Monday, April 19, 2021

A Variation on “The Emperor’s New Clothes”

 

 

A professor at Georgetown University’s law school recently lost her job because she was recorded commenting on the academic performance of black students in her classes.  Specifically, she said such students were “just plain at the bottom”.

Alas, the candid, private comment to a fellow staffer was not subject to serious consideration of its accuracy.  Rather, it was condemned as “insensitive”.  And, of course, in today’s left-wing  academia, adherence to sensitivity trumps encouragement of honest assessment.

In the old days, before “progressive” ideology took hold on the Left, the “cancel” remark might have generated the following intelligent queries:  (1) was the assessment accurate? (2) if so, what explains the poor performance and (3) what can be done to remedy the situation?

Instead, large segments of American society seem  so obsessed with not giving offense that they pattern their behavior after the crowd viewing the naked emperor parading his “new” clothes in Hans Christian Andersen”s famous fable.

Seldom, these days, do we hear from the child in the crowd giving voice to the obvious.

 

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