A MAD look at anti-police demonstrations

Taken from "Badge & Billy", a magazine parody, written by Larry Siegel and drawn by George Woodbridge, in MAD Magazine No. 101, June 1966. That's right, folks. This nonsense has been going on for over half a century, ever since the hippy-dippy `60s.

Also in MAD No. 101: Voyage to See What's on the Bottom (TV satire); The Sinpiper (movie satire); MAD's Puzzle Page, Badge & Billy Magazine, College Programs to Develop Masters of Meiocrity, A MAD Treasure of Unknown Poety; When Teenagers Take Over TV Completely; and much more.

Front cover by Norman Mingo. Art by Don Martin, Antonio Prohias, David Berg, Mort Drucker, Bob Clarke, Jack Rickard, Al Jaffee, Joe Orlando, Paul Coker Jr. and George Woodbridge.

Wanna buy it? We've taken down Walt's Attic, but Mrs Walt is cleaning out the attic and has one copy left. 48 b&w newsprint pages plus 4/1 glossy cover (includes MAD Fold-in, not done). Intact. Pages slightly yellowed with age but no tears, creases, dogears or other major damage. Overall condition FINE. US$3.95, plus S&H. Send Ed. an e-mail if you're interested.

Guilty of plagiarism? Princeton profs publish "anti-racism" demands

Seems like just yesterday [It was just yesterday! Ed.] Walt told you about the ridiculous list of demands made by the Faculty Association of California State University (not to be confused with the University of California) to combat the "systemic racism" which exists in their alleged university, as well as American society generally. See "Reverse racism demanded by California State U faculty", WWW 8/7/20.

Many of those demands, including a "dedicated black-only student space" (read: segregated housing) on campus, have started to pop up at universities across the country, including Princeton, which just last month bowed to the anti-racist mob by voting to remove the name of former President (of both Princeton and the USA) Woodrow Wilson from its School of Public Policy and International Affairs.

The Daily Princetonian reports that over 350 faculty members at the once-prestigious Ivy League university have published an open letter charging the school for its alleged "anti-Black racismL, and demanding "anti-racist action" and "diversity in decision-making". But the target is not just Princeton, but the whole world! "Given Princeton's influence," the signatories write, these "principled steps" are designed to "move the dial further toward justice for...the world."

Let's have a look at the 48 "anti-racist" demands. Some of them seem, errr, kind of racist, but you be the judge.

The letter calls for non-white faculty (only) to receive extra sabbaticals, extra pay and extra awards to compensate for the "invisible work" they do. Such as what? The letter states that minority professors are called upon to "chiefly and constantly 'serve' and 'represent' [racial diversity] in the interest of administrative goals."  Back in the `60s some people called that "hiring a niggler to sit beside the door."

The authors complain that just 7% of tenure-track faculty are non-white. How do they know? In South Africa, in the apartheid days, they measured people's lips and checked the texture of their hair. Anyway, the writers suggest giving those oppressed few "a full year of course relief" (meaning no teaching) so they can seek out and recruit more faculty of colour.

More ominously, an "outside committee of academics, law professors, artists, and cultural advisors from communities of color" are to be brought in to make decisions about "race, racism, anti-racism, and racial equity" that will impact the entire campus, while an "internal committee of faculty and students of color" must be appointed to hold the university accountable for carrying out these outsiders' orders.

The university's departments will be rewarded for making diversity hires, but those who don't will be punished! The letter-writers want Princeton to "enforce repercussions" for those departments that "show no progress in appointing faculty of color." Any hiring process that shows "no evidence of a concerted effort to assemble a diverse candidate pool" is to be quashed, and (presumably) the HR people re-educated.

The push for de facto segregation -- let's not beat about the bush here -- includes paying minority students to mentor underclass(wo)men of their own race. Administrators are to hold "semesterly open conversations" only with "students, faculty and staff of color" – no whites allowed!

The Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity is ordered to work with individual departments to devise tailored plans for "anti-racist research, teaching, hiring, and retention", to ensure that no discipline can squirm out from under its responsibility to redress centuries-old grievances.

All faculty must undergo anti-bias training, and standardized testing should probably be abolished because it's "strongly correlated with the underrepresentation of people of color on college campuses."

Princeton's website must include a line on its homepage acknowledging that the campus is built on "indigenous land". But wait, there's more....

The letter-writers want a faculty committee -- themselves??? -- tasked with "investigation and discipline of racist behaviors, incidents, research, and publication on the part of faculty." Sounds like an Orwellian type of thought police to enforce the parody of tolerance that has become the new normal in academia, the media and liberal politics. See "Noam Chomsky on the 'Crisis of Democracy'", WWW 1/7/20.

But let's give credit where credit is due. The authors of the letter suggest that Princeton "acknowledge, credit, and incentivize anti-racist student activism". To start with, there should be a "formal public University apology to the members of the Black Justice League" and other sometime students provoking, orchestrating and taking part in the wave of "anti-racist activism" -- complete with riots, vandalism and violence -- that is now sweeping over America's universities, and indeed, the Excited States of America itself.

Further reading: "Now It's Woodrow Wilson's Turn", by Patrick J. buchanan, Taki's Magazine, 30/6/20. "The cultural revolution has come to the Ivy League..."

"If you're white, then you MUST be a racist!"

Following our current them of "progressive" intolerance (see yesterday's last post, below), here's a little flow chart that proves that no matter what you say or what you do, if you're white, you're a racist!

Now go out, locate the nearest non-white (preferably non-Asian too) and "take a knee." Shame on you, you guilty white person!

At last people are starting to speak out vs "progressive" intolerance

Imagine that! Just a few days ago Walt posted a very positive review ("Read the book!") of Hate, Inc., in which Matt Taibbi criticizes the narrowing of the parameters of debate on social and political issues, and the culture of conformity being imposed by the political, business and media elites.

Now comes news* that dozens of artists, writers and academics have signed "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate", published in Harper's Magazine, decrying the weakening of public debate and warning that the free exchange of information and ideas is in jeopardy amid a rise in what they call "illiberalism."

J.K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood are among dozens of writers, artists and academics to argue against ideological conformity. Another signatory is cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky, whose interview with Matt Taibbi forms an appendix to Hate, Inc. We posted a couple of pithy excerpts in "Noam Chomsky on the 'Crisis of Democracy'", WWW 1/7/20. Included in that post is a video in which Prof Chomsky's book Manufacturing Consent is summarized in under ten minutes!

Academics on the list of more than 150 signatories hail from American universities such as Princeton, Yale, Harvard Law, Brown, Rutgers and more. They wrote (collectively) that the "needed reckoning" regarding racial and social justice "has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity."

"More troubling still, institutional leaders, in a spirit of panicked damage control, are delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments instead of considered reforms," the letter continues. "Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; a researcher is fired for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes."

The letter says, "The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world.... But resistance must not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion.... The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides."

*Just Fancy That Dept.: When Ed. went to Google to research this story and get the Harper's URL, the top three returns led to The Grauniad, New York Times and WaPo.

According to Matt Taibbi and Dave Rubin (in Don't Burn This Book) those are the three papers most guilty of pushing the kind of forced ideological (i.e. left-liberal) purity of which the signatories to the letter complain. Probably just a coincidence.

Further reading: "Learn How to Spot Fake News", Chapter 8 of Dave Rubin's Don't Burn This Book (Signal, 2020). Excerpts:
Newsrooms are now filled with progressive activists who bend the truth, as opposed to old-school professionals who feel a duty both to themselves and their audience.... News is a business like any other. Although we'd like to think that the business it's in is to inform and enlighten, we should always remember that it's really in the business of keeping our eyes on the TV or our fingers clicking.
Matt Taibbi's point exactly! Hey, you don't have to read only Chapter 8. Read the whole book!

Suggested name change for the Washington Redskins

Agent 9 forwards an e-mail supposedly written to Chicago Tribune sports columnist Clarence Page after an article he published concerning a name change for the Washington Redskins.

Dear Mr. Page,
I agree with our Native American population. I am highly jilted by the racially charged name of the Washington Redskins.

One might argue that to name a professional football team after Native Americans would exalt them as fine warriors, but nay, nay.

We must be careful not to offend, and in the spirit of political correctness and courtesy, we must move forward.

Let's ditch the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians. If your shorts are in a wad because of the reference the name Redskins makes to skin color, then we need to get rid of the Cleveland Browns.

The Carolina Panthers obviously were named to keep the memory of militant Blacks from the 1960s alive. Gone. It's offensive to us white folks.

The New York Yankees offend the Southern population. Do you see a team named for the Confederacy? No! There is no room for any reference to that tragic war that cost this country so many young men's lives.

I am also offended by the blatant references to the Catholic religion among our sports team names. Totally inappropriate to have the New Orleans Saints, the Los Angeles Angels or the San Diego Padres.

Then there are the team names that glorify criminals who raped and pillaged. We are talking about the horrible Oakland Raiders, the Minnesota Vikings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Now, let us address those teams that clearly send the wrong message to our children. The San Diego Chargers promote irresponsible fighting or even spending habits. Wrong message to our children.
The New York Giants and the San Francisco Giants promote obesity, a growing childhood epidemic. Wrong message to our children.

The Cincinnati Reds promote downers/barbiturates. Wrong message to our children.
The Milwaukee Brewers. Well, that goes without saying. Wrong message to our children.

So, there you go. We need to support any legislation that comes out to rectify this travesty, because the government will likely become involved with this issue, as they should. Just the kind of thing the do-nothing Congress loves.

As die-hard Oregon State fans, my wife and I, with all of this in mind, suggest it might also make some sense to change the name of the Oregon State women's athletic teams to something other than the Beavers, especially when they play Southern California. Do we really want the Trojans sticking it to the Beavers?

I always love your articles, and I generally agree with them. As for the Redskins name, I would suggest they change the name to the Foreskins to better represent their community, paying tribute to the dickheads in Washington, D.C.

Sincerely, Anonymous

Poor Len Canayen adds: What about those Chicago Black Hawks?! (And yes, it's supposed to be "Black Hawks", not "Blackhawks".) Offensive to two racial groups?

Telling the truth for over 11 years now

Dang! Ed. forgot... again... to remind me that we passed another anniversay last week. The day was 3 July 2009, a day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times. And, for the very first time, Walt Whiteman was there! [Or here? But that's neither here nor there. Ed.]

Since then we -- your obdt. servant, Poor Len Canayen [and Ed.! Ed.] - have put up well over 4000 posts, only a handful of which have been deleted, although some of the videos have disappeared thanks to the PC police at YouTube. We have been helped immensely by Walt's dozens of Agents. You know who you are, and thank you!

Thank you, too, to our assiduous readers. Remember, your comments are always welcome. Click on the headline of any article and it will open in a separate tab or window, with a "comments" box below. Ed. moderates the comments so it's pointless to call me a racist (see profile), but civilized dissent will be published.

And remember... the truth is not "out there". The truth is here!

Reverse racism demanded by California State U faculty

I see that, following the death of George Floyd, the Faculty Association of California State University (CFA) has made some demands, reported [a bit belatedly? Ed.] by the Daily Caller. The faculty union has a lengthy shopping list of concessions, handouts and other assistance for "Black, Native and Indigenous" students who have been so terribly, terribly hurt by the systemic racism in the university and American society generally.

What, I wonder, is the difference between "native" and "indigenous" students? Do they mean the folks we used to call "Indians" or "Native Americans"? After four centuries, aren't black people indigenous to America? White people too? But let's get on with it. Ed. will highlight [in blue, of course. Ed.] the buzzwords and loaded phrases currently fashionable with the anti-everything left.

The CFA states that "it is not enough to condemn this public execution [of George Floyd] that calls lynching to mind," and that the university needs to fight racism by:

- Making tuition free for minority students, to reverse the decades-long trend of declining enrollments among these demographics. This means overturning Proposition 209, which was approved in 1996 and prohibited California's state institution from considering race, sex, or ethnicity in public employment, effectively banning affirmative action.

- Requiring at least one "ethnic studies" course as a graduation requirement, because the infrastructures of universities are grounded in a "white supremacist colonial discourse and culture" and "the current course content condones 'spirit murdering'."

- Mandating consistent campus-wide training on "unconscious bias" for all university personnel who interact with students and faculty.

- Recognize the "cultural taxation" placed on black students and faculty, who "are asked to speak for all Blackness on the campuses in committee meetings, as advisors for student groups, as well as in their classrooms", creating a "unique burden placed on ethnic minority faculty in carrying out their responsibility to service within the university."

- Heeding "the voices of Black students across the country as they call for universities to divest from police institutions, for the removal of this deeply racist institution from our sites of higher learning, and toward the full abolition of the police."

- And, last but certainly not least... Creating a black student centre [complete with basketball court? Ed.] to serve as "respite for black students".

That's enough demands for help [preferential treatment? Ed.] for "Black, Native and Indigenous" students. I am waiting for the faculty associations of Howard, Tuskegee, Fisk and other historically black universities to publish similar lists of demands for the equal treatment of minority white students at those institutions. But I'm not holding my breath.