Listen above to Newsom, the incompetent governor of California, as he engagingly insults a roomful of African Americans. Promoting his Presidential campaign-launching memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” Newsom was asked about his dyslexia and his personal experiences that voters could relate to (the old “he understands people like me” trope that Bill Clinton exploited so well). He responded by describing his struggles with dyslexia and somehow managed to sound like he regarded his low SAT scores as a badge of honor, telling the almost all black audience: “I’m like you. I’m no better than you.”
Already there are many discussions of this—what was it? A gaffe? A canny bit of self-deprecation? Smoking gun patronizing?—on the web and social media. To me, and I admit I’m mired in confirmation bias when I look at anything Newsom does through the lens of his frightening EA dossier—I mean, just look at that mess!— I classify the remark as pure res ipsa loquitur: the thing speaks for itself. Newsom blundered into expressing the attitude progressives and Democrats have had toward American blacks for decades. They believe that it is a voting bloc that is easily fooled and exploited, and, as a group, gullible and not too swift on the uptake. That’s Newsom, and that’s the Democratic Party that he wants to lead.
Ethics Alarms 
You nailed it, good sir!
Newsome is saying the quiet part out loud, and this is what DEI-supporting progressives have believed for years…decades…centuries actually, back when many of their predecessors were slave-owners in the 19th Century: that blacks are second-class humans with second-rate brains, lacking the intelligence to make something of themselves without help from “whitey.”
It’s pathetic and disgusting.
Try saying “I am like you. I’m a 960 SAT guy. I can’t read.” to someone like Condi Rice…or Vikings Hall-of-Famer Alan Page…or Barack Obama…or Denzel Washington…or any of the countless other African Americans with accomplishments that would put Newsome to red-faced shame.
Sorry Jack, I’m kind of just repeating your frustration, but dang…
I call those “Grawwwk! I agree!” moments.
Newsom, in the process of pandering to the crowd, accidentally said the quiet part loud.
Hey, what’s white and goes Oob! Oob! ?
A dyslexic ghost! 👻
I like that one.
I think a much more racist, condescending tell is when the Democrats argue voter ID laws are discriminatory because black people are incapable of getting IDs. They seem to think there are still black people being born in dirt floored cabins in the rural South where vicious white health department employees refuse to issue “niggrahs” birth certificates per the orders of Boss Hogg, the county sheriff. Of course, in today’s South, most of the government employees and sheriffs are black.
“They seem to think there are still black people being born in dirt floored cabins in the rural South where vicious white health department employees refuse to issue “niggrahs” birth certificates per the orders of Boss Hogg, the county sheriff. Of course, in today’s South, most of the government employees and sheriffs are black.”
Well, that’s essentially the Systemic Racism narrative they are running with even if they don’t explicitly use your description.
The real reason that the Democrats are against voter ID is that it allows for illegal immigrants to vote, which benefits the Democrats.
Did Gavin Newsom provide evidence with his speech that he is to dumb to become the next President of the USA? Just asking.
Democrats have been telling since the Johnson administration that Republicans are racist. Gavin Newsom’s speech indicates that that is all projection; the patronizing attitude of affluent white liberals towards blacks show time after time that they believe that white people are smarter than black people. That is why affirmative action has been supported by white liberals; this program is based on a deep seated belief that black people are intellectually inferior, and need to be assisted by benevolent white people at every inch of the way to enjoy educational and professional success.
So now let me ask the taboo question: is it possible that Gavin Newsom is actually right? Are white people on average smarter than black people? The reaction of Gavin Newsom’s public seems to confirm that perception; they either agree with him on this, or they are just too dumb to understand the implications of Newsom’s statements.
Is there perhaps some scientific research on intelligence that gives clarity on this matter? Actually there is: in 1994 Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray published a book “The Bell Curve. Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life”. This book indicated that intelligence is partly genetic, and that therefore genetics cannot be ruled in explaining differences in IQ between different demographic groups. This book is so notorious that proper scholarly review and debate is impossible, and Charles Murray was chased off the campus of Middlebury University in Vermont by a violent mob in 2017 before he could give a lecture. So let’s reach the tentative observation that scientifically the matter of difference in intelligence between the races is not settled.
The statements of Gavin Newsom, and the support for affirmative action and DEI make me believe white liberals secretly believe the main theses of the Bell Curve. However this is a taboo belief that fills them with unbearable white guilt and anxiety, and needs to be repressed at all cost. Psychologists may call this phenomenon reaction formation; this is a psychological defense mechanism where an individual unconsciously replaces an anxiety-producing or unacceptable impulse with its exact opposite, often exhibiting exaggerated, over-the-top behavior. It acts as a shield for the ego against uncomfortable emotions, such as showing excessive kindness to someone actually disliked. Another example is a firebrand evangelic pastor who often gives thunderous sermons against sexual immorality while secretly soliciting prostitutes. The Democrat’s invocations against racism are like that, in my opinion.
So let me ask the question again: are black people on average dumber than white people? I like to believe that I am not; however mu skeptical and agnostic attitude propels me to say that I do not know the answer. But when I look at the squalor in black neighborhoods, the low graduation rates, the crime rates, the welfare dependency, and the propensity of black people to vote as a block for the same failing politicians and parties decade after decade because those politicians succeed in race baiting, then I am tempted to answer the question in the affirmative. So I would recommend black people to prove themselves smart by voting slimy pols like Gavin Newsom out of office. If not, call me indifferent to the black plight: you get what you vote for and you deserve it good and hard.
All data suggest that on average, Asian’s have higher IQ scores than whites, and whites have higher IQ scores than blacks, but since IQ scores “measure whatever it is that IQ scores measure” and not intelligence, whatever THAT is, the data is useless and even unjustly prejudicial. Individuals matter, not group averages. How would public policy use such averages? It’s like saying that the Brontes on average were brilliant writers, but assuming that Branwell was anything but a jealous, irresponsible hack can’t be sustained on that basis.
I am not a scientist so I do no not want to rebut or affirm the main theses of the Bell Curve. Herrnstein and Murray did argue that IQ scores are more predictive of social and economic success than social class, that IQ is highly inheritable, and that gaps in achievement have both genetic and environmental components. These conclusions are highly controversial and taboo. As I am not a social scientist I prefer to be agnostic on whether IQ correlates with intelligences, and whether blacks are on average less intelligent than whites. These are scientific questions that cannot be answered based on moral preferences.
My first question is what do affluent white liberals like Newsom believe? I think I know the answer to this question, as white liberals habitually treat black people as dumb and easy to manipulate. But Newsom would of course never admit that.
My second question is whether Gavin Newsom has a valid reason to see and treat black people as less intelligent. Given the lack of achievement of blacks compared with whites and Asians, and the willingness of blacks to continue to vote overwhelmingly Democrat despite the failure of Democrat policies to lift them out of poverty I think Gavin Newsom makes a correct political assessment. Gavin Newsom may be unethical, but he is not stupid. And in politics winning is all that matters.
My second question is whether Gavin Newsom has a valid reason to see and treat black people as less intelligent.
Easy: absolutely not.
American blacks continue to suffer from a suffocating burden of cultural; historical, institutional, social, governmental, political, policy and environmental disadvantages and behaviors, including, but not only, the inherent problems of being an obvious minority. For decades, they have also suffered from a death of responsible leadership and and a lack of persuasive and virtuous role models. That does not excuse the social pathogens in the black community, but it does mean that blaming genetic differences is lazy, unfair, and adds one more burden to the list.
Does the black community bear any responsibility for their plight, e.g. by the way they tend to vote? Cynical politicians like Gavin Newsom capitalize on their victim mentality, and are confirmed in their low esteem of blacks election after election.
Is a scam artist right in regarding Grandma as a sucker and a bit dumb? As long as Grandma keeps making over money of him, he is not incorrect in his assessment of Grandma, immoral as he is. The same applies to Democrat pols like Newson, and the black electorate.
Am I mistaken, but isn’t the “I’m just a normal guy” tactic rather stupid? Do we want someone who is just “a normal guy” as President, or do we want someone who is exceptional? I understand a candidate wanting to convey he can relate to his audience, but relatable is different from having glowing credentials for being president. I know I want a leader, someone who inspires me to follow him, someone whom I can trust to solve problems and keep the nation together. I’m not sure I want someone who advertises being below average running the country. Sort of like I don’t want a knucklehead in the top office, either.
Especially considering that “I am just like you – a man of the people” is mostly malarky. Newsome is the son of wealthy parents and is Nancy Pelosi’s nephew. That guy is hardly a work-a-day dude schlepping to make ends meet.
jvb
He finished up by assuring them that “‘poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids”, and treating them to a fried chicken and watermelon buffet he had catered.
One thing Greasy-G did prove is that HE really isn’t all that bright.