These Ivy League places are apparently not very good schools. Mao was of course not a race, but an individual; Maoism was not limited to the practice of any race, but was an intense species of Marxism that became popular among more radical Communists worldwide.
Meanwhile they are avoiding grappling with the merit of the analogy between their practices and Maoism. Like all analogies, this one only carries as far as it does; but there really is a similarity between Maoist self-criticism (a practice that belongs especially to Maoism as opposed to Communism generally) and their teachings on race. Particularly when they are doing 'white fragility' training, the idea is so close as to look like a straight borrowing from Maoist practice: to constantly examine yourself for ideological failings, to self-confess these publicly, and to seek to make further amends in the hope of becoming more perfectly ideologically aligned.
All this is of course aimed at providing cover for their efforts to eliminate competing ideologies, in this case the Federalist Society. This too is characteristic of Maoism as well.
Lawyers are often told to bang the table when both the facts and the law are against them, but this is mere childish folderol. Yale should be ashamed to be producing such specimens.
7 comments:
Easy. They don't want to engage in real self-criticism, but an imitation that is actually "my guess at the social criticism my peers might deliver." The re-labeling is the point, not an unfortunate side-effect.
These are bright people,and they have picked up that one of the main criticisms against them by even traditional liberals is that they are too arrogant, too sure of themselves, and do not step back from their own thinking enough to evaluate it effectively. But intelligence is not the same thing as objectivity, and certainly not humility, which is what is really required. So they have to play chess against themselves and find something that they can plausibly defend as self-criticism without actually risking anything.
There is one level deeper. They are now in a dangerous social environment when even your friends might denounce you and the rules change subtly every year. They need constant rehearsal and rechecking to get the social part right, and this type of imitation self-criticism also performs that function. I would have pity for them if they were not so dangerous and the solution so obvious to many decent folks who had SATs hundreds of points lower than theirs.
Maybe they just don't like be compared to Peru's Shining Path--even though these Precious Ones are more Shining Path than Mao.
Eric Hines
Relevant: the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines and associated New People's Army have vowed to resist Chinese domination.
https://thegeopolitics.com/the-philippines-maoist-guerillas-vow-to-resist-imperialist-china/
Off-topic...but wondering if anyone here has read JD Vance's 'Hillbilly Elegy' and what you think of it?
@ David Foster - it was engaging, partly because of the subject matter, and partly because he writes well. I think his understanding of his own people is pretty good, but how that bridges to other parts of the culture - not just the white elites but middle class in general - is less strong.
@ David Foster -- I have not read it.
Mao is the word for demon lord in the holy land of japan aka nippon.
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