Friends, my latest article concentrates on two significant legal victories in California courtrooms for the principle of non-discrimination. The California "diversity, equity, and inclusion" gang is seeing red!!! That's good news, but they won't quit that easily. Expect a lot more pressure to ramp up reverse discrimination in the years ahead.
Discriminate, Or Else!
Two recent victories for the principles of non-racialism and equal treatment – in California courtrooms, no less – are warming the hearts of conservatives, and the vast majority of Americans who believe in fairness and the goal of a colorblind society. These victories, however, cannot obscure the fact that, increasingly, for the Left, discrimination is no longer the enemy. It is, in fact, a moral imperative, and more and more progressives believe that only (reverse) discrimination can cure “systemic racism” in our country, and that those who refuse to discriminate should be ground underfoot.
On March 30th, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Jay Ford III ruled that UCLA accounting professor George Klein could proceed with a lawsuit against the university, which had suspended and denounced him for refusing to grant black students special accommodations in his classes in the wake of the death of George Floyd in May 2020. Klein argued that, legally and ethically, it would be wrong to single out students of a certain race for differential treatment, and, in any case, a student's skin color, in itself, would not necessarily determine the degree of trauma they experienced due to Floyd's death and the subsequent unrest. UCLA had asked that the suit be dismissed, but Judge Ford decided instead that Klein had provided sufficient evidence to support his claims. Klein asserts that his suspension was wrongful and that his reputation and private business interests were harmed.
On April 1st, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry Green struck down that state's so-called corporate diversity law, which mandated that corporations based in the Golden State had to include on their corporate boards a specified percentage of people from “underrepresented communities”, including people of color and those who identify as LGBT. Hefty fines were prescribed for corporations in violation of the law. Although Judge Green's ruling was short on specifics, he suggested that “mandating” quotas for the “underrepresented” was a bridge too far.
Taken together, these victories in Los Angeles County courtrooms indicate that, even in the People's Republic of California, where the catechism of wokeness is deeply entrenched in the political and legal fabric of society, judges sometimes have the courage to stand against fashionable forms of discrimination. This is tremendously encouraging and may indicate that leftists will find it difficult to ignore the clear language of local, state, and federal laws, which in almost all cases prohibit differential treatment based on race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Much as progressives would like to carve out exceptions for discrimination practiced by “the good guys”, i.e. them, our legal system recognizes no such distinctions – and, hopefully, when such distinctions are inserted into the law by leftist legislators, they will fall afoul of other, more fundamental legal and constitutional principles, like equal treatment. With any luck, in fact, the Supreme Court will soon find all racial and sex- and gender-based preferences unconstitutional, putting an end to this debate once and for all.
Legal victories, however, no matter how high up the judicial food chain they may extend, will not alter the fact that, morally and culturally, discrimination has already been normalized, even valorized, for a significant portion of the U.S. population – namely, for virtually anyone and everyone who calls himself or herself a Democrat or a progressive. The (re)popularization of discrimination as a tool to promote positive social change and the “equitable” redistribution of society's rewards is an extremely disturbing trend, and one which legal sanctions alone will not succeed in stamping out.
What should be done? Among other measures, conservatives must resolutely refuse to play the woke game of measuring social progress and “equity” by mathematical means, and of pretending that the achievement of greater representation for people of color, women, and members of the LGBT community in itself makes our institutions, or our country as a whole, better.
On the contrary, only the fostering of an ethic of non-discrimination, and a consistent commitment to judge each and every American according to his or her individual merits, as most Americans clearly prefer, will allow us to fulfill the promise of America for everyone, while at the same time avoiding the acrimony and mistrust that are the bitter fruit of identity politics.
To quote Chief Justice John Roberts, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” It's about time that we lived up to our ideals as a nation and followed this excellent advice.
Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.
And here it is at World Net Daily:
https://www.wnd.com/2022/04/repopularization-discrimination-must-end/
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In other news, it looks like Russia is preparing to unleash a major offensive in eastern Ukraine, but exactly where and with what goals in mind is unclear.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61023869
My main man Pat Buchanan is sounding alarm bells about a predicted multi-year conflict in Ukraine, which doesn't seem to faze the anti-Russia hawks in the West, but would be devastating to the Ukrainian and Russian peoples -- and could ultimately bring about a second Cold War, or even a hot war in Eastern Europe.
Believe it or not, there are actually people in the West willing to demonstrate in the streets in favor of Russia and Putin. What's even more incredible is that they are allowed to do so in Germany, which doesn't cherish free speech nearly as much as we do in the USA.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/demonstrations-germany-ukraine-pro-russia/2022/04/10/id/1065108/
The pressure to conform to leftist ideology, and to virtue-signal 24/7, is intense, especially for those who move in well-educated, well-heeled circles. Apparently this pressure is even infiltrating the practice of psychotherapy. Egads!
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/anxiety-mental-health-cancel-culture-rcna23111
There's a case to be made that the FBI ginned up the supposed kidnapping/murder plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in October 2020 with the intention of affecting the outcome of the presidential election. There's also a case to be made that there never was such a plot. Incroyable, you say? Well, timing is everything, and we all know that, for the lefties, preventing the reelection of DJT was a sacred trust...
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/09/fbi-kidnapping-caper-was-flagrant-election-interference/
Finally, don't think for a second that radicals on the Left have given up on their goal of cleansing American democracy -- legally and officially -- of those who espouse "insurrectionist" views. It remains to be seen whether the federal courts will nip these efforts in the bud, as they should.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/apr/8/liberals-push-legal-effort-block-republican-insurr/
Dr. Waddy from Jack: This apparently imminent Russian advance has the appearance of an all out at least conventional effort. If the Rus destroy much of the Ukrainian military they may be emboldened to go the Dnieper. This could be the circumstance which drives Ukraine to use tactical nukes if they have them; even today's massive concentration of pre strike Russian force would be a tempting target! In 1974 Israel did not publicly acknowedge possession of nukes but might well have used them had doomsday loomed. Would an again frustrated Russia turn to tactical nukes? Its a possibility, I think. I think they are determined to achieve a neutered Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: I expect that the dictatorial left will in the foreseeable future mandate the usage of politically correct titles for all of us according to our exalted or excoriated class status. " Oppressor Jones begs admission unto (such and such a public property) for the purpose of requesting largesse". Or: "Oppressed Jones expects admission to and automatic provision of, all public property and confirmed privilege, with despatch!" In such a not inconceivable setting, Newsome's title might be " Consummate Commissar of All and Everything". Surely he sees himself already as such but temporarily denied of full power by that pesky, atavistic democracy so beloved of the apostates!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Oh yeah, the American left will milk Jan.6 for all for all it may advantage it. If that tactic fluffs they will fashion another but they MAY, after November, be necessarily peering up from a very deep well! They say you can see the stars in a very deep political well. They say you can see in daytime the stars from an old dug well. But do not try this as it may collapse in on you, as it may do on the left necessarily confined so!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: I should have said" . . a very deep dug well"
ReplyDeleteYes, there's a big offensive a-comin', but I would hesitate to call it an "all-out" effort. As you and I well know, Ukraine better hope it never finds out what an "all-out" Russian attack looks like. No country wants to be on the wrong end of THAT!
ReplyDeleteLet's assume, for a second, that Russia's upcoming attack fizzles. I doubt a "second wave" is all that the Rus can manage. They might just keep plugging away until they hit pay dirt.
Hmm. Didn't the Romans at one point divide the population into "honestores" and "humiliores"? Why shouldn't the leftists do the same?
Jack, you will enjoy my post of several minutes ago! There's reason to think that medium-term Dem prospects in Congress may be worse than near-term prospects -- or, in other words, that the GOP could find itself in semi-permanent possession of a Senate majority. And you think the Left hates the Senate NOW??? Just you wait.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: As the lazy undergrad I was I avoided pychology courses because I perceived "psych" as empirically demanding. Its disturbing that the profession of psychology may been usurped by antiintellectual political dreamers and totalitarians!
ReplyDeleteJack, it's my impression that the profession of psychology has ALWAYS been politically unreliable, at best, and a scourge on Western Civilization, at worst. Those Freudians were screwy. Their woke replacements are no better.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: That is a thought provoking observation. I once read an opinion to the effect that Einstein, Freud and Marx were the thinkers with the greatest influence on 20th century life. Marx? Would that he had never been born! Freud? Perhaps the author of a thousand equivocations. Einstein? A super human intellectual who was actually capable of at least momentarily seeing to the existential essence of our universe or of at least perceiving what we don't know. But his mostly misunderstood "relativism"? Well, you know; " Uhh man, like ya know, its all 'relative' "!
ReplyDeleteHmm. An interesting triumvirate there. Freudianism has always seemed like the purest, most perverse nonsense to me, but that didn't stop it from being the "gold standard" of psychology for eons. Marxism was enormously influential in the 20th century, sure, but one could question how much the ORIGINAL theories of Karl Marx had to do with it. It's always struck me that Soviet communism, for instance, was about as unegalitarian as one could imagine -- and there wasn't much sign of the state "withering away", was there? As for Einstein, I'm sure he was a fine physicist, but really -- does the avergae person even begin to understand any of his physics, let alone his armchair philosophy? I think not. Now, am I in a position to offer a BETTER lineup of influential thinkers? No...but I'll ponder it!
ReplyDelete