True Story of the Multicult

One of the best illustrations of the the level of abject stupidity that exists in our culture comes from my first semester as a grad student. My best friend decided to write an article for the school newspaper about a fictitious trip he took over Spring Break to South America to do humanitarian work with a primitive tribe. Except for some minor details the following is absolutely true.

He wrote a fairly typical description of humanitarian relief work that happened through the first few days of the trip: water purification type stuff followed by evenings filled with amazing cultural experiences that somehow always ended up placing western culture and America in a bad light. The real kicker, though, came when he described an ancient tribal ritual they were allowed to watch toward the end of the trip. He described a small glen or meadow with a fallen tree trunk placed at the far end of the clearing under a tall cliff. The trunk had obviously been there for years and was stained with a deep dark brownish tint that did not look like the wood's natural color. He was soon to find out why... But first a youth of the village was tied completely nude, face up to the tree. To his surprise, and the total consternation of the rest of his group, the women of the village proceeded to have "rape like" sex with the youth over and over again. My friend vividly described his gut level reactions and all the confusion he experienced watching this event, but he was able to overcome his first instinctive judgementalism and accept the "Other" (a loaded term on the Left. From Edward Said). In the article he wrote that he now sees that this is because he had been privy to such an inclusive and tolerant education.

But the real shock of the event came when another group of young women brought their newborn babies to the tree trunk and proceeded, one at a time, to beat their children to death on the very same tree trunk. My friend vividly described the disparate reactions between him and his fellow westerners. Because of his education he was able to see the deep cultural significance of the ritual, obviously some sort of fertility ritual indicating the circular nature of life. But friends and fellow westerners were appalled and horrified by the barbarous nature of these "savages."

Well- you get the picture. Some of the details may be off. This was at least 8 years ago, but the essential facts about a "rape" and "murder" being understood as something significant due to his multicultural education are absolutely true. When I first read it I told him there was no way the newspaper would publish it- they would see through it.

Guess again. They published it and loved it. As did a number of professors. My friend was stopped in hallways time and again and congratulated on his sensitivity. What was more amazing was that when he told the truth a few weeks later, not one of those open minded members of the multicult examined their beliefs for one iota. They were mad at him and that was it! Not even a small ray of doubt disturbed their comfortable righteousness.

Brave new world that has such people in it.

Diversity Anyone?

I was talking to an evangelical Christian colleague the other day (there are a few in hiding in academia). The conversation turned towards politics, and my approach to her was, "I assume you are somewhere on the left side of the political spectrum." Now why would I say something like that? We all know that evangelicals are robots who do whatever James Dobson tells them, right?

Not exactly. First, last time I checked evangelicals are far more politically diverse than say, academics. Second, academia is so predictable and boring that I never believe a professor or colleague believes anything other than standard left wing orthodoxy. No matter how conservative or classical liberal they may sound it is always best to assume an academic is a leftist democrat. The most conservative (voted for W in 2000) prof I ever personally knew was a Marxist. No kidding. A Marxist evangelical to be exact.

Guess what? My colleague voted for Obama. Big surprise. Beyond the complete lack of diversity here, we are talking about a serious problem. Like Al Gore's famous hockey stick graph the level of intellectual and political diversity has declined at roughly the same rate that our diversity in our broader culture has increased. The person on the street could be a Buddhist, environmental conservative cross stitcher. But the academic... well, you know everything about them before they open their mouth. This makes for a very boring Academy.

On a more serious level, it is the elephant in the room. It is the reason unqualified idiots like Ward Churchill become Department Chairs at major universities. The reason impossibly flawed and just plain wrong books like Bellesile's Arming America win major academic rewards. The reason dozens of profs at Duke can condemn the lacrosse team before the police have investigated. In short, it is destroying true intellectualism and scholarship.