RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2021/06/from-plato-to-black-lives-matter-rafe-champion/

I see now more clearly than ever before that even our greatest troubles spring from something that is as admirable and sound as it is dangerous—from our impatience to better the lot of our fellows.    —Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies

The equal opportunity movement of modern times is valuable, but the shift from equal opportunity to affirmative action is practically irresistible for people who are impatient to better the lot of their fellows. The shift may appear to be modest, but it has converted the equal opportunity and anti-racist movement into a vehicle of racism, intolerance, division and destruction.

I suggest that some aspects of Plato’s thought have poisoned the well of Western thought, and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement can be seen as one of the consequences. How do we get from the works of the greatest philosopher of all time, the Divine Philosopher, to a movement that has triggered a deadly rampage of looting and arson with almost overwhelming approval among progressive left-wing people around the world?

This essay appears in June’s Quadrant.
Subscribers read it weeks ago

Western philosophy has been described as footnotes to Plato, and among the footnotes is The Open Society and Its Enemies, with Karl Popper’s critique of Plato’s later works, especially Republic and Laws. Popper found at last four elements of totalitarian thought in Plato. First is “racialism”, or “race thinking” as Jacques Barzun called it. Second is the concept of collective justice that Plato proposed to replace individual justice. Third is revolutionary canvas-cleaning to sweep away everything old and start again. Fourth is fake news, which Plato dignified with the title of noble lies.

Noble lies

Starting with the last of the four, a noble lie can be defined as a myth or untruth knowingly propagated by an elite to maintain social harmony or to advance an agenda. 

What is the empirical basis for BLM, the evidence that the deaths of blacks at the hands of the police are symptoms of racism?

https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/25/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-calls-for-release-of-january-6-surveillance-footage/

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) sent a letter to top government officials seeking answers about the January 6 investigation and conditions in a D.C. jail specifically used to house Capitol defendants. Greene requests the release of at least 14,000 hours of surveillance footage captured by USCP security system on January 6 as well as the identity of the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed female veteran Trump supporter. “It is abundantly clear that there is a two-track justice system in the United States,” Greene wrote. Her letter can be found below:  

https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/26/derek-chauvin-scapegoat/

EXCERPT

Back in March, I wrote wondering whether Chauvin could get a fair trial in Hennepin County. I didn’t think so and laid out the reasons. Chauvin’s conviction a month later on all charges—unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter—strengthened my skepticism. Chauvin, a nearly 20-year police veteran who was cited for bravery multiple times (he also racked up at least 17 civilian complaints), may have used excessive force trying to subdue Floyd, who had serious cardiac problems, was high on fentanyl and other substances, and was probably in a state of excited delirium while he was resisting arrest. But was Chauvin guilty of second- or third-degree murder? 

As I said at the time, it didn’t matter. George Floyd’s death was the catalyst that lit a holocaust. All across America, cities were burning. Derek Chauvin was the victim offered up to the gods in expiation. The ritual he was subjected to was less a legal trial than a sort of pagan sacrifice. 

The expected penalty for the charges Chauvin was convicted of is 11-12 years. Peter Cahill, the judge in the case, said that “prosecutors had proven there were aggravating factors in the case that called for a tougher sentence.” What were those “aggravating factors”? You or I might think the explosive situation in Minneapolis and other “progressive” redoubts was part of the story. Judge Cahill cited Chauvin’s callousness and disregard for Floyd. Similarly, after sentencing Chauvin, Judge Cahill insisted that his harsh sentence was “not based on public opinion. I am not basing it on any attempt to send any messages. The job of a trial judge is to apply the law to specific facts.” Indeed it is. How did Judge Cahill do? 

One friend, a lawyer who is knowledgeable about the case, told me that while he thought the prosecution mounted a strong case, it was also a battle between David and Goliath and David lost. Chauvin and his one attorney were totally outgunned by the prosecution. The verdict was a foregone conclusion. 

Another friend touched on what seems to me to be an essential point. Yes, the sentence was grotesquely disproportionate, he said, but remember: Chauvin, although charged only in the Floyd death, is also being sentenced “for all the ones who got away”: Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the police officers involved in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Officer Daniel Pantaleo who was implicated in the death of Eric Garner in New York, etc. In every case, the media attack on the police was ferocious. But also in every case juries or other authorities found that the deaths were justifiable homicides.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/06/time_to_finally_have_that_national_conversation_on_race.html

Not all that long ago, then–attorney general Eric Holder said white people were too cowardly to have a national discussion about race.  Many white dudes spoke up to indicate our willingness to participate in such a discussion, but Eric must have been joking, because he never made any serious effort to get it going.

Since then, we’ve seen any number of indications that black people want such a discussion.  The thing is that we know in advance how it will go: they will say we’re white racist moh-fohs, that it’s hopeless because white racism is stitched into the very fabric of space-time, no justice no peace, white priv, etc.

Now black basketball sports talker Jalen Rose says roundballer Kevin Love is a token white selection to the Olympic squad.  Nobody’s going to disagree with Jalen out loud for fear of being called racist (even if he’s right, which he is), but what about when a less qualified black person gets a job ahead of a better qualified white person, or when better qualified Asians are turned away from Harvard/Stanford/Yale in favor of unqualified or less qualified blacks?

It’s called affirmative action, and if it’s wrong applied to basketball, then it’s wrong everywhere else.  Can we now start talking about token blacks?

Perhaps something useful could come of this.  We could use this topic to start that long overdue national discussion about race.  But a few stipulations would have to apply: no epithets, no invented facts, no riots, no attempts to shame whites, no stomping out with hurt feelings.  We can revile the abomination of Jim Crow so long as we also revile his relative, the abominable Jon Crow, AKA political correctness.