ABOLISHING WHITENESS

    Another ingenious specimen of what passes today for an American intellectual published an article suggesting that the way to end racism is to 'abolish whiteness.' Gregory Jay, who works for the English Department at the University of Wisconsin, is himself a white man. Nonetheless he postulates that "the history of white Americans' attitudes towards race has been one of self-deception."

     Jay draws these brilliant conclusions from an analysis of Moby Dick. His exegesis contains considerable confirmation bias, but is at least imaginative. In fact, his entire article---like most of what else he writes---is such an intolerably tedious farrago of Sophistry that it does not even merit much refutation. Statements like "whiteness operates in the invisible regime of normality, so making whiteness visible is a principle goal of anti-racist pedagogy." None of which actually means anything, but sounds impressive to the credulous who've abandoned thinking for themselves.

      The interesting question here is why the American people tolerate these taxpayer-funded madrassas like the University of Wisconsin? Politicians worry about youth travelling abroad and becoming radicalized, but most of the radicalization of the young is coming from our own public schools and universities. 

       One has to wonder seriously whether or not the average American even understands what the purpose of public education even is. Probably he does not. Our Founding Fathers promoted public education on the grounds that popular self-government required a basic knowledge of certain subjects and an ability to think logically and critically. Public schools which fail to do this are of no value to a free people.

      Not only are Academics like Jay (and he is fairly typical of them) a colossal waste of tax resources, they are a positive danger to our future liberties. Where does one suppose that the thugs engaging race riots are getting their ideas? From fools who tell them things like "regardless of a person's individual actions, if he or she is white, then that person still profits from the institutional racism of the American system." So says Jay, who profits quite handsomely from inciting racial hatred. Fools such as this draw fat salaries in their tenured sinecures as well as from lecture-fees, publications, and other perks.  

        In most civilized countries, higher education is free to anyone who demonstrates high academic ability and professors are recognized experts in their fields. In the US, the Academic Mafia accepts anybody---as long as they can pay the extortionate costs of enrollment---and the professors are generally political fanatics incapable of gainful employment in the private sector. Just as US politicians are openly bribed by special interests under the guise of campaign contributions, American university faculty are often paid endowments and grants by special interests who want academic credibility for their cause.

       And sadly, there is little public will to fight Academic corruption. Americans are in as great a state of denial about our schools as they are about most other problems. Professors of English who seriously believe, as Jay admittedly does, that authors like Mark Twain simply wrote "to make white people feel good about themselves" are unqualified to hold any academic position in any capacity. But with a $6 billion budget at stake, the University of Wisconsin is unlikely to institute reform.

       So while the youth in the rest of the civilized world dreams of building futures, American youth dream of burning cities and shooting down police. And this will continue to be the case as long as parents continue to abdicate responsibility for educating the youth which is really, again, at the root of the problem.