Glenn Loury thinks there used to be systemic racism. But not no 'mo!

 And he thinks and says the people who disagree with him are the idiots.

Ok.  I fell off the wagon, and started watching his latest vid.  Mainly because, he wasn't chatting with McWhorter, or some out of the closet conservative.  And because in the first section, the topic was what did he think of his role as a "public intellectual?" Now recently, I have added to my list of pet peeves, how there are so few genuine intellectuals out there, but instead how we are drowning in pseudos.  Now to be fair to the Professor.  He is an academic and scholar, and a Doctor of Econ. And he is an author.  But the mere fact he can have opinions about a lot of issues, and can comment on a lot of issues, doesn't make him an intellectual.  Here is where I can remake my drunk uncle at the bar, reference.  I am not saying Loury has no more insight than an uneducated oaf on his third beer at the local bar.  But I am saying drunk uncle at the bar can have opinions about a lot of issues, and can comment on a lot of issues.  Ain't anything special about that!

Now I am going to actually google the def., but I am thinking about one of the key terms in Patent Law;  novelty.  I think in order to be a genuine intellectual, there has to be some novelty, at least in point of view, way of approaching an issue, if not coming up with new answers to social problems. 

Here is a legitimate def. from Dictionary.com:  

noun

a person of superior intellect.

a person who places a high value on or pursues things of interest to the intellect or the more complex forms and fields of knowledge, as aesthetic or philosophical matters, especially on an abstract and general level.

an extremely rational person; a person who relies on intellect rather than on emotions or feelings.

Hmmm,  Loury has education and skill, but . . . he drifts to emotion over the rational, way too much.  In the vid I watched just some of, before writing this?  He fought back on his counterpart's take on affirmative action, however, admitting the plausibility of that.  She well articulated the idea that maybe we need to do affirmative action now for a while, so we don't have to in the future.  But he essentially rejected it based on his feelings.  He shifted to his usual right wing conservative dogma, like I say above, denying the continuation of systemic racism.  And that is one of the least intellectual things to do;  to deny the actual existence of the problem, or the sub issue, and go on some ignorant, repetitive, dogmatic rant, regurgitating the party dogma, without the tiniest bit of reference to any facts, evidence, or reality based reference.  Anti intellectualism at its finest, or worst, depending on which side of the mirror you prefer.

I stopped watching after that embarrassing, yet for him, predictable  . . .  what is my new way of dismissing lunatic right wing dogma?  Oh yea.  Mardi Gras vomit, mixed with pig shit, of a rant.   But let me take another look at the list of sub topics. 

• Glenn: My raison d’être is to give voice to my contempt for the failures of my people  27:23

 I have heard that Mardi Gras vomit, mixed with pig shit, of a rant before. I have previously called his, that rant as little more than recycled Booker T. Washington, self reliance ideology.  But with Loury it is more vicious, more judgmental, more conservative, more ugly.  And he likely wonders why the majority of black folk who are not already bougie who hear his opinions, want him to fuck off?  Hell.  I am bougie, and I am a lawyer, and I want him to shut the fuck up with that conservative, Mardi Gras vomit, mixed with pig shit.  

Edit to add:

Since I did post a  link, I felt obligated to watch more.  Now his usual Booker T. Washington, self reliance ideology is  there  in his rant, underlying it.  But he gets more emotional.  And I am not a psychologist.  But I will just say something about his emotional state.  WTF??

But his contempt for what he calls his people  is burning brighter than ever before.  So to that I say as well.  WTF??

Oh, and I watched/listened to the whole thing.  Eventually. His guest, Stephanie Lepp is a revelation.  She definitely is not a conservative (socially.)    She self describes as an adherent of promiscuous pragmatic pluralism.  I don't want to short her "presence" or being.  She is what I would call a very cool chick, if I were describing her.  And she comes out of the arts, and is very open minded about many things.  And one of the best moments is when she introduces Glenn to the idea that evolution is beautiful, but not pretty. That it can get messy sometimes. That reminds me of one of my favorite lines, from a Dune book, one of the latter ones actually written by Frank Hebert.  and the line is definitely not original, but timeless.  "Real boats rock."  I am sure she would get my meaning.

Anyway, it was fun to see/hear her basically refute, torch, pulverize, hydrogen bomb, the lie that is at the center of conservatism.  People and society evolve.  You can fight it, but it will happen.  Glenn tried as feebly as he could to to resist the reality of what she was saying, trying to dismiss that kind of talk as relativism, and promoting the conservative lie (in most cases) about ultimate rightness of things.  She basically put him in his place with saying, well ya. Some things are just flat out bad, wrong, and not worth keeping as we evolve, like slavery.  But her argument was that there were a few such absolutes.  But look around the world.  There are many way for societies to do stuff.  

I think he could have gone longer with what I have been calling Mardi Gras vomit, mixed with pig shit. But he really got what she was saying, I think.  And they were running out of time.   I know I flame him a lot, but there still is a functioning, rational being in his skin.  I expect him to revert back to usual form.  But these rare moments of seeing things clearly are why I take a break form his shit, but come back to see if he has anything useful to say.  Or admit.

I confess I am way too fond of my new pet, my line about how conservative dogma is just Mardi Gras vomit, mixed with pig shit.  But rest assured.  I will come up with another way of criticizing the forces of evil.  I always do.

Anyway.  Loury is still working on his memoirs.  I am way behind on books written by people I respect, so I expect the best I can do for him when that comes out, is to read a review.

Oh.  One last thought re respect.   I would have respected him if he rejected the status of being a public intellectual.  I think that shit is like being a patriot, or righteous and pious.  Anyone who thinks they are, usually isn't.

I might not be an educator, but I grade hard!