Thoughts on our ruling class monoculture

  And on what to do about it. Plus a request for further ideas.(substack.com)

"Our modern ruling class is peculiar.  One of its many peculiarities is its penchant for fads, and what can only be called mass hysteria.  Repeatedly, we see waves in which something that nobody much cared about suddenly comes to dominate ruling class discourse.  Almost in synchrony, a wide range of institutions begin to talk about it, and to be preoccupied by it, even as every leading figure virtue-signals regarding this subject which, only a month or two previously, hardly any of them even knew about, much less cared about.

"There are several factors behind this, but one of the most important, I think, is that our ruling class is a monoculture.". . .

. . ."Today’s ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters — speaking the “in” language — serves as a badge of identity. . ."

The diversity masquerade

Our ruling class is particularly vulnerable to mind viruses for several reasons.  First, it is a monoculture, so that what is persuasive to one member is likely to be persuasive to many.

The New Criterion

On the conformity behind the mask.

"We have often remarked in this space on the great irony that while the word “diversity” is repeated everywhere, its opposite, a stultifying homogeneity, is the reality that is actually enforced “on the ground.” 

"Our educational institutions offer the classic example. Is there any self-respecting college or university that doesn’t tout its commitment to “diversity” these days? You cannot scan any standard college’s promotional literature, let alone set foot on its campus, without being inundated by assurances that diversity is its most cherished value, the cynosure to which every other pursuit is subordinated.

"But when you look at what the colleges really teach and preach (and how much of their teaching is in fact only a secular preaching, that is, a species of indoctrination), it turns out that rigid conformity is the order of the day. We used to titter that there were people whose title was some variation of “dean of diversity.” “You’re kidding, right?” was the response. “What does a dean of diversity do?”

"No one is laughing now. Last month, we commented on how an associate dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion comported herself at Stanford Law School, joining in with student protestors to upstage and denounce Judge Kyle Duncan. That incident, captured on video, immediately went viral on the internet, embarrassing Stanford authorities and precipitating a certain amount of handwringing from the citadels of wokeness across the country. Will that pushback yield any meaningful change? We doubt it. Despite the browbeating, the woke consensus continues its reign undaunted if not quite unopposed.". . .

American Universities Have Lost Their Prestige | National Review

 Victor Davis Hanson

Today’s universities and colleges bear little if any resemblance to postwar higher education.

A man walks through Georgetown University's campus

"Nothing is stranger than the contemporary American university.

"Not long ago, Americans used to idolize their universities. Indeed, in science, math, engineering, medicine, and business, many of these meritocratic departments and schools remain among the top-ranked in the world.

"Top-notch higher education explains much of the current scientific, technological, and commercial excellence of the United States.

"After World War II — won in part because of superior American scientific research, production, and logistics — a college degree became a prerequisite for a successful career. The GI Bill enabled some 8 million returning vets to go to college. Most graduated to good jobs.

"The university from the late 1940s to 1960 was a rich resource of continuing education. It introduced the world’s great literature, from Homer to Tolstoy, to the American middle classes.

"But today’s universities and colleges bear little if any resemblance to post-war higher education. Even during the tumultuous 1960s, when campuses were plagued by radical protests and periodic violence, there was still institutionalized free speech. An empirical college curriculum mostly survived the chaos of the ’60s.

"But it is gone now." . . .

REPORT: Rupert Murdoch Held Secret Meeting With Zelenskyy Before Tucker Firing

 Trending Politics  "The owner of Fox News and his son, a top deputy, held two previously undisclosed meetings with Ukraine’s president shortly before firing host Tucker Carlson – who is vehemently critical of the U.S. sending aid to the Ukrainians.

"Semafor broke the news that Fox Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan allegedly met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy and held two separate calls to discuss the ongoing war and the death of a Fox journalist killed in action. While Carlson, who has vocally opposed efforts to transfer billions of dollars in foreign aid to the country, was not mentioned on the calls by Zelenskyy, he has been criticized by some of the president’s top deputies.

"Speculation has mounted that some of the former host’s opinions had gotten him in trouble with the Murdoch family, especially as it relates to Ukraine and other foreign policy matters such as U.S. business relationships with China, which has provided tacit support to Russia during its attempt to seize neighboring Ukraine.

"Former President Donald Trump, as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a likely contender for the GOP nomination, have both aligned with the anti-war wing of the GOP where support for Carlson remains high." . . .

Lawrence Jones stepping in for Tucker Carlson at Fox News next week https://t.co/aAgT3Chon0 pic.twitter.com/Oj2e93A93I

— Page Six (@PageSix) April 28, 2023

Democrat apparatchiks try to gaslight voters about Biden -

 

Andrea Widburg  "Since Biden put out a carefully curated video saying he’s going to run again, Democrat operatives have been doing the media rounds trying to gaslight the public into believing that Biden is a resilient, brilliant, energetic, hard-driving leader. They know that true believers and those vulnerable to propaganda, or those cowed into pretending they believe it, make it possible to justify an election outcome even more improbable than that in 2020.

"The movie Gaslight, which debuted 79 years ago, added a new verb to the American vocabulary: “To gaslight.” In the movie, which is set in Victorian London, Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) tries to convince his wife, Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman), that she is crazy so that he can institutionalize her and gain control over her home and fortune. He does this by hiding things and denying events, leaving Paula doubting her grasp on reality. Thus, to gaslight someone doesn’t mean simply lying to them; it means manipulating facts to make the other person doubt reality.

"There’s lots of gaslighting going on in America. The most obvious example, of course, is that we’re being told there is no such thing as biological sex. The facts belie that, but even our children are being told to deny the evidence of their own eyes.". . .

Newt Gingrich warns GOP that Michelle Obama may run for president to avoid ‘kamikaze’ Biden re-election effort - American Thinker

. . ."But getting rid of an incumbent president is difficult, and replacing a black and female running mate is difficult, to say the east. Even worse, the only serious challenger within the party, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is unacceptably hostile to the pharma and corporate interests that supply the endless money that buys victory for the Democrats.

"The need a deus ex machina: an outside actor with the kind of force that changes everything; and Newt Gingrich thinks they may have one in Michelle Obama. Despite her well-known aversion to politics, her recent tour with Bruce Springsteen and Steven Spielberg, appearing before thousands onstage playing a tambourine, has convinced Newt that she may be stepping up to save the party and its totalitarian goals for the next presidential cycle. Partial transcript via Gateway Pundit:". . .