Progressives are seething
because Republicans are committing blasphemy. By John Hayward, 10/8/16
In his vice-presidential debate, Governor Mike Pence took a swing at one of
the Left’s most cherished beliefs: “implicit bias
Police officers who support Donald Trump, he said, “hear the bad mouthing,
the bad mouthing that comes from people that seize upon tragedy in the wake of
police action shootings as a reason to use a broad brush to accuse law
enforcement of implicit bias or institutional racism.” Hillary Clinton
sees “implicit bias” not just in the police force, but in “everyone in the
United States,” Pence declared.
Liberals cannot brook criticism of their precious “implicit bias” theory,
which is a new rationalization for totalitarian power, for rule by the
progressive Elect whose Ivy League training has equipped them to sniff out the
witch of hidden racism.
At Slate, William Saletan tried patronizing Pence
with a “Dear white people, we need to have a talk” article, urging people of
pallor to just relax and accept that they suffer from a psychic disease Doctor
Government can treat, but never truly cure:
Every day, in one city or another, black and brown parents sit their kids
down and talk to them about bias. They explain that at some point, based on the
color of your skin, you might be suspected of doing something wrong. Don’t go
to certain places, don’t wear certain clothes, and don’t move in any way that
might be construed as a threat. Play it safe.
White people don’t have to talk to our kids this way, because our color
doesn’t attract suspicion. We need to have a different talk, not about
suffering implicit bias but about practicing it.
Here’s the first ground rule: “Implicit bias” isn’t an accusation. It
doesn’t mean you’re bad. It means you’re normal. Animals prejudge one another
based on appearance. Human beings are naturally tribal. So implicit bias, as a
disposition, isn’t something you learn. It’s something you learn to overcome.
Here’s the second rule: When somebody brings up implicit bias, don’t freak
out. Don’t get defensive and shut down the discussion.
To his credit, Saletan chastises liberals, and even Hillary Clinton in
particular, for throwing around baseless accusations of racism, alienating
large numbers of people by calling them “irredeemable” occupants of a “basket
of deplorables.”
But then he explains that implicit bias is the kinder, gentler version of
the systemic-racism argument, and we’re not supposed to question it, because we
are absolved of conscious guilt. We don’t even realize how biased we are – it’s
something only the credentialed elites of the Ruling Class can perceive with
clarity:
But “implicit bias” is the opposite of “deplorable.” The whole point of the
theory of implicit bias—the reason why it can fairly be attributed to
everyone—is that it’s not an accusation of guilt or bigotry. It’s an
acknowledgment of the human condition.
There’s way too much research on implicit bias to deny its existence. And there are way too many cases that illustrate it. In
Tuesday’s debate, moderator Elaine Quijano mentioned Sen. Tim Scott, a black
Republican who, as an elected official earlier in his career, “was stopped
seven times by law enforcement in one year.” Other well-known figures, from former
Attorney General Eric Holder to broadcaster Don Lemon to professor Henry Louis
Gates Jr., have reported similar experiences. And then there are the men whose
final moments many of us have witnessed, in all their horror, thanks to mobile
phone videos. You can’t watch the deaths of Terence Crutcher, Eric Garner, and
Philando Castile without being shaken. In most cases, what you see in the
video, or in direct testimony after the tragedy, is the officer’s fear.
… The Implicit Association Test—which you can take on the Project Implicit
website—“shows biases that are not endorsed and that may even be contradictory
to what one consciously believes.” For instance, “you may believe that women
and men should be equally associated with science, but your automatic associations
could show that you (like many others) associate men with science more than you
associate women with science.” Does that make you a bad person? No. Does it
affect your behavior? Probably. Should you own up to your bias and try to
overcome it? Absolutely.
This is essentially a religious command
to confess your Original Sin in exchange for some small voice in negotiating
your punishment. The difference is that Christian religion views atonement and
penance as individual affairs.
But the progressives’ Church of the State wants to stuff entire populations
into its confessional at once, and then padlock the doors.
Saletan is right about implicit bias theories being more “useful” than
old-school rants about universal broad-brush racism – as in, more politically useful to statists.
It’s easier for the masses to swallow, because it absolves them of conscious
guilt, replacing it with subliminal guilt.
Also, Saletan says white people don’t have to teach their children to worry
about being the victims of
implicit bias, because their “color doesn’t attract suspicion.” That’s not true
at all. It’s not difficult to find neighborhoods or universities where white
skin color does generate a damaging response.
Part of the problem with this “implicit bias” theory is that it’s so
unwilling to come to terms with the idea that everyone makes judgments. In fact, that’s the essence of
being human — the ability to understand data, share experiences, calculate
probability and respond rationally to best protect themselves and their loved
ones.
Whether trying to avoid crime, to enjoy romance or to profit from gambling,
to succeed in work or to avoid car-crashes, humans must make quick judgements
based on limited information, and they do it by learning from books and experience.
They can’t approach each new problem as if they are a blank-sheet baby free off
any bias or preferences — or else they’ll be mugged, dumped, broke, unemployed
and car-less in very short order.
Liberals are trying to clutter up that reality by inventing ever more
esoteric justifications for giving themselves more power over everyone’s lives.
We’ll doubtless be arguing about police bias and profiling for many years
to come, but on this topic, the hard truth is that some portion of that
“implicit bias” is logical. The
Left is driving our society insane by forcing it to ignore blatant realities of
urban crime known by every rookie cop.
Likewise, whatever “implicit bias” association of men with science that
might be ferreted from the public mind is probably connected to the higher
number of male scientists – especially male scientists the layman has heard of, which is a rather
small group, and its maleness partly is a function of unchangeable history.
Despite fervent political assertions to the contrary, there is little reason to
believe the continuing prevalence of men in various scientific fields is the
result of a nefarious misogynistic conspiracy to keep lady doctors down.
It is wise to become nervous when politicians begin touting vague
psych research — instead of replicable research or cold, hard numbers — to justify their agendas. Every
flavor of statism has taken a stab at classifying resistance to its demands as
insanity. In the less brutish incarnations of statism, this is done for the
precise reason implicit bias advocates so eagerly state: to relieve the masses
of individual, conscious responsibility for their fatal flaws. You’re not evil, you’re sick, they
tell us. Sickness can be treated.
Statists understand that average people view government’s destructive
powers as a force that should be deployed primarily against criminals… so they
teach everyone to
think of themselves as criminals. We all deserve to be punished for our
social-justice transgressions, fined heavily for unfairly benefiting from
implicitly biased society, and controlled lest we prey upon one another.
Conservatives learn from history, and so they trust people enough to
delegate power and autonomy to individuals of every background. Criminal law is
reserved for actions, while thoughts remain private beyond the reach of
legislators, cops or priests. Hope for absolute justice is reserved for
dreamers and scribblers and is postponed into the afterlife. The past is kept
in the past, so people look forward, instead of perpetually fighting over
the sins or sufferings of their great-great-grandparents.
But statism uses coercive force to impose collective “justice” in this
fallen world, which requires unjust treatment of today’s people for yesterday’s
sins, so the Elect can build a heaven on Earth by tomorrow.
“Innocent until proven guilty” is the self-restraint of leaders willing to
delegate power, while “guilty until proven innocent” is the justification and
tool of impatient utopians, whether they be progressives, socialists or the
Taliban.
We don’t need our inept, greedy Ruling Class fooling around with any more
victimhood theories, pushing beyond “guilty until proven innocent” to a new
vision of “guilty even though you are innocent.”
Watching progressives try to open this Pandora’s Box of ego and cruelty
is like watching clowns juggle dynamite in a crowded school.
Comments
The racial
bias myth is a scam. Every race has its
fair share of abilities and is governed by the “normal curve”. Some are at the
top and some are at the bottom. Success is based on how well we align our
vocations with our gifts.
Tolerance
cannot be enforced. Tolerance must be
earned. Those who attempt to enforce
tolerance should not be tolerated.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment