Hatred in “context”

The biggest flaw in critical race theory, postcolonial theory, and the burgeoning anti-racism movement is that these ideologies try to fight racism with even more racism. It is important to understand why.

They define social justice as justice between groups rather than as justice for individuals. This leads them to reject the idea of objective, color-blind standards that give each individual an equal opportunity to succeed in life. For writers like Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi, the goal is to equalize access and incomes for groups.

Shifting the focus away from individuals to groups defines success in terms of group outcomes rather than individual opportunities. So, if certain groups have been historically disadvantaged, the remedy is as much reverse discrimination as it takes to balance the ledger. This is something that the left sees as the task of big government using social engineering.

This represents a shift from a classical liberal individual rights approach to a Marxist, intersectionality approach. This shift has been advocated by the radical left for decades, but recent events show they are gaining ground. The emphasis on group identity over individualism and equity of outcomes over equal opportunity is no minor change in society’s structure. Rather, it represents a total revamping of society from top to bottom and in every sphere of life, from entertainment to business to the justice system. But the driver of change is education.

This can be seen in the results of an absolutely astonishing poll released recently by the Economist in which 20 percent of Americans aged 18-29 say the Holocaust is a myth. The Economist called this result “alarming.”

What makes the results of this poll doubly alarming is that the rise in Holocaust denial is limited almost exclusively to young people. Only 8 percent of those aged 30-44 and only 2 percent of those aged 45-64 said the Holocaust is a myth. And, most telling, exactly 0 percent of those over 65 said it is a myth. This means that something is happening to young people that is not happening among other age groups. What could that be?

It seems obvious that what this age cohort has in common, which sets it apart from older adults, is that it contains students in and recent graduates of the school system. If the shift from liberalism to Marxism in our society is being driven primarily by the K-12 and post-secondary education system, then this poll tells us two things. First, it tells us that Marxist identity politics is capturing a lot of young minds. Second, it tells us that promoting racism to fight racism is dangerous for certain groups.

The Jews are among the biggest losers in the intersectionality sweepstakes. They are perceived as successful and therefore they get labelled as “oppressors.” If every group has to be labelled as either “oppressed” or as “oppressors,” then guess where a group characterized by high educational attainment, high income, and high social status is going to be placed. The Jews don’t actually have to oppress anybody in order to be categorized as “oppressors.” They just have to be successful. Once they are categorized as “white oppressors,” the racist persecution directed their way is at least partially “deserved” and thus of little concern to social justice warriors. It is little wonder that, to rationalize persecution of the Jews, Holocaust denial and other conspiracy theories gain traction.

Since Oct. 7, the horrifying realization of what this means for victims of attempted genocide has caused shock and disbelief for liberal Jews all over the world. The spectacle of the presidents of Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and MIT being so mild and hesitant in condemning genocide against Jews was shocking. But it was a perfectly logical outcome of critical race theory, postcolonial theory, and intersectionality. Since the Palestinians are seen as the victims, the evil of their attacks on their oppressors has to be “balanced” by consideration of their historic oppression at the hands of the “colonial oppressor group.” This is what all three presidents meant by “context.” That this problem is systemic can be seen in the fact that Harvard’s president has been supported by a letter signed over a quarter of the university’s faculty.

They were saying exactly the same thing as UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres was saying when he outraged Israel by stating, “It is important also to recognize that the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.”

This is critical race theory, postcolonial theory, and intersectionality, as taught in schools of education, public schools, and colleges today. And it is colonizing the minds of our citizens very rapidly—and they are taking direct aim at the minds of our children.