Glenn Loury & John McWhorter just covered this in one of their talks, about DEI initiatives and whether they work. They spoke of black kids being able to get into, say, Georgetown Law School only being in the 70th percentile while white & Asians kids had to score in the 90th percentile. They didn't use the phrase 'bigotry of low expectat…
Glenn Loury & John McWhorter just covered this in one of their talks, about DEI initiatives and whether they work. They spoke of black kids being able to get into, say, Georgetown Law School only being in the 70th percentile while white & Asians kids had to score in the 90th percentile. They didn't use the phrase 'bigotry of low expectations' but that's kind of what it is. They said what if black kids *were* held to the same high standard as others? Maybe it would mean not a lot of black kids get into Georgetown U for awhile but they'll have to work harder. My Nigerian friend used to complain about American blacks giving him crap for being a nerd, educated, 'well spoken' (he was from Nigeria, he didn't know how to 'talk black' and once he did, he didn't think he needed to). He also complained about blacks eschewing success and good grades as 'acting white' (something some American blacks like to claim isn't true).
These arguments resonate with me as corporate & academic America debate how to get more women into STEM studies and jobs. And I think, yeah, it would be a good thing to get more women into that but I'm not sure it will ever reach parity, nor should it if it's not natural. Some women just aren't good at that and I hope no one's being pushed to be an engineer when what she wants to be is a financial analyst. And really, when you're part of a DEI initiative people will always say you got in because of your biological X, not because you could compete on a system of merit (however faulty that may be).
It's definitely not fashionable on the left to note that disadvantaged groups often hold themselves back with the same low expectations of those around them. I see it in the female/feminist mindset all the time. It's too easy for them to blame 'patriarchy' and 'misogyny' when I see 'fear of empowerment' and 'fear of assertiveness'.
There is for sure systemic racism and sexism, but corporate America is doing a genuine job of trying to rectify that as I watch it morph over websites, where i spend a lot of time on with my job (sales) and have for 25 years. I'm seeing more black, brown, female, and combinations of those things on boards, leadership pages representations on business sites. More large people. More female people. More mixed female people on beauty & vanity sites with the white women centred less than before. I'm even seeing more men represented there too.
So yeah, change is happening but not everyone is willing to admit it. The victimhood narrative serves them too nicely and abrogates their need to look within and ask them what are *they* doing to hold themselves back.
A question I've been struggling with *my entire life*.
"They spoke of black kids being able to get into, say, Georgetown Law School only being in the 70th percentile while white & Asians kids had to score in the 90th percentile."
Artificially engineering "diversity" in universities is not the answer. The work of changing outcomes needs to start much earlier. And it needs to be in schools *and* in homes.
As for the victimhood narrative, I'm publishing an article about exactly that in a few days. So I won't say any more about that yet.😁
There is little doubt that some people enjoy beleiving themselves to be victimized and oppressed, taking this as evidence that they're *important* enough to be oppressed.
What other explanation is possible for the creation of phony minorities which people not only shoehorn themselves into but then project to anyone and everyone with pronouns and a firehose spray of imagined grievances?
And just imagine, some of us seek our validation from achievements. But, hey, we're just a bunch of elitists.
It certainly serves the powerful quite well. Because victims aren't strong; they're weak. They're good at shooting off their mouths but not changing anything. I'm not sure what Ta-Nehisi Coates is doing to moe the conversation forward, and when I was on Medium Jessica Valenti was (probably still is) their most popular feminist but all she ever did was whine about the 'patriarchy' and complain about men getting away with this or that. Never an article in which she encouraged to do much more than 'make their voices heard' rather than, say, encourage women to report sexual assault at the time and stand behind them when the inevitable shitstorm starts.
Someone challenged me, a few years back on Medium, to stop 'screaming into the void' about growing some labia and offer suggestions and action items. They were right. That's what I've been trying to do, ever since, and I know that i've impacted at least a few hearts and minds and persuaded them to think more powerfully.
When wages converge people could claim making progress. Mustn’t have that. Diminishing rage means lower lecture fees, hence the intangibles like patriarchy.
How can anyone claim patriarchal attitudes are improving?
I think they *have* improved, but the ones who were never on board with equality are now empowered to speak their (tiny) mind and protect their dominance. Women haven't done enough to protect their rights - Trump got in with a LOT of their help. I wonder, though, if it will encourage male defection away from equality, particularly those who are turned off by the current misandrist feminist zeitgeist.
I think the misandry was a lot worse in the 70s with womon/womyn and the fish-bicycle thing. A lot of women wanted more equal treatment, they weren't interested in hating their boyfriends and becoming lesbians.
Glenn Loury & John McWhorter just covered this in one of their talks, about DEI initiatives and whether they work. They spoke of black kids being able to get into, say, Georgetown Law School only being in the 70th percentile while white & Asians kids had to score in the 90th percentile. They didn't use the phrase 'bigotry of low expectations' but that's kind of what it is. They said what if black kids *were* held to the same high standard as others? Maybe it would mean not a lot of black kids get into Georgetown U for awhile but they'll have to work harder. My Nigerian friend used to complain about American blacks giving him crap for being a nerd, educated, 'well spoken' (he was from Nigeria, he didn't know how to 'talk black' and once he did, he didn't think he needed to). He also complained about blacks eschewing success and good grades as 'acting white' (something some American blacks like to claim isn't true).
These arguments resonate with me as corporate & academic America debate how to get more women into STEM studies and jobs. And I think, yeah, it would be a good thing to get more women into that but I'm not sure it will ever reach parity, nor should it if it's not natural. Some women just aren't good at that and I hope no one's being pushed to be an engineer when what she wants to be is a financial analyst. And really, when you're part of a DEI initiative people will always say you got in because of your biological X, not because you could compete on a system of merit (however faulty that may be).
It's definitely not fashionable on the left to note that disadvantaged groups often hold themselves back with the same low expectations of those around them. I see it in the female/feminist mindset all the time. It's too easy for them to blame 'patriarchy' and 'misogyny' when I see 'fear of empowerment' and 'fear of assertiveness'.
There is for sure systemic racism and sexism, but corporate America is doing a genuine job of trying to rectify that as I watch it morph over websites, where i spend a lot of time on with my job (sales) and have for 25 years. I'm seeing more black, brown, female, and combinations of those things on boards, leadership pages representations on business sites. More large people. More female people. More mixed female people on beauty & vanity sites with the white women centred less than before. I'm even seeing more men represented there too.
So yeah, change is happening but not everyone is willing to admit it. The victimhood narrative serves them too nicely and abrogates their need to look within and ask them what are *they* doing to hold themselves back.
A question I've been struggling with *my entire life*.
"They spoke of black kids being able to get into, say, Georgetown Law School only being in the 70th percentile while white & Asians kids had to score in the 90th percentile."
Yeah, this is a huge issue. And it also leads to black children struggling or dropping out when they do get into these schools. Remember that law professor, who was fired for noticing that a lot of her lower performing students were black (https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/03/11/georgetown-law-professor-investigated-for-telling-the-truth/#google_vignette)?
Artificially engineering "diversity" in universities is not the answer. The work of changing outcomes needs to start much earlier. And it needs to be in schools *and* in homes.
As for the victimhood narrative, I'm publishing an article about exactly that in a few days. So I won't say any more about that yet.😁
There is little doubt that some people enjoy beleiving themselves to be victimized and oppressed, taking this as evidence that they're *important* enough to be oppressed.
What other explanation is possible for the creation of phony minorities which people not only shoehorn themselves into but then project to anyone and everyone with pronouns and a firehose spray of imagined grievances?
And just imagine, some of us seek our validation from achievements. But, hey, we're just a bunch of elitists.
It certainly serves the powerful quite well. Because victims aren't strong; they're weak. They're good at shooting off their mouths but not changing anything. I'm not sure what Ta-Nehisi Coates is doing to moe the conversation forward, and when I was on Medium Jessica Valenti was (probably still is) their most popular feminist but all she ever did was whine about the 'patriarchy' and complain about men getting away with this or that. Never an article in which she encouraged to do much more than 'make their voices heard' rather than, say, encourage women to report sexual assault at the time and stand behind them when the inevitable shitstorm starts.
Someone challenged me, a few years back on Medium, to stop 'screaming into the void' about growing some labia and offer suggestions and action items. They were right. That's what I've been trying to do, ever since, and I know that i've impacted at least a few hearts and minds and persuaded them to think more powerfully.
When wages converge people could claim making progress. Mustn’t have that. Diminishing rage means lower lecture fees, hence the intangibles like patriarchy.
How can anyone claim patriarchal attitudes are improving?
I think they *have* improved, but the ones who were never on board with equality are now empowered to speak their (tiny) mind and protect their dominance. Women haven't done enough to protect their rights - Trump got in with a LOT of their help. I wonder, though, if it will encourage male defection away from equality, particularly those who are turned off by the current misandrist feminist zeitgeist.
I think the misandry was a lot worse in the 70s with womon/womyn and the fish-bicycle thing. A lot of women wanted more equal treatment, they weren't interested in hating their boyfriends and becoming lesbians.