The reason that leftist "academics", college graduates, and credentialists were upset about Claudine Gay's resignation wasn't really because of racism or sexism. It was because the public, aka peasants, pressured a member of the upper class to sacrifice her position.
There is nothing fake about job and education quotas in the US if you are a white or East Asian male.
While I agree they trot out anything to cover themselves, from white supremacy to institutional sexism, we must not ignore these protected characteristics are now enshrined in law in many countries. All those countries are now in decline.
I also agree the anger around Gay's fall from grace was because two plebs pointed out the empress had no clothes. But they also committed the cardinal sin of noticing. Gay was spectacularly unsuited to her position and everyone knew it. The prep schools and money didn't boost her work ethic it would seem.
You mentioned fake race wars. But the race war is real in the sense of quotas etc. I accept these are imposed by an elite, not minorities etc. But it still causes real tension, not fake tension. So perhaps it is just wording and we are in agreement.
I think you might be confused about what the word war actually means. I’ve got much more in common with poor black people than I do with rich white ones. And it’s the rich whites pulling the strings that have people like you convinced there’s a race war out here. There’s not. They’re feeding you and the poor blacks (at least the ones that also think there’s a race war going on) the same bullshit and yall both buy into it for different reasons. I don’t participate in that exercise. You have fun though.
I won't try to speak for Spiff. However, I think he's saying that there is *both* a class war as well as a race war. If you don't think that a significant number of black people (still a small minority) hate me because I'm White, then I'd say you're closing your eyes and ears to what's going on.
You’re always going to have racists in any large population of people. The idea that there is a race war right now in this country is absurd. The word war has a very specific meaning.
There will always be those who fabricate a myth to feel superior to others, and it includes people of all skin pigments. Is it holding you back? Not likely.
During and prior to the Civil War, there was an underground trade between the majority of white southerners (who were poor) and the slaves on the plantations. Losing the slave labor and the thought of the two camps uniting after the war had to be stopped. Jim Crow came about, keeping all of them poor and fighting each other, keeping wages low as they fought over scraps. I have also been hearing people parrot the same bullshit about a "race war." When will people learn?
People want to feel like they’re being oppressed and that there’s a boogie man out there trying to get them. I’m not sure what’s behind that phenomenon. Maybe it makes them feel like things in their life that aren’t going well are out of their control. Idk. I’ll try to explain it twice and then it’s apparent that they already have their minds made up and there’s nothing I’m going to be able to say that is going to be helpful
Don't be so condescending. Otherwise you'll have more in common with the elites than you may wish to admit.
My point stands. Quotas are real and backed by legal enforcement. They have effects. That causes problems, however engineered they may be in origin. But you don't have the luxury of worrying about that when you can't find work because your ethnic group is subject to legal discrimination.
Make sense?
I have no beef with poor blacks either. But nor do I believe the quotas and the direction of travel is having no effect. It is having a profound effect, of which the appointment of Gay and her ilk is just one example.
The appointment of one unqualified academic to head a university is having a profound effect? Maybe for the handful that were in the running against her have a gripe, but seriously? What work have you been unable to find because of your ethnic group?
A lot of people don't seem to realise that the countries from which immigrants come--especially poor countries--have class systems and aristocracies of their own. A posh person from Haiti (like the members of the Gay family) will have more in common with other posh Americans (of any race) than poor Americans (of any race).
This is what the globalist elite is. People from the US, UK, India etc. believing they have more in common with each other than their fellow countrymen. They all go to the same schools, clubs, vacation destinations. English is the lingua franca. They themselves are homogenous.
They are rootless and homeless by choice. Their disdain for us is deep. We are all plebs to them. White, brown, black, doesn't matter to them.
Andrew Doyle (a.k.a. Titania McGrath) once argued the easiest way to make the BBC more diverse in virtually every way imaginable (including viewpoint), would be to set a limit on the percentage of BBC management who came from private school educational backgrounds. Obviously, the BBC didn't decide to implement his observation- a point made abundantly clear with David Tenant's recent foray into nonbinary pronouns in Doctor Who.
And to think I once used to rush upstairs after a visit to the library with my mother, and devour two Doctor Who Terrence Dicks novels in one sitting. If they remade The Dark is Rising today, Will Stanton would be recast as a Half-Indian third daughter of a third daughter.
An Ed.D. is not a “PhD in Education”. It is a consolation prize for people too slow witted to write an actual dissertation with original research. Show me an Ed.D. recipient and I’ll be looking at an idiot who couldn’t finish what they started.
You've nailed it again - they use racism, sexism, etc. as a shield - and as a weapon to batter us with - when they can't browbeat us any other way. It's like you read their minds, Adam. Great article!
Indeed. If our putative betters were at least competent by their own terms, I could probably make peace with it to an extent. But they are clearly not.
Adam, I would like to hear more from you on the white supremacist narrative: how you perceive the issue, and whether or not you think there is any truth to the idea that there's a vast "white conspiracy" designed to lock in the power whites have over the rest of the people. Being white myself, I'm told that I cannot perceive the issue clearly because of the advantages conferred to me. I'm pretty sure I don't buy it, but getting your perspective would really help.
If there is white supremacy, they're the perpetrators of it. They're the ones changing standards because we're incapable of keeping up with it, they're the ones using minorities as a political tool to get what they want.
I think the narrative is a distraction. Of course there are real racists but that's not their narrative: they're saying systems. The funny thing is these systems, they're often the ones who are part of them or running them. Upper class sleight of hand.
I agree. This is the one aspect they shy away from when pressed. Are you saying there is a SYSTEM of racism in industry X? If so, where is the evidence?
White supremacy is to put whites on the back foot. It is the European achilles heel. Accusations of racism. Although it seems to be running out of steam as nice people get fed up being accused of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, in the UK, strict schools are one of the main reasons why racial educational achievements gaps in our national exams at 16 have closed to the point that they are almost non-existent. Although the online sources are understandably relatively scant the main reason why they were able to achieve such results was because of the evidence from Northern Ireland, where once poorer and more 'deprived' kids from Catholic backgrounds overtook their Protestant peers armed with little other than stricter schools and a smaller likelihood of family breakdown.
The school listed in the source I link is by no means an exception- the Brampton Manor Academy which mainly serves Black kids from the high crime, second poorest borough in London has sent more kids to Oxbridge than Eaton for several consecutive years, purely on merit. I wonder how long it will take the importation of American equity to undo all the good done in London since the early 2000s...
Adam...this is brilliant. You are on quite a winning streak. This column is so full of gems but I'll just make two comments. I have been saying for years, perhaps decades, that the real divisions in America are based on wealth and class, not race, gender, ethnicity or whatever else that the elites come up with to divide people. The real us vs. them dividing line is money and economic class. The rich/wealthy elites vs. the rest of us. This is why people like the Bush family are now so buddy-buddy friendly with the Clintons, something that at first blush one might find improbable because of political differences.
But these mean nothing when you all went to Yale together...or whatever other Ivy League hole they all crawled out of. And you articulated that so well and much more kindly than I would have.
My other comment is on this line from your column, "they're spoiled adults who are used to getting what they want." This is brilliant but you're too generous in referring to them as spoiled "adults." I believe they are children, spoiled children, despite their chronological age. Referring to them as "adults," even "spoiled adults," gives them too much credit. When confronted with a result they don't like or being called on the carpet for something they did that they shouldn't have, they react exactly like children despite their chronological age. They lash out, they call names, they engage in ad hominem attacks, they point fingers and blame everyone and everything but their own decisions and choices. They do everything they can to shirk responsibility. Just like spoiled children. So you make a great point, but don't let your obviously kind heart and positive nature keep you from calling it like it is and giving them the truth, which is harsh, but nonetheless the absolute truth...they are spoiled children and should be treated accordingly by the adults in the room who live, work and make their lives in the real world, i.e. the rest of us "peasants."
Great job. Again. Keep it up. I love it and I'm sure all your other readers love it too.
They keep us fighting fake race wars to keep us from fighting the class war.
Exactly.
There is nothing fake about job and education quotas in the US if you are a white or East Asian male.
While I agree they trot out anything to cover themselves, from white supremacy to institutional sexism, we must not ignore these protected characteristics are now enshrined in law in many countries. All those countries are now in decline.
I also agree the anger around Gay's fall from grace was because two plebs pointed out the empress had no clothes. But they also committed the cardinal sin of noticing. Gay was spectacularly unsuited to her position and everyone knew it. The prep schools and money didn't boost her work ethic it would seem.
Did you read the same article i did? No one claimed the DEI agenda and its quotas were fake.
You mentioned fake race wars. But the race war is real in the sense of quotas etc. I accept these are imposed by an elite, not minorities etc. But it still causes real tension, not fake tension. So perhaps it is just wording and we are in agreement.
I think you might be confused about what the word war actually means. I’ve got much more in common with poor black people than I do with rich white ones. And it’s the rich whites pulling the strings that have people like you convinced there’s a race war out here. There’s not. They’re feeding you and the poor blacks (at least the ones that also think there’s a race war going on) the same bullshit and yall both buy into it for different reasons. I don’t participate in that exercise. You have fun though.
I won't try to speak for Spiff. However, I think he's saying that there is *both* a class war as well as a race war. If you don't think that a significant number of black people (still a small minority) hate me because I'm White, then I'd say you're closing your eyes and ears to what's going on.
You’re always going to have racists in any large population of people. The idea that there is a race war right now in this country is absurd. The word war has a very specific meaning.
Quite. It is there, however engineered it may be. Plus legal discrimination causes resentment, which is not conducive to good relations.
There will always be those who fabricate a myth to feel superior to others, and it includes people of all skin pigments. Is it holding you back? Not likely.
During and prior to the Civil War, there was an underground trade between the majority of white southerners (who were poor) and the slaves on the plantations. Losing the slave labor and the thought of the two camps uniting after the war had to be stopped. Jim Crow came about, keeping all of them poor and fighting each other, keeping wages low as they fought over scraps. I have also been hearing people parrot the same bullshit about a "race war." When will people learn?
People want to feel like they’re being oppressed and that there’s a boogie man out there trying to get them. I’m not sure what’s behind that phenomenon. Maybe it makes them feel like things in their life that aren’t going well are out of their control. Idk. I’ll try to explain it twice and then it’s apparent that they already have their minds made up and there’s nothing I’m going to be able to say that is going to be helpful
Don't be so condescending. Otherwise you'll have more in common with the elites than you may wish to admit.
My point stands. Quotas are real and backed by legal enforcement. They have effects. That causes problems, however engineered they may be in origin. But you don't have the luxury of worrying about that when you can't find work because your ethnic group is subject to legal discrimination.
Make sense?
I have no beef with poor blacks either. But nor do I believe the quotas and the direction of travel is having no effect. It is having a profound effect, of which the appointment of Gay and her ilk is just one example.
Whatever you say my man. ☮️
The appointment of one unqualified academic to head a university is having a profound effect? Maybe for the handful that were in the running against her have a gripe, but seriously? What work have you been unable to find because of your ethnic group?
A lot of people don't seem to realise that the countries from which immigrants come--especially poor countries--have class systems and aristocracies of their own. A posh person from Haiti (like the members of the Gay family) will have more in common with other posh Americans (of any race) than poor Americans (of any race).
Exactly!
This is what the globalist elite is. People from the US, UK, India etc. believing they have more in common with each other than their fellow countrymen. They all go to the same schools, clubs, vacation destinations. English is the lingua franca. They themselves are homogenous.
They are rootless and homeless by choice. Their disdain for us is deep. We are all plebs to them. White, brown, black, doesn't matter to them.
Andrew Doyle (a.k.a. Titania McGrath) once argued the easiest way to make the BBC more diverse in virtually every way imaginable (including viewpoint), would be to set a limit on the percentage of BBC management who came from private school educational backgrounds. Obviously, the BBC didn't decide to implement his observation- a point made abundantly clear with David Tenant's recent foray into nonbinary pronouns in Doctor Who.
And to think I once used to rush upstairs after a visit to the library with my mother, and devour two Doctor Who Terrence Dicks novels in one sitting. If they remade The Dark is Rising today, Will Stanton would be recast as a Half-Indian third daughter of a third daughter.
Which is why they go to the same schools.
Woke ideology is not about fighting Social Justice.
It is about protecting and promoting Social Status.
I am proud to be in the catering class. Serving others and making a difference. Thank you, Adam. I hope this post goes viral. You make a difference.
Thank you! It's gaining some traction on Twitter.
When I was defending the Freedom Convoy in Newsweek last year, I would get similar comments
"You're just a trucker." or even "Are you even a trucker?"
As if my job title precluded me from reporting on a protest that I was present at, organized by people who I have spent my entire life around.
Nope, no credentials, just a trucker, case closed.
They need credentials to take you seriously about what you are seeing with your own eyes.
Such elitism...
The move to disdain for the deplorables began under the once sainted Woodrow Wilson with his obsession with expertise.
You are a very wise man. Thank you for speaking the truth.
My pleasure! Thank you for taking the time to read it.
Perfectly said! Thank you!
PhD in education ain’t nuthin to be proud of. To use the educated vernacular
An Ed.D. is not a “PhD in Education”. It is a consolation prize for people too slow witted to write an actual dissertation with original research. Show me an Ed.D. recipient and I’ll be looking at an idiot who couldn’t finish what they started.
might be slightly off but the Woody Allen saying comes to mind.
"Those that cannot do teach. Those that cannot teach, teach gym."
Adam, you sure nailed it with this one... loved the Carlin quote!
Thank you!
BTW, None of us "rural" Texans out here ain't in the club either... and don't want to be! Glad I grew up blue collar!
Absolutely LOVE this!
You've nailed it again - they use racism, sexism, etc. as a shield - and as a weapon to batter us with - when they can't browbeat us any other way. It's like you read their minds, Adam. Great article!
Thank you 😊
Great essay. Thank you…
Thank you 😊
Indeed. If our putative betters were at least competent by their own terms, I could probably make peace with it to an extent. But they are clearly not.
Adam, I would like to hear more from you on the white supremacist narrative: how you perceive the issue, and whether or not you think there is any truth to the idea that there's a vast "white conspiracy" designed to lock in the power whites have over the rest of the people. Being white myself, I'm told that I cannot perceive the issue clearly because of the advantages conferred to me. I'm pretty sure I don't buy it, but getting your perspective would really help.
If there is white supremacy, they're the perpetrators of it. They're the ones changing standards because we're incapable of keeping up with it, they're the ones using minorities as a political tool to get what they want.
I think the narrative is a distraction. Of course there are real racists but that's not their narrative: they're saying systems. The funny thing is these systems, they're often the ones who are part of them or running them. Upper class sleight of hand.
I agree. This is the one aspect they shy away from when pressed. Are you saying there is a SYSTEM of racism in industry X? If so, where is the evidence?
White supremacy is to put whites on the back foot. It is the European achilles heel. Accusations of racism. Although it seems to be running out of steam as nice people get fed up being accused of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, in the UK, strict schools are one of the main reasons why racial educational achievements gaps in our national exams at 16 have closed to the point that they are almost non-existent. Although the online sources are understandably relatively scant the main reason why they were able to achieve such results was because of the evidence from Northern Ireland, where once poorer and more 'deprived' kids from Catholic backgrounds overtook their Protestant peers armed with little other than stricter schools and a smaller likelihood of family breakdown.
The school listed in the source I link is by no means an exception- the Brampton Manor Academy which mainly serves Black kids from the high crime, second poorest borough in London has sent more kids to Oxbridge than Eaton for several consecutive years, purely on merit. I wonder how long it will take the importation of American equity to undo all the good done in London since the early 2000s...
https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/01/16/why-super-strict-classrooms-are-in-vogue-in-britain
Ed. D. That’s the degree they gave Jill Biden after she wrote a 93 page term paper titled “The Importance of Community College in the Community”.
Not worth the paper. “Ed.D.”. Consolation prize for people with low IQ but good connections/the right skin color.
Adam...this is brilliant. You are on quite a winning streak. This column is so full of gems but I'll just make two comments. I have been saying for years, perhaps decades, that the real divisions in America are based on wealth and class, not race, gender, ethnicity or whatever else that the elites come up with to divide people. The real us vs. them dividing line is money and economic class. The rich/wealthy elites vs. the rest of us. This is why people like the Bush family are now so buddy-buddy friendly with the Clintons, something that at first blush one might find improbable because of political differences.
But these mean nothing when you all went to Yale together...or whatever other Ivy League hole they all crawled out of. And you articulated that so well and much more kindly than I would have.
My other comment is on this line from your column, "they're spoiled adults who are used to getting what they want." This is brilliant but you're too generous in referring to them as spoiled "adults." I believe they are children, spoiled children, despite their chronological age. Referring to them as "adults," even "spoiled adults," gives them too much credit. When confronted with a result they don't like or being called on the carpet for something they did that they shouldn't have, they react exactly like children despite their chronological age. They lash out, they call names, they engage in ad hominem attacks, they point fingers and blame everyone and everything but their own decisions and choices. They do everything they can to shirk responsibility. Just like spoiled children. So you make a great point, but don't let your obviously kind heart and positive nature keep you from calling it like it is and giving them the truth, which is harsh, but nonetheless the absolute truth...they are spoiled children and should be treated accordingly by the adults in the room who live, work and make their lives in the real world, i.e. the rest of us "peasants."
Great job. Again. Keep it up. I love it and I'm sure all your other readers love it too.
Adultescent? Believe it or not, the word now rates a dictionary definition...