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[SPECIAL JANUARY PROMOTION: Spend $50+ In The FPM Store And Receive A Free Copy Of “Final Battle” By David Horowitz.]
Remember when the word “privilege” used to have a positive meaning, denoting a personal honor or blessing of some kind? “I’m privileged to speak to you all today.” “It was a privilege to meet the President.” Good times. But as always when the Left appropriates and degrades language for its own ideological purposes, “privilege” has been perverted into a negative. It is now almost exclusively used to mean “benefits that the oppressor class appropriates for itself and denies to the oppressed.” White people are deemed to be “privileged” in all ways at the expense of minorities. Straight people are privileged at the expense of the supposedly marginalized Alphabet People. Privilege is theft now. It is oppression.
Ironically, arguably no one in America today is more privileged than the con artists of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) juggernaut, whose apparent mission is to correct such social injustices. Almost overnight, an entire industry has arisen to infiltrate and bloat corporate America, the government, even the military. So-called diversity officers, whose only expertise is in absorbing and regurgitating the neo-Marxist dogma of identity conflict, now command high six-figure salaries, oversee eye-popping budgets, and wield terrifying power within organizations to control who gets hired, who gets promoted, and who gets fired, in addition to shaping organization policies and missions.
And to what end? Why, dismantling the purported systemic racism of a white supremacist society, of course. Everything the Left does is aimed ultimately at deconstructing existing power structures to overthrow what they see as an unjust Eurocentric system that “privileged” itself through colonizing, oppressing, and exploiting non-white cultures and peoples. Ergo, “diversity” means “non-white.” “Equity” means discrimination against whites. “Inclusion” means sending whites to the back of the bus, or preferably kicking them off the bus altogether. (“Whites,” by the way, is an elastic term, as the Left uses it; it includes Jews and Asians because they do not sufficiently conform to the Left’s requirement that minorities embrace victimhood.)
Back to the word “privilege.” Dr. Sherita Hill Golden, chief diversity officer for the prestigious Johns Hopkins Medicine hospital system, recently sent a “monthly diversity digest” email to her staff which featured a section called “Diversity Word of the Month.” This month the word is “privilege,” which the email defined as “a set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group” that operates on “personal, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels.” It “provides advantages and favors to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of other groups” [Emphases added].
Who, according to Dr. Golden’s memo, are the people in this “specific social group” who have undeservedly aggrandized the benefits available in society? Take a wild guess.
- White people
- Able-bodied people
- Heterosexuals
- Cisgender people
- Males
- Christians
- Middle or owning class people
- Middle-aged people
- English-speaking people
As a personal aside: I match every single one of those categories, and yet somehow I don’t enjoy the privileges of, say, multi-millionaire, multi-homeowner, Black Lives Matter co-founder, black atheist lesbian Patrisse Cullors. Where do I file a complaint about this injustice?
“People in dominant groups often believe they have earned the privileges they enjoy or that everyone could have access to these privileges if only they worked to earn them,” Dr. Golden added in the memo. Instead, she and her DEI ilk claim, the privileged are granted these benefits solely because the aforementioned characteristics place them squarely in the right identity group (as defined by the Critical Theorists of the Left). And since everything is a zero-sum game to the Left, it follows that if some are privileged, it must mean that those whose identity characteristics do not match the list are unjustly denied privileges.
Unfortunately for Dr. Golden, this offensive diversity blather found its way onto the internet and earned serious backlash on social media. X owner Elon Musk, for example, tweeted, “This must end!” Donald Trump Jr. also denounced it, posting, “The rot and racism in higher education goes so much further Harvard, MIT, and Penn (my alma mater) it has taken over virtually every institution and needs to end now.”
The backlash was so intense that Golden was forced to issue an apology to her staff last Thursday morning: “The newsletter included a definition of the word privilege which, upon reflection, I deeply regret,” she wrote. “The intent of the newsletter is to inform and support an inclusive community at Hopkins, but the language of this definition clearly did not meet that goal. In fact, because it was overly simplistic and poorly worded, it had the opposite effect,” she continued. “I retract and disavow the definition I shared and I am sorry.”
In fact, the definition was worded exactly as she intended; it absolutely conforms to the DEI worldview. She apologized only because she didn’t anticipate the outpouring of public condemnation that brought such bad publicity to Johns Hopkins. That’s what happens when you have a covert agenda but accidentally or arrogantly say the quiet part out loud.
The public outrage was so overwhelming that Theodore L. DeWeese, Dean of the Medical Faculty, and Kevin W. Sowers, President of Johns Hopkins Health System, hastened to follow up with a statement of their own, distancing themselves from Golden’s racist dogma:
Regrettably, the January edition of this newsletter, which was distributed to all Johns Hopkins Medicine employees yesterday, included a definition of privilege that runs counter to the values of our institution, and our mission and commitment to serve everyone equally.
Dr Golden heard the feedback from our community, sincerely apologized, and retracted the definition. We fully support and appreciate her decision to do so, and as leaders of Johns Hopkins Medicine, we too repudiate this language.
And so Golden was allowed to keep her lucrative position. If the institution repudiates the language and definition Golden used, which is standard DEI fare everywhere, why does Johns Hopkins even have a “diversity chief”?
This is just another in what is becoming flood of scandals exposing DEI as a destructive, racist, irrational movement. The most notable, of course, was black Harvard President Claudine Gay recently being exposed as a serial plagiarist and unremarkable academic; though Harvard and her fellow academics circled the wagons around her, the Right’s relentless focus on highlighting how DEI privileged her skin color forced her to abandon that post (yes, she kept her professorship and a nearly million-dollar salary, but it was nevertheless a significant success for the Right).
In a brand new scandal, airlines now have been revealed to prioritize diversity over passenger safety; the Federal Aviation Administration is even admitting to actively recruiting workers who suffer “severe intellectual” disabilities and psychiatric problems in an effort to be more “inclusive” of groups “underrepresented” in the field of aviation. “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety?,” tweeted Elon Musk. “That is actually happening.”
The push for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is finally colliding with a right-wing movement to expose it for the Marxist subversion that it is. It is a hopeful development for those of us trying to steer our culture and country back toward the shoreline of sanity.
Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior
A total end to this DEI stuff Period
University of Michigan has 142 DEI staff, a five-year goal of 240.
SAME HUNDREDS OF MILLION$ by getting rid of every DEI position. The worst one and needs to be banned nationwide are ALL CLASSES THAT HAVE “STUDIES” IN THEIR TITLE since they will recruit the young and naive and quickly turn them into Democrats, an LGBTQ-WXYZ, a psychotic protester, a Communist since all the organizers of protests are Communists, a terrorist sympathizer, and if the Jihadist Sleeper Cells awaken here, they would be on their side even if their heads were being cut off.
I was at Mansfield University PA, 4000 students if that, and there were ELEVEN Women’s Studies professor who posted flyers looking for students.
My privilege is based in the work ethic. I oppress no one by any small success I may enjoy. WOKEs are whiners and criers who are experiencing the consequences of bad life decisions.
53+ years ago I experienced a very hard conversion to Christ. Receiving His spiritual regeneration, redemption, and forgiveness, I was delivered from a life of drunkenness and self destruction.
A broken society needs a “chief diversity officer”. Good grief what foolishness.
As you pointed out, Dr, Tapson, Dr.Golden was simply telling the truth. Though I am sure you are not supposed to spell it out quite as bluntly as that, especially if the rules of PC or Wokeness or Whatever It Is Going To Be Called This Year are about to change.
Now I, as a Polonian, have been put on the “unter” page – (dis)courtesy of the most powerful media and academe in the world – for many decades now, and I note that it is getting a bit crowded down here. So will I soon be seeing one crowd disappearing into the dizzy realms of “uberness” , and another crowd being cast down to join me? Who knows with the devious world of politics?
At any rate, being down here not only gives a close up view of how “the world” works, which is salutary, but it also makes the loving impartial standards of our Creator, the God of Abraham, shine brighter all the time in contrast. His word really is a light shining in a very dark place. It will guide all of us who pay attention to it safely through to the restored earthly paradise, where there will be more happiness than we can now imagine.
She disavowed and retracted her statement, but it is already policy at Johns Hopkins and will continue to be policy. The only reason the staff protested is they couldn’t believe she was so soul-crushingly stupid that she came out and stated it publicly. They all wore their masks, even though they are medically trained and know it is useless, did the social distancing (again, being medically trained) attended all the CRT education and half of them probably wore BLM pins, got their clot shots and continue to recommend them to their patients. Medicine is only a half step behind the universities when it comes to leftist dogma, and sometimes a step ahead. Anybody who works in it will know.
Really, though, how can you occupy a position that has this as it’s foundational philosophy and write this memo and then “disavow” it? Clearly, she is just embarrassed that she was caught out saying the quiet part aloud. Leon is absolutely correct. This stuff just has to go.
That was “Elon” not “Leon.” Spell check is an evil bitch goddess. Why can’t they add an “Edit” feature to FPM Comments?
James Lindsay did a podcast titled; Medical Lysenkoism in the American Medical Assoc. It can be found at NewDiscourses.com. He explains how this lunacy is being introduced and incorporated into the practice of medicine. It is apparent DEI in the medical system, just as it has infiltrated the airline industry and the military, will lead to more needless deaths.
My usual retort now is “How much say did you have on what color you came out of your mother’s womb?”
I was going to sue my Mom for not making me 6′-5″ and built like Reacher. (Mom got the numbers backwards and I’m 5′-6″… and my inner-Reacher body is consumed by the copious holiday goodies)
“Dr.” Sherita Hill Golden is the Claudine Gay of the Johns Hopkins Health System.
As I have zero black privilege the only way to stick it to the DEI obsessives is to never fly again because of FAA DEI policy, never have a black physician as my primary doctor, never hire a black lawyer, etc. because affirmative action is the insane policy of the day. You simply can’t find qualified blacks for anything these days. Most importantly, never ever vote for a black man or woman for mayor in a big blue city.
Does that make me a racist? I don’t care.
You can find qualified blacks for these positions. The problem with affirmative discrimination, now known as DEI, is you have no way of knowing whether you are dealing with someone who is qualified or who got in with lousy qualifications because of their race. Suppose you need a heart surgeon. Are you going to go to a black surgeon? If he is black, you don’t know what his MCAT scores were or why he was hired. There is a substantial likelihood, however, that he got in with low objective qualification to satisfy the demands of DEI. Or he may be a superstar. But your life may depend on which. So what are you going to do? You’re going to find another doctor and not take the risk. In a meritocratic environment you would not care because you would know that if he got into and though medical school, internships, and residencies it was because he was fully qualified. DEI simply creates “racists.”
Maybe you can’t find a qualified black person for anything anymore. Why is it only the loudmouthed black morons seem to fill these positions.
I believe you said everything I said only more respectively. So I will proudly stick with my style.
But I still upvoted you.
DEI wasn’t caused by Marxism. It goes much deeper, it goes to Tribalism, the belief that a collective identity trumps morality, logic and even reality itself.
The document that created America was explicitly individualistic. Governments are formed to protect the rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. These rights are individual rights, not collective rights. There are no collective rights.
For the Woke, the individual does not exist, only groups dominated by a small elite have any reality. In past times, tribes warred against other tribes for land, wealth or status. Tribal wars are wars of annihilation. One group’s gain, was another group’s loss and losses were total.
Wokism is a tribal war of annihilation and allowing this vile philosophy to go unchallenged will destroy the individualism that created America. It is treason to life itself.
I have already determined if I have to fly anywhere, it will be on an aircraft NOT American airline. If that can’t happen, well… good thing I like trains anyway.
Except Airlines with Islamic Pilots, who might decide one flight that there were too many “kuffar’s” on the plane, and decides he can’t wait for his 72 virgins.
People have gotten used to censoring themselves in order to be politically correct, or wrong but smug. The easiest way for the evil to censor us is to get us to do it to ourselves. Name the censors, they are us.
I understand that in Germany in the mid-20th century, it was very important to have an elegantly-bound copy of “Mein Kampf” prominently displayed in one’s home for all to see.
a DEI Department is the same thing for American businesses.
FJB
FDEI
It has been replace by either a George Floyd portrait or a Fakestinian flag.
I am PROUD to be everything Mark T. listed above. I cut-and-pasted it below. (C. Gay, try this. Giving credit.)
So is my hetero wife. For her, change Males to Women.
White people
Able-bodied people
Heterosexuals
Cisgender people
Males
Christians
Middle or owning class people
Middle-aged people
English-speaking people
Nobody is cisgender it is an insult to normality created by the woke nonsense.
Right! By all means that I can’t think of, I should want to fly on a plane with a “Dwarf” Pilot, who cannot reach the switches above his head, or the pedals on the floor, and with a stewardess who has Tardive Dyskinesia and can spill the coffee, tea or milk on me, while my luggage is loaded on a plane to “Shangri-La” instead of where I’m going, because the loader can’t read the tag, since the “Politically Correct” Flight has it all over a Flight Crew (of fantasy?) who were chosen because they were the most qualified with the highest intelligence! Something must be wrong with me. Maybe we can “Breed out” intelligence in the Human Race, then I won’t think so. It’s lonely being the only one with a brain.
There is NO such thing as a “Marxist.” Karl Marx preached nothing but Communism and Communist. We must have the courage to say Communist and Communism. Anything else is helping these Communist killers stay in hiding..
They’re called ‘Diversity Officers’ because ‘Political Officer’ is too hard a sell.
The usual suspects are on once again about their own failed cultural histories.
Let’s recap the “privilege list” in a different way.
White, able-bodied–and able-minded heterosexuals are more likely to move through the school system because they have parental support and originate from a stable home. The acquire skill sets, including fluency in English, the main US language and language of worldwide commerce, to allow them to become middle class, and own their own homes–usually in neighborhoods that are full of other heterosexual married couples. Many but not all, have a background and/or a current involvement in a Christian denomination, but the minority Jewish population in the US also adheres to the above characteristics, and if raised in a observant household and exposed to the rigors of the B’nei Mitzvah, come well prepared in life to undergo focused study, crucial thinking, and executive function.
These communities they live in tend to rate high in income and low in crime in databases like City/Data.com
Thus, they form a social, cultural, and economic nidus of success that their children can flourish in.
Are other racial or cultural groups shut out of these communities? No. Witness the success of Asians from the East and Central Asian landmasses in America. Look at the huge representation of East Indian tech entrepreneurs and workers flooding the malls in California and Washington State, with lots of cash to spend. Ditto with Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and others in the same communities. Also look at smaller numbers of educated Black immigrants legally here in the US from African nations. They are physicians, attorneys, engineers, or in the case of my advisor, fiduciary investment specialists.
The only group that fails the above scenario in epidemic numbers are black Americans. While many want to site historic racism as the cause of their failures, perhaps they might just look at emulating the historically successful groups. Get serious at school. Don’t commit crimes. Learn a skill and work. Learn another skill and work some more. Start a family and don’t abandon it. Of course, this is not all a failure to imagine a better future, it is a bigotry from government that demands of black people they become dependent, angry, and remain unskilled to provide politicians both a voter base, and a “just cause.”
This reminds me of the line in the Princess Bride, to paraphrase; ‘this word, inclusion, I don’t think it means what you think it means.’ The true acronym should be DDS, Diversity, Dominance and Segregation.
The boilerplate apologies have reached the point of entertainment. That they are so conspicuously disingenuous is also entertaining.
Let me have a crack at the logic of DEI. Men are nine times as likely as women to go to jail. Is this “disparate impact” irrefutable evidence of systemic misandry? Maybe, to achieve equity, we can put women in jail for not knowing what a “pick six” is…
This racist democrat doesn’t deserve “employment” by any means. Today’s “administrators” in “education” serve no purpose beyond indoctrination – deeply rooted in the destruction of a sovereign and Constitutional USA.
Just remember…
Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos did NOTHING to stop the leftist agenda in K-12 public schools and in colleges of higher indoctrination during your term! Four years wasted!
Funny how all the well-positioned and well paid “Diversity Officers” champion a cause that hasn’t hindered them in the least.
A lie often has a grain of truth, which is why some uncritical thinkers accept it so easily. Of course there are inborn advantages and disadvantages such as intelligence, strength and money. Interestingly, though, those with such advantages rarely claim to have earned them. An heir to a fortune simply cannot get away with claiming that he earned the money. This is why Golden’s attack on the ‘privileged’ is so transparently wrong. Most people who say that they worked for what they have actually did so, or they would be called out by those around them.
The vast majority of things we all use in our daily life were invented, created or discovered by Heterosexual Caucasian MEN of the Christian or Jewish Faith.
Tell me again about all the things invented, created and discovered by Negro Females… I,ll wait…
Dont hate me because I speak the truth.