Toxic Victimhood

By John Stossel
Are you a racist?
All white people are, says "White Fragility" author Robin DiAngelo.
Race explains everything, says bestselling "How to Be an Antiracist" author Ibram X. Kendi. "Every policy is either racist or anti-racist."
Kendi's and DiAngelo's books are now recommended reading at schools, corporations and in the military. Both authors command high speaking fees.
Isn't that good? It's important to educate people about racism.
But John McWhorter, author of "Woke Racism," says, "The way we're being encouraged to think, hurts Black people."
In my new video, he gives this example: "There is a disproportionate number of suspensions of Black boys in schools for violence. (Kendi says) that must be racist ... a stereotype of Black men as violent. But ... the data makes it very clear that Black boys do commit more violent acts in schools. If you don't suspend those boys, the violence is being perpetrated (mostly) against other Black kids."
Kendi's positions "leave Black kids in the lurch," says McWhorter.
Kendi and DiAngelo call most every disparity between races "systemic racism."
White people live longer than Black people? Racism.
Income inequality? Racism.
White and Asian students get higher test scores? Systemic racism.
In the past, says McWhorter, civil rights leaders asked, "How can we make it so that Black kids are better at the test?" Now they want to "eliminate the tests" because they "make Black people unhappy."
This just makes the problem worse, he says, because it encourages people to think of themselves as victims. If you believe you are a helpless victim of racism, why study?
The idea that it is "unreasonable to expect Black kids to use analytical thinking in a rigorous way. ... This is a new way of thinking. It's a religious way of thinking."
Blaming racism for low test scores ignores "aspects of Black culture that don't stress getting good at those tests -- the way that South Asian immigrant culture clearly does."
Nigerian and Caribbean culture, too. People from those places are often just as dark or darker than Black Americans. They "come here and deal with the same racism that everybody else does. Yet they make the best of the worst. That means: so could Black Americans."
The media label Kendi and DiAngelo "leading scholars," but their arguments are rarely tested in the marketplace of ideas. Both refuse to debate opponents. McWhorter calls their work far from scholarly -- "more like a toxic religion, a cult."
In fact, he adds, "Kendi is dim."
I argue that, even if Kendi is "dim," he's winning hearts and minds. Companies now donate millions to his Center for Antiracist Research. His book sales and success with students show that his arguments convince people.
McWhorter disagrees. "As we come out of the pandemic and we're less bored, less anxious, I suspect that a lot of the extremes that we saw are going to start retreating because there's going to be pushback."
The idea of anti-racism is "charismatic," he adds. "It makes it seem like you've got one answer to a bunch of things that look disparate and difficult. But all disparities between white people and Black people are not due to something unfair that was driven by whites."
I'm puzzled that DiAngelo's and Kendi's message is so popular today, when life for racial minorities seems to be better than ever before. With some exceptions, there's less racism, more intermarriage, more opportunities for minorities, etc.
"Why now?" I ask.
There's an advantage to being identified as a victim, says McWhorter. "An emotional balm to be treated as this victimized person. The problem is that it's anti-Black."
Anti-white too.
If the "systemic racism" cult wins, says McWhorter, "we all lose."
[John Stossel is author of "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media." For other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.]
COPYRIGHT 2021 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.
Are you a racist?
All white people are, says "White Fragility" author Robin DiAngelo.
Race explains everything, says bestselling "How to Be an Antiracist" author Ibram X. Kendi. "Every policy is either racist or anti-racist."
Kendi's and DiAngelo's books are now recommended reading at schools, corporations and in the military. Both authors command high speaking fees.
Isn't that good? It's important to educate people about racism.
But John McWhorter, author of "Woke Racism," says, "The way we're being encouraged to think, hurts Black people."
In my new video, he gives this example: "There is a disproportionate number of suspensions of Black boys in schools for violence. (Kendi says) that must be racist ... a stereotype of Black men as violent. But ... the data makes it very clear that Black boys do commit more violent acts in schools. If you don't suspend those boys, the violence is being perpetrated (mostly) against other Black kids."
Kendi's positions "leave Black kids in the lurch," says McWhorter.
Kendi and DiAngelo call most every disparity between races "systemic racism."
White people live longer than Black people? Racism.
Income inequality? Racism.
White and Asian students get higher test scores? Systemic racism.
In the past, says McWhorter, civil rights leaders asked, "How can we make it so that Black kids are better at the test?" Now they want to "eliminate the tests" because they "make Black people unhappy."
This just makes the problem worse, he says, because it encourages people to think of themselves as victims. If you believe you are a helpless victim of racism, why study?
The idea that it is "unreasonable to expect Black kids to use analytical thinking in a rigorous way. ... This is a new way of thinking. It's a religious way of thinking."
Blaming racism for low test scores ignores "aspects of Black culture that don't stress getting good at those tests -- the way that South Asian immigrant culture clearly does."
Nigerian and Caribbean culture, too. People from those places are often just as dark or darker than Black Americans. They "come here and deal with the same racism that everybody else does. Yet they make the best of the worst. That means: so could Black Americans."
The media label Kendi and DiAngelo "leading scholars," but their arguments are rarely tested in the marketplace of ideas. Both refuse to debate opponents. McWhorter calls their work far from scholarly -- "more like a toxic religion, a cult."
In fact, he adds, "Kendi is dim."
I argue that, even if Kendi is "dim," he's winning hearts and minds. Companies now donate millions to his Center for Antiracist Research. His book sales and success with students show that his arguments convince people.
McWhorter disagrees. "As we come out of the pandemic and we're less bored, less anxious, I suspect that a lot of the extremes that we saw are going to start retreating because there's going to be pushback."
The idea of anti-racism is "charismatic," he adds. "It makes it seem like you've got one answer to a bunch of things that look disparate and difficult. But all disparities between white people and Black people are not due to something unfair that was driven by whites."
I'm puzzled that DiAngelo's and Kendi's message is so popular today, when life for racial minorities seems to be better than ever before. With some exceptions, there's less racism, more intermarriage, more opportunities for minorities, etc.
"Why now?" I ask.
There's an advantage to being identified as a victim, says McWhorter. "An emotional balm to be treated as this victimized person. The problem is that it's anti-Black."
Anti-white too.
If the "systemic racism" cult wins, says McWhorter, "we all lose."
[John Stossel is author of "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media." For other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.]
COPYRIGHT 2021 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.
Recent
Archive
2022
January
Cartoon 01/03/22Cartoon 01/04/22Can Peace Come to the Hood?Moving ForwardThe Democrats' Exploitation of January 6 Gives Away Their GameCartoon 01/05/22Harry Reid, Death of a 'Statesman'? Cue the LaughterCartoon 01/06/22The Biggest Drug Dealers in the Black Community.Cartoon 01/07/22Manhattan's New DA Is Protecting Criminals Instead of Their VictimsLucy(ed) Again?Cartoon 01/10/22“Voter rights legislation” is a demand for government-backed systemic voter disenfranchisement!The perversion of JusticeCartoon 01/11/22The Freedom to Cheat Act: The Radical Left’s Latest Attempt to Undermine Our DemocracyMoney for IndoctrinationThe Great Re-Sorting Is HereCartoon 01/12/22Big Tech Thugs and Their AlliesCartoon 01/13/22Cartoon 01/14/22Cartoon 01/16/22The King is DeadCartoon 01/17/22Biden's Racist IronyThe Glory of God in the CosmosCartoon 01/18/22Evil FloridaThe Quest to Destroy WorkCartoon 01/19/21MLK Day: Equal Rights Versus Equal ResultsCartoon 01/20/22Cartoon 01/21/22Cartoon 01/23/22Cartoon 01/24/22Sick CityThe COVID-19 Impact of Expressive IndividualismCartoon 01/26/22Biden's Election HypocrisyCartoon 01/27/22Conservatives, If You Are Going to Talk to the Black Community, You Need to Have Something Truly Conservative to SayNo, Requiring Voter ID Is Not ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ And It’s Offensive To Say ThatCartoon 01/28/22Cartoon 01/30/22
February
Cartoon 02/01/22Black History as American HistoryInflationWhoopi Goldberg Says the Holocaust Wasn't About Targeting Jews. Here's Why That Matters.Cartoon 02/02/22Los Angeles Times Slams 'Vitriol in Politics'-- After Hiring Vitriolic ColumnistsCartoon 02/03/22Cartoon 02/04/22Cartoon 02/06/22Cartoon 02/07/22The Attack on Joe Rogan Is an Attack on DissentGroveling to ChinaCartoon 02/09/22A Tale of Top IS Leaders Killed Under Two AdministrationsCartoon 02/11/22Cartoon 02/10/22It’s Time to Sack the Rooney RuleBlacks Continue to be Sold Out by Media Appointed Black Leaders.Cartoon 02/13/22Cartoon 02/14/22Alert to Corporations Embracing Black Lives Matter (BLM): Renounce BLM Now!Epiphanies of a Colored PersonCartoon 02/15/22Canada Goes TyrannicalCanceling JoeCartoon 02/16/22The Great Joe Rogan N-Word ControversyCartoon 02/18/22Cartoon 02/20/22Cartoon 02/22/22The War On Parents ContinuesThe Woke AMACartoon 02/23/22GOP 'Gerrymandering' is 'Racist' -- Obama-mandering is Just PoliticsCartoon 02/24/22Black History Month: A Tempered Hurrah Pt 1Cartoon 02/28/22Cartoon 02/27/22Black History Month: A Tempered Hurrah - Part II
March
Cartoon 03/01/22Putin Wakes up the Western OstrichMy Dream State of the UnionCartoon 03/02/22Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is a Generational TalentUkraine: Putin's Misadventure Unites the WestCartoon 03/03/22Cartoon 03/04/22Cartoon 03/06/22Cartoon 03/07/22Environmentalist NIMBYism Means Foreign Policy DisasterIt's questionable whether Biden understands American valuesCowards and LeadersCartoon 03/09/22Putin's War on Ukraine: A Graver Time of Reckoning
1 Comment
All of these fools that are running around saying saying that all white people are automatically racist should remember three things.
1. If you really and truly believe what The Bible says about God forming life in the womb then when you call someone racist because of their skin tone you're automatically accusing God of being evil. After all if God can create whatever He likes the way He likes it then by definition if you're saying He created something wrong then that makes Him evil. You try telling Him that on Judgement Day and see how that goes.
2. You give white people no incentive whatsoever to change. After all if anything and everything that a white person says and does and thinks is automatically evil and racist because of their skin tone then why should they attempt to change anything in their behavior or their life?
3. It's been my experience that the people who whine and cry the most about racists are usually the biggest racists themselves. It's just that they're too hypocritical to admit it.