We are living in a Nintendo video game simulation.
Long before there were smartphones and tablets, there was Nintendo’s Game Boy. It was as sleek as a Soviet Lada, but it worked and was a huge improvement over the Atari Pong that I received for my bar mitzvah. Our boys had a couple of Gameboys, and when they were at school, I might grab one with its clunky cartridges and play. I learned something interesting while playing these games. In one of the race games, if I were in first place, they would put all types of obstacles in my way to slow me down and let others pass. If I found my car last, I would drive over multiple boosters until I was right there, leading the pack. I don’t know if this behavior of punishing the successful and pushing forward poor performers is a Japanese thing. But this was DEI in its four-wheeled format.
What is the DEI two-step: push down the successful and raise the undeserving. DEI and all forms of “reverse discrimination” are presented as victimless programs. The reality obviously is just the opposite. Christopher Rufo recently publicized Harvard’s racist and bigoted hiring strategies; the university quickly took down the incriminating information. Harvard, as a quasi-educational institution, has decided to forego successful and smart students and bring in youngins of the right color, last name, and place of origin—even if they require remedial math. Think of that: Harvard now offers remedial math courses. President Trump even mentioned this state of affairs. They have so destroyed their academic program that they would rather bring in academic poor performers rather than the best and the brightest.
This behavior is the opposite of what we had in my day. Anyone who was good was given opportunities to be even better. Most schools had programs for “gifted” students; many schools have dumped the same because they are considered “racist”. After all, the profile of students selected may not be as “representative” as lefty educrats would like. Many schools had AP courses to give the go-getters the opportunity to get college-level training while still in high school. I took every AP course I could, and just after I started at Harvard, I received a letter that if I wanted to graduate in three years, I had enough incoming credit to do so. I called my folks to find out if we had enough dough for four years; they said that we did, so I took the credits in order to give me about a year of elective courses outside of “core” and major requirements. Those courses were the ones that I enjoyed the most.
The idea of advancing the best was true throughout American society. NASA only took the best as astronauts, while sex and color were not concerns. All of the original astronauts were former fighter or test pilots. The one Israeli to fly on the Space Shuttle, Ilan Ramon, had been the youngest F-16 pilot on the attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor. Pushing oneself meant more opportunities to go further. There is no doubt that some individuals advanced while others were left behind. The question is which system worked better: the one of the 1980s, where if you succeeded, you were given more opportunities, or the DEI programs of the 2000s, where those who pushed themselves were told to get lost. In contrast, those who were less capable or successful were pushed forward if they had the right skin color or last name. Look at the failed reign of Claudine Gay at Harvard, and you can answer that one for yourself.
There is no perfect system. I believe that most Americans are people of goodwill who wish for those less fortunate to move forward and have better lives. But those same Americans are seeing the total destruction of DEI programs at universities, within the government, and at companies, large and small. Performance is more important than skin color or where one’s parents were born. We want goods to be well-made. We want leaders who can perform and not invent word salads. We want universities with the best professors teaching the best students to provide America with top-notch future doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. You can either have a performance-rewarding system in which some are left behind, or a DEI program in which one feels good, and the outcome is often disastrous. I doubt that there are many Americans who would choose a doctor for a very dangerous surgery based on his or her sex or color.
One of the many reasons people hate Jews and Israel is perceived success. There are many online who are either rejoicing at or justifying the murder of the two young Israeli diplomats last week. I doubt that the celebrants could describe any action that either of the two murdered people did that would justify their execution. Neither the Israeli Christian nor the American Jewess had killed anybody or suggested that Israel should kill Palestinians for sport. No, their “sin” was one of association: you are Israeli or Jewish, and that is enough to merit your violent death. Israel’s success against its much larger neighbors and Jewish resilience over the ages rub some people the wrong way.
One has often heard “the Jews are too rich”, “the Jews own everything,” and the like. Israel is supposed to commit some type of suicide to allow the psychotic Palestinians a free state “from the river to the sea”. Supporters of Hamas can find absolutely no fault in their violent actions, even when directed against Palestinians who protest their rule or try to get some food outside of Hamas channels. Just as with DEI, the Hamas lovers want to elevate losers and punish the successful, namely Israel. Many countries were formed via war, as Israel was. There is nothing that justifies the Israel-only hatred seen in BDS and pro-Hamas activities. It is antisemitism, and while some on the right are Israel haters for religious reasons, the vast majority on the left hate Israel for its success. Israeli Arabs are doctors, pharmacists, and members of the Knesset. Israel’s cultural, military, and high-tech success bothers them. They can’t so easily scream, “Kill the Jews!” So, instead, they talk about intifada revolution, killing Zionists, and the like. Their hatred knows no bounds. In Europe, they coddle the Hamas lovers; in the US, universities refuse to deal with them for fear of the paychecks from Qatar and Saudi Arabia not arriving.
I look forward to seeing a big “For Sale” sign in front of Harvard Yard. The NY Times reports that internal discussions suggest that the university is totally screwed, though a local judge stayed the DHS order to remove all foreign students. The CCP denounced the move as that’s where all of their kids go for the big bucks they give the Crimson. I hope that Donald Trump stops all federal funding for Harvard and severs all federal activities associated with the university. The most recent letter from Harvard president Alan Garber was as overwrought and pathetic as his previous notes. He plays the victim of the big bully Trump, while it is Harvard that lets its Jewish students and faculty suffer to please their Middle Eastern overlords. There was a time when Harvard cherished excellence; now it is a remedial math center for students who don’t deserve to be there.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member