१९ जुलै, २०२०

"The new anti-racism has a confessional, religious energy that the secular meritocracy has always lacked."

"But there is also something important about its more radical and even ridiculous elements — like the weird business that increasingly shows up in official documents, from the New York Public Schools or the Smithsonian, describing things like 'perfectionism' or 'worship of the written word' or 'emphasis on the scientific method' or 'delayed gratification' as features of a toxic whiteness. Imagine yourself as a relatively privileged white person exhausted by meritocracy — an overworked student or a fretful parent or a school administrator constantly besieged by both.... 'Wouldn’t it come as a relief, in some way, if it turned out that the whole 'exhausting "Alice in Wonderland" Red Queen Race of full-time meritocratic achievement,' in the words of a pseudonymous critic, was nothing more than a manifestation of the very white supremacy that you, as a good liberal, are obliged to dismantle and oppose? If all the testing, all the 'delayed gratification' and 'perfectionism,' was, after all, just itself a form of racism, and in easing up, chilling out, just relaxing a little bit, you can improve your life and your kid’s life and, happily, strike an anti-racist blow as well?"

Writes Ross Douthat in "The Real White Fragility/Does the white upper class feel exhausted and oppressed by meritocracy?" (NYT).

So it's sort of like the hippie movement all over again... but without the joy and the fun and the music and the flowers and the crazy clothes and the love of freedom and the willingness to say outrageous things. Instead there's grimness, guilt, pessimism, and the grueling realization that you do have to work, but it's not work at some job, it's work on yourself — you with the bred-in-the-bone racism problem.

Karl Marx wrote: "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." I'm seeing this repetition the other way around. We got the comedy first. The tragedy is now.

११८ टिप्पण्या:

Carol म्हणाले...

fun and the music and the flowers and the crazy clothes

It was fun all right! It hit LA just as I was graduating high school and it set me back a few years. Oh well! The road not taken and all that.

Yeah these people are insufferable stiffs.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

I was told racism is incurable.

n.n म्हणाले...

The new anti-diversity (e.g. racism) is the old diversity with an elitist flourish.

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

So, failure, self-indulgence and carelessness are now traits to be admired? And we are to attribute these characteristics to people of color?

As Titania McGrath would say, that's the way to fight racism.

Mr Wibble म्हणाले...

What I find funny is that many of the most woke are the type of people who sneered at conservatives for saying that you couldn't get rid of religion, that it would just take another form.

Mary Beth म्हणाले...

Instead there's grimness, guilt, pessimism, and the grueling realization that you do have to work, but it's not work at some job, it's work on yourself — you with the bred-in-the-bone racism problem.

We're back to the Puritans. One day is a day of rest, but not really since you're in church (although the new one will be more of a virtual church) where you spend the time in contemplation of your sins. But still, no work. Not even fun stuff that someone else had decided fits into the "work" category.

At least the old Puritans believed in the possibility of redemption. This new religion doesn't even have that.

Bob Smith म्हणाले...

Most of this stool is just excuses for being lazy.

sykes.1 म्हणाले...

Peter Turchin's theory of elite overproduction is being demonstrated on our streets every day.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"you can improve your life and your kid’s life"

By having your nice white kids passed over in favor of POCs, excluded from jobs, denounced as racist, and subjected to constant struggle sessions? Some improvement you got there.

The real flaw, of course, is that every society has a kind of meritocracy. If you don't want to sort by skill and brains, it'll be something else. Which will produce its own competition and its own resentments.

narciso म्हणाले...

no it would be tragedy again on a greater scale, douthat has this gift for using many words to say nothing of consequences,

Mark O म्हणाले...

A religious cult, resembling Puritans:

"Puritans became noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation. Their efforts to transform the nation contributed both to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in America."

If riots and extortion can be described as earnestness.

Ray - SoCal म्हणाले...

Cisco firing employees for not being pro blm is terrifying.

The four defacement this week, not being covered, of blm in front of trump tower is counter culture. Done with blue paint.

chuck म्हणाले...

Look at the bright side, Asians, Chinese, Latinos, and Africans are now classified as white. I'm waiting for Newsweek to announce that we are all white now.

Gordy म्हणाले...

It's less-privileged whites and Hispanics actually building homes and fixing roads. The rest of us are free to contemplate the advantages of a blacker lifestyle.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent म्हणाले...

As in every generation, the winners will be the ones that can distinguish between smoke and substance. And they will be overwhelmingly White and Asian.

HipsterVacuum म्हणाले...

I don't spend one fraction of a second fretting about "racism" and if anyone tries to force the issue they get a good old fashioned "fuck off."

Every Sunday for the past several weeks a bunch of white people with self-effacing protest signs condemning racism have been standing on the corner of a Friends School campus($40,000/yr tuition) in a lily-white suburb of Philadelphia. What a great way to spend a day off. These people are mentally ill cult members.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent म्हणाले...

If I was trying to wrongfoot a generation of young Blacks, what would I do differently?

अनामित म्हणाले...

That already is happening to the White underclass.

Looked at the birth rate for unmarried white women lately? The white single parent households in poverty?

It's just the same malaise, supported by our culture and our governments working its way up the socioeconomic ladder.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

I remember when Antifa, was fully elaborated as anti-fascist. Can AntiRa be far behind?

This whole anti- prefix has me confused.

Recent events in the Autonomous Zones indicate that AntiFa is really just a cesspool of tin-pot dictators bullying a bunch of the emotionally disturbed......a kind of fascism.

Can anti-racism be the new racism? "The new anti-racism has a confessional, religious energy"......and smells like burning crosses!!

Don't get me started about anti-intellectualism. Can anti-intellectualism be the new stupid? Anti-intellectualism is the crux pin of Critical Intellectual Theory......everything-you-say-is-stupid-unless-I-say-it-first.

There's a reason why Paul Krugman uses that word. It's the new temper tantrum argument.

Paul Snively म्हणाले...

Dr. Althouse: Karl Marx wrote: "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." I'm seeing this repetition the other way around. We got the comedy first. The tragedy is now.

We're all bozos on this bus!

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent म्हणाले...

Remember when it took chains and whips and dogs and racist cops to keep the Brothers down? These days an Internet headfake will often suffice.

Original Mike म्हणाले...

"Writes Ross Douthat in "The Real White Fragility/Does the white upper class feel exhausted and oppressed by meritocracy?" "

What horseshit. "The white upper class" can not feel anything. PEOPLE feel things. And if some PEOPLE in the white upper class feel exhausted, they are free to relax and splurge rather than defer their gratification. But then they should accept the consequences and don't demand that others pay for their choice.

I worked and saved my ass off my entire life. Didn't feel deprived while I was doing it. I was working toward a goal. And now that I'm retired I am happy to testify to the virtues of that choice. If you want to do something else, fine. Just get out of my face. What utter tripe.

gspencer म्हणाले...

"Lets see. I have $800 in cash sitting in my pocket right now. And I myself am sitting in a pretty interesting place, with lots of people around me who seem to be having a lot of fun. Now I know I have that tooth that's been giving my some pain and the dentist agreed to see me in two days even though he had to squeeze in. So there's gonna be some costs that I'll pay to pay the dentist."

"$800 in chips, please"

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan म्हणाले...

Althouse skips over a link in the quoted article that is worthwhile reading.

Wouldn’t it come as a relief, in some way, if it turned out that the whole “exhausting ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Red Queen Race of full-time meritocratic achievement,” in the words of a pseudonymous critic, was nothing more than a manifestation of the very white supremacy that you, as a good liberal, are obliged to dismantle and oppose?

Clyde म्हणाले...

The only way to win the game is not to play.

Original Mike म्हणाले...

"The real flaw, of course, is that every society has a kind of meritocracy. If you don't want to sort by skill and brains, it'll be something else. Which will produce its own competition and its own resentments."

The only important question for a society should be, 'What will increase the welfare of the people the most?' I'm going with "skill and brains".

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

The Simpsons were here a quarter of a century ago.

Rory म्हणाले...

"If all the testing, all the 'delayed gratification' and 'perfectionism,' was, after all, just itself a form of racism, and in easing up, chilling out, just relaxing a little bit, you can improve your life and your kid’s life and, happily, strike an anti-racist blow as well?""

And if we stop testing and striving and perfecting, then the people who are on top when we stop will stay on top forever.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

A life spent playing in the sandbox of mental masturbation does not prepare you for insight into the value or purpose of merit. Let's move on to someone of more substance. They are unlikely to work at the NYT. People there think food is created in the supermarket via paperwork, and everything else comes out of a magical machine at Amazon. They have no idea of the grit, sweat and real merit happening on the other side of the wall allowing them to live in that sandbox with their friends.

Bill Peschel म्हणाले...

In the comfy class, it was never about race, and always about class. They use race to divide us and keep them from seeing that by destroying the belief in equality and meritocracy, they're keeping themselves on top.

So long as Trump is in office, the beatings will continue. And you know what? I'm fine with that.

Interested Bystander म्हणाले...


Underneath it all is a desire to subjugate.

Rory म्हणाले...

"The new anti-racism has a confessional, religious energy that the secular meritocracy has always lacked."

But it's not religious: if it were, the adherents would have a duty to conform personally. They would have to investigate their own lives, determine what they have that is attributable to their race, and divest of that immediately. As with the environmentalist with the private jet or the feminist harasser, there's no ethic here that requires a person to do anything except insist that others conform with what you are publicly demanding.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

First came the obnoxious insult to minorities that values of real importance that actually produce results are White constructs they really can't participate in, and now they imply that all the accomplishment was really also just White supremacy. The real White supremacists have just found out they have a whole lot of admirers out there willing to add "intellectual" filling to their fantasy. Who would have expected the far left to be such bigots. I always did.

Francisco D म्हणाले...

So it's sort of like the hippie movement all over again... but without the joy and the fun and the music and the flowers and the crazy clothes and the love of freedom and the willingness to say outrageous things. Instead there's grimness, guilt, pessimism, and the grueling realization that you do have to work, but it's not work at some job, it's work on yourself — you with the bred-in-the-bone racism problem.

As a child of the Sixties who enjoyed Abbie Hoffman's political schtick, along with the many many cultural changes, that statement really hits the mark.

Well said Althouse.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

If the white upper class feel exhausted and oppressed by their place at the top of the ladder, there are lots of people who will be happy to replace them. The ladder will still be there for those who wish to use it.

clint म्हणाले...

For those who lived through it -- was the hippie movement of the '60's actually as upbeat and tolerant as its portrayal in popular culture? Or was it full of negativity about "the Man" and the war and squares generally, with "tuning out" as a defense mechanism to turn away from the depressing horror they saw around them in the real world?

Nichevo म्हणाले...


Original Mike said...
"Writes Ross Douthat in "The Real White Fragility/Does the white upper class feel exhausted and oppressed by meritocracy?" "



Blogger Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
Althouse skips over a link in the quoted article that is worthwhile reading.

Wouldn’t it come as a relief, in some way, if it turned out that the whole “exhausting ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Red Queen Race of full-time meritocratic achievement,” in the words of a pseudonymous critic, was nothing more than a manifestation of the very white supremacy that you, as a good liberal, are obliged to dismantle and oppose?






What a ...diverse... cast of characters it is - some entirely unexpected - who are telling Atlas to shrug!

"...but you won't like it..."

wendybar म्हणाले...

Go ahead and grovel to the "Woke" Mob if you must...I will joyfully go on with my life happy with my self responsibility, and knowing that I wake up happy every day...not miserable and hateful....

Jeff म्हणाले...

A columnist at the NYT actually noticed that one of the major purposes of the current fanaticism is to keep government agencies as well-financed and unaccountable as possible? Next thing you know, someone might observe that BLM hasn't said a word about the abysmal education given to black students...

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

What kind of "dismantle' are we talking about?

When the white left talk about dismantling your racism, they don't mean it. They want to keep racism alive, and install more separation by race. The left are the new segregationists.

btw- Should the left begin by cleaning their own house?
The family that owns The New York Times were slaveholders.

Earnest Prole म्हणाले...

This American moment is not a revolution of black against white or blue against red; it's a blue civil war between those with elite-college BS degrees in useful fields who are living the wealthiest upper-middle-class lives in human history, and those with elite-college BA degrees in bullshit fields living month-to-month with crushing student-loan debt they will never pay off (in other words, relatively privileged white persons exhausted by meritocracy).

rcocean म्हणाले...

Yeah, lets get rid of Meritocracy - WHILE WE'RE ON TOP. I

It'll just be us, giving the blacks and browns a helping hand, while we use our wealth and good ol' boys network. Yes, merit was a good measure, because it helped us, but that was then, this is now.

rcocean म्हणाले...

I don't really get Ross Doughnut. What does the average liberal/leftist NYT reader get out of him? Is he just supposed be a harmless, vaguely conservative voice? Or is he the critic who never says anything threatening but offers soft, very weak, challenges to the Liberal/Left status quo? And makes the liberal/left feel good for listening to ALL voices.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Meritocrasy is when you try to appear smarter than you are.

Jupiter म्हणाले...

"Cisco firing employees for not being pro blm is terrifying."

Oh, tech has been heading down that road for a while now. The funny thing is, the people doing the work are white or asian and mostly male.

mccullough म्हणाले...

Blacks are 12% of the US population.

So they should be 12% of doctors, engineers, airline pilots, Starbucks baristas, and NBA players.

n.n म्हणाले...

If riots and extortion can be described as earnestness.

The modern secular zealots are nothing like the Puritans: morally upstanding, striving. That said, diversity dogma (i.e. denial of individual dignity, denial of individual conscience, affirmative discrimination, color blocs, color quotas) breeds adversity in modern day bigotry with an elitist flourish. Stop the witch hunts, the warlock trials. #HateTrumpsLove #HateLovesAbortion

n.n म्हणाले...

that AntiFa is really just a cesspool of tin-pot dictators bullying a bunch of the emotion

The left-wing ideologue's organizational structure of choice: single, central, minority regimes operating in a quasi-religious ("ethical") or relativistic secular frame of reference.

n.n म्हणाले...

Cisco firing employees for not being pro blm is terrifying.

Some, select, Black Lives Matter, or some, select Black Lives Matter is a Pro-Choice, selective, opportunistic, politically congruent religious sect. #BLM

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

You know being the savior of Blacks has ALWAYS been a superiority over the blacks play. And in the era of Trump all is being exposed. Just plain old treating men as men with no effect given to race is the only thing that the elites cannot permit to happen.

Josephbleau म्हणाले...

No matter how much money you have, someone else is going to have more. But if these cretins convince other people to be slackers and I work at the same level, l will have a greater fraction. So it’s still good to be a privileged whitey.

This is how socialism works, destroy the incentive to work hard and be successful, and everyone will become equally poor.

With the rise of privately held companies over public stock companies businesses are more secretive and less vulnerable to public oversight. Private companies want people who work hard and produce, they don’t have fluff jobs and don’t need public relations and shareholder relations. They are run by a family, not a board, so they can pick who they want to lead. Jessie Jackson can’t buy one share and filibuster at a stockholder meeting. If you want to work hard and be successful, work for a private company.

Rory म्हणाले...

"Imagine yourself as a relatively privileged white person exhausted by meritocracy — an overworked student or a fretful parent or a school administrator constantly besieged by both.... '"

It's stunning to think about what could have been accomplished if leftists had chosen to improve things through voluntary individual efforts instead of trying to coerce others.

The actions of our wealthy leftists is based in genetics. It doesn't make any difference if you're actually good or just appear to be good. You can appear good by proclaiming some good goal, and by then forcing bad people to comply (leaving aside that they're bad only because you've asserted it). All the time, what you really wanted to do was to push people around, at no perceived risk to yourself.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM म्हणाले...

"Racism-guilt is the Opium of the People"

...a little Groucho Marxism for ya'll.

Phil 314 म्हणाले...

"Does the white upper class feel exhausted and oppressed by meritocracy?”

No.

But on the other hand we should note that tenure only gets you so far. Once you get it you’re still stuck dealing with angry college students.

Phil 314 म्हणाले...

I remember back in the ‘60s and ‘70s the whole “Black is beautiful” bit.

We should have known then that would only take us so far. Eventually we’d also have to say, “White is ugly”

PubliusFlavius म्हणाले...

For the House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrF5x1OSJuQ

Marx was a divisive moron who inspired generations of zombie death cults.



Mike PORTNOY is a genius and gentleman.

Here he shares the tracking of one of my favorite Dream Theater Songs, and that guitar solo omfg pure modulatory SHRED!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULwjf9mNHn0

DON'T
Tell me what's in
Tell me how to write
Don't tell me how to win this
FIGHT
IT isn't your life
IT isn't your right
To take the only thing that's
MINE
PROVEN over TIME
It's over your head
Don't try to read between
The Lines
Are clearly defined

As I Am - Dream Theater

What I weary of most is the ignorant fools that do not grok the nature of language, attempting to be pedagogical yet failing to realize it is quite pedantic.

Language is like life, context, tone, intent and quite frankly many other subtle layers.

Their is a reason for the ordering of the Bill of Rights.




ALP म्हणाले...

The description of white meritocracy sounds awfully Japanese to me, at least as decribed by my partner's relatives.

The Crack Emcee म्हणाले...

You guys are waaay over-thinking this shit.

Freeman Hunt म्हणाले...

White people in general are considered slackers in some circles.

narciso म्हणाले...

Douthat is trying not to get cancelled, he saw what happened to bennett and weiss, you pretend that a marxist gang, ala networks ecumenical liberation front, is something spiritual,

Sprezzatura म्हणाले...

Maybe the culture of calling out stuff is not a.burden or a religion for normal folks. Why can’t folks have fun w/o flowers and bell bottom pants? BTW, it seems odd that Althosue can only think of positive characteristics re the hippie lifestyle, and bad stuff re folks now. Presenting this situation like that is very sloppy piss poor thinking that is so obviously bad that it’s self defeating re the intention. IMHO.

Anywho, aside from anything else, it seems like folks enjoy jabbering at other folks re what they think is best for these other people, you’d think a columnist (or blogger) would understand that. Maybe there’s some sorta unrecognized feelings re get off my lawn—leave that to the pros who can handle the task—re editorializing.

I dunno.

Tommy Duncan म्हणाले...

Jean-Luc Picard quote from Star Trek "Encounter at Farpoint":

If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are.

MBunge म्हणाले...

The idea that our elites and/or big city white folks are in anyway a "meritocracy" is hilarious. Douthat is just stroking his and his reader's egos about how they're just so gosh-darned put upon and stressed out.

Mike

Kai Akker म्हणाले...

The attacks on white people are an attack on success within an approximation of a meritocracy. The peaking of a financial cycle also means the peaking of envy from those who feel they did not get to participate in this great prosperity as much as the people they see in magazines, Facebook, and TV commercials.

That those latter are all fantasy concoctions does not matter; it only makes the comparisons feel worse. The unemployed, the underemployed, and all those who find the meritocratic competition difficult or impossible for any kind of reason, are striking out at those they envy and resent. That a fair number of people succeed without visible merit rubs salt in the wound, but that isn't the main point. The main point is the have-nots have turned on the haves. Antifa, BLM, Bernie Sanders Democrats -- they are impassioned by one of the worst of the seven deadly sins, envy.

Race is one theme and it is an easy, highly visible one for those who feel guilty for their affluence to use as a vehicle for atonement. It is all a direct consequence of the financial cycle, and it will change, shift, and fade out as that cycle turns.

n.n म्हणाले...

The Simpsons were here a quarter of a century ago.

"The Simpsons Be Like Boy"


We like Roy! Classic.

Black hole... whore h/t NAACP

n.n म्हणाले...

and those with elite-college BA degrees in bullshit fields living month-to-month with crushing student-loan debt they will never pay off

You promised if we followed, there would rainbows, unicorns, and secular indulgences. Protest! Everyone protest! Protest likes it's 2019! #BLM

Ice Nine म्हणाले...

>clint said...
For those who lived through it -- was the hippie movement of the '60's actually as upbeat and tolerant as its portrayal in popular culture? Or was it full of negativity about "the Man" and the war and squares generally, with "tuning out" as a defense mechanism to turn away from the depressing horror they saw around them in the real world?<<

Clint, definitely go with Door No. 1.

Also, except for the VN War, there wasn't a lot of "depressing horror" around. "The Man" and squares? Really? That's funny. There was the civil rights deal - but we fixed that, then.

n.n म्हणाले...

More like a Shakespearen progression... Out, out damned diversity. #MeToo #TheyKnew

Geoff Matthews म्हणाले...

There are countries outside of the USA that would love for this country to abandon hard work, perfectionism, etc.
If the USA falters as a world power, there are others that will move in its place.

Sally327 म्हणाले...

"So it's sort of like the hippie movement all over again... but without the joy and the fun and the music and the flowers and the crazy clothes and the love of freedom and the willingness to say outrageous things.

And the drugs. You forgot the drugs.

This is what the current movement needs. A really good drug. Maybe just for the rest of us. (Although that does raise the question, in my mind anyway, what's with all the violence in places like Oregon and Washington state where pot is easily available and can be consumed openly.)

Nonapod म्हणाले...

white person exhausted by meritocracy - an overworked student or a fretful parent or a school administrator constantly besieged by both

It's odd that this Douthat person picked those professions as examples of "meritocracy". I mean, students are still somewhat meriticratic I guess (although that's been constantly undermined) but school administrators don't seem to be very merirtocratic. Aren't they generally step or schedule based in most states? In other words, regardless of if you do a particularly good or bad job you get the same incremental salary increases?

hstad म्हणाले...

The Crack Emcee said ".....You guys are waaay over-thinking this shit..."

Wow, I agree with you Crack - great common sense! But with one proviso - they are not thinking they're just writing "shit", which is what Ross Douthat, from the NY Times, does for a living.

Crack, speaking of the NY Times - let's hear from you about "Slaveholders" in their family tree. Any chance of 'canceling' them?

https://nypost.com/2020/07/18/the-family-that-owns-the-new-york-times-were-slaveholders-goodwin/

Joanne Jacobs म्हणाले...

In California, we call work-study-get-ahead values "Asian."

College competition has gotten crazy for upper-middle-class and wealthy students. Parents who want to opt out should use the money they'd have spent on tuition, room and board (and bribes, if applicable) to fund scholarships for disadvantaged students. Call your elite alma mater, say you want to assign your donor admissions preference to a needy Student of Color. Send your kids to community college.

"Whiteness" advocates are sending a harmful message to young people. Labeling writing, math, science as "white" is racist nonsense. Self-reliance, hard work, courtesy, planning and punctuality are values that anyone can embrace. https://bit.ly/30oSPXh

5M - Eckstine म्हणाले...

The books Wild Swans and the Gulag Archipelago are the road map for the Marxists and non Marxists alike.

Google at some point will be creating a badge system for bloggers to display adherence to BLM principles. Bloggers and Comedians. The last free thinkers? Will also be first on the list to be structured by BLM descendants.

With Trump you can avoid that. With Biden you tilt that way. Most of the Dem voters haven't realized yet what they have stepped into.

M Jordan म्हणाले...

Reverse Marxism: First as farce, then tragedy. Nice observation, Althouse. I concur.

Spiros म्हणाले...

Yes. Like all religions (except Christianity), anti-racism is irrational, dogmatic and based on faith rather than science. Just like most other religions, anti-racism will torture (and, ultimately, kill) those who refuse to adopt the faith.

I think the 1619 Project is the Holy Scripture...

Michael K म्हणाले...

So it's sort of like the hippie movement all over again... but without the joy and the fun and the music and the flowers and the crazy clothes and the love of freedom and the willingness to say outrageous things.

A good friend of mine in Tucson spent years in a commune when her mother left her father and took her four daughters to a hippie commune. She is one of the most conservative people I know. She home schooled her three sons, one at a time. Two are Marine Corps pilots.

DavidUW म्हणाले...

Shorter: Competing is hard. I don't wanna.

What a braying pack of losers.

Birkel म्हणाले...

Althouse,
When did you first realize this is what your voting was leading to?

Robert Marshall म्हणाले...

I'm sure there's no downside at all on giving up on "things like 'perfectionism' or 'worship of the written word' or 'emphasis on the scientific method' or 'delayed gratification'" -- right? Who the hell needs all that?

Should be interesting!

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

Prager calls Progressivism the fastest growing religion of our time. Seems accurate.

James Graham म्हणाले...

The solution is simple. Stop grading or give everyone an A. Graduate everyone and let the HR people at their employers handle the mess.

Oh, wait. That's already happening.

Ken B म्हणाले...

I don’t think Douthat is right here, precisely because of the religious intensity. The intensity keeps ratcheting up. We are watching a purity spiral. That is indicative of competition for a positional good, not a desire to be lax.

Mr Wibble म्हणाले...

[i]It's odd that this Douthat person picked those professions as examples of "meritocracy". I mean, students are still somewhat meriticratic I guess (although that's been constantly undermined) but school administrators don't seem to be very merirtocratic. Aren't they generally step or schedule based in most states? In other words, regardless of if you do a particularly good or bad job you get the same incremental salary increases?[/i]

They're still affected by the meritocracy, as they are the ones harassed constantly by parents and ambitious students maneuvering for an advantage.

wild chicken म्हणाले...

"BLM hasn't said a word about the abysmal education given to black students...LM hasn't said a word about the abysmal education given to black students..."

Lol they know better than that. With lousy students you get lousy schools.

All the reforms, fads and gimmicks won't fix attitude.

doctrev म्हणाले...

I imagine it's the notion that work will be involved which got a retired law professor's hackles up. But Douthat, quisling prag that he is, doesn't mean relaxing your work ethic in exchange for something valuable. A white American who doesn't enter the Red Queen race isn't going to get into a good university, or perhaps attend college at all. They won't qualify for the racial spoils system, and will certainly die of an overdose or gang activity. In short, he's telling white people to enjoy the decline, all while having "struggle sessions" which condemn their whiteness. To which I would respond, that's how you get more Trump, you pasty doughy bitchboy. That's how you get crueler than Trump.

The surface problem is black supremacy, of course, and blacks are theoretically the primary beneficiary. I dislike being easily manipulated, however, so I ask- What culture fucking loves talking about how much "merit" they have, yet is steadily watching its legal and political power evaporate under a sustained attack from both the nationalist right and socialist left? What culture dominates the media and the ranks of corporate executives that makes it policy to stand up against BLM terrorism? Perhaps whites can come to the most successful results by promising to help blacks with rent against their "white" New York landlords, and make college more proportionate by insisting "white" Americans take up far fewer places at elite universities.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-vanishing-ivy-league-jew

I'm Full of Soup म्हणाले...

HR - reminds me of the time before businesses needed HR depts. it was about the Same time Congress gave us IRA, Keougs, Sep IRA etc via some law that gave the lawyers a lot of Lucrative work.

Kai Akker म्हणाले...

"So it's sort of like the hippie movement all over again... "

Because the 1960s were the last big financial cycle top. Prosperity drives people crazy, one way or another.

I'm Full of Soup म्हणाले...

ERISA

The Crack Emcee म्हणाले...

hstad said...

"Crack, speaking of the NY Times - let's hear from you about "Slaveholders" in their family tree. Any chance of 'canceling' them?"

I don't read the NYT, so I'm not surprised. Will the left abandon it? No way. The NYT makes them feel smart (I once told a woman it was inaccurate and she responded "But it's so well-written.").

I don't cancel - if I did, would I be here? I'm just watching the circus go by, and occasionally beating the drum if things look like they're going slack.

I must be entertained.

MadTownGuy म्हणाले...

Mark O said...
"A religious cult, resembling Puritans:

"Puritans became noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation. Their efforts to transform the nation contributed both to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in America."

If riots and extortion can be described as earnestness.
"

"Cult" is an apt description; the Woke Left has move from Puritanical to Pharisaical to Inquisitional. Look for an Army of Torquemadas to replace the multitude of Karens.

doctrev म्हणाले...

Oh dear. I meant to say,

"What culture dominates the media and the ranks of corporate executives that makes it policy to FIRE ANYONE ready to stand up against BLM terrorism?"

Sometimes my grammar fails when I become angry at the NYT's obsequious anti-American trash, but then I realize I don't particularly care. While I like the Althouse comment section, being able to go back and read what I thought at a particular time is quite valuable. For instance, looking back through Althouse's archives reveals that Trump's initial estimates of between 100K-200K deaths from coronavirus were almost dead on the money- and certainly less than the wild-eyed screaming that this was going to be the Black Death Flu killing 2 million Americans. Given that about a third of all the death has occurred in one state with a tenth of the population, I firmly believe Donald Trump is going to arrest Andrew Cuomo at some point, and that the NYPD will stand aside as the tanks roll down to the governor's mansion. The Dems have gone all out in trying to foment a panic election, where you either vote Biden or deal with BLM terrorism forever. But Trump don't play that, and the left is about to face a painful lesson in how much you can lose when you play stupid games.

NCMoss म्हणाले...

Reminds me of
Museum of Tolerance

CWJ म्हणाले...

All commenters through 1:12pm, minus BCARM and n.n. Some of the best commentary I've read anywhere. I'm sure much good commentary has followed, but that's as far as I've gotten.

Unknown म्हणाले...

> Shorter: Competing is hard. I don't wanna.

PARTICIPATION TROPHY

generation

meets reality

n.n म्हणाले...

Floyd incident transcript
- by way of thenewneo.com

There is no evidence that diversity was a motive. No evidence of homicidal intent.

Floyd was at risk because of drug use, possibly because of SARS-CoV-2 effects, cardiovascular disease, and multiple stressors induced by his criminal activity and capture. There was little evidence of progressive viability in the first nine minutes, then something changed in the next ten, and the officers responded, not in a retrospective, but to facts on the ground. Floyd was restrained for his and the officers’ safety until the EMTs would arrive.

That said, who approves police methods and regulations? Is it the AG? Ellison?

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil म्हणाले...

Unknown said...
> Shorter: Competing is hard. I don't wanna.

PARTICIPATION TROPHY

generation

meets reality

7/19/20, 6:11 PM

Except that in the real world, as opposed to 3rd grade, not everyone gets a prize. I look forward to the day when these woke white professionals find their jobs have been given to someone else, or their paychecks have been cut to promote racial equity. It costs nothing to stand on a street corner and wave a BLM sign. Being actually demoted to second-class citizenship status is another thing entirely. And by the time they realize it, it will be too late to do anything about it. Cry harder, snowflakes. You are the greatest fools in history.

BAS म्हणाले...

You're comparing them to hippies. I would compare them to old time communists in Russia, China and North Korea, in which case it is definitely a comedy, we all hope doesn't end as tragedy.

phantommut म्हणाले...

This is how Rome fell.

Required field must not be blank म्हणाले...

What worries me is that there will a quite a lot people who decide that if they are racist anyway they might as well wonder if racism isn't so bad anyway, and maybe even natural and part of self-preservation.

This Overton window is being nudged hard in the wrong direction.

We'll get a lot of people who will just self-segregate pro-actively where ever they can and if they are forced to interact, will not give anyone a chance to disappoint/attack them either, so goodwill and co-operation will be lost in many ways.


Required field must not be blank म्हणाले...

Night said: "Google at some point will be creating a badge system for bloggers to display adherence to BLM principles. Bloggers and Comedians. The last free thinkers? Will also be first on the list to be structured by BLM descendants. "

And, we'll get Radio Yerewan reloaded too, although I'm not sure we can do comedy as well as the old Soviets. A sample: http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Radio_Yerevan_Jokes#Radio_Yerevan_political_jokes

Ozymandias म्हणाले...

I wish Joan Didion was still active enough to tear through the current culture.

The Gipper Lives म्हणाले...

A century ago, Democrats had a hooded mob of paramilitary vigilantes to attack their political enemies and terrorize the population. They were the White Supremacists and segregationists called the Klan.

Today, Democrats still have a hooded mob of paramilitary vigilantes to attack their political enemies and terrorize the population. They are the Black Supremacists and communists called BLM and Antifa.

New century, same old terrorists.

Rick म्हणाले...

It sounds like a humblebrag to me.

"Equality sounds so relaxing, outperforming you losers takes effort".

Howard म्हणाले...

Ann Althouse says: The tragedy is now.

Do you mean what's happening in Fla, Tx and Az? You keep fiddling with cancelling of popular culture while the red states are burning with virus because Trump canceled mask culture. Interesting curation choices. The out of proportion scale and perspective is reminiscent of cubism, if you are still going for "art".

ga6 म्हणाले...

"chains and whips and dogs and racist cops" led by a high ranking member of the Democratic Central Committee.

svlc म्हणाले...

I didn't realize there were so many white supremacists in China and India. Who knew? My wife (from Shanghai) just shakes her head at such nonsense and then gets back to work. As do her friends (Chinese too).

Bob Smith म्हणाले...

Once again with feeling: “The American Psychiatric Association estimates that 20% of the adult population is walking around with a diagnosable mental illness.”

I think they’re light in the pot.

wildswan म्हणाले...

Re: George Floyd. There may have been a medical emergency going on but, if the police were aware of it, their response was a long, long chokehold that violated norms about chokeholds for healthy people. Even when George Floyd, who was handcuffed, stopped moving, Chauvin kept up the knee chokehold. It wasn't a heat of the moment action or a momentary miscalculation. It all went on and on and on. With people shouting out that George Floyd was unconscious. I Back the Blue and that includes their process for getting rid of police brutality. (After all, there is no Antifa process for handling their own brutality at their anarchy and looting sprees.)

Bob Loblaw म्हणाले...

Instead there's grimness, guilt, pessimism, and the grueling realization that you do have to work, but it's not work at some job, it's work on yourself — you with the bred-in-the-bone racism problem.

It's a cult that satisfies the religious instinct in people who were raised without religion. American, and only American, slavery is original sin. The scripture consists of nonsensical academic writing like McIntosh's White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. You're supposed to preach to the uninitiated about the progressive stack. And yeah, like other religions you strive to purge yourself of sin, but you can never quite succeed.

n.n म्हणाले...

"The American Psychiatric Association... a diagnosable mental illness.”

I think they’re light in the pot.


They're probably right.

buwaya म्हणाले...

The tragedy happened years before the sillier symptoms emerged.

The brain damage happened, and after a while the body started acting strangely.

buwaya म्हणाले...

The Roman Republic, not Rome the society and culture, fell because the Roman elite exploited and betrayed the mass of the Roman yeomanry and effectively destroyed it. That was the culmination of centuries of caste/class conflict.

The Rome that eventually fell to the barbarians was a degenerate despotism.

Stephen St. Onge म्हणाले...

        No one really likes meritocracy.  What everyone really likes is favoritism for themselves and their offspring.  The new calling out of hard work is how the upper class intends to preserve itself from challenges, and make sure their kids inherit their class privilege.

The Crack Emcee म्हणाले...

Stephen St. Onge said...

"What everyone really likes is favoritism for themselves and their offspring."

Whites would be so much more credible if they just copped to that.

Stephen St. Onge म्हणाले...

        Of course, there's nothing new about this.  Affirmative action has always been part of it.  Admit some blacks and hispanics who can't perform to standard to the upper class, while discouraging most of them from competing.  And it's worked superbly at keeping them down since 1967.

PM म्हणाले...

When you are as dumb as the dumbest, you have equality.

ColoradoDude म्हणाले...

Althouse’s point is worth examining.

She writes “So it's sort of like the hippie movement all over again... but without the joy and the fun and the music and the flowers and the crazy clothes and the love of freedom and the willingness to say outrageous things. Instead there's grimness, guilt, pessimism, and the grueling realization that you do have to work, but it's not work at some job, it's work on yourself — you with the bred-in-the-bone racism problem.”

She is nearly right ... but it achieves my view of the situation if you end the analysis with the words “you do have to work”.

I should add that I don’t see many “woke” folks having remade themselves. Instead, they try to guilt, shame and browbeat other people. They aren’t reimagining the sixties. It’s the dystopian fictional 1984 they aspire to.