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I wanted to update everyone on this important fight, as it will resonate for some time.
The whole Jews are white thing is fake&gay. Being white is not about skin color alone, it's also a matter of historical legacy and shared culture. Like ancient Rome and Greece. Jews don't share the same heritage as us European whites and have been actively genocided by Europeans for about 2000 years.
Hence, they cannot be us, and they likely don't want to either.
DEI is a perpetual generator of antisemitism and antiAsianism because the enemy of DEI is merit and accomplishment. Carve outs for any group that excels won't work. Andrew Sullivan made a really good case in this essay from last week (and your friend Bari Weiss also thinks DEI should be abolished):
And here is an interesting article I just read now....
"Since Arabs first invaded Africa in the seventh century, murderous raids targeting innocent civilians have been a common feature of the spread of Islam in Africa. Today, in Mauritania, Black Mauritanians whose ancestors were taken into captivity centuries ago and whose status as chattel has been passed down through the generations, live in bondage, serving as slaves to their Arab Berber masters. Even though indigenous Africans in Mauritania were converted to Islam after the Arab conquest, race has trumped religion, and the Arab Berber rulers have treated the Black Mauritanians as they would infidels."
One comment, one point. Comment: "...seeing it as trespassing on their turf, some going as far as to claim that capital is seeking to capture academia,,," How very Marxist of them. Capital capturing the "intellectuals".
Point: I would love to be able to distinguish between Hamas and the Palestinians. But how? Witness the acclamation of the naked women bodies in the videos. Witness the "martyrs" calling their parents about the atrocities. Witness the Palestinian children's educational curriculum. Witness Muhammad's pronouncements in the Koran. Witness the Palestinian Authority paying a stipend for "martyrs".
Dec 11, 2023·edited Dec 11, 2023Liked by Niccolo Soldo
"The fear is that Ackman and team would seek a special carve-out within DEI on university campuses for Jews. In effect, this would extend DEI to give Jews protection, making them an officially protected class of people." That is where this is going. The donors want to be set aside as victims based on historical events. That is a big part of their identity. White progressives are similar, successful, wealthy, connected, credentialed, but given a pass because they support the victims with grievances. Donors are demanding that they continue to be treated as a carve out. Generally they support deplatforming and the rest of the attacks on privileged and oppressor groups -- white, straight, Christian, men. They are not against DEI or wokeness as a general matter, they support it unless it touches them. The donors are sending the message: DEI, yes. DEI against us, no, you may not. That will be the deal, and the Palestinians and their supporters will find themselves oddly isolated in the months and years ahead. Their case will be deemed "complex" and requiring "nuance".
Could this really be the start of a DEI rollback? I’m not sure.
Didn’t the donor class (which includes many Jews) start this racial identity movement in order to distract from the economic movement that was Occupy Wall Street? DEI consumed the dissent of the liberal masses and directed it away from the oligarchy.
If they genuinely do seek to dismantle it, I’d think they’d have a new movement prepared to contain the dissent of liberal masses. Otherwise they risk Occupy 2.0 or the rise of something else they’d dislike.
Also, as Niccolo has written, America is now an ideological state and its using its ideology to promote regime change abroad. We’ve only just started using “wokeness” in this way; would we really turn back now?
Finally, the Jews are smart people. How did they miss the trends and see this was the inevitable result of what they had been promoting? Did they have faith that Holocaust awareness would firmly cement them as members of the oppressed, despite their collective wealth?
So many questions. Anyways, I’d welcome meritocracy in America, but I doubt we’ll see it.
"There are those who seek to conflate support for Palestinians with support for the violent actions of Hamas, and that would be unfair."
Not unfair, at all. According to a number of polls conducted since October 7th by Israeli newspapers of all "stripes", Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria support Hamas and it's actions, and is holding at 80%. Conflation? As the Talmud often says: היינו הך (Aramaic, for "[they're] one and the same").
DIE is, and always has been, a weapon to use against straight white men and straight white men only. Asians and others are merely collateral damage.
I come down on the side of special carve-out. The destruction of DIE means lifting the foot from whitey's face and that can't be allowed to happen. They're fighting a two-front war here.
The existence of a golem is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent, and if commanded to perform a task, they will perform the instructions literally. In many depictions, golems are inherently perfectly obedient. In its earliest known modern form, the Golem of Chełm became enormous and uncooperative. In one version of this story, the rabbi had to resort to trickery to deactivate it, whereupon it crumbled upon its creator and crushed him.
Having read Ackman's original letter I'm very skeptical that he was petitioning for special dispensation on behalf of Jews in the heirarchy of the woke. That would imply that he is accepting of the ideology as long as membership is granted in the victim class. Imagine for a moment a white billionaire tearfully proclaiming his new found feelings of oppression. Would the edict include all Jews, both observant and nonobservant? More importantly, is the dispensation only valid when on campus or is there reciprocity with all other campuses (?campi)? Once the local decision has been made, is there a governing body of wokeness which votes on and bestows the honor globally so that membership priveleges are reciprocal and recognized everywhere and in all facets of life? And by what means are the new members able to convey their status when superficially they appear to be members of the oppressor class?
To say that it’s possible that DEI would “fall like dominoes“ is to say that there are still reasonable and clear-eyed people both in charge and in the line of succession that are merely using it as a tool as opposed to dogma. I am not sure that is the case, however.
Elimination of DEI. "Heather Mac Donald's 'The Diversity Delusion' is an invaluable resource of mythbusting fact and a reality-check on the siren calls of identity-based ‘social justice’ that have given rise to the great DEI racket. Detailed, rigorous and copious, it is a devastatingly compelling expose of “how race and gender pandering corrupt the university and undermine our culture......The real shocker.... is not the behaviour of the (hopefully atypical) student ‘protesters’, self-engrossed and feral though it certainly is, but the sycophantic response to and encouragement of it by college administrators. The epidemic of spoilt-brat student behaviour, however caused, could have been stamped out in short order but for the craven virtue signalling of their ‘adult’ academic mentors..” https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/how-diversity-narrows-the-mind
Hit the like button at the top or bottom of this page to like this entry. Use the share and/or re-stack buttons to share this across social media. Leave a comment if the mood strikes you to do so.
I wanted to update everyone on this important fight, as it will resonate for some time.
Now, back to work on the War in Ukraine essay.
Well...
The whole Jews are white thing is fake&gay. Being white is not about skin color alone, it's also a matter of historical legacy and shared culture. Like ancient Rome and Greece. Jews don't share the same heritage as us European whites and have been actively genocided by Europeans for about 2000 years.
Hence, they cannot be us, and they likely don't want to either.
> Or should the donor class take the opportunity to wipe out the DEI Megaplex?
You realize that that same donor class is responsible for this Megaplex in the first place, right?
DEI is a perpetual generator of antisemitism and antiAsianism because the enemy of DEI is merit and accomplishment. Carve outs for any group that excels won't work. Andrew Sullivan made a really good case in this essay from last week (and your friend Bari Weiss also thinks DEI should be abolished):
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-day-the-empress-clothes-fell
And here is an interesting article I just read now....
"Since Arabs first invaded Africa in the seventh century, murderous raids targeting innocent civilians have been a common feature of the spread of Islam in Africa. Today, in Mauritania, Black Mauritanians whose ancestors were taken into captivity centuries ago and whose status as chattel has been passed down through the generations, live in bondage, serving as slaves to their Arab Berber masters. Even though indigenous Africans in Mauritania were converted to Islam after the Arab conquest, race has trumped religion, and the Arab Berber rulers have treated the Black Mauritanians as they would infidels."
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/arab-enslavement-black-africans
How about zero public funding for these elite institutions?
Then their wealthy private donors can do with them as they please. No need to comply with DEI, or allow free speech.
One comment, one point. Comment: "...seeing it as trespassing on their turf, some going as far as to claim that capital is seeking to capture academia,,," How very Marxist of them. Capital capturing the "intellectuals".
Point: I would love to be able to distinguish between Hamas and the Palestinians. But how? Witness the acclamation of the naked women bodies in the videos. Witness the "martyrs" calling their parents about the atrocities. Witness the Palestinian children's educational curriculum. Witness Muhammad's pronouncements in the Koran. Witness the Palestinian Authority paying a stipend for "martyrs".
Yeah "context", as in the US constitution. That senator was disgusting.
"The fear is that Ackman and team would seek a special carve-out within DEI on university campuses for Jews. In effect, this would extend DEI to give Jews protection, making them an officially protected class of people." That is where this is going. The donors want to be set aside as victims based on historical events. That is a big part of their identity. White progressives are similar, successful, wealthy, connected, credentialed, but given a pass because they support the victims with grievances. Donors are demanding that they continue to be treated as a carve out. Generally they support deplatforming and the rest of the attacks on privileged and oppressor groups -- white, straight, Christian, men. They are not against DEI or wokeness as a general matter, they support it unless it touches them. The donors are sending the message: DEI, yes. DEI against us, no, you may not. That will be the deal, and the Palestinians and their supporters will find themselves oddly isolated in the months and years ahead. Their case will be deemed "complex" and requiring "nuance".
Could this really be the start of a DEI rollback? I’m not sure.
Didn’t the donor class (which includes many Jews) start this racial identity movement in order to distract from the economic movement that was Occupy Wall Street? DEI consumed the dissent of the liberal masses and directed it away from the oligarchy.
If they genuinely do seek to dismantle it, I’d think they’d have a new movement prepared to contain the dissent of liberal masses. Otherwise they risk Occupy 2.0 or the rise of something else they’d dislike.
Also, as Niccolo has written, America is now an ideological state and its using its ideology to promote regime change abroad. We’ve only just started using “wokeness” in this way; would we really turn back now?
Finally, the Jews are smart people. How did they miss the trends and see this was the inevitable result of what they had been promoting? Did they have faith that Holocaust awareness would firmly cement them as members of the oppressed, despite their collective wealth?
So many questions. Anyways, I’d welcome meritocracy in America, but I doubt we’ll see it.
"There are those who seek to conflate support for Palestinians with support for the violent actions of Hamas, and that would be unfair."
Not unfair, at all. According to a number of polls conducted since October 7th by Israeli newspapers of all "stripes", Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria support Hamas and it's actions, and is holding at 80%. Conflation? As the Talmud often says: היינו הך (Aramaic, for "[they're] one and the same").
DIE is, and always has been, a weapon to use against straight white men and straight white men only. Asians and others are merely collateral damage.
I come down on the side of special carve-out. The destruction of DIE means lifting the foot from whitey's face and that can't be allowed to happen. They're fighting a two-front war here.
The existence of a golem is sometimes a mixed blessing. Golems are not intelligent, and if commanded to perform a task, they will perform the instructions literally. In many depictions, golems are inherently perfectly obedient. In its earliest known modern form, the Golem of Chełm became enormous and uncooperative. In one version of this story, the rabbi had to resort to trickery to deactivate it, whereupon it crumbled upon its creator and crushed him.
Dang, one little kerfuffle and DEI bites the dust? Must be the white supremacy and strait male patriarchy again...smh
Having read Ackman's original letter I'm very skeptical that he was petitioning for special dispensation on behalf of Jews in the heirarchy of the woke. That would imply that he is accepting of the ideology as long as membership is granted in the victim class. Imagine for a moment a white billionaire tearfully proclaiming his new found feelings of oppression. Would the edict include all Jews, both observant and nonobservant? More importantly, is the dispensation only valid when on campus or is there reciprocity with all other campuses (?campi)? Once the local decision has been made, is there a governing body of wokeness which votes on and bestows the honor globally so that membership priveleges are reciprocal and recognized everywhere and in all facets of life? And by what means are the new members able to convey their status when superficially they appear to be members of the oppressor class?
To say that it’s possible that DEI would “fall like dominoes“ is to say that there are still reasonable and clear-eyed people both in charge and in the line of succession that are merely using it as a tool as opposed to dogma. I am not sure that is the case, however.
Elimination of DEI. "Heather Mac Donald's 'The Diversity Delusion' is an invaluable resource of mythbusting fact and a reality-check on the siren calls of identity-based ‘social justice’ that have given rise to the great DEI racket. Detailed, rigorous and copious, it is a devastatingly compelling expose of “how race and gender pandering corrupt the university and undermine our culture......The real shocker.... is not the behaviour of the (hopefully atypical) student ‘protesters’, self-engrossed and feral though it certainly is, but the sycophantic response to and encouragement of it by college administrators. The epidemic of spoilt-brat student behaviour, however caused, could have been stamped out in short order but for the craven virtue signalling of their ‘adult’ academic mentors..” https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/how-diversity-narrows-the-mind