Of course, if you find yourself in one of these “training sessions,” you will quickly realize that the whole point is to humiliate you and force you to express loyalty to the approved orthodoxy. Suppose you think — as I do — that the progressive programs that are lately put forth as the solution to “systemic racism” are actually counterproductive and make the situation far worse for African Americans. Can you speak up against the insanity you are going through? Or will word immediately get back to your boss, and to your boss’s boss, that you are a “racist,” whereupon you will promptly be fired?
If you find yourself in one of these things, one strategy is of course to do your best to remain silent, or at least to say as little as possible. I can’t tell you not to follow this strategy. But if it were me, it would not be in my nature to just sit back and accept humiliating accusations of “racism” from people who are idiots and who are also themselves racists as I see it. What’s more, if everybody with a brain just remains silent and allows the totalitarians to proceed without pushback, we gradually — maybe rapidly — lose all of our freedom.
But then, anything you say may be quoted back against you. It’s a tricky situation.
Fortunately, the Manhattan Contrarian has a few handy tips should you find yourself required to show up for one or more of these sessions.
My first tip is, it is a mistake ever to make a declaratory statement of any kind, even “yes,” “no,” or “I understand.” So, if asked to assent to something, or to say something, what do you do? The answer is, always respond with a question. Also, there is no need for the question that you pose to have anything to do with the question that has been posed to you. In fact, the less related your question is to the thing you are being asked to concede, the better. You can also try to ask a question even if no question has been posed to you. The point here would be to try to divert the “trainer” off his or her prepared outline or script, and onto something that challenges their assumptions.
Here are a few questions I have come up with if you want to have some fun:
That should be enough to get you off to a good start.
Are you a racist? (If no,) How do you know that? What facts do you base that on? (If yes,) So why don’t you stop being a racist?
Can you provide us with a complete list of all words and terminology that are now deemed racist and/or disrespectful so that we can stop using those words going forward? If you can’t give a complete list, how about 20 (or 30 or 40) examples?
Do all black lives matter? (Note: Don’t make the mistake of using the phrase “all lives matter,” even in a question. That will get you branded as a “racist.” The question of whether all black lives matter will be a new one on them.). Do the lives of approximately 6500 black men murdered by other black men each year matter more or less than the the lives of the far smaller number of blacks killed by police each year (under 300), let alone the number of unarmed black men killed by police each year (which is around 20 or fewer, although you can’t get a precise figure because the Washington Post data base only includes deaths by shooting)?
How do you explain the fact that Nigerian-Americans and Ghanaian-Americans have higher household median income than native-born white Americans?
Does the NBA — where average salaries are multiple millions per year and active players are about 75% black — have an obligation to make itself “look more like America”? If not, why not?
No state wears its multicultural veneer more ostentatiously than California. The Golden State’s leaders believe that they lead a progressive paradise, ushering in what theorists Laura Tyson and Lenny Mendonca call “a new progressive era.” Others see California as deserving of nationhood; it reflects, as a New York Times columnist put it, “the shared values of our increasingly tolerant and pluralistic society"...Despite these progressive intentions, Hispanics and African-Americans—some 45 percent of California’s total population—fare worse in the state than almost anywhere nationwide. Based on cost-of-living estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, 28 percent of California’s African-Americans live in poverty, compared with 22 percent nationally. Fully one-third of Latinos, now the state’s largest ethnic group, live in poverty, compared with 21 percent outside the state. “For Latinos,” notes longtime political consultant Mike Madrid, “the California Dream is becoming an unattainable fantasy.”
A group of students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign signed a letter of demands to the Federalist Society chapter at the university after the chapter stated it would remain neutral on the Black Lives Matter movement.
6 comments:
Sounds a lot like what the Dems were trying to do to AG Barr at the "preparation for another expensive, stupid, irrational attempt to impeach him" trial, uh, hearing. Watching was making my blood pressure go up, but AG Barr sure keeps his cool. The combined brains of all of those Dems in that room couldn't match his knowledge of the law and Constitution. He is actually SERVING our country, which is a concept those jerks don't even begin to understand. He doesn't need the job, is not beholden to anyone, and I thank God that Barr was willing to take on the job.
Darren, here's two more questions you can ask:
1) Will it be possible to get all of these ideas written down in, say, perhaps, a "little red book"?
2) Are there any Uighurs in attendance?
Anonymous: agreed.
ObieJuan: there might be one or two people who would even get the Little Red Book reference, or know what a Uighur is--Lord knows I'd never heard the latter term until a few months ago.
Interestingly enough a friend who went to China years ago brought me back a Little Red Book. And The Communist Manifesto was required reading at West Point. I have not been swayed.
Darren, trust me, we're already getting it.
God, eight more years!
Don't ask for facts! Relying on facts and logic is racist. Don't ask for statistics or quote numbers either. "Western" math is, of course, racist. We need to find different ways of knowing!
I like idea of wrapping my arms around myself, curling up as tight a ball as I can on my chair, rocking back and forth, and repeating quietly: "I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe." Flinch a little if someone addresses you, but keep rocking and repeating it the whole time.
Here are some more questions that you can have fun with:
1) Since equality of outcomes is the goal, how do you plan to make sure that there are an equal number of abortions for each racial group: Increase white abortions or decrease black ones?
2) Since organizations that have had discriminatory attitudes toward blacks, where is the struggle against Planned Parenthood.
3)What are you doing about the number of girls aborted just because they are female?
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