The Left Is Blinded by Critical (“It’s Just Awful”) Thinking
Regular readers of this blog know my disregard for left-wing awfulizers, whose narrow view of perfection blinds them to American excellence. I’m not alone, because HBO’s resident liberal, Bill Maher, dissed Progressophobes as “incapable of recognizing progress” in America and insisting it’s “more racist…more sexist…more homophobic” than ever before. Black conservative Star Parker echoed his view, observing popular media “think America is the most unfair, racist nation in the world.”
In particular, Maher was incensed by Kevin Hart’s “ridiculous” comments in the New York Times: “you’re witnessing White Power and White Privilege at an all-time high” – a position later explained by Hart. “The internet has put a magnifying glass on how dominant racism is in our country, [such as] the storming of the capital, if they were black they would have been killed on the spot, [and] Karens that now feel like they can say and do whatever they want without consequences.”
Like many on the Left, Hart is misinformed by social media, predisposed to make-believe problems, and quick to punch up at alleged in-groups. With 110 million Twitter followers, Hart knows Chicken Littles early-called the 2019 video of a white Catholic kid “sneering” at a native American. Edited Twitter videos don’t prove white privilege, no more than Facebook videos of black suspects spewing profanity into police body-cams prove black lawlessness. What’s happened to common sense?
Using common sense, the 2020 election’s record 20.8 million black registrations and 18.9 million black votes was progress. Using common sense, a black senator (Tim Scott) rebutting a white president (Joe Biden) was progress. Using common sense, Derek Chauvin’s three guilty verdicts was progress. Using common sense, Bill Maher cites the eras of legal slavery, Jim Crow laws, and “white only” hotels excluding Willie Mays as the apex of white privilege.
Hart cites the George Floyd video and Capitol riots as proof of white privilege. The Floyd video was evidence of police brutality and Derek Chauvin’s lack of humanity – not proof of white privilege. And, per FBI director Wray, the Capitol riots involved 3 different groups, including “peaceful protestors exercising their 1st amendment rights.” It resulted in a white woman “killed on the spot” by Capitol Police and 500 “domestic terrorists” arrested. How does that prove white privilege?
It’s one thing for Kevin Hart to diss white Americans, and quite another to diss black progress. Star Parker blames black denial of government-issued facts on critical race theory. Hart should applaud US Census data that shows median incomes for black households rising a record 7.9% in 2019, and black unemployment falling from 8.7% to 5.3% (lowest since 1973) between 2016 and 2019. Sadly, that’s an inconvenient truth in left-wing circles.
I’m guessing Ms. Parker has heard Say It Out Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud, because she equates Black Power to black net worth, which increased 32.1% from 2016 to 2019, when black business equity also increased 138% (source: Federal Reserve). In her mind, 2019 (not 1619) is notable; because, for the first time on record, there were more high-income black households (29.4% earning over $75,000) than low-income black households (28.7% earning under $25,000). Now, that’s progress!
The Left Is Blinded by Identity Obsession
Bill Maher is an “old school” liberal, who’s probably more concerned about mad-liberal Jacobins (like Hart) inside the Democrat Party than hard times in fly-over America. Maher, who was outraged by 158 black lives lost in 2019 to “racist” cops, is worried “progressophobes” making crazy proclamations (e.g. America is over-run with Karens) will drive centrists to the Republican Party. I’d respect his opinion more if he tried to see America from Karen’s position.
Karens have a right to their opinions and party affiliations; therefore, they can think 370 white and 158 black Americans killed by police annually are too many, and think disproportion (the black percentage is higher) is too political. They can even agree with black Republican Tim Scott that the total number of cop-killed Americans demands better policing everywhere and for everyone, and think defunding police departments is left-wing subversion.
If Karens post on Facebook that 3,600,000 annual white arrests are double 1,800,000 annual black arrests, maybe they’re just tired of Liberals claiming their “group” has it made. Karens might think the politics of a problem is defined by numeric ratios and proportions, but the scope of a problem is defined by numeric totals. This is why Democrats should listen to non-white Republicans, such as Tim Scott and Nikki Haley.
Tim Scott thinks 470,899 violent-crime arrests in 2019 define a national-safety problem. Kamala Harris apportions those arrests to 276,310 whites and 172,980 blacks to define a systemic-racism problem. A real leader sees the total: 8.2 million Blacks (and 17.3 million Whites) living in poverty, 1.8 million black (and 5.9 million white) unemployed, 10,900 black (and 51,600 white) deaths by accidental drug overdose, and 3,100 black (and 37,400 white) suicides.
According to Kellyanne Conway, the 2016 presidential election was the triumph of situational politics over identity politics. Forget Biden’s 2020 victory and focus on the Trump popular vote: up 11,00,000 after four years in office. Forget the Cult of Personality mumbo-jumbo and focus on 74.2 million situations that forgave the rude behavior to vote for THE non-politician in 2020 – – because their concerns were his concerns.
Old-school Democrats, such as Maher and James Carville, fear what far-left denial and shame are doing. Maher rightly sees Asian and Jewish voters repelled by critical race theory that denies their achievements and economic success. Carville rightly sees working-class whites repelled by cancel culture that shames their heroes and ideals. If I were a Democrat running in 2022, I’d be scared of the backlash – very scared!