a highly racist society, did so many of the (very few) decent non-racist wypipo rise to such heights?

The honorable thing for white male elites in academe and business is not to be PC and anti-racist but to remove themselves from their positions of authority and influence, to be replaced by nonwhite/nonmales.

Narr
A revolution is not a seminar; 6/6/20, 11:50 AM
NKP said...: Balfegor: "But you are far, far more likely to be shot dead by the police in the US than in Japan. Racism isn't the differentiating factor here."

Being shot dead in Japan (criminal, policeman or ordinary citizen) is NOT a feature of Japanese society. Given the world we live in, keeping tabs on Muslims (not a race) is not racist, it's common sense, especially since Tokyo is such an inviting and target rich environment.; 6/6/20, 11:57 AM
Digital Hoppers said...: Very Nice
http://y2u.be/ib-RcgVwDqg; 6/6/20, 12:05 PM
narciso said...: Not just there

https://mobile.twitter.com/JordanSchachtel; 6/6/20, 12:06 PM
Tomcc said...: I'm very pleased to see this in print; it captures my general feelings of malaise over the last week. There has been an overwhelmingly emotional response to a bad situation and, in my experience, emotional responses are the least appropriate in resolving problems.
I understand the anger and frustration. No one should be at risk of death or severe injury simply because you've done something that brings you to the attention of authorities. That is a universal truth and, in my opinion, supersedes the notion that African-Americans deserve a different kind of consideration. That's also central to my theology.
I see high profile athletes and entertainers announcing donations to "end systemic racism". How is this accomplished, exactly?; 6/6/20, 12:08 PM
M Jordan said...: We are witnessing America’s version of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s in China. It is unsettling to me in the extreme to see videos of white people kneeling before BLM lords, repenting of the sin of whiteness. My hope in all this is that we aren’t 1960s China, we do have a counterpoint and people like Loury prove it. I also truly am thankful for Trump, the only man in the world who can stand up to this madness. All the elite have caved, our institutions are rotten at the top. And finally, thank God for the proles who elected Trump. Hope does lie in the proles despite what Orwell eventually concluded.; 6/6/20, 12:17 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Martha said...

and a companion piece in the WSJ: Violent Protest and the Intelligentsia
Scholar Gary Saul Morson sees disturbing parallels between Russia before the Revolution and contemporary America.

Except in this instance the Romanovs are the Bolsheviks.

Also a lot of parallels with the United States prior to the Civil War. Who's looking a lot like the Southern Fire Eaters right now? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?; 6/6/20, 12:18 PM
ALP said...: More creepy coming from the many on-line retailer I have purchased from over the years. Oh, I bought underwear from you last year - THAT means you have to email me with your 'deep' thoughts? I also work for a big law firm. We had a 90 minute "Town Hall" about "how we got here". Countless memos/emails from managment about 'the feels'. This is on top of months of memos about 'the covid-19 feels'. When did large employers become de facto parents? I feel like I am being parented by my employer.; 6/6/20, 12:18 PM
Lurker21 said...: Long Dreher article at The American Conservative about Anne Applebaum.

One of the comments:

I once confused her with Ann Althouse, who actually is an interesting writer. Boy was that embarrassing.; 6/6/20, 12:19 PM
Hey Skipper said...: @The Cracker Emcee:

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS,...

I happen to agree that a solid case could be made for racial reparations extending all the way through the 1960s. It isn't as if the end of slavery ended the extensive de facto, and often de jure, societal predations against blacks that very effectively stood in the way of obtaining, and passing down, a very significant amount of financial resources.

It is at least theoretically possible to put some kind of number against that, to calculate that if we could turn back the clock to 1865 and treat black Americans the same as everyone else, instead of subjecting them to Jim Crow, redlining, denial of credit, etc.

Let's say that number is the average household wealth of white Americans, multiplied by the number of black Americans.

And let's also say we can distribute that amount so that the household wealth of those who suffered under the systemic racism that actually existed until the 1960s, and their descendants, equals that of white Americans.

In other words: assume that the moral and financial problems are solved to your satisfaction.

That still leaves one big question unasked: taking all that as given, will reparations solve anything? Are the persistent problems afflicting far too many black Americans caused by too few dollars, or is the cause of those problems something else?

And if they are somethinge else, might reparations actually make things worse?; 6/6/20, 12:25 PM
ALP said...: "As RK pointed out, you already don't see white people in commercials any longer. The favorite "type" is a woman of indeterminate race."

The term I prefer is 'vaguely ethnic'.; 6/6/20, 12:32 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Balfegor,

It's like trying to fix crop failures by burning sacrifices in a giant wicker man.

No!? GODDAMMIT! WHY WASN'T I TOLD?!; 6/6/20, 12:32 PM
fleg9bo said...: You would think blacks are 50% of the population if you watch TV

And that 82% of the country suffers from psoriasis.; 6/6/20, 12:34 PM
hombre said...: “"Why must this university’s senior administration declare, on behalf of the institution as a whole and with one voice ....”

Because most universities are silos.; 6/6/20, 12:37 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: "This is nothing but propaganda."

Leftist, propaganda, Glenn, leftist propaganda.; 6/6/20, 12:40 PM
buwaya said...: "I remember the signs that would be posted on the community bulletin boards letting us know that a "foreigner" had been arrested for some petty crime in the neighborhood. Always a "foreigner".

It wasn't me!; 6/6/20, 12:42 PM
Yancey Ward said...: You want a real picture of the rioting, the looting, and the aftermath? Go here

I have no idea how long Facebook will allow that page to remain open, but probably not more than the next few hours.; 6/6/20, 12:43 PM
buwaya said...: As RK noted above, they are all the same. And corporations, local governments, etc.
"Shame on you white proles", basically, from your entire leadership caste.

What you have here is a ritual beating of the people.; 6/6/20, 12:45 PM
ALP said...: Current talk of 'systemic' things has me thinking about one of my former jobs in the 90's - back when the US was all about importing Japan's "Kaizen" Continuous Improvement methods. I worked for a non-profit serving developmentally disabled adults - aka "sheltered workshop". The Executive Director hired a consultant that trained us to see that any problems we may have dealing with clients were due to 'the system'. So you needed to continually improve 'the organization's system' and thus problems solved.

A group got together to work on a system to prevent clients from eloping - aka 'running away'. Worked for a while - until one day an individual *decides to ignore the dictates of said system* - and a client escapes. This one ended up breaking into a nearby home, and was found by the homeowner sitting on the floor of their kitchen stuffing dry flour into her mouth, having emptied everything from the cupboards onto the floor. Escaped clients were usually rounded up before they got into anyone's home - so this event made a stir.

I will never forget seeing the ED stomping about the offices, yelling "THIS IS NOT A SYSTEM FAILURE THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL FAILURE". About a week later, a laser motion system was installed! Relying on individuals to respect 'the system' doesn't always work. And there is always a machine replacement for human tasks - eventually.; 6/6/20, 12:46 PM
hombre said...: Howard: “... and their right-wing cheerleaders could not be bothered to change that culture.”

That would be the “right-wing” that controls the P.D.s in Minneapolis, Atlanta, Chicago, etc., and toadies to public employee unions like the FOP. That right wing?

Diversity of opinion is usually welcomed by conservatives. This kind of stupidity, not so much.; 6/6/20, 12:49 PM
buwaya said...: The problem with Crack's proposal is that the real issue here is not the unhappiness or alienation of black people, which can never and will never change, but the civil war between white castes. Black this or gay that or environmental whatsit or illegal alien whatever are all just handy stones to fling in a propaganda war against the American volk.; 6/6/20, 12:52 PM
Bilwick said...: "Paper pushing apparatchik" is a phrase I wish I'd written.; 6/6/20, 12:52 PM
n.n said...: Nice. There is no evidence that diversity was a motive. Also, Floyd was SARS-CoV-2+, a probably spreader. Of all the people black, white, brown, yellow, orange, short, tall, skinny, fat, male, female... interesting Choice.; 6/6/20, 12:56 PM
n.n said...: So, Loury does not indulge diversity, does not define himself or others by the color of their skin, and recognizes the humanity of his fellow citizens.

Even with tenure, a white professor would not be allowed to write something so truthful,

To be fair, #BabyLiveMatter and, generally, #AllLivesMatter, only triggers progressives, liberals et al because it exposes the acute bigotry of their faith, religion, ideology, traditions, and operation of abortion chambers ("essential services") for social and medical progress.; 6/6/20, 1:03 PM
hombre said...: The Crack Emcee said...”THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS,...”

I’m sure someone has calculated an appropriate amount for reparations. It remains to deduct the disproportionate costs for black welfare, the disproportionate cost of black crime, including the recent looting and burning, the disproportionate cost of black abortions, the disproportionate cost of medical, the disproportionate cost of police services to black neighborhoods, etc.

After the deductions, Crack, where should the authorities send your bill?; 6/6/20, 1:04 PM
n.n said...: you could throw a brick through a jewelry store window and grab your reparations.

Doesn't California place a $100 bag limit on redistributive change? If we follow the example of post-apartheid Progressive South Africa, lynch a black, a white, too, then double or triple your change. This what happens when people stand, rather than kneel. Social justice anywhere is injustice everywhere.; 6/6/20, 1:07 PM
Unknown said...: If a deeply rooted system of opression behind George Floyd's tragic death would Derek Chauvin have been fired and prosecuted for Mr Floyd's murder? Once we replace this system what happens after the next atrocity? Do we replace the system again? Maybe we just need to enforce the law.; 6/6/20, 1:14 PM
Narayanan said...: rhhardin said...
It always comes out that the people hired to order pads and pencils wind up in charge of the institution.
-----------===============

is it true what I read that Stalin was in charge of ordering pads and pencils for Lenin; 6/6/20, 1:15 PM
Clark said...: I got sidetracked by the phrase "to curry favor". It apparently started out as "to curry Fauvel"—Fauvel being a horse in a satirical French medieval poem from the early 1300s.

Loury is a national treasure.; 6/6/20, 1:23 PM
Jupiter said...: "But believing it's obviously wrong for a policeman to kill a petty crime suspect who isn't resisting (or stand around and watch a fellow policeman do as much) doesn't logically imply that you have to buy into a barmy theory about white supremacy."

When this gets into a courtroom, the evidence is going to show that Floyd was resisting, and that far from intentionally killing him, the police evinced concern for his welfare, calling an ambulance and discussing how best to address the breathing issues he complained of. They did not release him, because he had been resisting, they were surrounded by a hostile crowd, and they had not been instructed to only arrest people who responded favorably to arrest. Their actions were entirely in accordance with established police procedures, and the cause of his death was his poor health, his own exertions, and his use of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

You are the one who has bought into a "barmy theory" promulgated by the criminal media.; 6/6/20, 1:32 PM
jimbino said...: @RK: "With our never-ending fight against racism, pretty soon you won't see a single white person in a television commercial." And we soon might see a couple of brown, black and red faces in our national parks and forests, which are now run as white country clubs acquired and supported by taxes our minorities pay too.; 6/6/20, 1:33 PM
chuck said...: Loury nailed it. Our Universities are a disgrace and an insult to the intellect.; 6/6/20, 1:38 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: @Balfegor

All this nonsense -- the protests, the academic and journalistic cant about "systemic racism" -- is an effort to take an incident where approximately 100% of people were in agreement, from the President on down to the lowliest Antifa scumbag, and leverage it to bully people into accepting positions that are supported only by an extremist minority. But believing it's obviously wrong for a policeman to kill a petty crime suspect who isn't resisting (or stand around and watch a fellow policeman do as much) doesn't logically imply that you have to buy into a barmy theory about white supremacy. Or that you have to believe police should be abolished. The protests and the opeds and the riots operate to blur all gradations and distinctions with a wash of unthinking emotion. The mythologization of national history into an impressionistic, moralistic, didactic narrative, like the 1619 project. An aestheticisation of politics, in which the work of politics and governance is transformed a kind of mass performance. Black uniforms and black masks. A politics of symbolic gestures. Marches, rallies, wild-eyed, spittle-flecked speeches, and broken glass.

This isn't what democracy looks like. This is what fascism looks like. And it is repellent.

-Belfegor

As spot on as Glenn Loury’s take. Boom.; 6/6/20, 1:43 PM
chuck said...: @buwaya: a white man's war and a black man's fight.; 6/6/20, 1:46 PM
mezzrow said...: RE: reparations

Be honest, crack.

What we are taking about is tribute, not reparations. Isn't it?
Reparations are a one time deal, and we both know that a one time deal won't get it done.; 6/6/20, 1:47 PM
hstad said...: "... it obvious that 'hate'—as opposed to incompetence, or fear, or cruelty, or poor training, or lack of accountability, or a brutal police culture, or panic, or malfeasance—is what we observed in Minneapolis?..." But the authorities answer - that's to complex, costly, etc., and our 'simplistic political narrative' is easier - we don't have to do anything hard which helps people.; 6/6/20, 1:47 PM
Michael K said...: And we soon might see a couple of brown, black and red faces in our national parks and forests, which are now run as white country clubs acquired and supported by taxes our minorities pay too.

Some dipshit has never driven by the public parks in LA which are filled every weekend with Hispanic families. As for Yellowstone and Yosemite, I guess the dipshit will be organizing mandatory tours for POCs, like the old drives they used overseers for in the Democrat states of the Confederacy.; 6/6/20, 1:48 PM
Carter Wood said...: Absent from the email to Reed College alumni: Any mention of the words "education," "learning," or "teaching." The term "liberal arts" already fell several years ago.

https://mailchi.mp/reed/solidarity1?e=e904acd565; 6/6/20, 1:48 PM
Gahrie said...: If a deeply rooted system of opression behind George Floyd's tragic death would Derek Chauvin have been fired and prosecuted for Mr Floyd's murder? Once we replace this system what happens after the next atrocity? Do we replace the system again? Maybe we just need to enforce the law.

It's the same police department that got in trouble three years ago when one of their cops killed a White woman. After a months long investigation they fired and arrested the cop, fired the police chief, and supposedly fixed the police department. The system people are complaining about was designed by Democrats, implemented by Democrats and administered by Democrats. Yet somehow it's Trump's and the Republicans' fault.; 6/6/20, 1:53 PM
effinayright said...: Jupiter, you are asserting a string of assumptions, and treating them as facts.

But EVEN IF your version holds up, it doesn't logically imply that we have to buy into a barmy theory about white supremacy.; 6/6/20, 1:53 PM
chuck said...: @buwaya: a white man's war and a black man's fight.; 6/6/20, 1:53 PM
Not Sure said...: And we soon might see a couple of brown, black and red faces in our national parks and forests, which are now run as white country clubs acquired and supported by taxes our minorities pay too.

AFAIK, people of color are currently allowed to go to any national park. Are you hoping for some forced busing plan to integrate the parks? Or perhaps you're talking about privatizing them, so that those heavily taxed minorities can get out from under the crushing burden of supporting the NPS.; 6/6/20, 2:05 PM
hstad said...: @The Cracker Emcee:

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF REPARATIONS,..."
LOL - "...like looters you're getting yours..."

Nice B.S. quote, any details put forth. Reagan did it for 'Interned Japanese-Americans, $20,000 each. But 1 caveat they had to be (still) alive.

BTW, who will pay for it - exempt all immigrants coming to USA after the 1960s, which amounts to approximately 155 million people. How about exempting all of the [Black] 'multimillionaire entertainers, producers, athletes and,oh no, 'Robert Johnson founder of BET and the newest "Reparations" recruit (worth $600 million). What about the batches of 'Africans' who immigrated from Africa since the 1970s, let alone half whites/half blacks like President Obama?. Hey maybe will give all 'blacks' a casino license like we did with 'Native Americans'. "Reparations" is not a serious thought and a political narrative which accomplishes nothing other than 'stick my finger in your eye'. Tell us what it will accomplish?; 6/6/20, 2:07 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: My college alumni association put out a pro-BLM anti-white-privelege screed yesterday with nary a scold, even in passing, at the violence. It made me mad I just shelled out circa $400 for their new directory. Why would an alumni association take a position on the most politically contentious issue of the day at all? That's not what they are for. If they *had* to say something why not say something non-controversial and even-handed? No more dues for them!; 6/6/20, 2:07 PM
cubanbob said...: The Universities are making a great case for defunding them, abolishing the Dept. Of (Mis)Education and abolishing the federal student loan program.; 6/6/20, 2:15 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Reparations are being spent to confront racism. Millions more reparations. Again. The true pathway has been shown and described time and again. Ultimately devolves into riots. The lefties don't want to set blacks free. They have taken over the democrat party. The circle remains unbroken.; 6/6/20, 2:15 PM
cubanbob said...: Blogger jimbino said...
@RK: "With our never-ending fight against racism, pretty soon you won't see a single white person in a television commercial." And we soon might see a couple of brown, black and red faces in our national parks and forests, which are now run as white country clubs acquired and supported by taxes our minorities pay too."

Never knew the parks have signs posting whites only. Thanks for informing me.; 6/6/20, 2:17 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Social Justice is a sick religion that aims to crush all dissent.; 6/6/20, 2:18 PM
Narayanan said...: will crackemcee consider funds being raised to assist "rioterdestroyedblackbusiness" as reparations? or do they have to be in some form he specifies? I concede that he does not have to contribute to get skin in the game.

I initially had some respect for his points but he has been wearing thin.; 6/6/20, 2:26 PM
Lurker21 said...: Too many Black people and too many interracial couples in television commercials is an old White guy complaint. In commercials from the Sixties, Seventies and even Eighties, you see blond/e people overrepresented, and people who weren't blond/e noticed. Black is the new blond/e. And now, if a commercial is all White people it looks strange. But as noted above, the trend is more to "vaguely ethnic" types who could be of any one of a number of races.; 6/6/20, 2:28 PM
bagoh20 said...: Good for Loury, but hasn't he been part of the philosophy that runs all the places were the problem is a crisis, and now has gotten us here.

He's just started to notice that his political home is "controlled by a cabal of its enemies."

I'm anticipating that many others will notice too and send the right message to the Democratic party in November in an unambiguous way. If that happens, expect the next big demand will be to end democratic elections.; 6/6/20, 2:42 PM
bagoh20 said...: A bunch of us went out to Freemnont Street here in Vegas last night. Minor protests were expected, but never developed. The crowd was about 40% of normal, but that's pretty impressive considering it's so soon after everything. I was surprised that the crowd was about 50% Black, which is not normal at all, and certainly not demographic for Vegas. There were a lot of cops out, but we didn't see any disturbance at all.

The atmosphere was not normal though. It had a strange mixed quality of normal type behaviors, but subdued with a sense of underlying tension. The cops were standing in groups along the sidewalks, they seemed to be happily conversing with each other, but as you passed them you could feel their anticipation that you might have something negative to say or do. In our group of mostly 20 somethings, we had about a dozen men and women including two young Black men. As we passed one group of cops, I could see the anticipation in their faces of bad shit coming from us, but as we approached, I said "thanks guys, be safe". A huge smile came across all their faces, and all of us felt better. It's true that silence is complicit in the hate, but not the way the race obsessed mean it.; 6/6/20, 2:57 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “ Or, if you see one, it will be part of an interracial couple. You would think blacks are 50% of the population if you watch TV,”

Worse, for me, I think, is the fairly new prevalence of gay couples in ads. Mostly gay guys, maybe because they are probably much more prevalent than lesbians in Hollywood and NYC ad agencies.; 6/6/20, 3:09 PM
Joan said...: I’d like to see #LivesMatter trending.

I’ve seen the memes chastising the #AllLivesMatter people because the Black ones are the ones who are hurting right now. But #BLM puts black before lives and strongly implies that the only reason these lives matter is because they are black, which is bullshit. Everyone was appalled by the apparent callous indifference of Chauvin to Floyd’s pleas, NOT because the two men are different colors, but because one was responsible for the death of the other. Racism had. NOTHING to do with Floyd’s death, and yet here we are. God I hate the liars in our media.

I’m grateful to Loury and Rand Paul and Trump and everyone else who is trying to hold the line and preserve our civilization. My 21yo daughter has been radicalized in spite of our best efforts to inoculate all our kids from this leftist claptrap. Fortunately her brothers still retain the ability to engage in critical thinking, but how much of the past three generations is actually able to do that? The radical infiltration of our education system is now coming into full flower. Quite a crop.; 6/6/20, 3:15 PM
Bilwick said...: Dan in Philly wrote: "The left is not using logic or coherent reasoning of any kind." Never has; never will. There's a reason 19th Century libertarian anarchists used the phrase "the Cult of the State." And cultists are not big fans of the syllogism.; 6/6/20, 3:16 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Y'all always know you can hit your boy, Crackee, up on PayPal - save yourself all that trouble with future IRS forms and the groveling apologies that will be necessary with the OTHER BLACKS who don't what good hearts you all have, while waiting all these years to get paid by you.

I'd never put you guys through that - I love you too much.

Large bills, please, I don't count so good.

I think I'm gonna start a radio show on,...um,...fighting racism (yeah, that's it - that's the ticket) and the money will go to that.It'll be called "The George Floyd Comedy Hour" and feature Ann & Meade as guests, reminiscing about the old days when reparations were just something y'all insulted me over for even thinking about.; 6/6/20, 3:17 PM
Michael K said...: I too received a PC email from the white male president of my alma mater/former employer assuring me that everything that can be done will be done, to eradicate the scourge of racism in all places and at all times, especially on our campus!

I recently quit a Facebook group of alumni (or at least they say they are) of my university, which I attended for ten years and had football season tickets for for 50. I was also voluntary (unpaid) faculty for 40 years.; 6/6/20, 3:22 PM
Bilwick said...: Char Char Binks wrote: "Crack, you could throw a brick through a jewelry store window and grab your reparations. It’s not even against the law anymore, and no cop lighter than a paper shopping bag would try to stop you, but you’re too much of a pussy to try it, and you’d rather bitch."

If the big cities are all looted out, I suggest Crack try the suburbs. Just north of Atlanta, in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, there are numerous towns where Crack might try his luck. Any store owner or restaurateur in these small towns would probably welcome his visit. If he's really feeling brave, he could throw a brick through the front window of almost any redneck bar and yell out "Elvis was a fag."That should work.; 6/6/20, 3:25 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Crack, the Dems are just using you until whites are no longer a majority. When that happens, and the black vote is no longer needed, you'll be kicked to the curb so fast your head will spin. You think Hispanics and Asians are going to feel the slightest bit of guilt? That they're going to give a shit about 13 percent of the US population?; 6/6/20, 3:45 PM
RK said...: "...our national parks and forests, which are now run as white country clubs"

Not true. I'm pretty sure I saw "whites" and "colored" drinking fountains at Yellowstone last year.; 6/6/20, 3:51 PM
Drago said...: exiledonmainstreet: "Crack, the Dems are just using you until whites are no longer a majority. When that happens, and the black vote is no longer needed, you'll be kicked to the curb so fast your head will spin. You think Hispanics and Asians are going to feel the slightest bit of guilt? That they're going to give a shit about 13 percent of the US population?"

Just wait until the dems hand over control to the ChiComs. Those guys are famous for being responsive to their "constituents" needs.......and believe me, they just love the (I can't repeat what they call blacks here).; 6/6/20, 4:13 PM
Rick said...: Unknown said...
It is difficult to see the logic of contemporary higher education as anything more than a lengthy exercise in indoctrination, blind credulity and conformism. Doing this to your young adult child is abusive. We have to find alternatives to the institutions captured during the long Gramscian march. This is not going to be easy.

I've been thinking about this for the long time, many years. It would be nice if we could just recapture some set of universities, reform them, and let the results show everyone how wasteful the left's program is. But even in red states I don't think a direct takeover is possible. Academia is controlled by the left pretty much everywhere, and if perhaps ND is an exception it's easy to dismiss as irrelevant.

Instead the best path is to split populations at every point. Left wingers prosper by grouping people. The easiest way to recompense unproductive people is to insist they be evaluated with the productive which explains every structure from national communism to unions. It's all designed to protect the low performers which even the middle appreciates because they can work less hard for roughly the same recompense.

The big split in universities is between people tying to become productive and people trying to become politicians/activists. So the best bet is to split our universities accordingly, with hard sciences, engineering and business in one and liberal arts / grievance studies in the other. This would allow one bloated structure loaded with diversity officers and Title IX Inquisitions while the other can cost far less to deliver productive instruction. Let the students decide, and the users who will conclude a degree from one far outweighs the other. If loans were also freed to reflect productivity that would likewise increase the cost disparity. The price discrepancy could easily end up being 10k/ year vs 60k / year which accurately reflects the value to society.

The first step in this process would have to come from a red state with some support within academia. Texas would be perfect since its size prevents people from dismissing it on that basis. But it's unclear to me that anyone involved in Texas politics is willing to take on academia. Maybe eventually someone will be.; 6/6/20, 4:50 PM
Hey Skipper said...: @Joan:

I’d like to see #LivesMatter trending.

How about #BlackLivesMatterToo; 6/6/20, 5:59 PM
Jupiter said...: "Jupiter, you are asserting a string of assumptions, and treating them as facts."

I am asserting my conclusions from a careful study of information readily available on the internet. The only dicey assumption I'm making is that the evidence will be presented in court. But look, you don't even need to read about this shit any more. We know how this works by now. Trayvon, Michael Brown, George Floyd -- it's almost like they intentionally pick a total asshole, so they can demand that we all pretend the fucked-up, parasitical menace to society was a saint.

"How many fingers, Winston?"; 6/6/20, 6:53 PM
Jupiter said...: Hey, Crack! Look here;

"Hard working (Detroit) father of 5 home burned to ground after being set ablaze on Thursday morning. Family dog was lost in fire. Father purchased home from land bank for his family and was working day and night on home. Home was a few weeks away from being habitable so that he could obtain home insurance. This is beyond heart breaking to receive a call that your home you invested blood, sweat, and tears in literally was no more."

His GoFundMe is currently at $474,396 raised of $100,000 goal. And nobody gave you anything! Of course, we can't be sure whether any of that was from white people, but it just burns your ass, doesn't it. Fucking Crackers!; 6/6/20, 7:58 PM
Balfegor said...: Re: Jupiter

When this gets into a courtroom, the evidence is going to show that Floyd was resisting

I mean, I guess I can accept that what shows up in the courtroom may have little to no relation to what actually happened, but he sure didn't look like he was resisting in the video. I think he's unconscious for part of the period when he's being choked out.; 6/6/20, 8:01 PM
Rory said...: "So the best bet is to split our universities accordingly, with hard sciences, engineering and business in one and liberal arts / grievance studies in the other."

There's been speculation that the discrimination against Asian kids at Harvard is rooted in a need to admit kids who will take the easier courses of study.; 6/6/20, 8:08 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "We know how this works by now. Trayvon, Michael Brown, George Floyd -- it's almost like they intentionally pick a total asshole, so they can demand that we all pretend the fucked-up, parasitical menace to society was a saint."

Floyd was arrested 8 times, mostly for cocaine possession. But once it for was taking part in a home invasion. One guy knocked on the door of the home of a young black woman, who was pregnant. She answered and then he, and a few other men, including Floyd, forced their way in and robbed her. St. Floyd held a gun to her belly while they robbed her.

Of, yes, of course "he was turning his life around." Except for all the drugs in his system at the time of his death.

You've got to wonder how that young black woman feels about the guy who pointed a gun at her and her unborn baby becoming the World's Most Famous Martyr. We'll never find out, because no reporter will ever interview her. And it would be wise of her to keep her mouth shut, lest she be labeled a coon and Race Traitor.

No, even an asshole doesn't deserve to die like Floyd did. But he was an asshole, and 95% of the liberal white suburbanites who are now sobbing over him would have pissed themselves if he had ever turned up at their front doors.; 6/6/20, 8:32 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “There's a reason why Brown was traditionally thought of as a "fallback" school if you can't get into a real Ivy League university. Not that anybody would necessarily want to get into an Ivy League university, real or otherwise. But the administration at Brown is apparently second rate at best.”

Part of the problem though is that when many of us (around Ann in age) went to college, Brown was apparently the only Ivy League admitting Jews, so was heavily Jewish. Multiple diatribes from my Brown graduated Jewish GF when I was in B School in the mid 1970s to that effect. She also wasn’t happy that I had a number of friends from Lake Forest (IL), which allowed Blacks, but not Jews, to live there. My kid toured a bunch of schools back East a bit over a decade ago, and found the students at Brown completely intolerable. Most arrogant bunch of twits they ever met.; 6/6/20, 8:56 PM
MikeR said...: Glenn Loury - my hero.; 6/6/20, 9:42 PM
gpm said...: >>Part of the problem though is that when many of us (around Ann in age) went to college, Brown was apparently the only Ivy League admitting Jews, so was heavily Jewish.

Yeah, no. I'm just about three years younger than Althouse. When I was there, Harvard was and had been admitting a lot of Jews for decades. Do I have to say that "many of my best friends" (not to mention roommates) were Jewish? You are way off base here.

As I have previously made clear, I think, I grew up on the South Side of Chicago in the 50s and 60s. I have no particular knowledge but don't have any particular reason to think well of people from Lake Forest. So, maybe we can agree on that. Though I doubt there were many blacks living there (and there were certainly many Jews living elsewhere on the north shore, i.e., Glencoe, etc.).

Can't remember exactly where, but there was a big foofarah about Mr. T buying an estate on the north shore (quite possibly in Lake Forest) and cutting down a bunch of trees.

--gpm; 6/6/20, 10:25 PM
Jupiter said...: Balfegor, you are correct that Floyd stopped resisting arrest, once he was good and arrested. I believe Officer Duchin may be forgiven for suspecting that he would refrain from resisting only so long as he remained good and arrested. But he was not being "choked out". Officer Duchin had his knee on Floyd's neck, but that does not tell us how much of his weight was on that knee. Certainly, the other two officers helping Duchin to restrain Floyd did not believe their efforts were unneeded.; 6/7/20, 8:39 AM
Narr said...: Who the hell is Duchin?

Is the plot thickening?

As to Brown U, isn't that the one endowed by slave traders?

Narr
Why all the questions this morning?; 6/7/20, 10:46 AM
bagoh20 said...: Doesn't it suck to have myopic angry people telling you "You're not helping", just becuase you see things differently? We have been seeing that a lot in 2020.; 6/7/20, 3:15 PM