Isn't that a microagression?
I'm reading "Remarks by President Biden at the Howard University Class of 2023 Commencement Address."
It's my subjective experience — disagree with me if you want — that "bright" is a patronizing word. It's used for children, and when it's used on an adult, it's looking down on the person as if they are something like a child. It expresses vague surprise that the person stands out and can do reasonably difficult tasks, but it sets them apart as not able to do the most sophisticated things that the speaker imagines himself to be doing. Older men in superior positions have said it through the years about younger associates and, especially, women. And I think it's what a racist would say about a capable black person.
Here's the context at the speech (in which Biden is openly pleading for black people to vote for him):
With your voices and votes, I was able to fill my commitment to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. (Applause.) And, by the way, she’s brighter than the rest. (Laughter.) She is one bright woman.
Because of you, more Black women have been appointed to the federal appellate courts under — than under every other President in American history combined. (Applause.)
And, by the way, I mean it. I mean it. Because of you. Because of you. You turned out. You spoke up. You knew. You showed up, and the votes counted. And you made people say, “Whoa, wait a minute. What price will I pay if I don’t do the following?”
What's going on in that last part: "you made people say, 'Whoa, wait a minute. What price will I pay if I don’t do the following?'" What does "do the following" mean?
I think he's trying to say that politicians know they need the black vote, so if black people do vote in large numbers, they will cause politicians, going forward, to ask what they need to do to get the black vote.
But "the following" is an awkward way to put it. Literally, it seems to mean that would-be leaders need to be followers. Presumably, the "price" they pay for not "doing the following" is that they will lose, because the votes of black people make the difference.
पोस्ट्स
१३० टिप्पण्या:
The bigotry of low expectations. Black democrats love it. They eat that shit with sugar on top and then ask for seconds. Backhanded compliments and master/slave abuse is part of the kink, just ask Kamala.
How bright can KBJ be? She doesn’t know what a woman is.
KBJ is bight. Like Obama was clean and articulate.
He's always been and old school southern Kluxer. I doubt he's ever been around black people much except people mowing his grass or cleaning his house. Has no awareness.
Dumb as a box of rocks too.
President LOLEightyonemillion
Biden doesn’t “need” Black votes in the conventional sense. With the money from Zuckerberg and the ChiComs, he can create votes.
Biden the diversitist holds a roast.
Biden on Ketanji Brown Jackson: "And, by the way, she’s brighter than the rest. (Laughter.) She is one bright woman."
Biden think it makes him an especially good person to give condescending head pats to the bright black lady.
(remember, this is the "articulate and bright and clean" guy)
"Study found that white liberals tend to dumb down their communication style when interacting with blacks, while white conservatives tend to not. The authors speculate 'well-meaning' white liberals hold 'stereotypical' views of blacks."
- link
"It's my subjective experience — disagree with me if you want — that "bright" is a patronizing word."
Correct. But not as patronizing as "articulate" and "clean."
"it sets them apart as not able to do the most sophisticated things that the speaker imagines himself to be doing"
True. So in Joe's case "bright" is a Kinsey gaffe.
"And I think it's what a racist would say about a capable black person."
Fits Joe. But he is a Dem, so it's all good.
"But "the following" is an awkward way to put it."
Well, sure. But is anything Joe says ever not awkward?
It seems I've encountered the word "bright" mostly in a negative sense, as in "she's not very bright".
I'd also like to know "the rest"...of what?
The rest of the justices? Including the black man? The hispanic woman? The jewish woman?
Is she brighter than the rest of black women in society?
KBJ is Uncle Joe's choice to fight the greatest threat to our survival: White Supremacy.
Of course, he has got to get rid of that White Supremacist Clarence Thomas.
And so articulate! (Pats her on the head)
Oh well, that's the way white men were raised to think 100 years ago, back when Biden was growing up.
She’s also clean and articulate.
She’s also clean and articulate.
Racial ass-kissing from an old WHITE LEFTIST.
Joe Biden is a typical white liberal bigot. He thinks those poor people of color try so hard and just need a little nudge from folks like him. Every now and again, one of them appears to rise to his level (See eg clean and articulate Obama). Also, calling her “one bright woman” is obviously patronizing. “Nice throw… for a girl”
It is shameless, inarful pandering, and pretty insulting to the other women on the court, to whom the comment seems to refer.
I agree that people use "bright" the way they say "articulate" instead of ferociously intelligent, "nice-looking" instead of beautiful, and "clean" instead of...not sure on that one.
She's not bright, so it's wrong right away. As to whether pandering works in this context, it will continue to work until it doesn't.
The thoughts of Chairman Joe:
My first day in office, I directed my national security and homeland security team to develop a first-ever national strategy for countering domestic terrorism. The goal was to improve and enhance our understanding of this growing threat within our country, prevent people from being mobilized to violence, to counter the relentless exploitation of the Internet to recruit and mobilize domestic terrorism
Unfortunately, such hate-fueled violence and threats are not new to America.
There is a through-line of hate from massacres of Indigenous people, to the original sin of slavery, the terror of the Klan, to anti-immigration violence against the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, and so many others laced throughout our history.
There is a through-line of violence against religious groups: antisemitic, anti-Catholic, anti-Mormon, anti-Muslim, anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh.
As for his comments on justice brown. I remember "clean and articulate".
If my company had an opening for a receptionist and I said "I'm only going to hire a Black woman for the job", I would be breaking the law.
Althouse, as usual, has sharp on-point analysis.
In my lifetime, I saw cringeworthy episodes where an older white woman was saying how nice the younger black woman's hair was. The white woman then asked if the black woman did anything special to her hair. Cringe.
It is not just white on black, it can be black on black. Way back, saw older poor black woman come up and ask the younger black woman about her hair, whether it was real. It was real, and spectacular!
Lastly, that SOB Biden, and he is an SOB, will get reelected by 300 plus electoral college votes. Does he deserve it? I say no. Does our nation deserve him? Maybe. Seems like we went off the rails a long time ago, and I am 52.
Damn.
Joe has long held the view of Black Americans as a sort of 'child class'. Joe famously on Barack back when: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
A "bright" woman would be able to define a "woman."
Jackson is nothing more than an AA appointee.
The unspoken "do the following" sounds like something covert and not to be discussed. Like spreading some "walking around money" and engaging in "vote harvesting" in reliably Democrat urban areas. Just do the following and hush up. And remember, "snitches get stitches."
It's not just the word that's patronizing. It's the instinct to say something at all. This is the same man who said that black kids are just as smart/bright/whatever as "normal" kids.
This is the sort of thing I see all the time in white progressives. You can notice them tighten up around black people and put on their I'm-one-of-the-good-guys faces before going out of their way to shoehorn into conversation a compliment for things they'd never compliment a "normal" person for, or to call attention to the other person's blackness as if to say black is superior and pardon me for being white.
Of course, these same people can't abide black conservatives. They'll insist racism is holding them back, and call them stupid for voting against their own "best interests." On Twitter, the #BLM in their bio means it'll be easy to find examples of that throughout their feed.
IDK. Still, Althouse is a bright woman. Maybe she's right for once. At least she doesn't get all emotional about things. Probably Meade really writes the blog if we only knew and she's smart enough to merely do the following; sign her name where instructed.
My 95 year old mom makes more sense than Biden.
"Bright" is a descriptor that no one has ever used for Joe Biden, except to describe his dentures.
>Ann Althouse said...
"It's my subjective experience — disagree with me if you want — that "bright" is a patronizing word. It's used for children, and when it's used on an adult, it's looking down on the person as if they are something like a child. It expresses vague surprise that the person stands out and can do reasonably difficult tasks, but it sets them apart as not able to do the most sophisticated things that the speaker imagines himself to be doing. Older men in superior positions have said it through the years about younger associates and, especially, women. And I think it's what a racist would say about a capable black person."<
OK, I'll disagree with you on that.
"Bright" has no such connotation known to any other lexicologically-inclined source. It is solely a construction of your bright mind. One can only guess as to why. My guess: Some "bad" man in your life told you, correctly, that you were bright and the way less bright feminist part of your mind mandated conflating that with whatever else it was that spawned your disdain for him. Because there is no other basis for such a neologistic interpretation of the word.
The notion that the word is racist is just too bizarre - and tiresome - to waste rebuttal effort on.
But she's obviously not.
That's just old, patronizing, racist Joe prattling on yet again.
Ha ha ha...
He also said, "The most dangerous threat to our homeland is white supremacy … and I’m not just saying this because I’m at a black HBCU."
What moron believes that garbage?
"Joe has long held the view of Black Americans as a sort of 'child class'."
Democrats have long held the view of Black Americans as a sort of 'child class'.
Fixed it...
I wish I could say that our not very bright Slow Joe is not the President. No joke!
While I despise Biden, and I do think he's being patronizing, I don't think the word "bright" is the problem. I've heard it used plenty of times about adults simply to mean "smart," without any negative connotation. "Bright" implies not only intelligence, but creativity.
But Biden is a moron, Justice Jackson is a mediocrity who talks too much, and the crowd here at Howard are a bunch of sheep.
I don't usually defend Joe Biden, but when I was growing up (and I'm not that much younger than he is), "bright" was used all the time to mean smart, period. No damning with faint praise. Just smart. I suspect that's where he's coming from.
What does "do the following" mean?
Divide the nation along racial lines.
Push the Fine People Hoax.
Declare white supremacy to be the greatest threat facing our nation.
Push racial division, fear and hatred.
Slander, demonize and vilify your opponents and their supporters and portray yourself as the only protection for Black people.
Make sure poor and middle class Blacks and whites never make common cause and come together in recognition of the true source of both their problems, the self-serving, credentialled elite ruling class.
What price will I pay...?
In Biden's case the price might be exposure, humiliation, prosecution and imprisonment.
she was a lawyer for the 20th hijackers, chosen by a dark money network, defended the worst child predators, rewarded by bertelsmann, for this service shes just 'terribly drab and awful'
Biden could, and IMO should, have chosen to say, "Check out the big brain on Kentanji. She's a smart motherfucker."
Everyone seems to think that bright is condescending, but there's a group of skeptics/atheists who had the brilliant idea of referring to themselves as Brights.
I kid you not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brights_movement
I especially like this part.
"He sought a new, positive word that might be well accepted and improve the image of those who did not believe in the supernatural. A few weeks later, Geisert came up with the noun "bright" after brainstorming many ideas.[4][5] He then ran into another room and told his wife: "I've got the word, and this is going to be big!".[6]"
The problem is that they can't keep Joe from going off script. And when he does, he makes absolutely no sense.
On a somewhat related note, I don't think Joe wants to give up the Presidency. And when they force him out, I don't think he is going to be a good boy and go quietly.
To be clear, I don't think bright is disparaging, I just find it amusing that some people think that referring to themselves as a "Bright" as opposed to all those other morons is a good PR move. Especially since there are already perfectly serviceable terms for their world view, humanist or secularist. Something tells me that they weren't sitting at the cool kids cafeteria table in high school.
""Bright" has no such connotation known to any other lexicologically-inclined source. It is solely a construction of your bright mind. One can only guess as to why."
From the OED:
18 (a) Of a person, esp. a child or pupil: quick-witted, clever; intelligent, astute.
1707 S. Wesley Reply to Mr. Palmer’s Vindic. Dissenters iii. 44 Their Minds are unavoidably crampt, as a bright Lad's at a paultry Grammar School in a Country Village.
1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller I. 203 I began life unluckily by being the wag and bright fellow at school.
1949 Elem. School Jrnl. 49 512/1 Bright children are often expected, because of mental superiority, to possess other attributes in a degree far transcending actualities.
2013 Amer. Math. Monthly 120 695 Many of these bright students ended up with successful careers in engineering, economics, and computer sciences.
Don't forget "The Best And the Brightest", David Halberstam's 1973 explanation of the origins of the Vietnam War. The phrase has more recently become tinged with irony.
As a racial matter, the OED has:
4 c. Chiefly North American. Of a black or mixed-race person: having light-coloured skin. In later use also of the skin of such a person: light in colour or tone; chiefly in bright-skinned.
1768 Virginia Gaz. 22 Sept. Run away from the subscriber,..a bright Mulatto wench called Lucy,..may pass for a free wench.
1847 I. Jefferson in R. W. Logan Memoirs Monticello Slave (1951) ii. 13 Sally Hemings' mother was a bright mulatto woman & Sally mighty near white.
1938 Social Forces 16 568/1 The advantages which the ‘bright-skinned’ person has over his darker brother within the Negro group are probably ubiquitous in the American culture pattern.
2008 R. Dove in New Yorker 24 Nov. 91/1 Then this bright-skinned papa's boy could have sailed his fifteen-minute fame straight into the records books.
I like this part too.
"Daniel Dennett suggests in his book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon that if non-naturalists are concerned with connotations of the word bright,"
Us non-naturalists aren't concerned with the connotations of the word bright, we are laughing at you for adopting it and thinking it would be a positive for your movement.
For someone to be put in a very high-level job -- such as Supreme Court Justice — "bright" (as opposed to "brilliant") suggests they are good enough to handle the work without being an obvious problem, but that there is no way this person was chosen because they're actually the best in the field.
By sheer coincidence I just heard someone on the radio describe his wife as intelligent and brilliant. He then said that was a redundancy, that they meant the same thing. I disagree, you can be intelligent without being brilliant. Brilliant is on a higher level.
Follow up on AA racial OED post.
Black skin color is relevant, but just one factor. Features, such as hair texture, size of lips and nose also matter. There are very light skinned blacks with thicker lips and noses and clumpy hair. Then there is Halle Berry. She probably would not have passed the blue vein test way back in the day, but her hair, nose, and mouth are very....va va voom. That coming from a white male, of course.
"...able to do the most sophisticated things that the speaker imagines himself to be doing."
Emblematic of Biden's condescending speaking style.
Old Joe is always magnanimous enough to share a little of that inside baseball with us in dribs and drabs that quickly becomes too sophisticated a digression for him to continue to explain it to all those well meaning, but not so bright, people out there. Until he slowly peters out before reaching anything resembling a logical conclusion.
But don't worry. Joe grasps it. Joe says he's always got your back.
Nauseating.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
For someone to be put in a very high-level job -- such as Supreme Court Justice — "bright" (as opposed to "brilliant") suggests they are good enough to handle the work without being an obvious problem, but that there is no way this person was chosen because they're actually the best in the field.
Well, that was preordained by Biden's announced selection criteria, wasn't it?
Althouse:
Your OED cites show nothing to contradict what I said, as you apparently think they do.
"Of a person, esp. a child" pointedly does not limit the word's use to children and says nothing about its being patronizing, which was the crux of your claim in your OP that I contested.
Your OED skin color "rebuttal" stuff is quite disingenuous since your original comment referred specifically to a black person's capabilities, not their skin tone.
Someone appointed to the supreme court should be bright, so the thought should not have come out of his mouth. Now, since the newest judge could not define a woman, then it would have been very interesting if Biden said she had a very big cock.
The justice didn’t even last a year at Goodwin Procter, a very reputable law firm that I have dealt with many times. She was an affirmative action person her entire life.
While I had never really thought about it before, I do believe "bright" in reference to intelligence is an age-specific adjective, at least today. I would never use the word to describe the intelligence of an adult (unless I was being sarcastic) but have used it to describe the intelligence of children. For adults, I either use "smart" or brilliant depending on the degree.
'For someone to be put in a very high-level job -- such as Supreme Court Justice — "bright" (as opposed to "brilliant") suggests they are good enough to handle the work without being an obvious problem, but that there is no way this person was chosen because they're actually the best in the field.'
And there you have it.
A quota hire...
That old man is cringe AF. Eugh...
She's bright. That's like a storybook, man.
I spent my working life on a university campus, and the overpraise for and overvaluation of the accomplishments of quite mediocre B/black colleagues was something to behold. It was reflected in the pay.
In my experience, those W/whites who were the most lavish in their appreciation were assuaging some personal or familial feelings of guilt.
pander pander pander.... lie lie lie..
Crook Biden - above the law.
I wonder if his supreme court pick is OK with Biden's illegal family dealings?
When I want to complement someone, I often use "sharp". Never "bright", that's for children and journalists.
Uncle Pavian: "Don't forget "The Best And the Brightest", David Halberstam's 1973 explanation of the origins of the Vietnam War. The phrase has more recently become tinged with irony."
Best and the brightest was Halberstam's coinage that came preloaded with an idiomatic quality but was intentionally suffused, by him, with irony 50 years ago.
By the way, his Powers That Be is worth rereading now for how completely the news media and the businesses he described in it have changed.
bright (adj.)
"radiating or reflecting light," Old English bryht, metathesis of beorht "bright; splendid; clear-sounding; beautiful; divine," from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz "bright" (source also of Old Saxon berht, Old Norse bjartr, Old High German beraht, Gothic bairhts "bright"), from PIE root *bhereg- "to shine; bright, white." The meaning "quick-witted, having brilliant mental qualities" is from 1741.
"to shine; bright, white"
The implications, connotations are diverse and insidious.
rcocean @ 9:38: “clean and articulate.” In the case of Justice Jackson, no perfect pants crease; but I’m sure her skirts are properly pleated and pressed.
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that she was a pre-designated token. All my life I heard about the shame of tokenism, but the Democrats absolutely revel in it these days.
Though I do find it interesting that they’re careful to choose the dumb and incompetent as tokens. White folks are still running that plantation….
"I'd also like to know "the rest"...of what?
The rest of the justices? Including the black man? The hispanic woman?"
I think he specifically means "brighter than the other AA hires, Uncle Tom and the Wise Latina". I suppose Kagan could also be considered an AA hire.
It's used for children, and when it's used on an adult, it's looking down on the person as if they are something like a child. It expresses vague surprise that the person stands out and can do reasonably difficult tasks, but it sets them apart as not able to do the most sophisticated things that the speaker imagines himself to be doing. Older men in superior positions have said it through the years about younger associates and, especially, women.
@Althouse, bullshit on toast. In a very lengthy career in a field (software development) that is very hard on dullards I have never heard of the word “bright” being used as a sort of put down. When we project leaders described someone as being “bright” or “pretty bright” it was like describing an NBA player as “he can jump.” Well you can’t make it into the NBA without being able to jump, so in fact the comment that the particular player “can jump” means that he’s exceptional, even among their peers. Likewise, if a low IQ person somehow made it past our hiring process they’d wash out pretty quickly, so describing a person as “bright” meant they were exceptional, even by normal standards for an employee. And the term might be applied to a white male or an Asian or a woman or a black person or any other way you illiberal liberals choose to slice the pie. Smart is smart, and talent is talent, and neither worries about superfluous things like skin color, ethnicity, or possession of a Y chromosome (or double X).
The most slack I can cut for you, Professor, is that perhaps you are projecting a UW-Madison thing onto the USA at large. Or perhaps it’s an academic thing. But out in the real world people have black and Asian and female managers, peers, and, as they climb the corporate ladder, subordinates. It’s not all white males plus tokens — not for forty or fifty years.
And I think it's what a racist would say about a capable black person.
Well I think Joe Biden is, and always has been, a racist. But this remark of his is just his inept attempt to justify an affirmative action appointment.
Looks like the "Wise Latina" just got sent to the back of the bus.
With regard to "bright", I think you're a little overboard. "Bright" tends to be used to describe young people, who may not have any real accomplishments yet. Like "promising". When bright people get older, they either become "accomplished", or they cease to be "bright".
Unless, of course, they are AA hires. In that case, they can shine on brightly for the rest of their lives.
"You're a pretty bright boy, aren't you?"
"Sure," said George.
"Well, you're not," said the other little man. "Is he, Al?"
"He's dumb," said Al. He turned to Nick. "What's your name?"
"Adams."
"Another bright boy," Al said. "Ain't he a bright boy, Max?"
"The town's full of bright boys," Max said.
"By sheer coincidence I just heard someone on the radio describe his wife as intelligent and brilliant. He then said that was a redundancy, that they meant the same thing. I disagree, you can be intelligent without being brilliant. Brilliant is on a higher level."
I agree and would add that if you're considering referring to someone as "bright," see if you can change that to "brilliant." If you can, say "brilliant." If you can't, don't say "bright"... unless you want to do a subtle putdown.
Even with a child, it's best not to say "bright."
You know, "bright" is often used sarcastically, notably for "bright idea." OED even has an entry for this sarcastic usage:
(b) Used ironically or sarcastically: unintelligent, dim-witted; unwise, ill-conceived; unnecessarily innovative; too clever by half.
1830 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 29 May 687 And then, the bright idea of punishing me by driving me back to Long Island, out of the reach of the Thing's taxes!
1975 ‘E. Ferrars’ Cup & Hip vi. 82 ‘Some mothers do have 'em’, she said drily. ‘Do you think that bright idea of yours would make Helen feel better?’
2009 New Yorker 11 May 71/2 Oh, God, another God-damned bright idea from the business world.
I'm just now remember the group that call themselves the "Brights""
"In deciding to attend the Godless Americans March on Washington in 2002, Geisert disliked the label "godless" because he thought it would alienate the general public to whom that term was synonymous with "evil". He sought a new, positive word that might be well accepted and improve the image of those who did not believe in the supernatural. A few weeks later, Geisert came up with the noun "bright" after brainstorming many ideas. He then ran into another room and told his wife: "I've got the word, and this is going to be big!""
They don't sound terribly smart.
Ice Nine said...
"The notion that the word [Bright] is racist is just too bizarre - and tiresome - to waste rebuttal effort on."
It IS exhausting to push back. And one has to pick one's battles. But at some point we have to push back. Otherwise, we end up with words like "golf" and "Chicago" being racist.
"Don't forget "The Best And the Brightest", David Halberstam's 1973 explanation of the origins of the Vietnam War. The phrase has more recently become tinged with irony."
"Bright" is used 60 times in that book, and I think the point was that these people were all supposed to be so smart, but look what they did, how much they got wrong.
The author is using the word as he establishes his thesis. I suspect the people he used the word to describe were not using that word to express their own view of how brilliant they all supposedly were.
What compliments for each other did they use? That's the question for the purposes of challenging my point. Halberstam is not admiring them.
Democrats are increasingly desperate as blacks move away and recognize that they will be victims of "The Great Replacement." I don't think Congress will be too enthusiastic about legalizing all those illegals. Especially as the interest on the national debt is now more than defense cost. And the current T bills turn over next year.
Bankruptcy comes slowly, then suddenly.
From the Wikipedia article on "The Best And the Brightest":
"The title may have come from a line by Percy Bysshe Shelley in his work "To Jane: The Invitation" (1822): 'Best and brightest, come away!'
Shelley's line may have originated from English bishop and hymn writer Reginald Heber in his 1811 work, "Hymns. Epiphany": 'Brightest and best of the sons of the morning, Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid."
As a racial matter, the OED has
My thought as well: Brightness is an antonym of darkness.
"look what they did, how much they got wrong"
In many areas, they are bound to. Match the self-regard of the best and brightest with the vision of the anointed, and you get disaster. Next up: "climate change" policy.
cassandra lite,
I think that's not quite what Biden said. IIRC, he opined that poor kids were just as smart as white kids. Not sure there's much difference there, apart from his avoiding the jaw-droppingly stupid term "normal."
Ron Winkleheimer,
That was what I first thought of, too. I thought for a minute, and remembered where I'd heard it: Dean Esmay's blog. When he declared that he was an atheist and therefore a "Bright," I asked whether that made the religious among us "Dims," or something. A fairly spirited conversation ensued.
This was back when I was reading at least twenty blogs daily: Amy Welborn, Kevin Drum (then still at Calpundit), Tony Woodlief, Bill Quick, Eve Tushnet, Moira Breen, Glenn Sack . . . For the record, I have winnowed it down to you, Lileks, Mark Steyn, and Andrew Sullivan's Substack, FWIW, plus whatever I can pick off other Substacks gratis (I subscribe to Sullivan's). Substack does seem to be whence all the best serious writers have fled, doesn't it? Excepting your good self, Althouse.
Hawkeye jib,
How could I read your comment without thinking of the old joke:
"And she is so bright and articulate!
Say'motherfucker' for the nice ladies and gentlemen, katanji"
(from Gershon Legman's scholarly trilogy "rationale of the dirty joke)
Interesting that when I typed gerson just now it immediately added the h, capitalized the g and suggested Legman. Perhaps he's not as obscure as I thought.
John Henry
Not just recently. When he wrote the book in 1974 Halberstam used the term "the best and the brightest" ironically. Though I I might have said he used it mockingly.
I wonder if anyone has ever used the phrase as a compliment?
John Henry
Shine bright like a diamond
Bright, brilliant, carbon... black, a designated pollutant, [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] climate change.
That said, beautiful song, despite the insidious connotations. Thanks, Biden et al.
If Brandon wants to be a uniter not a divider, why is he speaking at a racially segregated school?
Has a Howard law grad ever been considered for a place on the Supreme Court?
Why not?
John Henry
I don't know enough about Justice Jackson to express am opinion on her competence.
But she is definitely an affirmative action hire. As with kamala, Brandon was very explicit that he would appoint a black woman.
There may be good reasons for doing this. Thurgood Marshall was an AA appointment as was Clarence Thomas. Both, esp Thomas turned out well. Jackson may too.
But the three of them will always face that doubt and need to prove themselves.
It is why AA is such a corrosive horrible practice.
John Henry
Ms "Bright" would pass Biden's standards but would flunk biology.
how about >> she is a rising Justice on USSC
Ot but another good book on the VN war with bright is "A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam" by Neil Sheehan
I read it 30 years ago but pretty good as I recall. Bright in the sense of strong light, not intelligence though.
John Henry
does ?parallelism? along lines of 'it takes X to know X' apply in this context?
KBJ is 28 years younger than Biden. When she was a child, he was an adult with children of his own. Maybe at some level he sees her as a child. I agree that the bright/brighter comment comes across as patronizing. It was unnecessary to his main point, as well as demeaning to her colleagues on the Supreme Court who are not as bright as she is. There is also a subtle racial issue in using the word 'bright' itself to denote intelligence, part of the light/dark dichotomy in our language.
Check out the big brain on Brandon.
"You showed up" is a reference to the George Floyd riots; Biden's remark is to condone and encourage further street action in 2024.
I'm only partly joking. If Trump said anything like "you showed up" about MAGA people the DoJ would arrest him for incitement.
"the best and the brightest" ironically.
Ambiguously brilliant, like a diamond, carbon, black... pollutant, sequestered. The implications are insidious and diverse.
an AA appointment as was Clarence Thomas
Thomas was a diversity (e.g. affirmative discrimination) choice? Well, revenge of the conservative's conservative. Stay long and viable.
The man has dementia, and it isn't getting better, and if this was off script it is pitiable, and if it was on script his handlers should be ashamed.
Well Hunter is the smartest person he knows so anything is possible with this disgusting fool.
She's articulate and well spoken, but her hair doesn't smell all that nice. Biden had to be forcefully restrained from snorting ACB's hair after giving the SOTU address.
ChatGPT is an expert on language usage, even if it is not intelligent, per se. Here are a couple of excerpts of what ChatGPT shared with me on the subject:
Overview:
[T]he adjectives one person uses to describe another can often reveal aspects of their relative status, among other things. This concept is deeply rooted in sociolinguistics and pragmatics, which study how social contexts influence language use.
Regarding the use of the adjective "bright":
Bright: This word often implies not just intelligence, but a sort of innate, natural intelligence, often combined with a degree of cheerfulness or positivity. It's a somewhat softer term, and can be used to describe someone who is quick to understand, eager to learn, and generally enthusiastic. It might also suggest that the person being described is younger or less experienced, as "bright" is often used to describe promising individuals who are at the beginning of their careers or education.
So yes, ChatGPT considers the term to be patronizing
Questioned further, it said this: [emphasis mine]
In the context of a powerful speaker using these terms, the choice of adjective might reflect not just the speaker's assessment of the person's intelligence, but also their relationship with the person and the specific qualities they wish to emphasize. For example, a boss might describe a favored employee as "bright" to indicate their potential, a "sharp" colleague to highlight their acuity, and an expert consultant as "intelligent" to denote their broad knowledge. As always, context is key in interpreting these subtle differences.
So ChatGPT agrees with you. ChatGPT 4 is a great resource for questions of connotations of words and usage, and this is not the first time I have used it for this purpose.
As a matter of fact, on questions of word usage, ChatGPT might be able to write some things convincingly in the style of Althouse, except it would need to be properly prompted as to items in the news to seize upon. This is likely impossible without human intervention as of now, but someday...
Michael K: "Democrats are increasingly desperate as blacks move away and recognize that they will be victims of "The Great Replacement."'
Its going to be interesting watching Inga calling black democrats racists for opposing the democraticals obvious immigration-population replacement/dilution tactics.
Re Howard I had forgotten to add in my comment that a number of Howard law grads have become federal judges.
Wikipedia has a list. I hope a partial list since I might have expected more.
John Henry
“brighter than the rest.” I took it at first glance to mean he thinks she’s brighter than most black people. Biden has been a racist POS for all of his years in govt. Nothings changed other than it’s harder for him to self censor these days.
I'm only surprised he didn't mention reparation payments he would be sending to every Black, by an Executive order.
I don't feel "bright" has that connotation.
Biden, however, is terrible.
good grief, moyar proves that halberstam and sheehan were so far off the mark, of course this started with a panicked misreading of the buddhist riots, that led to the diem assasination,
fifteen years later the same policy makers make similar mistakes in iran, forcing land reform and liberal policies, on the shah,
“Because of you, more Black women have been appointed to the federal appellate courts under — than under every other President in American history combined. (Applause.)”
Of course Beiden has here confused Black people with white college educated suburban womyn.
If Beiden is having to pander to his HBCU base he is in some trouble. If they know you need 99% of their votes they are going to be pissed when all you end up giving them is a 90 degree fake. “No reparations for you, free green money for me and my fake business.” “Jessie Jackson wonders, how many black people were on the board of Burisma anyway.”
Beiden said, You know that Black kids are just as smart as white kids, they are aren’t they?
Democrats say, Johnson bought you with welfare checks, we let you loot cities for 2 years, now stay on the plantation.
A few weeks later, Geisert came up with the noun "bright" after brainstorming many ideas. He then ran into another room and told his wife: "I've got the word, and this is going to be big!""
They don't sound terribly smart.
5/14/23, 12:00 PM
"So... we're saying that people who believe in God are dim?"
And the current T bills turn over next year.
T bills turn over every week. They have varying maturities from 4 weeks to 52 weeks. Auctioned off new every week.
Blogger Josephbleau said...
If Beiden is having to pander to his HBCU base
--
Small university with 98% minority bubble.
The curriculum slant must be fascinating.
Corn Pop was a bad dude.
It's a "jungle" in here.
Blogger rhhardin said...
And the current T bills turn over next year.
T bills turn over every week. They have varying maturities from 4 weeks to 52 weeks. Auctioned off new every week.
I know but they will ALL be at the new interest rate in a year. Think about $32 trillion at 8% instead of 0% or 1%. Interest right now is a greater expense than Defense.
In 1980, I had 5 year T bills at 16% interest rate. I hated to see them mature.
LGBrandon said: “ "The most dangerous threat to our homeland is white supremacy … and I’m not just saying this because I’m at a black HBCU."
Brandon clearly doesn’t know for what HBCU stands.
It also does not seem to be true. Her reasoning ability seems to be lacking.
Biden was put on a Presidential ticket for one reason: to make Obama look good by comparison. He continues to perform that task admirably, maybe the only thing he has ever been effective at in public life. The Blacks love him for it, and his dumber than thou act seems not to trouble the rest of the Democrat coalition. Maybe Dylan was onto something.
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It is encouraging, I suppose, that Joe Biden knows a woman when he appoints one. Although he seems to have a little difficulty telling whether they are bright or not.
Clarence Thomas was an AA hire since the vacant seat was Thurgood Marshall's. It was considered a "black seat" at the time and public opinion was that only another black man could be picked to fill it.
Thurgood Marshall was an AA hire because Lyndon Johnson believed, correctly IMHO, that it was time for a black man to serve on the court. Marshall had a distinguished record before and on the court.
But only a black man would have been considered for that seat. Hence, AA hire.
I asked how many Howard grads had served on the Supreme Court. I thought it was zero. When I went a few minutes ago to see when Marshall served, I found that he was a Howard Law grad. So I stand corrected.
John Henry
The USA is circling the drain. DEI, Affimative Action, no border. It all leads to the end of the American Experiment. I'm 71 so I may not see the end, but as is known, slowly it comes, then suddenly.
There is a myth among some black radicals that blacks are smarter than whites. There is certainly a Bell Curve in intelligence and some blacks, like Glenn Loury (BS Math from M IT) or John Mcwhorter or Thomas Sowell are at the right end of that Bell Curve distribution. I have seen an assertion that the half black children of German women who were impregnated by US black servicemen are of average intelligence. I have talked to Black Africans who think American blacks are less intelligent. I see no way to prove any of those assertions but Joe Biden is pandering to the blacks that believe in myths.
The speed of light is faster than the speed of sound. That's why Ketanji appears bright until you hear her speak.
A commenter could notice... :-)
https://www.westernjournal.com/black-graduate-stands-bidens-commencement-speech-displays-devastating-message-written-cap/
Many students turned their backs.
We generally don't hold it against people like Biden who barely know who know where they are most of the time, and were always quite slow.
The word is ambiguous at this point in history but the ironic interpretation has increased its share of bright applications since the book Althouse cited. One can easily exchange the phrase “best and brightest” with “Top men!” as Insty has over that blog’s span. They are both commonly understood to mean the opposite of what the phrase says.
I doubt Brandon understands that.
I'd like to hear him explain, in his own words, why having a black woman on the Supreme court is a good thing.
Much better than if he said she was darker than the rest.
"I'm not joking!. Don't jump!"
“Thomas was a diversity (e.g. affirmative discrimination) choice? Well, revenge of the conservative's conservative. Stay long and viable.”
If Justice Thomas was a diversity hire, I want more of it. Loved his Bruen decision. When he gets passionate, he is moving. He was supposed to be Scalia’s faithful apostle. But Scalia counted the dancing angels on a pinhead in Heller, and Thomas had to clean up the mess he made in Bruen.
Jackson, while a doctrinaire leftist, doesn’t seem as brain impaired as the “Wise Latina”. Her decisions, so early in her career, seem to hang together.
“For someone to be put in a very high-level job -- such as Supreme Court Justice — "bright" (as opposed to "brilliant") suggests they are good enough to handle the work without being an obvious problem, but that there is no way this person was chosen because they're actually the best in the field”.
No shit.
Interesting, this made me think a lot about how I use the term. Mostly as a negative as in "S/He's not very bright, is s/he?" Mostly as a positive with younger kids or newbies, indicating a lack of knowledge or skill from inexperience, but an apparent quick learner.
KBJ doesn't appear to me to be very bright. Like, at all.
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