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Education and the New White Man’s Burden of the Left — 24 Comments

  1. Excellent post! The current totalitarian “theory of everything” can be reduced to the following three claims which are implicit in all leftist/progressive (antifa/BLM) propaganda, slavishly endorsed by the MSM: 1)All whites, and only whites, are racist; 2)racism is ubiquitous 3) racism explains everything. It is all too obvious that no amount of reason and logic, or any argument based on facts and evidence, can overcome the mental virus afflicting the wokerati.

  2. I taught medical students for 15 years. Before that I taught surgery residents but once I retired, the residents required instructors doing surgery. Of the medical students, taught in a small group setting, usually 6 to 8 at a time, about half to a third were black. Of those, almost all were African or West Indian. I can recall two American blacks in 15 years. One flunked out and the other had psychological problems.

    The African and West Indian kids did not understand the American blacks. Several tried to help the one flunking out and he repeated a year but still failed. The American blacks have this psychological burden of the race hysteria. West Indians were also descended from slaves. My wife has had two black physicians. One was African and the other is Jamaican. Maybe the fact that West Indians have been governed by other blacks in recent years helps, but I don’t know why.

    I also spent about 7 years examining recruits to the US military. Blacks are a smaller group than one might expect, perhaps because many have police records. What I did see was African blacks joining the US military. They get citizenship after successful service. One kid I remember very well. He was from Uganda. He had his whole future planned. US Army, then college on GI Bill, then medical school. I wouldn’t put it past him. Great kid.

    I also remember a Nigerian guy joining the Army Reserve. He had a BS in Mechanical Engineering plus an MS in Industrial Engineering. Of course he was an Ibo. He was pleased when I asked him if he was. He said in Nigeria, he had two choices, Engineering and Optometry, if he wanted college.

  3. Sadly the conservative americans of dark complexion are in a horrible bind. They want respect and position they deserve, but all too many of their contemporaries want the world to think that all blacks are naturally criminal and that its bad to prosecute or expect more for people being their natural selves. At essence that is what black lives matter is sustaining when their is a refusal to look at the actual circumstances. you can watch some fun stuff on the recent wendys shooting by the Hoge Twins on youtube, who are conservative, and seem frustrated at this. then you can see a conversation by a pundit at home for covid, also black, who is painting a picture that the police should not have acted the way they did, and should have sent the poor drunk man to walk home… completely ignoring the felony of DUI and passing out, not sleeping. how did the car get to the wendys? a man who blew a .108 40 minutes later, and passed out in his car with the engine running at a drive through, drove through city streets in that capacity.. but the pundit was appealing to the we have all been drunk, and so on. what audacity to argue that driving drunk on public roads, inebriated to the point of passing out, is not a problem for black folk? really? he also ignores that after the person was treated nicely, and upon the moment of being hand cuffed, he went nuts… and the pundit wanted to blame it on panic of being drunk never noticing that this panic and violence under the unfluence is not a reason to excuse, but a reason to subdue as its not safe for others who may trigger said person. he also ignores the fact that one officer gets a really good punch to the face, and two of them tried their best to hold him down without hurting him… to which he takes a taser from one, technically a theft… and then tries to use it… if he succeeded, would he have walked back to the incapacitated officer and taken the more deadly weapon? neither asked the question of where was he running to and what did he expect from adding more crimes on top of the felony DUI? they knew who he was, they processed his license, he left his car… where was he going? to another country without extradition?

    the message is clear in all these situations… blacks should be allowed to commit crimes and society should not ask more of them… these are not low expectations these are no expectations… and the conservative and decent black folk are then to suffer the idea of not being trusted? if such was the norm, who would trust them to hire them, bring them into their shop, let them watch kids, or be teachers, or go to them as a doctor?

    they are creating an untennable situation for themselves and the rest of the black community, and i feel so bad for the really great people i know who would never do any of those things… ever… who would and are stand up people i would love to have as neighbors and people i work with and friends…

    there can be no good a comming from this…

  4. Mike K, your story echos one I’ve repeated several times here about a former student who is from Senegal. Arrived in the US almost penniless, played some semi-pro soccer while in Europe and then discovered by my college’s soccer coach at a pick up game in NYC. Came to the college, became one of the top 3 students over 37 years, went to Brown; PhD in EE. Worked, (and still does) at Lincoln Labs with a high level security clearance after becoming a naturalized citizen. Then came back to the college to teach with us. The liberals and black faculty were enthralled when he arrived. They became quickly disillusioned with him after they found out his values, and to your point, his views of American blacks and their entitlement attitude.

  5. Our situation is ripe for a preference cascade.

    The question is whether conservatives, who’re naturally, uh, conservative about how they express themselves, will find the spine to become public and loud.

    The prerequisite for a preference cascade is a long-simmering silent resentment of always biting one’s tongue (for fear of losing what one has) reaching a boiling-point. This often happens in countries run by oppressive leftist dictators who brutally silence opposition; e.g. Saddam’s Iraq.

    The pent-up potential energy of the preference cascade is then made kinetic in a sudden pressure-release when a lot of people simultaneously look at one another and say, “What? You hate the dictator, too? I thought I was the only one!” …and find that they are numerous, strong, and ready to take action.

    We are beset by oppressive leftism on all sides acting constantly to intimidate us so that we fear to express our views. They especially try to make us feel ashamed of our views, as if they were sinful, or proceeded from sinful motives.

    I properly hate the ideology of leftism and all its methods. I manage — with gritted teeth and excruciating effort, sometimes — to NOT hate the leftists themselves. But I only make that effort because God commands me not to. I imagine there are plenty of people with conservative political views who are either unaware of, or ignoring, the command to not hate leftists. So, if I’m right about that, some 10-30% of the U.S. population is armed and seething with hate for another segment of the U.S. population.

    Given all this, I suspect that conservatives’ habitual self-restraint, cultural inclination to lawfulness, bourgeois sensitivity to the opinions of culturally-influential people, and sometimes mere cowardice, are what prevent the Preference Cascade from occurring.

    Those traits could turn out to be suicidal or not. If the Cascade were to release in the wrong way, it’d be a bloody civil war; in the right way, it could lead to conservative victory; if not at all, to a dark century of leftist dominance and oppression.

    We’ll see.

  6. RC, I think the real problem is that corporate America has decided to appease the mob. Most conservatives are gainfully employed and given the covid economy, speaking up, or even on one’s own social media can cost one their livelihood. I had tenure, but they sure as hell tried to get me fired when I spoke out. If I didn’t have tenure I would have thought twice before saying what I actually thought

  7. Perhaps the problem can be viewed as victimhood? There are always “victims”, and they lack agency, apparently. It is never their fault for their situation. It is always something else. Poor upbringing, lack of a proper diet, fetal alcohol syndrome, no role models, etc, etc, etc. Always an excuse for why they cannot be blamed for the situation they are in. And the best thing about victimhood is that it is colour blind! White, Black, Brown, Red, Orange, no matter what your colour or background, you can always find someone else to blame your situation on.

    I think this even goes right into the schools and our teachers who are looking for excuses for children as young as 6 or 7. Too rambunctious? Ritalin them up. Distracted? Maybe hungry? Poor attention span? You get the picture. Don’t blame the poor child, they are just a victim of circumstance. Don’t guide them toward self reliance and responsibility for their actions, find an excuse. And don’t forget to excuse the parents, not their fault they are “whatever”, more victims.

  8. RC writes that I “properly hate the ideology of leftism and all its methods. I manage — with gritted teeth and excruciating effort, sometimes — to NOT hate the leftists themselves. But I only make that effort because God commands me not to.”

    No, the Obama era hate of me, personally, for a merely different political opinion disabused me of controlling my hate for the Left and Leftists as people.

    I hope the Constitutional Treason of June 15th starts the “preference cascade” – apres le deluge, my friends. I welcome this.

    Normies versus the Ruling Class, the elites, their apologists and apparatchiks. Overdue, in fact. Past due.

  9. @TJ:

    Your statement…

    No, the Obama era hate of me, personally, for a merely different political opinion disabused me of controlling my hate for the Left and Leftists as people.

    If your deny that God exists, or has commanded you to love your enemies, then of course that decision on your part is entirely logical.

    And, I think your statement provides evidence for my further point about the preference cascade: Many, perhaps most, conservatives are uninterested in Jesus’ well-known command to “love your enemies.” In our religiously-ignorant modernity, how many so-called Christians can quote their own Scriptures as well as they can quote the treacly and shallow lyrics of recently-penned “worship songs?” …or, for that matter, the latest ditty from Beyonce? “There came a generation that knew not the LORD or what He had done for the people….”

    Basically I figure I’m in the minority, among conservatives, when it comes to feeling any obligation to “love my enemies.”

    Of course, the “love your enemy” command is easily misunderstood. Antifa is the enemy of civilization and all those who wish it maintained; but Jesus’ command doesn’t obligate me to have sex with a random leftist just because she’s wearing a mask and defacing public property. In context, “love” means to will the good of the other as other. Among other things, this might obligate me to shoot a member of Antifa before he can manage to add the murder of my family to the already-long list of sins for which he’s going to hell. Evil deeds aren’t just bad for their victims, but for their perpetrators.

    Still, if a Leftist, while still operating unrepentantly under self-deception with regards to public policy, were to collapse in a gutter outside my house, I’d be obligated to love that person to the extent of pulling him out of the street and calling 911. If I held that the only morally-correct response to his hatred of me were for me to hate him, then I suppose I’d construe my moral obligation rather differently: To go crank up my car and back it over him a few times. But I’m commanded not to do that, or even to ineffectually wish for it.

    One of the few insightful things Nietzsche ever said was, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” The Leftists are all at varying points in the process of becoming monsters, because evil ideologies have that effect. But I don’t want to do that. Even though I grant that the effectiveness of their tactics depends largely on exploiting our goodness, I refuse to emulate them by sacrificing righteousness for power. We’re the good guys.

    Anyway, if a shooting civil war does erupt, probably the Chinese will inherit the earth. This is one reason, I suspect, that they’re (again, I suspect) putting so much money and operational training into fomenting one.

  10. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

    Neo,
    Looks your “Left/ Right” breading “monsters”

    America’s deadliest soldier

    US Activist War Veteran Vincent Emanuele ??

  11. Jesus didn’t command us to like our enemies, only to love them. Seems to me that it’s enough to assure them their rights and equal treatment under the law.

  12. “they are creating an untennable situation for themselves and the rest of the black community, and i feel so bad for the really great people i know who would never do any of those things… ever… who would and are stand up people i would love to have as neighbors and people i work with and friends…

    there can be no good a comming from this…” – Artfldgr

    So true — I was talking to some of the family about my life and experiences with black people, and all but one of them was very positive (and he was a jerk because he was a college student, not because he was black).

  13. I don’t expect it to matter to most here, but Tony Robbins has caved to the BLM mob.

    His latest YouTube is a tearful plea about the fear, anxiety, and injustice “our brothers and sisters” have been “living with forever” and how bad he feels about it and how he has no words except he keeps on talking with his voice quavering like he’s about to cry though no real tears appear.

    Then his voice straightens out and he moves into his pitch which is a podcast with a group of black leaders which includes Jesse Jackson and Van Jones — but no conservatives.

    It’s all very positive — “we’ve got work to do” — but it came off to me as insincere or dumb, neither of which is how I understand Tony.

    The YouTube comments run around 40% “this is great, we love you Tony”, 10% “thanks for getting it” but over 50% “Tony, you are not seeing the bigger picture here.” Interesting.

    I’m not unaware that Tony is a guy selling a product and he wants to keep selling it. Well over half of his customers are Democrat/Liberal and he has taken a hit these past several months because his group events were cancelled on account of Covid.

    I’m past feeling embarrassed to say Tony Robbins changed my life for the better when I was near-suicidal. My mother, father, stepfather and aunt committed suicide, so this wasn’t an idle, romantic thought on my part because I was sad something didn’t work out.

    Tony is human and humans can be disappointing. Tony taught me I can manage my emotional state, whatever happens. I learned it and mostly I have. So life goes on.

    I’m still a bit disappointed.

    “Enough Is Enough. We Have Work To Do. | Tony Robbins”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3cmpfkNQXo

  14. I don’t expect it to matter to most here, but Tony Robbins has caved to the BLM mob.

    Never heard of this guy. I look him up and I see he’s in the ‘motivational speaking’ trade.

  15. Neo, I am finally, after all these years, reading Closing of the American Mind. I was too busy with job and children to read it back when it came out, and later on figured it might not have the significance that it did at the time. Wrong. It is as good as you and many others have said.

    physicsguy, about that guy with the PhD in EE: as a software guy I once spent several years working closely with double-Es. As far as I’m concerned even a BA in that subject is the equivalent of a badge that says “Unusually Smart Person.”

  16. Art Deco: Yes. Tony Robbins is a motivational speaker. His infomercials ran nearly non-stop on cable channels in the 90s. Consequently, a lot of people have heard of him. A number of CEOs, Bill Clinton, and other top performers have consulted with him.

    Tony is worth around $600 mil these days. He’s managed to sidestep most of the landmines of such a position. IMO because he’s smart and deep down he is a good guy. He could easily have become a nightmare cult leader but he didn’t.

    I was quite active in the Tony world, first as a participant, then as one of the volunteers behind the scenes from 1998-2005. Tony isn’t perfect, but I have no regrets about my time spent in his world.

    When it comes to finances, Tony is conservative. A few years after the 2008 meltdown he did a stern YouTube on the national debt, even quoting IowaHawk. Which is part of the reason I have trouble with his cave-in to BLM.

    –“The National Debt and Federal Budget Deficit Deconstructed – Tony Robbins”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jboTeS9Okak&t=487s

  17. Mac,
    Completely agree about the EE Unusually Smart Person thing.
    One of my son’s best friends has masters in EE and Physics. AND he worked with the green mice guy at UH! Smartest kid I ever met.
    They met in preschool having just turned three years old and hit it off in spite of one only speaking English and the other only Japanese.
    Three years later they were the best readers in their first grade class. Not surprising for my son – we are a family of readers – but amazing for a kid who didn’t even speak the language a few years before.
    Not long ago I made a wondering remark to my daughter about the two boys becoming such friends when neither spoke the other’s language. My daughter laughed out loud and said; “Wrong again, Mom. They both spoke Nerd!’

  18. Mike K
    Plasticsguy
    SEE: Black Rednecks, and White Liberals” -Thomas Sowell
    May help shed some light on your quandaries.

  19. R. C., Art Deco, Huxley?
    Much to cogitate. But not germane to the courage the present moment requires. Think of our warring Founders. They fought and killed, in uniform or out. They survived, and many or even most thrived.

    What one man can do, another can learn to do, if needed.

    There’s no need to over think what must be done in your own defense. Learn what’s needed. Gather the courage and do it.

    If our forebears could do what had to be done, no matter how ruthless and
    bloody, then you and I and we can, too.

    For those seeking something to explain our riots, the Left’s Big Lies from “Russia” to “Racism” and Riots, and Trump’s appeal and counter elite effectiveness, then share this 25 minute interview with “The Case for Trump,” Victor Davis Hanson:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON5Cl0l8xz8

    It’s fast paced and VDH at his most illuminating and brilliant!
    I listened to this week or two old interview twice – immediately.
    So effective I’m going to share with Leftists and Trump doubters
    in my family because nothing has put our present moment
    more perfectly.

    Wow.

  20. huxley – Robbins learned his lesson previously, it would appear.

    From Wikipedia –

    Robbins was criticized for critical comments made about the Me Too movement at a seminar in San Jose, California, on March 15, 2018.[33] According to a video of the event released on social media by NowThisNews,[34] Robbins stated his opinion that, “If you use the #MeToo movement to try to get significance and certainty by attacking and destroying someone else… all you’ve done is basically use a drug called significance to make yourself feel good.” He went on to tell a story about a “very powerful man” who passed on hiring a female candidate even though she was the most qualified because she was too attractive and would be “too big a risk”.[33] Following criticism for these comments, Robbins posted an apology on his Facebook page, saying “I apologize for suggesting anything other than my profound admiration for the #MeToo movement.”[35]

  21. If our forebears could do what had to be done, no matter how ruthless and
    bloody, then you and I and we can, too.

    By the time any of you wake up to the existence of this war, it will already be over. 2020 is basically Reconstruction or post WW2, where defeat is negotiated and public trials are held.

  22. Basically I figure I’m in the minority, among conservatives, when it comes to feeling any obligation to “love my enemies.”

    Humans do not comprehend what love means. THe US Constitution has a bit about pleading the 5th. Does that mean people are commanded to plead the 5th? No. God has not commanded lmodern people to do anything, least of all those not in the chain of command.

    History is history. Even if it is a Constitution taken as law and basically a figure of holy worship iconography.

    You are at least trying to comprehend such matters, RC. Which means you will likely graduate, if you can make it to 2021.

    https://youtu.be/2q3HPRBUdks

    Here’s omething to aid on your journey. Like a 3 day survival bug out bag.

  23. I don’t expect it to matter to most here, but Tony Robbins has caved to the BLM mob

    You are right, it does not matter to me. But I can pick up your emotions easily enough, to see why it disappoints you to see someone who helped you, fall into this state. And not being able to help him as he helped you.

    Oh, did I forget to tell people here I can read their emotions, especially the negative and positive ones directed towards me, no matter how much or how little they write?

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