"Diversity" explained.

"Diversity" is a scam, a hoax. It is part and parcel of an ideology that some refer to as Cultural Marxism.

"Diversity" is not a call for tolerance and acceptance of other people and other cultures, but rather an effort to destroy our nation as a whole by sowing discord among the many cultures that our nation is comprised of, and especially by casting the majority culture as an imaginary oppressor of all the rest. Where Economic Marxism pretends that the productive and successful are the oppressors of the idle and the failed, Cultural Marxism seeks to convince members of minority cultures that they are somehow being victimized by the majority culture. Divide and conquer is the name if the game.

Most minority cultures within the US were transplanted here from other places where they are the majority. If we were truly an oppressive nation, then these cultures would not even exist here in the first place. The existence, and acceptance, of home grown minority cultures like the Amish further disproves the lie that we are oppressors. You have to be pretty heinous in your values before we take exception to you. The Mormons were driven to Utah not because they were different, but because they were polygamists. As soon as they dropped that nonsense they were, more or less, accepted. Other fringe groups that evolved during the 19th century, such as the Shakers, were left in peace where they emerged, and some retain their unique identities to this day.

The culture of America is the result of ideas, values and traditions that have been contributed by countless individuals representing a multitude of cultures. We are not the British. We are Americans. Our roots reach back to England to be sure, but also to other nations. Ireland, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Poland, and too many other places to mention by name, not to mention all of the native tribes that were conquered whose contributions (genetic if not always cultural) are quite significant.

The US is fairly unique in that the children and grandchildren of emigrants are as fully American as anyone else. They speak english and are a full member of mainstream culture, even if they also share in the culture of their parents and more distant ancestors. In many countries minority transplant cultures persist in a state of mutually imposed exclusion for generations, even to the point of being unable to speak the common language, or speaking it only poorly. Here in America the best ideas and values from emigrant cultures are made a part of the larger culture. At the same time, a person's identity as part of an distinct sub-culture does not diminish nor conflict with their identity as an American. This is part of what makes our nation so great.

An Italian from Little Italy in NYC is an American. A farmer from the midwest is an American. They don't have a great deal in common, but what they do share is profound: the idea of America. The idea of a country founded on liberty and individual empowerment, where anyone is free to fulfill their potential and the government is a servant instead of a master. It is easy to overlook these shared ideas because they are so ubiquitous, but to do so would be a mistake. No where else on earth have so many people of so many different cultures been brought together and forged into a nation.

But the left would have you believe that none of this is true. This is just another of their lies. They work to destroy us from within by setting us against one another. They work to create animosity where a sense of community would otherwise flourish.

Don't be fooled by them.

Colleges and Universities have an unhealthy preoccupation with the ethnicity of their students.

Minorities in College---Good News, But...

If our institutions of higher education have a duty to equalize Black and Latino achievement with that of whites...

No, they do not. Institutions of higher education have the duty to provide quality education to all students without regard for their racial or ethnic background. This is especially true of public universities which are bound by the 14th amendment.

There is no reason why individuals from a particular racial or ethnic group MUST be less successful than individuals from other groups. Do American's of German ancestry outperform Americans whose ancestors came from Britain? Certainly not that I've ever seen or heard. The reason is that, by and large, the values and culture of these two groups are the same.

Character is destiny, and the character of a nation or a community is defined through its values and its culture. When these are good, then the individuals of this community are able to more fully realize their potential. But when these are bad, the members of the community are held back by them, and lead limited and stunted lives.

This is what must change, and no one in higher education is in a position to make this happen. The parents and teachers and cultural leaders, and most of all the students, from these blighted communities are the only ones who can improve things for themselves. They are the only ones who can redefine what it means to be a member of that community to include achievement and success.

The only thing a university can do, is work to provide the same opportunities to all. Equality of outcome is neither possible nor equitable. It leads to tribal warfare and tyranny. Equality of opportunity is the only promise of equality that can be actually be kept.

Obesity as yet another marxist canard

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2010/04/marc-ambinder-would-like-you-to.html

The left sees all problems through the lens of imaginary disability and incapacitation. No one is responsible for their own choices. All consequences are foisted upon us by someone or something else. This is one of the fundamental reasons why they get so many things wrong. From erroneous premises flow erroneous conclusions, which then lead to destructive policies.

Obesity isn't something that is done to a person, but something that they choose. It is a continuous choice that person makes about what they are going to be. Every moment of every day they choose to be obese. This choice is actualized through the actions that they take which create and perpetuate that obesity. They eat too much. They eat the wrong sorts of foods. They fail to educate themselves about what kinds of foods they should be eating and in what quantities. They lead a sedentary lifestyle instead of seeking out opportunities for physical activity and exertion. They fail to educate themselves about the kinds of activities that would produce positive health and fitness benefits. In short, they fail to take responsibility for their physical selves.

Now in fairness this does not apply to all obese people. There are some people whose own genetics and metabolism make maintaining a healthy weight very difficult despite good faith efforts that would give any other person the physique of a personal trainer. There is no fault to be found with such a person. But these people are also the exception. Most obese people aren't victims of their DNA. I'm not particularly thin myself, but I don't blame some other person for this and I don't blame "society." The responsibility is mine alone, and responsibility, unlike its cousin blame, is an empowering attribute. That which you are responsible for is that which you can change.

Yet here comes some leftist who, in true leftist form, attempts to find yet another area of a person's life where they should not be expected to take responsibility, where the state needs to take control. That is sick, evil, and wrong.

Teaching someone that the color of their skin or the derivation of their surname disempowers them from taking charge of their own life, their own happiness, their own well being, and their own future, is probably the most egregious form of bigotry I know of.

At least the Klan hoodlums are honest enough to admit that they hate you. The left pretends that they are your friend and then proceeds to demonstrate that friendship by attempting to infantalize you, to make you weak and dependent upon them. With friends like that, who needs mass murderers?

Children learning to swear at an earlier age

Oh $#*!, I'm 3! Kids Learning to Swear Earlier

I honestly do believe that this is a good thing. All my life I've believed that selective speech restrictions on the young are a form of bullying by adults, made all the more insulting by the arbitrary nature of the prohibited words. Why should young people be prohibited from using terms that older people use on a regular basis? Just because they are "not old enough?" While there are things that younger people should be held back from doing, such as driving a car, speaking their mind freely is not one of them, and that includes the freedom to choose the words they wish to use. If there is to be a restriction on speech, it should be uniform for everyone and more importantly based upon real necessity, not a Pavlovian aversion to certain words instilled during childhood. Yelling "fire!" in a crowded theatre is not the same thing as saying "shit." No one should have the right to do the former, and no one should be prohibited from doing the latter.

In France the word "tabernac" is profane. What does this word refer to in English? A tabernacle. Yes, as in church. In fact much profanity in French is derived from religious terms that would be completely inoffensive to any English speaker. The prohibited terms are arbitrary.

In the English speaking world, words that refer to parts of the body, bodily functions, or things excreted by the body are considered profane. Meanwhile other terms that have the exact same definitions are curiously not viewed as being rude. Once again, the prohibited terms are arbitrary.

When children are punished for using certain words that adults use freely without rebuke, it teaches them that their rights as human beings are subject to being capriciously abridged by people in positions of power. It teaches them that power alone determines what decisions are made in society. In other words it undermines democracy and teaches an unhealthy respect for tyranny.

Fire-breathing bartenders arrested, face 45 years

Perform a bar trick for the amusement of your customers, go to jail for half a century

I used to live down the street from this place, which was called Foot Anakin's back in the 80's when I was there.

I think this case is a good example of how our criminal justice system has gone off the rails. Nowadays just about anything you do can be construed as a felony, and prosecutors are quick to charge people with anything they can think of in relation to an incident. Multiple gratuitous charges stemming from a single event are a violation of double jeopardy in my opinion. Combine this with mandatory minimum sentencing rules and you wind up with a system that is a much greater threat to society than the REAL criminals it is nominally supposed to be protecting us from. A burglar will steal your TV or maybe your car, the criminal justice system will steal your life.

But there is a way out for these guys, and that is the most pernicious part of this whole mess. If they plead out to a lesser charge, the prosecutors get to claim a win, and they get a slap on the wrist. Why is this a problem? Because it destroys the principles of due process and trial by jury. Once upon a time when a person was charged with a crime, the prosecution had to prove their case in court before a jury of that person's peers. Not anymore. Today most people are so terrified of spending the rest of their lives in prison something that should rightly be called a misdemeanor that they simply plead guilty to anything the prosecution offers that will save them from that terrible fate. The prosecutors get to claim a "win," that they are "tough on crime," and their conviction stats are improved. Citizens who do not cave, and who do demand their day in court, are punished for it if they lose. If these guys actually fight these bogus charges, you can rest assured that the prosecutors will press to make these charges stick, and the sentences that will imposed really will be 45 years in prison (or worse) if these guys lose.

This is not justice, this is tyranny.

A free society is not one in which prosecutors deprive the judge and jury of their rightful place under due process. When prosecutors abuse their position to declare someone convicted of a crime by fiat, they are no longer public servants but criminals themselves.

Get the government out of the marriage business

Time for a divorce

This is what I've been saying for over a year now.

I was married once. I'm now divorced. The state was not involved when I got married, and it wasn't involved when I got divorced. This was not by design, but it is how things turned out. Some people will tell me that I wasn't "really" married at all because I didn't get permission from the government. But why should my (now ex) wife and I, as adults, need to ask the state for permission in the first place? How is it the business of government to decide who is married and who is not? Why is the state even informed of the change in status?

This brings me to the very point that this article makes so well. Why is the state involved in defining marriage? Worse yet, why does it assume the role of permission-giver, without whose assent a marriage is not "real"? Does that make any sort of sense in a free society?

Let the role of the state be limited to the enforcement of valid contracts between consenting adults, and let the adults in question define their relationship in whatever terms they choose.

Some lies hurt more than others

I saw a bumper on HBO recently. I honestly don't know exactly what show was being promoted, but it featured a black woman reciting a poem in which she explicitly named the Tea Party movement as part of the oppression of black people.

It is one thing when leftists spread lies about us being racists. Leftists telling hateful lies is something that happens every day. It is quite another to see someone buying into those lies and repeating them.

It honestly made me sad and I felt sorry for this woman. If she believes the lies about the Tea Party movement, then what other destructive lies has she bought into? How is her life being damaged by those lies, her potential destroyed? What possibilities are there for her that will never be realized because she has come to believe that America itself is her enemy?