We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

Some words, in their modern usages, either invite lies or are themselves implicit lies. One such word, of course, is diversity. Another is inclusion. Just as the Ministry of Love in Nineteen Eighty-Four was responsible for repression and torture, so the word diversity promotes the imposition of uniformity and inclusion promotes exclusion.
[…]
Did the apparatchiks of the Royal Academy lie when they excluded in the name of inclusion and imposed orthodoxy in the name of diversity? Or were they merely too stupid to notice the contradictions? No doubt sheer cowardice has much to do with it, for cowardice is often the midwife of lies.

Theodore Dalrymple, noting the distinction between a lie and stupidity is not one which is always easy to make.

10 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • Paul Marks

    Sometimes a “Woke” (i.e. Frankfurt School of Marxism) word means the opposite of its conventional meaning – for example “decolonise” means (when used by a “Woke” Frankfurt School Marxist) means colonise – take over an area. For example “decolonise” Britain means to colonise it – and “decolonise rural areas” means to take over (to colonise) the rural areas.

    As for “Diversity” – the Economist magazine (yes, before anyone points it out, I know the Economist magazine represents the NON Marxists – it represents the interests of the Credit Bubble bankers and the Corporate managers, but it sometimes uses Frankfurt School Marxist “Woke” language) denounced the Italian Association Football team for not being “Diverse” – the complaint was that the Italian team was made up of Italians. There was no complaint by the Economist magazine (or any part of the left Marxist or non Marxist) that the Nigerian team, or any other black African team, lacked “diversity”.

    An entirely black team is “diverse” and this is good, but an entirely white team is not diverse – and this is evil.

    As for “inclusion” Theodore Dalrymple is correct – it means EXCLUSION. For example, we are told that “people of colour” feel unsafe in rural areas (no evidence of black or brown people being attacked in rural areas is given) and that action must be taken against white people (white people who-have-done-nothing) in these areas – by any reasonable definition of terms this is a policy of exclusion (RACIST exclusion – aimed as a racial group, in this case white people) against white people.

    The same is true in institutions – “inclusion” is nothing to do with what the French call “a career open to talents” (indeed the very concepts of talent and of hard work are denounced as “racist”), “diversity” and “inclusion” means forcing out certain people on the basis of their race and of their se and their sexuality.

    In France (hardly a “right wing” country) it is illegal for a public body to ask someone their race or their religion, or to keep data on this. That would be unthinkable in Britain or the United States – where official “positive” racial and sexual discrimination is ingrained in public policy, ironically under the names “diversity” and “inclusion”.

  • Paul Marks

    Of course there is a counter argument.

    Supposedly “Cheddar Man” proves that the original inhabitants of these islands were black – and that white people came here later as evil “colonisers” (most likely originally from Russia – so white people were evil “servants of Putin” even then) – so, supposedly, white people have no right to live in these islands and should be wiped out.

    Let us say, for the sake of argument, that “Cheddar Man” does prove this – still by any conventional definition of the words “diversity” and “inclusion” this would give no-justification-at-all for eliminating white people. Only under the bizarre usage of the Frankfurt School “Woke” Marxists can these words be twisted to have such an odd meaning – and it would be better if the NON Marxist left did not follow “Woke” usage of words.

    The Classical Liberal idea is that such things as skin colour are not morally relevant – and that the best person for the job should be appointed, regardless of their skin colour, or their biological sex, or their sexual preferences.

    But that last paragraph would today be denounced as “racist”, “sexist”, “homophobic” and “transphobic”.

    Denounced not just be a few lunatics in the universities, but by most institutions, public and private – yes Big Business as well.

    Education does matter – and a whole generation of officials and corporate managers have been produced by the Frankfurt School of Marxism “Woke” dominated schools and universities now.

    Ronald Reagan used to say that liberty was never more than one generation away from being lost – and now a generation has been produced that does NOT value liberty (thanks to the indoctrination work of the schools, the universities, and the “mainstream” media – including the entertainment media), and liberty is being lost.

  • Paul Marks

    My first two comments would be rejected by the “Woke” Marxists on the grounds that I am “straight white male”.

    But if I was black, female and a lesbian what I have written would still be rejected – on the grounds that it went against the “true interests” of these groups (which only the Marxists can see – much like Rousseau’s “Law Giver” sees the true “General Will” with what ordinary people say they want just being the delusion of the “will of all”).

    And the Frankfurt School usage of words has hit more than the Economist magazine – for example “You ain’t black” was the answer of Joseph Biden (a NON Marxist leftist) to any black person who opposed his Collectivist agenda.

    Stop to consider for a moment – Joseph Biden (a “straight, white, male”) is the “true” representative of these various groups (blacks, women, homosexuals….) because he supports a certain political agenda – and a black person who is against it is not “really” black, just as a woman who is against Collectivism is not “really” a woman, and a homosexual who is against Collectivism is not “really” a homosexual. And-so-on. Of course, if Mr Biden had a lucid moment and expressed some doubts about the agenda himself – then the “Woke” would instantly turn on him. They support him only as long as he is their puppet.

    Surely the utterly fake nature of the entire Frankfurt School of Marxism “Woke” project is obvious.

    And, for the record, no I am not a “servant of Putin” – or “one of Putin’s boys” as American Generals are now calling (on Twitter) anyone who opposes the “Woke” agenda.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Paul’s long comments deserve to be balanced by a short comment:
    I did not find the quoted article at the link.

  • Dee Bee

    Snorri Godhi, “I did not find the quoted article at the link.”

    Neither did I. (Much else of interest, but not the cited article.)

  • I did not find the quoted article at the link.

    Because it is not (yet?) online, it is copied from the print version.

  • Sam Duncan

    I’ve said for a long time (and thought for even longer) that any organisation which boasts loudly of its “welcoming”, “diverse”, and “inclusive” nature invariably turns out to be polluted with smug hateful prigs blissfully ignorant of their own prejudices, purely and simply because they aren’t what they fondly imagine to be mine.

    Which isn’t to say that there aren’t any welcoming, diverse, and inclusive organisations. It’s just that they’re never the ones that make a song and dance about it.

  • Sam Duncan (July 29, 2021 at 9:33 pm) +1. Today, “anti-racism” means racism, a “welcoming” organisation is one from which the left are driving all others (so they can “take it over, gut it and wear it as a skin suit”), “inclusive” means “here comes cancel culture” and “diverse” means no diverging from the party line. A truly welcoming, inclusive and diverse organisation must needs avoid the stolen words, must (if it speaks about it at all) use older or other terms – because everyone knows what’s intended when someone starts to make a song and dance about it.

  • APL

    I’d just like to know why a ‘satanist‘ ( a calling that seems all the rage these days ), teenager should go to gaol for downloading ‘eleven different terrorist manuals’ from the internet.

    Question 2. What are the odds the ‘terrorist manuals’ were uploaded by the CIA, FBI, MI5, MI6, MOSSAD and are used to pick off saddoes like this guy?

    Question 3. How is the fact that he may be able to get good AS grades a mitigating factor? And anyway, you’d think he’d have a lot more time for study in prison, no?

  • Snorri Godhi

    Now online.

    Thank you, Perry.

    Theodore Dalrymple was (iirc) one of the first writers, if not the first, who made me recognize that there is a valid conservative, as distinct from libertarian, viewpoint.

    I note two weaknesses of the article, however:
    TD does not distinguish between lying and bullshitting;
    and he does not distinguish between stupidity/foolishness and delusional insanity.