My latest post-from-the-past, this one from January 18, 2003. It makes me kinda wistful for college years. They really were mostly fun.
In my junior year of college (1994), I took a January-term course titled – “Music of Oppressed Peoples“. It was interesting stuff, and my natural disinclination not to buy into rhetoric – in this case of the left-wing, ‘pity-the-victim’ flavor – was tempered by having the opportunity to learn about some great music. Music from places like Armenia, Poland, South Africa, and Hungary. Tied in with this course was a lecture series by local ‘Minority’ speakers. One guy was Harry Mathews, a college staff member and generally acting as czar of campus race relations. I never knew him personally, but bumped into him all the time and he seemed pretty cheerful and friendly. But this particular talk turned out to be a viper’s nest of black and hispanic students teamed up with self-hating whites, all of whom basically just turned out to curse the White Devil. Mr. Mathews was particularly militant, ranting about how he was never gonna stop “till slavery was put right”. It was amazing stuff. Us even-keeled Whites were pretty shocked.
Anyhow, I thought of that as I read through Hartwick’s new alumni mag, which reminds me how far the left-wing race-baiting constituent has come since that January years ago. I’m glad they’re doing more on Environmental studies, but its a shame that more creative minds can’t prevail, and that this and other issues can’t be divorced from its traditional liberalist rhetoric.
In recent news, there is a simple contradiction at the root of Affirmative Action. Its one that an 8-year old might think to ask. Its one that should be able to be aswered in terms an 8-year old could understand. Its one that I am faced with every time I read the HR policy of a college I might like to work for… “X University doesn’t discriminate based on anything, etc….but, Women, minorities, disabled, heck, even patently under-qualified individuals are encouraged to apply!”. How can they not discriminate based on something, but then say they actually would encourage certain people to apply? Is it so they can say “Ha! You fell for it! Didn’t you read the first part before you applied? The part that said ‘no discrimination, dude!’ ?” I don’t think so. Spout all you want about ‘compelling interest‘ – it’s spaghetti-logic, have-your-cake-and-not-get-fat reasoning that should make any sane person cringe. There. I’m done.