Gee, it’s nice to have the smug, biased, poisonous Soledad O’Brien to kick around again. The unethical broadcast journalist of color who left her news show-hosting role with CNN in 2013 to cash in with podcasting and other syndicated ventures that spared the general American public by keeping her toxic influence limited, sent that outrageous tweet above in response to an Asian American women’s expressed satisfaction that college applicants who looked like her could no longer be legally handicapped when they apply to educational institutions.
It’s reassuring to know O’Brien hasn’t changed; after all, so little seems reliable or permanent any more. Her offensive and obnoxious tweet also neatly illustrates one important side benefit of the Supreme Court’s opinion last week striking down racially biased admissions policies, aka “affirmative action,” at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The reactions to the ruling during the Woke World freakout are revealing so much about so many of its ethics dunces and villains. We should all be grateful.
“Someone has hacked your account and is publicly endorsing racial discrimination,” chided National Review writer Charles W. Cooke. No, that tweet is pure O’Brien, and typical of the wailing affirmative action mourners as well. Believe these people when they tell you who they are. The ignoramuses who liked or passed along O’Brien’s tweet also outed themselves.
“This will ensure all white elite colleges everywhere. Congrats,” wrote a blue-check named Eric, a racist apparently, who believes that whites are intrinsically intellectually superior. Another blue-check of stunning ignorance wrote, “No, they didn’t end it. At only two universities they have to redo their AA programs. The Supreme Court didn’t say anything about other universities or universities in general. Sorry you got your hopes up. But look at the bright side. She can still apply to other universities.”
From the bottom half of the Woke World evolutionary scale to the upper side, we have the dissent in the case by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who revealed herself as a supporter of racial discrimination if it benefits the right race—hers. Chief Justice Roberts quite correctly pronounced this as disturbing, but at least now he knows what kind of hypocrite he will be serving with.
“Most troubling of all is what [her] dissent…defend[s]: a judiciary that picks winners and losers based on the color of their skin,” the Chief wrote. “While the dissent would certainly not permit university programs that discriminated against black and Latino applicants, it is perfectly willing to let the programs here continue. In its view, this Court is supposed to tell state actors when they have picked the right races to benefit.”
Bingo. So much for expecting fealty to the Constitution and racial fairness from President Biden’s diversity hire.
Speaking of diversity, here’s Justice Sotomayor again revealing her fondness for cant over reality in her dissent, defaulting to a pure “we’re on the right side of history” rant devoid of law, reason or evidence:
Notwithstanding this Court’s actions, however, society’s progress toward equality cannot be permanently halted. Diversity is now a fundamental American value, housed in our varied and multicultural American community that only continues to grow. The pursuit of racial diversity will go on. Although the Court has stripped out almost all uses of race in college admissions, universities can and should continue to use all available tools to meet society’s needs for diversity in education. Despite the Court’s unjustified exercise of power, the opinion today will serve only to highlight the Court’s own impotence in the face of an America whose cries for equality resound.
And here’s what former U.S. Senator Al Franken retweeted last week:
As with last year’s abortion decision striking down a blatantly unconstitutional as well as unethical ruling that had been allowed to stand too long, the screamers, hypocrites and protesters condemning SCOTUS for reaffirming the Constitution, and for holding that racial discrimination is really and truly prohibited by both the Constitution and U.S. law, are showing us just how unprincipled and untrustworthy they are.
Well, good, and thanks. It’s valuable information.
Added: I just saw professional race-baiter Jemele Hill’s imitation of Soledad in her own despicable tweet responding to Chu:
Also added: I don’t think we need Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s epically idiotic response to the SCOTUS decisions to discern that she is a civically ignorant, aspiring totalitarian demagogue, since she has provided so much evidence already, but if we didn’t know this about her, AOC’s telling Dana Bash this on CNN’s “State of the Union” today would settle the issue:
“If … Chief Justice John Roberts will not come before Congress for an investigation voluntarily, I believe that we should be considering subpoenas. We should be considering investigations. There also must be impeachment on the table. We have a broad level of tools to deal with misconduct, overreach, and abuse of power. And the Supreme Court has not been receiving the adequate oversight necessary in order to preserve their own legitimacy.”
Ethics Alarms 
Al Franken got his political balls chopped off years ago. Screw him and his family.
Justice Jackson’s dissent focuses a great deal on using statistics to illustrate disparities between groups, and invites us interpret every disparity as an injustice.
I have to wonder, what’s the major difference between that view, and the various people throughout history who’ve looked with envy on prosperous Jews, and concluded they could not possibly have come by it honestly?
Asians are today’s Jews.
Many have noticed that Harvard’s treatment of Asians mirrors how the school discriminated against Jews even into the early Sixties by stereotyping them.
Like the Jews, Asians are just too damned good at math and finance. After all, the Chinese invented money and the modern economy. We certainly can’t have them running things. So ironic lefty Jews are at the forefront of the mistreatment and marginalization of Asians. “Asians are just too nerdy. They’re not cultured. You know, like all those terrible Chinese and Korean pianists.” What a joke.
What’s between those things and “white privilege?”
I’m currently working on an article about how the affirmative action conversations should be handled. It should be done as soon as I can get rid of this tension headache.
It infuriates me to no end that the average human is educated to conduct a level of political discourse no higher than “I see a problem, and I demand we implement this bad idea to fix it because at first glance it only harms people I resent!” versus “I oppose your bad idea and I will put zero effort into exploring alternative solutions to your problem that both of us would accept.”
Maintaining a healthy civilization does not take a genius; it takes many people with the basic paradigms of an actual grown-up. Just because the population involved in a situation exceeds Dunbar’s number doesn’t mean adult humans can go back to bickering like children.
EC
It seems to me that we need to define the problem before we begin to discuss ways to deal with that problem. Is the problem that systemic racism continues to prevent certain minorities from achieving in a merit-oriented society or is the problem of achievement rooted elsewhere?
If AA is no longer needed to address racism in education and is being used as a tool to advance an idea that diversity is socially important to maximize some collective good such as social cohesion or productive output, then we must be able to scientifically prove that using the diversity strategy will help us achieve the goal of social cohesion or productive output. If we cannot prove that it will, then AA is a solution looking for a problem. If proven, then all segmented groups must practice the concept of promoting diversity which would effectively require the elimination of special interest groups. That raises the problem of individual rights of freedom of association.
If the goal is diversity for the sole purpose of advancing discovery through experiential events, then it stands to reason that race is only tangentially related to diversity of thought. Does anyone truly believe that all whites, blacks, or Asians have the same experiences growing up? How can Obama’s girls relate to a kid of a white farm hand in Mississippi or the children of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees. Even in families the second child usually has a far different perspective on life than the first born. If race plays a significant role in achieving diversity it would have to be assumed that the lived experience is virtually identical to all, and it would be necessary to have an equal number of each race involved so as to prevent one race from dominating and out voting all other ideas.
Maybe, just maybe we put the cart before the horse with AA. We have to ask ourselves why Johnny or LaShonda cannot read or do math at a 4th grade level. Is it because we decided that social promotion in grade school was more important than actual mastery of the subject matter?
Chris,
Great thoughts…and thank you for writing rather complex ideas in ways that people like me can digest. It’s much appreciated!
Thank you Joel
Another thought came to mind later. Do these elite institutions rely on AA to maintain an “elite” ranking.
If race is eliminated and some other measure of adversity that cannot be tied specifically to one race. Admitting students based on that criterion would have to lower entry requirements for all. At some point there would be an equilibration of entry requirements across all post-secondary schools and that would wipe out any brand value of prestige schools. AA effectively allows the schools to lower requirements for one politically favored group while maintaining its brand.
Addendum:
Trying to achieve “equity” while also maintaining the existence of a social hierarchy via educational pedigree is delusional.
These administrators think long term and are not delusional.
You’re right: defining the problem is the first two steps in the reconciliation process. (First understanding one’s own values and concerns, and second understanding others’ values and concerns.) I think you’ll like the article. It dispenses with the peripheral arguments (like the maximization of ethnic diversity as an end in and of itself) and dives into what people actually care about.
And here’s the article! Anyone who has an opinion on affirmative action one way or the other and wants other people to understand, here’s a free sample of what Visionary Vocabularies can do for you. Let me know if you want to learn how to promote constructive conversations on any topic! https://ginnungagapfoundation.wordpress.com/2023/07/04/midmorning-zone-approaching-arguments-about-affirmative-action/
Captain Obvious here, but…
Soledad O’Brien is a racist hack.
Al Franken is a disgraced, has-been racist hack.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an immensely stupid racist hack.
This is what happens when those three – and all others of their ilk – decide that it’s necessary to categorize “Americans” into “black Americans” and “white Americans” and “brown Americans” and “yellow Americans” and whatever other color Americans they can come up with. Or it’s “male Americans” and “female Americans”. Or it’s “straight Americans” and “gay Americans”. Or it’s…
We don’t have one Constitution for each group of Americans based on their genetically-determined level of melanin or their genetically-determined chromosomes. We have one Constitution for all Americans, regardless of genetics. The Supreme Court does not (and absolutely should not) look at genetics when determining how law stacks up against the Constitution.
A university – or a business or a bus or a drinking fountain – that gave preferential treatment to “white Americans” over others would be rightfully seen as discriminatory. It’s equally discriminatory to give preferential treatment to those of a different skin color.
Once again, I raise my glass to the Democratic Party for the striking down of the racist Affirmative Action. Your decision to nominate a completely abhorrent candidate for President in 2016 made this Court possible. Regardless of what the Mobile Mannequin that is President Biden has done, we’ll always have Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and for that, I thank you!
Jack wrote:
The reactions to the ruling during the Woke World freakout are revealing so much about so many of its ethics dunces and villains. We should all be grateful.
Exactly. That’s why free speech is so great — it not only allows people to enlighten others with penetrating insights, but also allows the idiots, reflexive partisans, ambitious totalitarians and other persons with views intended to bring down our republic to expose themselves for exactly that.
I never get tired of people like “AOC” proclaiming that Supreme Court decisions are “impeachable” and demonstrating an unrelenting hostility to our Constitutional checks and balances. Nobody paying attention should have any trouble figuring out who the villains are by the very words they speak. O’brien is just a low-grade intellect who should be doing anything other than purporting to inform the public. At least she’s just a talking head and not an actual elected member of government.
And here’s what former U.S. Senator Al Franken retweeted last week:
Ah, come on Jack, that’s just satire. Right? Right? Yeah, I don’t think so either, but Franken never had operative ethics alarms in his life, so I guess we have to default to the Julie Principle.
Yeah, “expertise” from O’Brien, Franken, and Cortez doesn’t really stack up to Hamilton, Madison, and Jay.
They might be more comparable to Moe, Larry, and Curly.
AOC better beware. Robespierre, Trotsky and Pol Pot all thought that they were going to live out their lives as hanging judges. The first got the chop, the second was assassinated, and the third fled into the jungle a Mercedes limousine where he was reduced to gem smuggling until he died. Hanging judges tend to end up in the dock themselves and she isn’t on the level of any of those guys. She is pretty close to being a legend in her own mind to the point of being thought of as delusional. Come to think of it, we haven’t heard much from congresswoman lawn mower (i.e pull-start) lately, have we?
Congressional oversight of the Supreme Court. Now there’s a concept whose time has come. The mind boggles.
Can we no state as fact that AOC has not upheld her oath of office by initiating a potential conspiracy to violate the Constitution. Attempting to usurp the Constitutional authority of a separate and equal branch of government is nothing short of promoting an insurrection .
Over at “The Nation”, Elie Mystal has made the argument that ‘mediocre white kids’ are so far above the best black and hispanic kids that they don’t have to worry about any competition. There is no way that the best black and hispanic kids will ever reach the level of mediocre white kids or below average Asian kids no matter how good their education or what their parents do. Black and hispanic kids are apparently inherently inferior intellectually according to this writer. It is funny, sad, or infuriating that blacks and hispanics cheer when people say this?
And ironically, Mystal, an affirmative action Harvard grad if there ever was one, supports his own argument every time he opens his mouth or writes a word.
Jack, I tried to post my thoughts to this thread earlier, but both attempts got Braves-fanned. If you are able to recover one of them, that would be awesome…though I can’t say I have added much in the way of new material to the discussion.
Thanks in advance!
It’s up. Apparently WP is very protective of Captain Obvious…
Al Franken? Where do these defrocked politicians get off spouting such disgusting, anti-American obscenities in public?
Al Franken? One of the most unfunniest, alleged commodians of all time. He was never once funny IN IS LIFE.
Al Franken? The only ass he ever got was inappropriate or if the victim was asleep.
Al Franken? What a turd. You’d think he would go way off the grid, change his identity and hide from shame. But, no.
Al Franken? At least Keith Olbermann, another smug assnozzle, made me laugh at times.[Oddibe “Young again” McDowell, Carlos “One if by land, two if by sea, three if” Baerga]
Al Franken? How the hell…? Not sure what goes on in the great state of MN that they identify and then elect such annoying representatives. Then again, who the hell am I to talk, being a PA resident.
I apologize for my lack of decorum, but these types bring out the worst in me.
Happy Independence Day and God Bless America.