The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Progressive Myth of ‘Diversity’

Posted on | November 24, 2015 | 32 Comments

“The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.”
— Thomas Sowell, 1998

In his 2012 book The Tyranny of Clichés, Jonah Goldberg recounts the pinnacle of his career, when the inclusion of his column (and the discontinuation of left-wing columnist Robert Scheer) caused Barbra Streisand to cancel her subscription to the Los Angeles Times in a 2005 letter that is a memorable example of bad writing and wrong ideas:

The greater Southern California community is one that not only proudly embraces its diversity but demands it. Your publisher’s decision to fire Robert Scheer is a great disservice to the spirit of our community. . . .
[Y]our new leadership, especially that of [publisher] Jeff Johnson, is entirely out of touch with [readers] and their desire to be exposed to views that stretch them beyond their own paradigms. So although the number of contributors to your op-ed pages may have increased, in firing Robert Sheer and putting Jonah Goldberg in his place, the gamut of voices has undeniably been diluted, and I suspect this may ultimately decrease the number of readers of those same pages.

Of course, Robert Scheer is a tediously predictable writer, a sort of fossil remnant of an earlier era when enthusiastic support of the Sandinistas and demands for a “nuclear freeze” were major issues for the anti-American Left. Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Times had many left-wing columnists — and that Jonah Goldberg was among the few conservative columnists for the paper — Ms. Streisand insisted, without the paradigm-stretching views of Robert Scheer, “the gamut of voices” (???) was undeniably diluted. From her multimillion-dollar beachfront mansion in Malibu, Ms. Streisand proclaimed that the newspaper’s publisher was “entirely out of touch” with readers who were demanding the kind of “diversity” that only Robert Scheer (a geriatric radical born in 1936) could provide them. Accusing a Democrat of committing “the most atrocious act of terrorism in world history” — which is how Robert Scheer described Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb in 1945 — certainly stretches the paradigm, eh?

This kind of knee-jerk anti-Americanism arises from the elitist attitude that defines the Left. Believing themselves endowed with moral and intellectual superiority, progressives harbor a limitless contempt for the Ordinary American. If the typical resident of Normalville, U.S.A., is a patriotic flag-waver, the progressive believes, any flag-waving patriot is an ignorant fool. By the same token, when contrasted with Robert Scheer’s comrades in Berkeley and Ms. Streisand’s wealthy friends in Malibu, the folks in Normalville, U.S.A., are more likely to be heterosexual Christians who enjoy hunting and fishing and football and NASCAR. Because small-town people are also more likely to vote Republican — which is the worst thing anyone could ever do, from the Scheer/Streisand Berkeley/Malibu perspective — then everything about their lives must be subjected to mocking ridicule. “Redneck dimwits! So ignorant they probably believe it was a good thing we nuked Hiroshima! Let’s insult them by calling Harry Truman a terrorist!”

Progressives do not believe in a “diversity” that would permit the residents of Normalville, U.S.A., to think of themselves as deserving a respect equal to the respect demanded by residents of Berkeley and Malibu. Those of us out here in the small towns of America, folks who believe in God, who love our families and feel a sense of patriotic loyalty to our nation’s traditions — well, we are so inferior to the likes of Barbra Streisand that she cannot even be said to hate us, because we are simply too insignificant to notice. The elite support progressive policies because these policies function to deprive the Ordinary American of political representation. The beliefs and attitudes of patriotic Americans are condemned as racist, sexist and homophobic, so that anyone who speaks for the values of Normalville, U.S.A., can be excluded from the institutions (academia, journalism, entertainment) that influence the political process. There are no Republicans in the sociology department for the same reason the New York Times will never hire a Christian editor, nor would Hollywood ever make a movie that implied a negative judgment of the Charlie Sheen Lifestyle:

Video surfaces showing HIV-positive Charlie Sheen ‘performing oral sex on another man and smoking crack-cocaine’ in 2011.
The clips reportedly show the actor, 50, performing oral sex on another man and smoking crack-cocaine out of a pipe in a Las Vegas hotel room . . .
The other man in the video reportedly sued Sheen for giving him herpes.

Do you believe sodomy is a bad thing? Well, you can’t be permitted to say that in Malibu or Berkeley — nor on any university campus — where progressive “diversity” means your opinion is excluded from consideration, and no one who agrees with you would dare to say so.

Democrats believe in “diversity” in much the same way as Hitler believed in Aryan superiority, and for the same reason, because such fanatical beliefs justify the annihilation of a hated Enemy.





 

Category: Celebrities, Intellectuals, Media Bias, Progressivism

Comments

32 Responses to “The Progressive Myth of ‘Diversity’”

  1. Steve Skubinna
    November 24th, 2015 @ 1:27 pm

    Funny. I just read Milo’s latest, wherein he explains his amazing Internet success. And while it is full of Milo being Milo, he says the reason he has so much exposure is that he is not exclusive. The SJWs continually restrict who they talk with, constantly imposing purity tests and loyalty oaths on each other until it’s just a handful of crazy cat ladies shrieking on Tumblr.

    And he is dead on. People read Milo because they love him, and people read Milo because they hate him, and throughout it all he is never a gatekeeper. He doesn’t read anybody out of the movement for expressing impure thoughts.

    It’s akin to the now annual discussion provoked by the predictable leftist media holiday talking points. You know the ones, “How To DESTROY Your Stupid Bigoted Ignorant Relatives At Thanksgiving Dinner.” Meanwhile, conservatives and other normal people shrug and ask “Can’t we all just get together and enjoy dinner with each other?”

    For a progressive, the answer is always no. The personal is political, remember.

  2. RS
    November 24th, 2015 @ 2:54 pm

    “Diversity” is Newspeak for “conformity.”

    As for the rest of it, It’s fascinating how little Progressives really know about those things on which they pontificate. Try and find an environmentalist who’s ever spent a few days above a tree line 25 miles from the car. Try to find a religion writer who’s actually read the Bible. The examples are endless. Progressive formulate opinions based upon caricatures, not facts. Sadly the worthies who populate the area between Cape Cod and the Potomac in the East and the area west of the Coastal Ranges in the West can’t be bothered to get out and explore the rest of the country, because other people just like them tell them what to think.

  3. Adjoran
    November 24th, 2015 @ 2:59 pm

    Quite right. And pissing off Streisand is a big feather in any sensible person’s cap. I still recall her epic press conference – was it to oppose welfare reform? She made her leftist talking points, but then took questions. Asked about a wide range of problems, her answer to each was identical: “The government should do something.”

    I like Ekdahl’s piece at Ricochet about dealing with the leftist punks at Thanksgiving by telling them to leave politics out of family gatherings. Me, I’d be inclined to ask them to chip in on the dinner.

  4. Fail Burton
    November 24th, 2015 @ 3:26 pm

    https://westerntoday.wwu.edu/news/next-queer-safe-zone-training-is-dec-5

    LOL

  5. Fail Burton
    November 24th, 2015 @ 3:33 pm

    “Stretch your paradigm, don’t dilute your gamut” – Love, Babs

  6. Finrod Felagund
    November 24th, 2015 @ 3:57 pm

    What I find hilarious personally is that people under the age of 25 are more likely to have heard of her either via South Park, or because of the Streisand Effect.

  7. DeadMessenger
    November 24th, 2015 @ 5:07 pm

    The elite support progressive policies because these policies function to deprive the Ordinary American of political representation.

    Hit the nail on the head, McCain. Just this one sentence could’ve been The Shortest Blog Post In History.

    Nice HuffPost burn at the end, too.

  8. The original Mr. X
    November 24th, 2015 @ 5:18 pm

    Related: student writes article about why consent classes are a bad idea, gets driven off campus: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12011143/Student-driven-from-campus-after-speaking-out-against-rape-seminar.html

  9. concern00
    November 24th, 2015 @ 5:35 pm

    Charlie Sheen makes a great poster child for the left.

  10. DeadMessenger
    November 24th, 2015 @ 5:50 pm

    And yet none of these junior Marxists can see that accosting or verbally abusing someone is far worse than speaking out against a consent class. Especially since the guy was 100% correct about such classes being a waste of time.

    If I went to that college, I’d hang out with George Lawlor, and advise him to man up and take it. On the grounds that this, too, shall pass. When some feminist gets pissy, I would say, “What are you worried about? Nobody would want to rape a sow like you anyway, so you got nuthin’ to say.” And if she busted a move, I’d macro-aggress her upside the head. It would be totally fun, and George would learn a thing or two about the Colonists.

  11. Adobe_Walls
    November 24th, 2015 @ 6:33 pm

    Speaking of Hiroshima, it’s been over 70 years since we nuked anybody. I’m not suggesting we should make a regular habit of it but………

  12. RKae
    November 24th, 2015 @ 7:02 pm

    I guess the Native Americans needed to “stretch beyond their own paradigm,” huh?

  13. DeadMessenger
    November 24th, 2015 @ 7:12 pm

    Nothing like turning yourself into a joke. AND it says “seats are limited”. I’ll bet.

    And it also says “Safe Zone makes it possible to easily identify allies at Western who are committed to creating an environment in which —>all people<— are free to thrive academically, professionally and personally."

    Shyeah.

  14. Fail Burton
    November 24th, 2015 @ 7:42 pm

    I guess the Jews didn’t count, and they didn’t even rape cities and do sneak bombings.

  15. Fail Burton
    November 24th, 2015 @ 7:45 pm

    Straight white men aren’t people.

  16. Matt_SE
    November 24th, 2015 @ 8:32 pm

    “This Thanksgiving, remember America’s pilgrims were refugees, too”
    I especially liked the part where John Smith yelled “Jesus Saves!” then blew himself and a bunch of Indians up with a suicide vest.

  17. Matt_SE
    November 24th, 2015 @ 8:38 pm

    “A weapon unused is a useless weapon.”
    – Spies Like Us

  18. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 24th, 2015 @ 9:31 pm

    Only after he stuffed himself with turkey, stuffing and many pints of ale…

  19. darleenclick
    November 24th, 2015 @ 9:53 pm

    I’ll check with my dad again, but I believe the story goes that Scheer got his job the old-fashioned way — he slept with the boss

    (my dad started in the newspaper business in SoCal in the 1950s with the Citizen News & then the Examiner)

  20. GUEST
    November 24th, 2015 @ 10:41 pm

    “White Christians no longer a majority.” And the country is becoming a hellhole… #butthatsnoneofmybusiness

  21. robertstacymccain
    November 24th, 2015 @ 10:59 pm

    As I recall, Scheer married an heiress.

  22. Finrod Felagund
    November 24th, 2015 @ 11:51 pm

    Jews in Central Europe ~80 years ago were declared to not be people, too, and we all know how that turned out.

  23. Finrod Felagund
    November 24th, 2015 @ 11:56 pm

    This is what actual harassment looks like, and it most often comes from idiot leftists.

  24. Steve Skubinna
    November 24th, 2015 @ 11:59 pm

    I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

  25. darleenclick
    November 25th, 2015 @ 12:03 am

    Narda Zacchino, who became an associate editor and VP. Little wonder why a mediocre talent like Scheer would be at the LATimes for as many years as he was.

  26. Fail Burton
    November 25th, 2015 @ 12:26 am

    Yes, Japan was nuked instead of New York because of the Jews Hitler forced out.

  27. Ilion
    November 25th, 2015 @ 8:22 am

    Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt.
    .
    Which is to say, I see no reason to do it again.

  28. CrustyB
    November 25th, 2015 @ 9:15 am

    Thanksgiving, a day when we all have to listen to scads of white-hating liberal mythology.

  29. Ilion
    November 25th, 2015 @ 1:20 pm

    I expect that HuffPost (and most HuffPosters) will burn in the end.

  30. trangbang68
    November 25th, 2015 @ 1:38 pm

    Charlie Sheen deserves our sympathy, not our loathing. He never got over when the fire support base on the Cambodian border got overran. Not to mention Barnes killing Elias and Bunny committing an atrocity. That stuff stays with you.
    Then there’s his dad who was homeless and had to sleep on top of sewer grates in DC for warmth.
    The brother has been through hell. Who wouldn’t smoke crack and give disease ridden hummers?

  31. Daniel O'Brien
    November 25th, 2015 @ 8:49 pm

    Did you catch Milo’s column where he was promoting kicking the ‘T’s out of LGBTjkdjfkjdkjsjljs alphabet soup? Quite good.

  32. News of the Week (November 29th, 2015) | The Political Hat
    November 29th, 2015 @ 5:55 pm

    […] The Progressive Myth of “Diversity” In his 2012 book The Tyranny of Clichés, Jonah Goldberg recounts the pinnacle of his career, when the inclusion of his column (and the discontinuation of left-wing columnist Robert Scheer) caused Barbra Streisand to cancel her subscription to the Los Angeles Times in a 2005 letter that is a memorable example of bad writing and wrong ideas […]