tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post6446810654588275716..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Diversity vs. MeritocracyStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-42001014347344066152016-07-26T04:30:01.522-07:002016-07-26T04:30:01.522-07:00Speaking of diversity vs. meritocracy...
We are c...Speaking of diversity vs. meritocracy...<br /><br />We are coming to find with all these WikiLeaks emails and in the actions of prominent officials that Democrats have placed a lot of women in leadership positions within their own party structure. Okay, fine, that's their prerogative. Still, I'm not sure they're being responsible for the fallout and what's possible ahead. The tone of the emails and the whole Debbie Wasserman-Schultz primary rigging against Bernie Sanders seems more like middle school election tactics than national politics. The amount of rigging and influence-peddling that was necessary to get the "inevitable" candidate elected was quite embarrassing. <br /><br />Then you have this "unity" parade going on in Philadelohia. Day 1 was a chaotic farce. I'm a bit perplexed how the Democrts were stupid enough to chide Reoublican disunity in Cleveland when they should've known this Hillary-Bernie thing is highly combustible, even without the giant email release, some of which I suspect were truncated and saved for a more "appropriate time" later in the election cycle (I'm thinking of the emails related to the Clinton Foundation). This kind of thing is also where Hillary exposes herself to blackmail, and it's not being discussed seriously. <br /><br />Anyway, Wasserman-Schultz was replaced as.Convention Chairwoman by Marcia Fudge, who became frustrated with the Hillary-Bernie chantfest and said, "We’re Democrats, and we need to act like it,"<br /><br />To my ear, this sounds like grandma scolding children. I think this is a huge problem for the Democrats over the remainder of this convention and in campaign season. Hillary sounds like a scolding, hectoring grandmother every time she raises her voice. And she's being counseled to do so regularly to bring "energy" to her style and campaign. This will backfire. She sounds like an idiot. <br /><br />Besides, they ARE acting like Democrats. Angry, bitter victimized malcontents. Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-23195549345728696902016-07-25T00:07:04.784-07:002016-07-25T00:07:04.784-07:00The Libertarian Book of TRUMP
by ILANA MERCER
htt...The Libertarian Book of TRUMP<br />by ILANA MERCER<br /><br />http://www.unz.com/imercer/the-libertarian-book-of-trump/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-35493061569245603382016-07-24T21:28:39.221-07:002016-07-24T21:28:39.221-07:00Must see movie
Clinton cash
http://www.breitbar...Must see movie<br /><br />Clinton cash<br /><br /><br />http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2016/07/24/clinton-cash-global-premiere-scores-170000-views-3-hours-bernie-sanders-supporters-promote/Malcolmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05478747589100326721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-43300962691217457042016-07-24T15:22:33.311-07:002016-07-24T15:22:33.311-07:00Clinton's cash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...Clinton's cash<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td2pyyCau30Malcolmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05478747589100326721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-70062845956688461462016-07-24T12:57:53.684-07:002016-07-24T12:57:53.684-07:00Ares Olympus said..."Think Robert Preston in ... Ares Olympus said..."Think Robert Preston in The Music Man. But we did learn from that musical that hucksters have a heart too, and sometimes they fall for their stories, and decide to actually follow through in their promises. Or would believing that also be magical thinking?"<br /><br />You are speaking of my all-time favorite musical, and of course you are correct. A true conman would never let the girly-girl get to him that way, but would play her along just like all the others.<br /><br />However, as a morality play, magical thinking leads us to hope that real life <b>should</b> work that way, and might persuade a conman wannabe to take the high road sometime.<br /><br />It's the essence of stories ranging from "The Little Engine That Could" to "Horton Hatches the Egg" -- they are supposed to teach civilized behavior, not model cruel reality.AesopFannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-36510098470258023322016-07-24T12:53:41.825-07:002016-07-24T12:53:41.825-07:00"In effect, the new diversity is a return to ..."In effect, the new diversity is a return to the old aristocracy. For the most part it accords privilege based on race and gender."<br /><br />The aristocracy added a stricter qualification of family antecedents, but that included race and sex by default (none of this gender stuff in the old days).<br />I was just thinking the other day that no society can ever be free of aristocracy, especially if you define that as "the people who run the country regardless of who is formally selected to run the country" - even in monarchies the two groups are never totally identical. Different ideologies just change the outward qualifications. <br />Even (especially?) socialist countries have aristocracies (Orwell nailed that one. <br />Anyone remember how fast the Occupy protesters erected their own hierarchies of privilege?AesopFannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-24521552651852052652016-07-24T12:00:19.076-07:002016-07-24T12:00:19.076-07:00Stuart: If they belong to the right group they do...Stuart: If they belong to the right group they do not need to accomplish anything at all. Hillary Clinton would be nowhere without her gender and her husband. And yet, people keep saying, shamelessly, that she is eminently qualified to be president of the United States. It's magical thinking.<br /><br />I see this is the "credentialism" vs "meritocracy" argument, but in Hillary's case, its not her schooling but her VIP husband and her feminism club card.<br />http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1985/12/the-case-against-credentialism/308286/<br /><br />I wonder which is more magical thinking - expecting someone with 8 years as wife of a Governor, 8 years as wife of a president, been U.S. Senator for 6 years, and Secretary of State for 4 years has some experience with government, or someone who inherited money and invested it and earned less than an average index fund return on it, and never been in any position of power where he couldn't fire anyone who stood up to him?<br /><br />What is this Magical thinking people keep talking about? I'd call Trump's acceptance speech full of magical thinking, believing apparently that people need certainty, so he would promise all problems can be solved by him alone, and we believe that because he said it. What was C.S. Lewis' Trilemma - Trump is either a mad man, or the devil, or is who he says he is - the almighty God incarnate. W claimed to get personal messages from God, but Trump's grandiosity is so much higher. And he must be for real - look at his billions of dollars.<br /><br />http://skepdic.com/magicalthinking.html<br />---<br />According to anthropologist Dr. Phillips Stevens Jr., magical thinking involves several elements, including a belief in the interconnectedness of all things through forces and powers that transcend both physical and spiritual connections. Magical thinking invests special powers and forces in many things that are seen as symbols. According to Stevens, "the vast majority of the world's peoples ... believe that there are real connections between the symbol and its referent, and that some real and potentially measurable power flows between them."<br />---<br /><br />Well, by that definition, Trusting some 26 years intimately connected with government function doesn't qualify as magical thinking. However Trump's belief that he and he alone can fix the problem of our country by the force of his will, no work needed, that seems closer to the definition.<br /><br />Like you can take the book he didn't write, The Art of the Deal for example of his thinking:<br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2015/06/17/how-donald-trump-plays-the-press-in-his-own-words/<br />---<br />The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.<br /><br />I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.<br />---<br /><br />It sounds like a rational tactic to manipulate people, but he needs people's magical thinking for it to work. <br /><br />Think Robert Preston in The Music Man. But we did learn from that musical that hucksters have a heart too, and sometimes they fall for their stories, and decide to actually follow through in their promises. Or would believing that also be magical thinking?Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-40355680730736096942016-07-24T10:34:04.136-07:002016-07-24T10:34:04.136-07:00Yep. The essence of what we call "diversity&q...Yep. The essence of what we call "diversity" today is naked, blatant, rank identity politics. <br /><br />After those in the Civil Rights movement chanted, marched and bled to break down institutional subjugation based on immutable characteristics, our Ruling Class now holds each minority group's immutable characteristic as the eminent qualification. It's identity politics turned upside down: immutable characteristics as the solution, not the problem.<br /><br />The Left tells us everything is complex, until we get to topics like guns, abortion and diversity. Then it's all very simple. They don't think there should be litmus tests, save their own. No, the Left's answer to what makes America great comes on a sheet of paper with carefully-chosen checkboxes designed to ignore the content of one's character. It's not even a formula or an algorithm that considers multiple factors. It doesn't, and it doesn't have to. That's the idea. <br /><br />Meritocracy? My, how foolish... we don't have time for that! One's value comes from binary selections down a government-approved checklist. The jackpot is you're not a man, you're not white, you're not Christian, you're not conservative, you're not straight. this confers merit based on "underrepresented" melanin, genitalia, ancestry, faith or sexual attraction. These criteria -- which one has no control over -- make you important. <br /><br />Diversity is a standard where qualification or promotion is fundamentally based on immutable characteristics. Ironically, the legal standerd is that barring someone or hampering their career because of immutable characteristics is impermissible. <br /><br />How about let's be honest? Let's say BOTH are wicked, mean and horrible. Is that a bridge too far? <br /><br />Perhaps yes, as Democrats wouldn't have identity politics to fall back on. They claim to desire a population on the convention floor that "looks like America." Isn't that interesting? I thought we were trying to move toward becoming a nation where it didn't matter what you looked like! <br /><br />If immutable characteristics are the source of Democrat power, it's all they're going to talk about. Especially when being a certain former president's wife is the only reason you're being considered in the first place! So having a vagina and marrying well are your chief qualifications. You've come a long way, baby! "I am woman, hear my last name... ring a bell?"<br /><br />What else would they have to talk about? Racism is why America sucks, but diversity is why America is great. Nonsense. America is great because people can work hard, be enterprising and be innovative in their pursuit of happiness. Traditional American values reward personal industry, risk and creativity. We won't hear any of that this week at the Democrat National Convention. <br /><br />After all, the achieving kids go to Stuyvesant High School. In the Democrat mind, everything of value is a zero-sum game. Those (mostly Asian) kids are stealing a seat that should go to someone more worthy. And how otherwise do the Democrats suggest we will evaluate their worthiness? It's obvious, isn't it? It's because of their race, gender, religion, national origin, class or sexual orientation... or expanding their bathroom choices. <br /><br />Everyone knows this. It's not a secret. It's an incongruent racket based on a paradox that threatens our core values as Americans. But what would one expect of people who also believe in Santa Claus government? After all, measuring bureaucratic productivity is based on input (time), not output (results). And if all we're going to measure is the time people put in, their immutable characteristics become valid criteria. A plumber who is a Zoroastrian lesbian Eskimo from Tanzania can be a podiatrist... after all, we need more diversity in podiatry! All so we can confidently check that box. Who are we forgetting? Oh yeah, the person who needs expert help with their feet. Collateral damage.Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-55026497266339865762016-07-24T09:39:32.276-07:002016-07-24T09:39:32.276-07:00Stuart - Glad to see that you see it and can artic...Stuart - Glad to see that you see it and can articulate it as well as you do.Shaun Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17425084501514329529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-73061319086786303392016-07-24T08:39:46.017-07:002016-07-24T08:39:46.017-07:00And this is what's become the focus of our Oba...And this is what's become the focus of our Obama-Clinton-Kerry foreign policy<br /><br />http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/07/23/kerry-air-conditioners-as-big-threat-as-isis.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-81561512651564849362016-07-24T08:20:53.844-07:002016-07-24T08:20:53.844-07:00This is the DNC
http://dailycaller.comThis is the DNC<br /><br />http://dailycaller.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com