“I am a Caucasian cisgender female and first-generation college student from Appalachia who is of Scottish, British and Norwegian heritage. I am married to a cisgender male, and we are middle class. While I did not ‘ask’ for the many privileges in my life: I have benefited from them and will continue to benefit from them whether I like it or not. This is injustice. I am and will continue to work on a daily basis to be antiracist and confront the innate racism within myself that is the reality and history of white people. I want to be better: Every day. I will transform: Every day. This work terrifies me: Every day. I invite my white students to join me on this journey. And to my students of color: I apologize for the inexcusable horrors within our shared history.”
–—Virginia Tech instructor Dr. Crystal Duncan Lane in her course syllabus
This goes into so many Ethics Alarms files it will take me all day to sort them. There is the huge, “What an idiot!” file. There is the “Too foolish and irresponsible to be allowed to teach anyone who isn’t a spaniel” file. Then I have to track down the “Pathetic Weenies” file, the “Disabled by woke propaganda” file, the “Flagrant virtue-signaling” file, the “Poe’s Law” file and, of course, “The Great Stupid” file, for which this might be the definitive entry. And there are more.
I question whether Duncan Lane will benefit from her “privilege” as much as she thinks, since she has outed herself as a pathetic moron unfit to teach anyone, supervise anyone, vote, hold down a job requiring critical thinking, be trusted to raise children or be taken seriously. She has also revealed that Virginia Tech has groveling, North Korean prisoner-of-war-level brain-washing victims on its faculty, calling into serious question that institution’s trustworthiness and judgment.
Campus Reform, which broke the story, interviewed two students who accurately assessed some of what is wrong with Duncan Lane’s lament and apology. Student Natalie Rhodes said, “It is a class about disabilities, not political opinion, affiliation, nor judgment in any sort. If you are discussing disabilities, stick to your course.”
Another student who requests anonymity—Hey Crystal! This might be a potential convert! He or she is a weenie too!—said, “It hurts that someone says I was born with “innate racism” because of my skin color. [It] makes me feel like I should hide and worry about everything I say.”
Indeed, whoever you are! That’s because her statement is racist. She’s just been conditioned and bullied into being prejudiced against her own race.
Of course she should be fired. She should never have been hired, and Virginia Tech has some hiring procedures and staff to overhaul. Meanwhile, Lane’s faculty page now reverts to a 404 error page while the school circles the metaphorical wagons.
Who but a science fiction writer would have predicted that a rogue cop negligently causing the death of a drugged-out petty crook in Minnesota would lead an instructor at a (once) respectable institution to publish something like this? It would have been a National Lampoon gag not that long ago.
On the mainstream media bias and indoctrination front, I have yet to see this story reported anywhere but the conservative media. The closest I can find is MSN, which says in part, “Dr. Crystal Duncan Lane is accused of pushing students into addressing racism and inherent bias. She allegedly apologized for being a white…”
Oh, is that what she is “accused” of doing is it? That’s not what I read, though some students are “addressing racism and inherent bias” by calling “BS” on her syllabus. And she didn’t “allegedly apologize for being white.” That’s what she did, if words have any meaning at all.
My god, our journalism is terrible. Almost as terrible as U.S. higher education…
Ethics Alarms 
Seems like teachers are in full force this week.
If the liberal media looked at teachers like they do cops, I’m pretty sure we would have full calls to boycott.
I’m really not sure that our society will survive the new socially accepted and socially encouraged culture of self promoting social justice virtue signaling to generate the coveted social “likes” from the hive mind. These people have flushed all their critical thinking to be liked my the politically correct mob. I see no logical end to this psychological and intellectual crippling nonsense, it just keeps on getting worse and worse as we slowly walk into a future of totalitarian rule and a hive minded mentality of rights for me but not for thee.
Don’t try to tell me that hope exists that these social trends will turn around, instead show me how we can inspire a social reversal before it’s no longer possible.
Oh, of course it can be turned around, Gloomy Gus! All you need is a genuine leader and a tipping point.
The question, then, is who is that leader and where is that tipping point?
Leader? I see none. That doesn’t mean he or she won’t emerge. Lots of openings for tipping points. Culture swings that happen fast can swing the other way just as fast.
Jack Marshall wrote, “Leader? I see none.”
On this we agree.
Jack Marshall wrote, “That doesn’t mean he or she won’t emerge.”
They will emerge and immediately be attacked as evil (see California recently) by the completely unhinged hive minded social justice mob. Who’s going to want to be a leader when they know up-front that more than half of the country is brainwashed wackos and they’re going to attack absolutely everything they say and do; are we setting ourselves up for a massive cultural disaster?
I recently wrote…
What Do We Do When Hope For Our Country Wanes?
We the people will be in search for that unique pebble in the pond that gives us the hope we are looking for, our “savior”, that can hopefully turn this nonsense around but the problem is that sometimes you get a narcissistic authoritarian devil hiding behind the facade of a “savior” and…
…the far-reaching effects of a narcissistic authoritarian devil posing as a “savior” can be both for the good and the bad so we have to be very careful what we wish for and that our perceived social despair doesn’t cause us to choose a false “savior”.
Jack Marshall wrote, “Lots of openings for tipping points.”
No disagreement there; it can tip in lots of directions too, some bad, some good. I think we have already passed a tipping point.
Jack Marshall wrote, “Culture swings that happen fast can swing the other way just as fast.”
This really hasn’t been a very fast culture swing unless you’re comparing it to time difference between July 4, 1776 and now. As I see it looking back, our culture has been morphing towards this foolishness for most of my lifetime but it’s really been in-our-faces since the turn of the century and put in high gear around 2008.
My perspective is it’s been a while.
I just did some thinking about my perspective that I wrote about in my comment above and what did my opinion grow from? Here is what I came up with.
Looking back I consider the anti-establishment – politically correct – counter culture movement to have begun around 61 years ago in 1960 and I believe that the cancel culture of the 21st century has grown directly from that anti-establishment – politically correct – counter culture movement that began in 1960. That said; 61 years is 25% of the 245 years of the United States existence and I consider 61 years of cultural morphing to be a long period of time even when compared to the overall existence of the USA. If I break this down further, it’s been 21 years since the turn of the century that I mentioned above and that is roughly 9% of our 245 years of the United States existence. Then breaking it down a bit further, it’s been 13 years since the year 2008 that I mentioned above and that’s about 5% of the United States existence.
The anti-establishment – politically correct – counter culture movement may have seemed dormant on the surface for periods of time between 1960 and 2021 but it never went away, it was festering below the surface infecting our education system across the USA and brainwashing our youth into becoming good anti-establishment – politically correct – counter culture – cancel culture social justice warriors that scraped critical thinking and replaced fact based argumentation with emotional propaganda, innuendo, and outright lies.
There were people that raised the red flags about this movement but these people were shunned and demonized as wackos, the social justice warriors were actively trying to control the narrative way back in the late 1990’s. It’s not so hard to gain a new perspective when looking back at the history of controlling the narrative.
Yes I think we have already passed a major societal tipping point. I think there was a true awaking for the movement mentioned above that caused the movement to rapidly gain traction and become mainstream and that tipping point was 9/11. The movement came boldly out of the shadows and was in the prominent in the foreground by the time candidate Barak Obama formally called the movement (social “progressives”) to action in 2008 with words like “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”. Tell me truthfully, how does everyone like the results of Obama’s calling the movement to action?
This makes me think that, Curmie’s suggestions otherwise, the entire teaching system has major problems. From kindergarten to university.
jvb
I find this woman suffering any adverse consequences absolutely impossible. She’s just spouting standard issue “anti-racism” cant. This is the kind of stuff that has won that Ibram X. Kendi (a completely made up name) a super cushy position at BU. This is the kind of baloney that’s being pushed by every dean of diversity at every college and university in the country. It’s hardly even newsworthy. I wouldn’t be surprised if most faculty are required to sign an affidavit saying what she says as a condition of being able to teach. The American academy is a dumpster fire. I don’t think there’s any tipping point that can turn it around.
I’d like to hear Curmie’s take on this as he’s on the ground in the academy.
Yes, exactly — this is straight out of Diangelo’s “White Fragility” and is the required groveling statement by any white teacher who hopes to survive. The only people who will face repercussions are the students who voiced objections (if they are white, that is).
Thanks d_d.
It almost sound like an oath of anti-racism.
Place your left hand on Das Kapital and the Testament of Hope, raise your right hand. Now repeat after me:
“I (say your name) am a Caucasian cisgender (give your gender) individual who is of European heritage. While I did not request the many privileges in my life, I am aware that I have benefited from them and will continue to benefit from them whether I choose to or not. I recognize that this is an injustice. I swear (or affirm) that I am and will continue to work on a daily basis to be be not just not racist but antiracist, to confront the innate racism within myself that is the reality and history of white people, and to dedicate my life to the nonviolent dismantling of white supremacy, colonialism, and patriarchy. I swear (or affirm) to be better every day. I swear (or affirm) to transform every day. Every day I will invite my white family, friends and colleagues to join me on this journey, and I will disassociate myself from those who refuse to do so. I swear (or affirm) I will take no racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise oppressive action, I will speak no racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise oppressive word, nor will I tolerate those who do. I will apologize every day for the inexcusable horrors visited on my black, indigenous, of color, LGBTQ, and otherwise different brothers and sisters by our shared history. This I promise in the name and memory of George Floyd, of Martin Luther King, of Frederick Douglass, and all others who have given their lives to this struggle.”
Well, in the absence of hair shirts and self-flagellation, it is kind of hard to accept this behavior as anything other than empty words. But, what do I know? Perhaps she has purchased an indulgence.
-Jut
My final tipping point on the academy came during the St. George Floyd false narrative. The president of my college was assailed by a woman graduate of color (doubtless a former scholarship student, and, oh by the way, the single mother of a current scholarship daughter of color at the college) for issuing some platitudes about St. George that did not include a specific statement that black lives matter, in those very words. The weasel president (from Minnesota, the spawning ground of all good weak-kneed lefties) folded like a pup tent suit, said the magic words, and named the woman graduate of color as the president of the college’s alumni association.
I’d say the American academy is under the large thumb of the cadre of black faculty and administrators who are keeping metaphorical guns pointed at the heads of the administrations and faculties, and there is absolutely no resistance forthcoming from their captives. There is merely eager compliance, capitulation and accommodation in the false hope of achieving peace in our time.
Oh my goodness, I think your Chamberlain reference at the end was perfect, and one I hadn’t considered. And just like 1938, that thought process is probably the prelude to a conflagration that will be violent and painful.
My longtime Usenet ally, Christopher Charles Morton, made this observation.
http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=379564&p=4508084#post4508084
It is going to be someone no one expects to emerge, there is a parallel but it evokes the likelihood that it will end badly. The Austrian fellow. Find another in the folks from the Committees of Correspondence, but will lightning strike twice? Are we that blessed?
“There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.”
—Otto Von Bismarck