…when I pinned her down, it turned out she was calling intolerance “racism”.

Ilion commented on the misuse of language, but chose to focus on the word “intolerance”.

But in my opinion, the real travesty of language is the word “racism” itself. This is a perfect illustration of what the underread and underappreciated Jeff Goldstein (no, I don’t know him in person) describes as the Left’s quite intentional takeover and weaponization of language (my paraphrase) as an integral part of their Long March Through the Institutions. But I digress.

“Racism” is the belief in the inherent superiority or inferiority of a race of people (“race” itself being a foggy concept, promoted in the main by racists themselves). The most well-known (in America) holders of this belief over the last century-and-a-half were the Nazis and the Klan. I think it’s safe to say that certainly today, and probably for at least the last 20-30 years, none but a very few in America hold beliefs like these, and even fewer in public, and even fewer than that prepared to act on them.

I don’t believe that Tom, the self-admitted “racist” upthread, belongs in this category, nor do I think Tom thinks he belongs there. What Tom ought to more properly call himself, and all of us (probably with some degree of truth), according to his comment, is:

A BIGOT.

Say it with me, everybody. BIGOT.

The words “bigot” and “bigotry” have seemingly been completely forgotten in the last 20 years. I remember them being quite commonly thrown about in the ’80s to describe what people today call “racist” and “racism”.

Why the change, then? (And here’s where Goldstein comes in)

Because it’s much more effective to browbeat an opponent with the ugly charge of racism, effectively comparing him to the Nazis or the Klan and completely delegitimizing anything he has to say, than to more accurately label him as a bigot, since as Tom said, we’re all bigots; it’s part of the human condition. It allows the Left to paint us as beyond the pale, and effectively shuts us up, until and unless we’re willing to call bullshit and refuse to be illegitimately tarred with the same brush as the Nazis and the Klan.

Federal mandates for preferential treatment contribute to my sense that the nation’s governance is illegitimate.

(That major institutions are illegitimate does not mean we are living in Stalin’s Russia. It does mean that the country is falling seriously short of its potential.)

Reading this thread reminded me of a colleague joking about a faculty position we were filling. He said we should hire a white male so we could fire him if it did not work out.

I hope your interview works out.

2. Daniel, I fear that as PC continues to advance, affirmative action will be justified as permanent reparations owed by ice people. I perceive its scope as expanding. Hopefully a point will be reached at which the country says, “Enough!”, but I’m not confident about that.

3. Instapundit notes that my man Jim Webb has done some plain speaking about affirmative action.

I guess I can print anything from this point, since you stopped reading.

And that’s where I stop reading. On principle.