Summary: These are historic days, as the Left abandons the long movement to see people as more than their race and gender. A wise voice from the past warns that this could end badly for us.
Here is another example — one of many in recent years — of the Left’s abandonment of the principles that have guided America for centuries. Stephanie McKellop, a graduate teaching assistant for “Sinners, Sex and Slaves: Race and Sex In Early America” at the University of Pennsylvania, tweeted {see above} about a progressive tool widely used but little known to the public. It is called “progressive stacking.”
McKellop describes herself as a “queer disabled feminist.” Nobody has asked if she uses “progressive stacking” to ensure “fairness” when grading.
See her defense below. Anyone disagreeing with her is, of course, a Nazi. This eliminates the need to consider their objections. Apply a stamp to those who disagree with you and — debate over.
The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that Dean Steven J. Fluharty said that Penn is “looking into the current matter involving a graduate student teaching assistant to ensure that our students were not subjected to discriminatory practices in the classroom and to ensure that all of our students feel heard and equally engaged.” He added that Penn knows the “importance of ensuring that students in groups that were historically marginalized have full opportunity to participate in classroom discussions.” McKellop declined requests for comment.
Much of the response from academia supports McKellop’s actions. Inside Higher Ed published a sympathetic account by Colleen Flaherty. It quoted Jessie Daniels, a professor of sociology at the City University of New York, who said that progressive stacking has been used by some at least since she was in graduate school in the 1990s. She also said that Penn should not punish her for trying to “uphold its values. It would be a very misguided step on the part of Penn.”
Update: another example.
“DNC Official Says She Doesn’t Want To Recruit ‘Cisgender Straight White Males’” in The Daily Wire, 30 October 2017. it’s a hat trick! Discrimination by race, gender, and sexual preference. They’re telling us that this is OK to do. White racists, welcome your new allies!
Conclusions
The Left has increasingly come to see the world in terms of race and gender, an oddly similar perspective to that of the Nazis. This is a second great betrayal in post-WWII American history. The Republicans abandoned their party’s principles in the 1960s by embracing racism (details here). Now the Left has betrayed its history. For centuries the West has struggled to transcend the divisions that have led to endless war and strife, and see each other as just people. The decades since WWII saw great progress. Now the Left has not just abandoned the project, but gone to the other side — embracing exclusionary values and a racial (and gender) hierarchy.
The significance of these betrayals is difficult to see, and might be too large to see. Now both Left and Right in America see the world in terms of race. In this, as in so many things, both Left and Right are working against America.
Consider the consequences
From “A Man for All Seasons” by Robert Bolt.
Play 1960; film 1966.
This play describes Sir Thomas More’s (1478 – 1535) last few years of his life, and his clash with Henry VIII. The King had ordered More to take an Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry to be Supreme Head of the Church of England. Alice More is More’s wife. William Roper was an attorney, member of Parliament, and More’s son-in-law.
This passage describes a different kind of law than the principles of equality, but the conclusion might apply to us. It often sounds wise to abandon large values for small victory over one’s foes. The result can be painful.
Alice: While you talk, he’s gone!
More: And go he should, if he was the Devil himself, until he broke the law!
Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down — and you are just the man to do it — do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.
For More Information.
If you found this post of use, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Also see all posts about the far-right, about the far-left, about racism, and especially these…
- 2016 revealed the true nature of America’s left & right. It’s bad news.
- Our Right & Left have lost their way. Saul Alinsky points to a better politics.
- On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let the GOP remember its great betrayal.
- Racism is the dark side of populism. Will it divide and defeat us?
- About a cause of America’s rising tide of hatred. We can still stop it.
- Left and Right use race as a way to divide America.
A provocative book about Martin Luther King Jr.
I recommend reading I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.
“A private citizen who transformed the world around him, Martin Luther King, Jr. was arguably the greatest American who ever lived. Now, after more than thirty years, few people understand how truly radical he was. In this groundbreaking examination of the man and his legacy, provocative author, lecturer, and professor Michael Eric Dyson restores King’s true vitality and complexity and challenges us to embrace the very contradictions that make King relevant in today’s world.”
