Category: Uncategorized

The Great Dumbing-Down: Graduate School edition

More evidence that a college degree is literally worse than useless:

I am an instructor at a [university you would immediately recognize]. The director of the program is encouraging the entire faculty to alter their own teaching methods, based on an article that discusses how a professor at [another well-known university] found that she could improve the grades of her minority students through “inclusive teaching.”  By this she meant creating mandatory worksheets for students to fill out during each lecture (to “teach students how to take notes”), guided reading assignments, required class participation, online quizzes to check their progress,etc.  Basically all the busy work that everyone with an IQ over 95 hated in high school. The article was about implementing this regime in an undergraduate program, which is pathetic enough.   My [spouse] is being encouraged to use it in graduate level courses.  This is in a program that is considered to be extremely selective.

I always find it amusing when people expect me to show deference on the basis of someone’s academic credentials. As far as I’m concerned, a PhD is a reliable indicator that you’re dealing with a midwit.

The Suicide of the Conservative Movement

Paul Gottfried points out that the title of Jonah Goldberg’s recent book could be more accurately named, in his review of Suicide of the West:

For his newest venture into deep thought, Goldberg has crassly stolen the title of James Burnham’s great work, Suicide of the West, published in 1964 at the height of the Cold War.

That is where the similarity ends. Unlike Burnham’s scalding indictment of liberalism as “the ideology of Western suicide,” Goldberg’s random opinions represent the very pathology that Burnham railed against. Goldberg hates national identities (although he makes an exception for Israel), opponents of the Deep State, immigration patriots, and those who imagine that democracy has something to do with the popular will. Rather his “conservative” view of democracy privileges public administration, the operation of multinational corporations, and socially sophisticated journalists such as like himself.

One need only cite this passage from Burnham’s work to grasp the extent to which Burnham might have been thinking of someone like Goldberg when he described the quintessential liberal:

“Liberalism has always stressed change, reform, the break with encrusted habit whether in the form of old ideas, old customs or old institutions. Thus liberalism has been and continues to be primarily negative in its impact on society: and in point of fact it is through its negative and destructive achievements that liberalism makes its best claim to historical justification.”

By now, however, Burnham’s Leftist hallmarks are “conservative” positions. After all, Goldberg’s book, which abounds in the Leftist virtue-signaling mandatory for Main Stream Media Token Conservatives, is being sold by “conservative” book clubs. It is also featured in a Crown Forum Series devoted to conservative thought. For those who may doubt whether the author is an authorized “conservative,” one need only turn to National Review, a publication at which Goldberg still holds an editorship, or else watch him jaw with other Fox News Allstars as a designated Man Of The Right.

I regard Goldberg as a prime example of the near-total ideological primacy of the Cultural Marxist Left. We are living in a time and place in which what would be crazy-Left up until about two generations ago is assigned a “Right-Wing” label, in order to keep alive a dialectic that is transparently phony.

In about a ten-page digression into the nature of conservatism—his entire book is really nothing more than a series of digressions—Goldberg identifies “conservatism” with resisting Donald Trump. The U.S. President, whom Goldberg with other Never-Trumpers has inflexibly opposed, is described as a vulgar throwback to the 1930s “on both sides of the Atlantic.” People back then believed “decadent Western capitalism and ‘Manchester liberalism’ were inadequate to the challenges of the day.”

All of this coming from Goldberg is utter chutzpah, considering that he now happily accepts massive social engineering in order to overcome “discrimination” against certain groups.

This false dialectic is precisely why The New York Times anointed the Brothers Weinstein, the Littlest Chickenhawk, and Dr. Jordanetics as the Approved Opposition. They are selected as the anti-narrative to the mainstream media’s narrative, which is intended to produce a leftward-trending synthesis.

Suffer the children

Peter Grant hammers the Catholic hierarchy for its latest massive moral failing:

Every Chilean bishop offered to resign Friday over a sex abuse and cover-up scandal, in the biggest shakeup ever in the Catholic Church’s long-running abuse saga. It marked the first known time in history that an entire national bishops conference had offered to resign en masse over scandal, and laid bare the devastation that the abuse crisis has caused the Catholic Church in Chile and beyond…  The whole report hasn’t been made public, but even the highlights Francis included in his footnotes were astonishing. The gravity of the accusations appeared to lay the foundation for a full-scale Vatican investigation of Chilean dioceses, seminaries and religious orders. Such an investigation was ordered up after a similar 2010 summit that Pope Benedict XVI called for Irish bishops over their dismal record dealing with abuse.

Let me be absolutely blunt about this.  The Catholic Church, as an institution, and its bishops acting as a collective, have lied, are lying, and will continue to lie to the people of God about this problem.  They have no interest whatsoever in resolving it – only in protecting their own power, and the institution of the Church as a whole, and its power and prestige in society.  They do not care about the individuals involved, or the victims . . . or the good clergy who have been tainted with the stench of this scandal.

How can I say that?  It’s very simple.  Actions speak louder than words – and lack of action is, in itself, an action.  The Church, in the United States, in Chile, in the Vatican, and elsewhere, has taken little or no effective, meaningful action against those who were ultimately responsible for this scandal – namely, its bishops and administrators, who routinely concealed the extent of the problem, shuffled offenders around among themselves, and allowed them to continue to offend, rather than deal with the matter.  Even after the scandal blew up, many leaders of the Church continued to try to defend their offices and the institution of the Church, rather than admit that the situation was absolutely indefensible.  Many of the worst offenders were whisked off to Rome and given sheltered employment there, safe from extradition or any legal consequences of their neglect.  Many are still there.

The Church has also failed to act against the breeding-grounds for so many of these problems – its seminaries.

Let this be a lesson to you. No organization is safe, no matter what is professed intentions are. If you do not actively seek to eradicate evil from creeping in, it will do so. There are worse things than SJWs.

Do not seek to defend the Roman Catholic Church. It has manifestly become an institution utterly riddled by evil. Pray for it, demand its reformation, work to restore it, as you see fit, but do not think to defend it. There is no defense of what it has become since the cancer of Vatican II.

School shooting in Texas

A school shooting is reported in Texas:

As many as eight people have been killed Friday in a shooting at Santa Fe High School, according to a source close to the investigation. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trouchesset said authorities have arrested one person and are still trying to determine if there is more than one shooter. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a tweet that two people have been taken into custody and that an officer is being treated for injuries.

No word on David Hogg’s whereabouts, but I’m sure he’ll be on TV soon. A lot.

A misrepresentation by Sargon

The Public Space asserts that my fellow GamerGater misrepresented me in a YouTube video entitled Sargon Misrepresents Vox Day About Jordan Peterson:

Sargon of Akkad is ruining my name now because there’s text that I’ve written which says Sargon of Akkad is solid, he always fairly represents even his opponent, but on a video published two days ago he misrepresents Vox Day, presenting his blog post as attributing a communist conspiracy to Jordan Peterson, which is not at all what Vox Day was saying. Let’s hear the statement by Sargon:

So in the last few days an Alt-Right science fiction author called Vox day on his blog has exposed Jordan Peterson being involved with a new global partnership to eradicate poverty and transform across economies through sustainable development, which I guess is some communist globalist conspiracy or something. I haven’t bother looking into it, I don’t even care if he’s associated with it.

“So I guess it’s a communist globalist conspiracy or something like this, I didn’t look into it.” If you want to make a video about this subject – and then Sargon goes on, by the way, to counter the point that he imagines Vox Day may have done while he admittedly didn’t read the article. Of course, the article by Vox Day was not saying that Jordan Peterson is involved in a communist conspiracy. The point by Sargon passes right beside the point made by Vox Day.

The point made by Vox Day is that Jordan Peterson is involved in international conferences that talk about immigration, that seek to open countries to immigration, and that also featured speakers like John Podesta with a known share from the Democratic Party. He is the gateway for the control of the Democratic Party by rich elites and so this is a fair critique that Vox Day has done of Jordan Peterson, and Sargon misrepresents it as a paranoid representation of Jordan Peterson being involved in a communist conspiracy.

They go into more detail; watch the video from 36:06 to 41:00 to catch their whole take on it. And JFG is absolutely right; if one is going to opine on a paper, one has the duty to actually read it. It is because Sargon disagrees with me that he really ought to do better. As he would learn if he actually bothered to look into the matter, Jordan Peterson is involved in the opposite of a godless communist conspiracy, he is the author of the narrative for a massive globalist corporatist campaign that involves governments, NGOs, international corporations, and academics.

But Sargon isn’t the only Peterson defender determined to avert his eyes rather than discover what the Prophet of Do What Thou Deemest to be Desirable is actually doing. One poor Jordanologist who is destined for disenchantment was clearly grasping at straws when he decided to advocate for the devil.

Devil’s Advocate for a moment: The UN’s IPCC report had many scientists ask to have their names removed because they disagreed with the conclusions and how the report was being used for political purposes.  Do you think that could be the case here? That JP was a “contributor” the UN report, but if you asked him about it, he would disagree with its conclusions?

No, that cannot be the case here. Given that Jordan Peterson himself publicly claimed to have written the narrative of the final draft, from which he removed “the ideological claptrap” contained in the previous drafts, there can be no question that he is not only a full-blown supporter of A New Global Partnership, but that whatever ideology remains in it is something with which he, at the very least, has no problem. Read the report; it’s only 81 pages and it’s considerably easier to read than either 12 Rules of Life or Maps of Meaning.

This whole Jordanetics affair reminds me more and more of the New Atheists. Then, as now, I appear to have read considerably more of their works than any of their fans appear to have bothered reading.

The freaks of Star Wars

I’m a little surprised that the SJWs aren’t out in force protesting Disney’s shockingly racist characterization of the only black man in space as a sexual freak who will attempt to molest pretty much anything within reach:

Solo: A Star Wars Story is chock full of all kinds of interesting new background information about some of Star Wars’ most iconic characters, and one of the most significant revelations to come out of the film is as subtextual as it is important. In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Solo screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan confirmed what a significant part of the Star Wars fandom has suspected about Lando Calrissian for quite some time now. Lando’s a ladies’ man, yes, but he’s by no means straight. When asked specifically if Lando was pansexual, Kasdan replied, “I would say yes.”

Historically, the Star Wars franchise has been doing very poorly when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation, which is weird when you consider the expansive nature of the universe. So when asked about Lando’s sexuality, it was nice to see Kasdan reply thoughtfully. He said that while the smuggler wouldn’t put a specific label on himself, he’d be even less likely to buy into the traditional ideas about sexual preference:

“There’s a fluidity to Donald and Billy Dee’s [portrayal of Lando’s] sexuality. I mean, I would have loved to have gotten a more explicitly LGBT character into this movie. I think it’s time, certainly, for that, and I love the fluidity ― sort of the spectrum of sexuality that Donald appeals to and that droids are a part of.”

It’s only a matter of time before we are informed that Lando Calrissian is involved in a committed trans-species post-gender polygamous relationship with Chewbacca and BB-8. Shameless doesn’t even begin to describe these lunatic wreckers. I’m only surprised that Solo did not turn out to be a tribute to the young Han’s career as an artistic auto-eroticist when he was young and needed the money.

From a comment at John C. Wright’s blog. People may not be quick to accept the truth, but they eventually learn they have no other choice:

The Last Jedi is the most franchise destructive movie I’ve ever seen. Worse than Alien 3 (which I would actually pay to have removed from my memory). They took something that had something for everyone, made it explicitly female (the force is not gendered you assholes!!!), made it all shades of grey and removed the fight between good and evil, and devastated one of the greatest heroes of our time.

I think they’ve lost millions upon millions of their most ardent fans in exchange for luke warm SJW fans. I had worries when Disney bought Star Wars, and they were all on display in The Last Jedi.

My daughter and I waited in line for 2 hours to be one of the first in the theater for The Force Awakens, we waited for 2 hours to be one of the first to Rogue One, and then 3 hours to be the first at The Last Jedi. We aren’t going to Solo opening day or weekend.

It’s nearly started!

George R.R. Martin is seriously thinking about starting on his next book:

SANTA FE, NM—Stoking readers’ anticipation about the long-awaited Game Of Thrones sequel, best-selling author George R.R. Martin promised fans Thursday that his upcoming novel The Winds Of Winter was nearly started. “I wanted to let everyone know that I’m sitting at my desk with a nice cup of tea, I’ve got a Word document open, and I’m just about ready to go,” Martin wrote in a blog post on his website, assuring readers that as soon as he cleared off his desk and threw a load of laundry into the dryer, he could pretty much begin. “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but at this point, I’ve basically already brainstormed a couple of character names and written part of an outline for chapter one. After that, it shouldn’t take more than another three or four weeks until I’m ready to check a few emails, grab some groceries, and put the very earliest touches on the manuscript. Can’t wait!” At press time, the author had been forced to return to square one after realizing he needed a better title than The Winds Of Winter.

If you ever doubted success being a demotivator for a certain type of writer, you need look no further than Martin. Although Scalzi would appear to be giving him a pretty good run for his money. It must be incredibly frustrating to be a mainstream publisher having to deal with these guys.

Twitter Purgatory

Twitter has taken the Twitter Jail concept one step further:

Are you the sort of person who annoys, frustrates, and offends lots of people on Twitter—but manages to avoid technically violating any of its policies on abuse or hate speech? Then Twitter’s newest feature is for you. Or, rather, it’s for everyone else but you.

Twitter is announcing on Tuesday that it will begin hiding tweets from certain accounts in conversations and search results. To see them, you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of the conversation and click “Show more replies,” or go into your search settings and choose “See everything.” Think of them as Twitter’s equivalent of the Yelp reviews that are “not currently recommended” or the Reddit comments that have a “comment score below threshold.”

But there’s one difference: When Twitter’s software decides that a certain user is “detract[ing] from the conversation,” all of that user’s tweets will be hidden from search results and public conversations until their reputation improves. And they won’t know that they’re being muted in this way; Twitter says it’s still working on ways to notify people and help them get back into its good graces. In the meantime, their tweets will still be visible to their followers as usual and will still be able to be retweeted by others. They just won’t show up in conversational threads or search results by default.

I’d pretend that I care, but they suspended me for good back in November. Of course, it’s just a matter of time for most of the rest of you. In the meantime, give Idka a try; many of the Daily Meme Wars memes are posted there on a regular basis.

No one will sign up for that

When President George W. Bush announced the deal, he made a clear reference to North Korea and Iran when he said, “I hope other leaders will find an example” in Libya’s action.

What happened less than a decade later might be at the heart of what Kim Jong-un appears to fear.

The United States and its European allies began a military action against Libya in 2011 to prevent Colonel Qaddafi’s threatened massacre of civilians. President Obama acceded to arguments from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to join the European-led action.

But no one in the Situation Room debated what message the decision to turn on Colonel Qaddafi might send to other countries that the United States was trying to persuade to relinquish their weapons, according to interviews conducted later with more than a half-dozen people engaged in the discussion.

The Libya intervention allowed anti-government rebels to put Colonel Qaddafi on the run, and months later they pulled him from a ditch and killed him. Since then, Libya has devolved into a dysfunctional state. And North Korea has taken notice.

And yet the population grows

As US birth rates continue to fall:

The number of babies being born in the United States continues to fall, with the birth rate reaching a new record low in 2017, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year, about 3.8 million babies were born in the U.S., which is 2 percent lower than the number born in 2016, and the lowest recorded number of births in 30 years, according to the report.

What’s more, there were about 60 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, which is 3 percent lower than the rate in 2016, and the lowest recorded rate since the government started tracking birth rates in 1909.

This is the real reason for the sterile and secular Left’s staunch devotion to immigration. Without it, the fertile religious Right would outnumber it completely in two generations. So, they have recruited alien mercenaries to buy themselves time and keep themselves in the game.

Unfortunately, foolish cuckservatives have embraced the Left’s immigrationist rhetoric and are actively cooperating in their own marginalization.

Want to win the cultural war? Get married, have kids, and homeschool them.