Critical Race Theory: ‘Who Knew?’

 

Yesterday, Obama emerged from the beachfront compound to deride the little people for daring to think that Critical Race Theory was a threat to democracy. “Who knew?!” quipped the Fundamental Changer in Chief.

Who knew? Liberal columnist Andrew Sullivan. He posted this a few days back. It is one of the best things I have seen regarding CRT.

A snippet …

… some core principles that liberal societies rely upon. These are not optional if liberal society is to survive. And they are not easy, which is why we have created many institutions and practices to keep them alive…

The only human civilization that has ever depended on these principles is the modern West since the Enlightenment. That’s a few hundred years as opposed to 200,000 or so of Homo sapiens’ history, when tribalism, creedalism, warfare, theocracy or totalitarianism reigned…

My central problem with critical theory is that it takes precise aim at these very core principles and rejects them. By rejecting them, in the otherwise noble cause of helping the marginalized, it is a very seductive and potent threat to liberal civilization.

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  1. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Powerful essay.  It slowly dawned on me over many years that CRT was not another stage in the evolution of the equal rights movement.  It was not about making America or the West more just;  it was about getting rid of the very foundations of America and the West in favor of yet another utopia that has never nor will ever exist.  A wholesale rejection of everything that we had achieved and a redefining of virtues as faults.  And it was profoundly illiberal.  That realization shook me to the core, but I thought it would be a passing phasey.  I was very, very wrong on that one. So we need to be allies across the political spectrum to fight this poison.  His last line says it best:

    “This debate is not about whether you are a racist or an antiracist. The debate is about whether, in your deepest heart and soul, you are a liberal or an anti-liberal. “

    Obama is a disgrace.  

     

    • #1
  2. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Has anyone asked Obama how he came to buy a 12 million dollar mansion on a beach, if Global Climate Change is about to flood all coastal regions?

    But I digress.

    Thank you for the essay.

    Anyone who is truly awake realizes that 2021 is the year the terms “racism” and “racist” have lost all meaning.

    • #2
  3. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy) Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy)
    @GumbyMark

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Powerful essay. It slowly dawned on me over many years that CRT was not another stage in the evolution of the equal rights movement. It was not about making America or the West more just; it was about getting rid of the very foundations of America and the West in favor of yet another utopia that has never nor will ever exist. A wholesale rejection of everything that we had achieved and a redefining of virtues as faults. And it was profoundly illiberal. That realization shook me to the core, but I thought it would be a passing phasey. I was very, very wrong on that one. So we need to be allies across the political spectrum to fight this poison. His last line says it best:

    “This debate is not about whether you are a racist or an antiracist. The debate is about whether, in your deepest heart and soul, you are a liberal or an anti-liberal. “

    Obama is a disgrace.

    CRT explicitly rejects the Civil Rights Movement because of its flawed assumptions about America, in its place  reviving the doctrine of John C Calhoun, Justice Taney, and Alexander Stephens.  That the Biden Administration has embraced it makes it the most radical regime in American history since, if it is successful, it spells the end of American history.

     

    • #3
  4. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Powerful essay. It slowly dawned on me over many years that CRT was not another stage in the evolution of the equal rights movement. It was not about making America or the West more just; it was about getting rid of the very foundations of America and the West in favor of yet another utopia that has never nor will ever exist. A wholesale rejection of everything that we had achieved and a redefining of virtues as faults. And it was profoundly illiberal. That realization shook me to the core, but I thought it would be a passing phasey. I was very, very wrong on that one. So we need to be allies across the political spectrum to fight this poison. His last line says it best:

    “This debate is not about whether you are a racist or an antiracist. The debate is about whether, in your deepest heart and soul, you are a liberal or an anti-liberal. “

    Obama is a disgrace.

    CRT explicitly rejects the Civil Rights Movement because of its flawed assumptions about America, in its place reviving the doctrine of John C Calhoun, Justice Taney, and Alexander Stephens. That the Biden Administration has embraced it makes it the most radical regime in American history since, if it is successful, it spells the end of American history.

     

    I was amazed to find even the righteous Washington Times holding forth this week with a podcast entailing a discussion about how great a disservice is done for not focusing on the underbelly of America’s past and praising the uprooting of monuments.

     

    • #4
  5. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):
    Has anyone asked Obama how he came to buy a 12 million dollar mansion on a beach, if Global Climate Change is about to flood all coastal regions?

    That would be a racist question, of course.

    • #5
  6. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):
    A wholesale rejection of everything that we had achieved and a redefining of virtues as faults.  And it was profoundly illiberal.

    In other words, not a revolution, but a counter-revolution.

    • #6
  7. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy) Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Democracy)
    @GumbyMark

    David Foster (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):
    A wholesale rejection of everything that we had achieved and a redefining of virtues as faults. And it was profoundly illiberal.

    In other words, not a revolution, but a counter-revolution.

    As Coolidge noted, those who would reject the sentiments of the Preamble to the Declaration are reactionaries. 

    • #7
  8. Chris Williamson Member
    Chris Williamson
    @ChrisWilliamson

    Sullivan’s words put him in league with John Milton and his argument for a free press. Thanks for passing this on.

    • #8
  9. Ekosj Member
    Ekosj
    @Ekosj

    Chris Williamson (View Comment):

    Sullivan’s words put him in league with John Milton and his argument for a free press. Thanks for passing this on.

    You are welcome.   I rather like Andrew Sullivan.   Clearly, we disagree on many things, (that’s what makes the world go ‘round) but there are core things where we agree.    He and Camile Paglia are my 2 favorite libs.

    • #9
  10. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Has anyone asked Obama how he came to buy a 12 million dollar mansion on a beach, if Global Climate Change is about to flood all coastal regions?

    But I digress.

    Thank you for the essay.

    Anyone who is truly awake realizes that 2021 is the year the terms “racism” and “racist” have lost all meaning.

    I believe the rise of the oceans will slow, and the planet will heal around his properties specifically. 

    • #10
  11. Ray Gunner Coolidge
    Ray Gunner
    @RayGunner

    You can have CRT or MLK.  Not both. 

    • #11
  12. Ray Gunner Coolidge
    Ray Gunner
    @RayGunner

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    As Coolidge noted, those who would reject the sentiments of the Preamble to the Declaration are reactionaries. 

    Love me ANY reference to Cool Cal’s 1926 Independence Day address!  

    • #12
  13. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Ray Gunner (View Comment):

    You can have CRT or MLK. Not both.

    Sounds like a dry breakfast cereal.

    This morning, enjoy a nutritional bowl of Crispy Round Treats.

    • #13
  14. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    From RushBabe49.com:

     

    https://rushbabe49.com/2021/06/01/if-i-were-a-parent-of-a-young-child-and-the-local-school-system-adopted-critical-race-theory/

    • #14
  15. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Obama’s contemptible flippancy is revealing: you’d think an academically-inclined fellow such as himself would understand the importance, and corrupting power, of ideas – but no. They’re just playthings for idle hours of the Clever Class. That might be the reason so many of them flirt with Marxism: if none of these things really matter, why not align yourself with the most outre ideas, and cast yourself as the vanguard? 

    • #15
  16. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Obama’s contemptible flippancy is revealing: you’d think an academically-inclined fellow such as himself would understand the importance, and corrupting power, of ideas – but no. They’re just playthings for idle hours of the Clever Class. That might be the reason so many of them flirt with Marxism: if none of these things really matter, why not align yourself with the most outre ideas, and cast yourself as the vanguard?

    He knows that he will be one of the “Overlord” class, and not the proletariat class.

    • #16
  17. Clare Day Member
    Clare Day
    @ClareDay

    Ekosj (View Comment):

    Chris Williamson (View Comment):

    Sullivan’s words put him in league with John Milton and his argument for a free press. Thanks for passing this on.

    You are welcome. I rather like Andrew Sullivan. Clearly, we disagree on many things, (that’s what makes the world go ‘round) but there are core things where we agree. He and Camile Paglia are my 2 favorite libs.

    Paglia and Sullivan are two of the very best. I’ve been a grateful fan of each for decades;  now they’re almost existentially essential to my own sense of political continuity and coherence.

    What a long strange trip it has been.

    • #17
  18. Keith Lowery Coolidge
    Keith Lowery
    @keithlowery

    From John Hinderaker over at Powerline.

    Critical Race Theory is essentially racism, circa 1850. It holds that 1) the most important thing about a person is his or her skin color, 2) you have rights as a member of a racial group, not as an individual, and 3) members of the same racial group have similar personality and character traits. John C. Calhoun must be smiling, wherever he now resides. He was the intellectual leader of the Democratic Party in 1840, and he still is today.

    • #18
  19. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Who is behind the insanity?  Are folks at the top  dumb enough to believe it?  If so it could just be a play for power with the skuzballs who support it violently shoved aside once power is consolidated?  Is it the Chinese so goes on until it destroys us?   It will destroys us and with it most of the world economy so we might as well assume it’s the Chinese and our idiot left just behaving as idiot left does because they know nothing else and can’t learn..

    • #19
  20. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Has anyone asked Obama how he came to buy a 12 million dollar mansion on a beach, if Global Climate Change is about to flood all coastal regions?

    But I digress.

    Thank you for the essay.

    Anyone who is truly awake realizes that 2021 is the year the terms “racism” and “racist” have lost all meaning.

    O is dangerous. Martha’s Vineyard is the Eastern elite’s playground so interesting choice for a “beach house getaway”. Interesting how the Founders of BLM seem to be doing the same things with all these millions they somehow have – buy multiple fancy mansions – like one isn’t enough. How is that benefitting the minority communities across the country? Let’s start with O’s old stomping grounds of Chicago. 

    • #20
  21. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Obama’s contemptible flippancy is revealing: you’d think an academically-inclined fellow such as himself would understand the importance, and corrupting power, of ideas – but no. They’re just playthings for idle hours of the Clever Class. That might be the reason so many of them flirt with Marxism: if none of these things really matter, why not align yourself with the most outre ideas, and cast yourself as the vanguard?

    “O” isn’t flirting with Marxism – he’s in the sack and having a smoke afterwards, and so are his cronies.

    • #21
  22. Joker Member
    Joker
    @Joker

    in an interview with Anderson Cooper the other day Obama said:

    “I also think that there are certain right wing media venues, for example, that monetize and capitalize on stoking the fear and resentment of a White population that is witnessing a change in America.”

    What change is he referring to? I’m going to read his mind here and assume he’s talking about the white population going from about 80% in 1960 on its way to becoming a minority in a couple of decades. (Who voted for that?)

    Well, if minority voting is anything to go by, I guess that means Democrats will run everything. And if that sounds like California or practically any large city, the prospects for those who deliberately do not live in those places are bound to become much worse. They don’t accept opposing policies, replace morality with immorality and demonize success. Government grows along with corruption, individual liberties take a back seat to race and police are demonized. 

    Liberals spent the last decade telling us that racists are the lowest form of human besides maybe pedophiles. Now we’re supposed to embrace CRT despite its obvious racist characteristics. Zero self awareness, Obama. Now he’s surprised that anybody noticed. 

    So yeah, forcing America into a Marxist model might be a legitimate concern. It just proves he was never president for all of America.

     

     

    • #22
  23. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Joker (View Comment):
    What change is he referring to? I’m going to read his mind here and assume he’s talking about the white population going from about 80% in 1960 on its way to becoming a minority in a couple of decades. (Who voted for that?)

    Latest numbers from the census show that the decline of White America is way behind schedule and will remain a majority for several more decades.

    • #23
  24. RyanFalcone Member
    RyanFalcone
    @RyanFalcone

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Has anyone asked Obama how he came to buy a 12 million dollar mansion on a beach, if Global Climate Change is about to flood all coastal regions?

    But I digress.

    Thank you for the essay.

    Anyone who is truly awake realizes that 2021 is the year the terms “racism” and “racist” have lost all meaning.

    Language is lost. What does love mean anymore? How about justice? Truth has been meaningless for a generation. When words like racism, murder, rape, etc. are robbed of meaning and truth, love and justice have been perverted, how can a civil society exist?

    • #24
  25. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    RyanFalcone (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    Has anyone asked Obama how he came to buy a 12 million dollar mansion on a beach, if Global Climate Change is about to flood all coastal regions?

    But I digress.

    Thank you for the essay.

    Anyone who is truly awake realizes that 2021 is the year the terms “racism” and “racist” have lost all meaning.

    Language is lost. What does love mean anymore? How about justice? Truth has been meaningless for a generation. When words like racism, murder, rape, etc. are robbed of meaning and truth, love and justice have been perverted, how can a civil society exist?

    Sex is out.

    • #25
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