There is reason to be hopeful, not because the Right is right, but because many constituencies see the value of diversity, and will work to achieve it, regardless of the hyperventilating.
Being a person of the female persuasion, I too had wondered to what degree AA may have helped me get into graduate school, etc. After landing my first job (adjunct, of course) after completing my PhD, I decided not to think about it any more, much less worry. *I* knew my worth, and I knew I could demonstrate it; and ultimately, that's what matters most.
Having a diverse group of students always made for a better teaching environment, especially if students were willing to speak up and share their perspectives. Since I taught psychology, their contributions were invaluable, because context always matters; and they taught me a lot too.
I will happily pour a generous cocktail and watch the dominos fall alongside you. And mark me as firmly on team Whinging.
You wrote: "And for the snarkiness of The Bulwark’s Mona Charen and Cathy Young that AA promotes unqualified people into these elite institutions, they can fuck right off."
What do you think of JVL's telling people who don't "appreciate Mona as the treasure she is" to gtfo? (This was in the comments section of the Secret Podcast they did.)
I used to watch Will on one of the Sunday shows (if memory serves). He could get in a good zinger now and again, and I'll admit to some vocabulary envy, but once I started to look past that, I didn't see much to agree with. Now he just seems like a bitter, petty person.
I suspect that Mona is not really happy that Gay people are "in her face" and while she appreciates Tim and Sarah, she would be happier if they would just not be so "out" an "in your face"
Frankly, her vibe is a lot like my parents. Not wanting to round up the gays and lesbians to a concentration camp, but they really wish that they could just not be seen or heard.
Also, Mona (add Cathy and to a slightly lesser degree Charlie) is pretty awful on Trans people.
They are so fucking afraid of trans women (really women) "grooming" the youth that they spout some of the worst, cherry-picked bullshit that would fertilize their lawns.
And the Trans Women in sports is such a small issue that they fucking blow it way out of proportion.
Seriously, anyone who points to biological sex identified on birth certificates to gatekeep on sports, bathrooms, or anywhere are always pointing at the trans women, the handful I know in person who really just want to pee, when they need to google images of trans men (aka biological females) and say are they comfortable with those people being forced to use women's bathrooms? Because that is what their birth certificates say.
Testosterone and estrogen are powerful hormones, and all their scare tactics fall down.
I took the hint and canceled my subscription; I'll be gone next February. I have a trans stepkid and other non-cishet people in my family and close friends, and I'm no longer willing to financially support that many people on the Bulwark team who choose ignorance. It was a big disappointment to see JVL take that side; he didn't have to say anything.
The scare tactics are based on the lie that sex is binary: all the different things that can lead to an individual being intersex show it to be false. Along with race (which is a social construct, not a genetic or otherwise biological one), trying to force individuals into categories with tidy labels and discrete boundaries is a fool's errand.
I struggle with this. For now, I will just not click on those articles, but it is tough.
It gets to my main problem with the supposed "conservatives" in that they really want to ignore a lot of really bad shit, because Dems are <mumble mumble deranged or something>.
JVL has hinted that he thinks Obama was terrible, but he never articulates the why, and I suspect it is his prior positions, and his prior roles at Weekly Standard and other publications.
And then the whitewashing of the shitshow that was Reagan. Holy fucking shit, they do a lot of spin doctoring there.
I am a left of center person, who prefers some fiscal discipline (and not less spending, really we need to do more, and that means raising taxes, something that is well neigh impossible).
Most of the staff at TB are far right of center (if you truly gamed it out) and their redeeming value is the rock ribbed aversion to Trump and Trumpism.
I listened to the Tim Miller podcast with Alyssa Farrah Miller, and I was seething. She is and was brought up as a far right partisan hack. Her maiden name Farrah triggered a memory, so I looked it up, her father was a swimmer in the cesspool of the far right, and clearly she didn't fall far from the tree. Giving her an hour of hagiography borders on malpractice.
And her too cute by half answer about who she will vote for in 2024 (she will write in, but if she lived in a swing state, sure she would pull the lever for Biden) is a massive tell. While she didn't say it, I would bet my bottom dollar that she voted for Trump in 2020, because of course.
And then TB gets preachy about how the Dems manage their caucus, about how they would do things differently. Seriously, your side of the spectrum (and it IS still their side of the spectrum) ball washes for Trumpism.
Fuck, my blood pressure is too high now. Time to go make some home-made hummus.
As I don't want to contribute to your elevated BP (or being away from hummus! Homemade hummus is the best hummus, and it's been too long since I've made it), I'll just say that you and I seem very similar politically, and I'm deeply grateful that our paths crossed at TB (along with several other great commenters).
Being a person of the female persuasion, I too had wondered to what degree AA may have helped me get into graduate school, etc. After landing my first job (adjunct, of course) after completing my PhD, I decided not to think about it any more, much less worry. *I* knew my worth, and I knew I could demonstrate it; and ultimately, that's what matters most.
Having a diverse group of students always made for a better teaching environment, especially if students were willing to speak up and share their perspectives. Since I taught psychology, their contributions were invaluable, because context always matters; and they taught me a lot too.
I will happily pour a generous cocktail and watch the dominos fall alongside you. And mark me as firmly on team Whinging.
You wrote: "And for the snarkiness of The Bulwark’s Mona Charen and Cathy Young that AA promotes unqualified people into these elite institutions, they can fuck right off."
What do you think of JVL's telling people who don't "appreciate Mona as the treasure she is" to gtfo? (This was in the comments section of the Secret Podcast they did.)
I'll add that JVL also worships George Will, and I think I have agreed with George maybe twice in my life (mostly around steel industry protectionism)
I used to watch Will on one of the Sunday shows (if memory serves). He could get in a good zinger now and again, and I'll admit to some vocabulary envy, but once I started to look past that, I didn't see much to agree with. Now he just seems like a bitter, petty person.
I choose to ignore that JVL ism there.
I suspect that Mona is not really happy that Gay people are "in her face" and while she appreciates Tim and Sarah, she would be happier if they would just not be so "out" an "in your face"
Frankly, her vibe is a lot like my parents. Not wanting to round up the gays and lesbians to a concentration camp, but they really wish that they could just not be seen or heard.
Also, Mona (add Cathy and to a slightly lesser degree Charlie) is pretty awful on Trans people.
They are so fucking afraid of trans women (really women) "grooming" the youth that they spout some of the worst, cherry-picked bullshit that would fertilize their lawns.
And the Trans Women in sports is such a small issue that they fucking blow it way out of proportion.
Seriously, anyone who points to biological sex identified on birth certificates to gatekeep on sports, bathrooms, or anywhere are always pointing at the trans women, the handful I know in person who really just want to pee, when they need to google images of trans men (aka biological females) and say are they comfortable with those people being forced to use women's bathrooms? Because that is what their birth certificates say.
Testosterone and estrogen are powerful hormones, and all their scare tactics fall down.
I took the hint and canceled my subscription; I'll be gone next February. I have a trans stepkid and other non-cishet people in my family and close friends, and I'm no longer willing to financially support that many people on the Bulwark team who choose ignorance. It was a big disappointment to see JVL take that side; he didn't have to say anything.
The scare tactics are based on the lie that sex is binary: all the different things that can lead to an individual being intersex show it to be false. Along with race (which is a social construct, not a genetic or otherwise biological one), trying to force individuals into categories with tidy labels and discrete boundaries is a fool's errand.
I struggle with this. For now, I will just not click on those articles, but it is tough.
It gets to my main problem with the supposed "conservatives" in that they really want to ignore a lot of really bad shit, because Dems are <mumble mumble deranged or something>.
JVL has hinted that he thinks Obama was terrible, but he never articulates the why, and I suspect it is his prior positions, and his prior roles at Weekly Standard and other publications.
And then the whitewashing of the shitshow that was Reagan. Holy fucking shit, they do a lot of spin doctoring there.
I am a left of center person, who prefers some fiscal discipline (and not less spending, really we need to do more, and that means raising taxes, something that is well neigh impossible).
Most of the staff at TB are far right of center (if you truly gamed it out) and their redeeming value is the rock ribbed aversion to Trump and Trumpism.
I listened to the Tim Miller podcast with Alyssa Farrah Miller, and I was seething. She is and was brought up as a far right partisan hack. Her maiden name Farrah triggered a memory, so I looked it up, her father was a swimmer in the cesspool of the far right, and clearly she didn't fall far from the tree. Giving her an hour of hagiography borders on malpractice.
And her too cute by half answer about who she will vote for in 2024 (she will write in, but if she lived in a swing state, sure she would pull the lever for Biden) is a massive tell. While she didn't say it, I would bet my bottom dollar that she voted for Trump in 2020, because of course.
And then TB gets preachy about how the Dems manage their caucus, about how they would do things differently. Seriously, your side of the spectrum (and it IS still their side of the spectrum) ball washes for Trumpism.
Fuck, my blood pressure is too high now. Time to go make some home-made hummus.
As I don't want to contribute to your elevated BP (or being away from hummus! Homemade hummus is the best hummus, and it's been too long since I've made it), I'll just say that you and I seem very similar politically, and I'm deeply grateful that our paths crossed at TB (along with several other great commenters).
If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have turned on comments. :-D
Oh, and Alyssa Farrah made her bones writing for the WorldNetDaily, the hackiest of hacky publications. You can't make this shit up.
STOP PLATFORMING AWFUL PEOPLE