Recently, viral videos have highlighted the furor—and narcissism—of progressive elites when they rarely face the consequences of their own actions.
The most hilarious video was the defiant DA of New York’s Monroe County, dripping with elite condescension. She felt she had the right to go 20 mph over the speed limit, ignore a patrol car signaling her to pull over, and then in her garage dress down hoi polloi officers for daring to treat her like she was a mere citizen.
Another was the Emory professor screaming (“I am a professor!”) when handcuffed and hauled off her campus by Georgia law enforcement. She exited whining to cameras that she had only “lightly” hit a policeman on the head (“I impulsively hit him on the head very lightly to get his attention and they grabbed me.”). And then there was the Bakersfield fiery leftist who bragged to the City Council about murdering them in their homes, only to flicker and weep in court when facing felony indictments.
Progressive hothouse plants assume their supposed moral superiority exempts them from living by the rules in the manner of others. But sometimes it is not just the police who anger them, but the very Frankensteinian monsters they created who do not cooperate with their degreed and elected enablers.
In California, an epidemic of crime, from theft to assault, has struck liberal politicians in the last few months, including most recently Adam Schiff, the leftwing mayors of San Jose—Matt Mahon—and Los Angeles—Karen Bass, and even the unhinged district attorney of Oakland Pamela Price. Critical legal theory, no-bail, and defund the police apparently offer no protection.
Sen. Chuck Schumer thought it a neat trick in 2020 to assemble a pro-abortion throng outside the Supreme Court doors, and threaten Justices Kavanagh and Gorsuch by name. He grandstanded that they would not know what would soon “hit” them as they reaped the “whirlwind”. Now a pro-Hamas whirlwind hit his own home, in the fashion leftists not long also did with impunity to Supreme Court Justices’ homes—then to the sudden silence of the otherwise loud Schumer.
Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky kindly invited his own law students to his home for dinner—only to have his hospitality hijacked by pro-Hamas activist students that commandeered a microphone to spout their drivel, leading to a scuffle with his wife. The cry-bully mob offered no exemption to the dean—who in antisemitic fashion was portrayed on campus posters as a veritable IDF vampire. They also seemed indifferent to (or emboldened by?) the fact that Chemerinsky in the past has often offered advice about how to get around statutes prohibiting race-based hiring by not explicitly mentioning the operative agenda of diversity. And of course, in the past he had encouraged more campus protests to combat “racism”.
Most college presidents, many hired under DEI pressures, are now being eaten alive by their own ideologues, shocked that pro-Hamas activists are at heart fascistic and anti-Semitic and, well yes, spout “hate speech”.
So terrified college presidents talk tough, virtue signaling to alumni and donors by issuing “deadlines”, and promising“consequences” —but otherwise usually ending up negotiating and extending or making new deadlines to their campus occupiers. So the pro-Hamas crowd takes over their campuses, and often forces all students either to finish the semester remotely or to have their graduation ceremonies cancelled or abbreviated. And all to the applause of Hamas in Gaza and delight of the mullahs in Iran.
The left in the last 30 years absorbed America’s maininstitutions and hallmarks. And now from Disney and Anheuser-Busch to the Ivy League to CNN and blue-state big cities, it has more or less destroyed their brands and reputations.
The progressive touch eventually turns everything to dross.
As the “student protests taking place on college campuses across the country in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict” continued, Noah Rothman (Leans Right bias) sees the protestors as tools “of the already powerful, whose primary goal is the acquisition of even more power,” while The Atlantic (Left bias) argues that the students lack perspective and have “allowed the intoxicating language of liberation to blind them to an ugliness encoded within that struggle.” Imagine what they could accomplish were they this concerned about their own country’s problems (homelessness, drugs, poverty, etc.)? Additional evidence that these affluent and “elite” students have lost perspective include:
A recent Gallup poll shows that only 2% of American’s view the Israeli/Hamas conflict as “the most important problem facing the country today.” Other citizens appear to prioritize the economy (30%), immigration (28%), and poor government leadership (19%).
The daughter of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, Isra Hirsi, claims to be homeless after being suspended from Columbia University for refusing to comply with NYPD orders to vacate the South Lawn of Columbia University’s Morningside Heights Campus. One would think that someone capable of affording the $90K-per-year tuition could rely on her multi-millionaire parents for a little assistance.
All of their rhetoric betrays an intransigence and a hewing to one ideological strain, and that’s obvious to, I would say, most people. But it’s interesting to see that which was old become new again.
Specifically, the exhortation that Columbia sever their ties to Israel when even Arab countries are doing trade. That’s a dormant volcano rumbling with the echoes of Antiglobalization, which is another inconsistency among this crowd.
On the one hand, they talk about harmony and equality, and on the other, they discourage “cultural appropriation” and open trade due to the prospect that it could benefit “the wrong people”. Even if it could save the lives of the right ones.
This is another proof positive of the power of solipsism and narcissism that comes with privilege. It’s a concept called “leveling down”, which is an impulsive fallacy aimed at creating equality. The idea is to spread suffering instead of letting free processes - like open communication - bring about equilibrium.
It’s beyond curious how they can say they believe these things, yet act like unilateral despots with their demands, but it’s not surprising.
From Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson):
Beware of The Deadly Progressive Touch-
Recently, viral videos have highlighted the furor—and narcissism—of progressive elites when they rarely face the consequences of their own actions.
The most hilarious video was the defiant DA of New York’s Monroe County, dripping with elite condescension. She felt she had the right to go 20 mph over the speed limit, ignore a patrol car signaling her to pull over, and then in her garage dress down hoi polloi officers for daring to treat her like she was a mere citizen.
Another was the Emory professor screaming (“I am a professor!”) when handcuffed and hauled off her campus by Georgia law enforcement. She exited whining to cameras that she had only “lightly” hit a policeman on the head (“I impulsively hit him on the head very lightly to get his attention and they grabbed me.”). And then there was the Bakersfield fiery leftist who bragged to the City Council about murdering them in their homes, only to flicker and weep in court when facing felony indictments.
Progressive hothouse plants assume their supposed moral superiority exempts them from living by the rules in the manner of others. But sometimes it is not just the police who anger them, but the very Frankensteinian monsters they created who do not cooperate with their degreed and elected enablers.
In California, an epidemic of crime, from theft to assault, has struck liberal politicians in the last few months, including most recently Adam Schiff, the leftwing mayors of San Jose—Matt Mahon—and Los Angeles—Karen Bass, and even the unhinged district attorney of Oakland Pamela Price. Critical legal theory, no-bail, and defund the police apparently offer no protection.
Sen. Chuck Schumer thought it a neat trick in 2020 to assemble a pro-abortion throng outside the Supreme Court doors, and threaten Justices Kavanagh and Gorsuch by name. He grandstanded that they would not know what would soon “hit” them as they reaped the “whirlwind”. Now a pro-Hamas whirlwind hit his own home, in the fashion leftists not long also did with impunity to Supreme Court Justices’ homes—then to the sudden silence of the otherwise loud Schumer.
Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky kindly invited his own law students to his home for dinner—only to have his hospitality hijacked by pro-Hamas activist students that commandeered a microphone to spout their drivel, leading to a scuffle with his wife. The cry-bully mob offered no exemption to the dean—who in antisemitic fashion was portrayed on campus posters as a veritable IDF vampire. They also seemed indifferent to (or emboldened by?) the fact that Chemerinsky in the past has often offered advice about how to get around statutes prohibiting race-based hiring by not explicitly mentioning the operative agenda of diversity. And of course, in the past he had encouraged more campus protests to combat “racism”.
Most college presidents, many hired under DEI pressures, are now being eaten alive by their own ideologues, shocked that pro-Hamas activists are at heart fascistic and anti-Semitic and, well yes, spout “hate speech”.
So terrified college presidents talk tough, virtue signaling to alumni and donors by issuing “deadlines”, and promising“consequences” —but otherwise usually ending up negotiating and extending or making new deadlines to their campus occupiers. So the pro-Hamas crowd takes over their campuses, and often forces all students either to finish the semester remotely or to have their graduation ceremonies cancelled or abbreviated. And all to the applause of Hamas in Gaza and delight of the mullahs in Iran.
The left in the last 30 years absorbed America’s maininstitutions and hallmarks. And now from Disney and Anheuser-Busch to the Ivy League to CNN and blue-state big cities, it has more or less destroyed their brands and reputations.
The progressive touch eventually turns everything to dross.
As the “student protests taking place on college campuses across the country in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict” continued, Noah Rothman (Leans Right bias) sees the protestors as tools “of the already powerful, whose primary goal is the acquisition of even more power,” while The Atlantic (Left bias) argues that the students lack perspective and have “allowed the intoxicating language of liberation to blind them to an ugliness encoded within that struggle.” Imagine what they could accomplish were they this concerned about their own country’s problems (homelessness, drugs, poverty, etc.)? Additional evidence that these affluent and “elite” students have lost perspective include:
A recent Gallup poll shows that only 2% of American’s view the Israeli/Hamas conflict as “the most important problem facing the country today.” Other citizens appear to prioritize the economy (30%), immigration (28%), and poor government leadership (19%).
The daughter of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, Isra Hirsi, claims to be homeless after being suspended from Columbia University for refusing to comply with NYPD orders to vacate the South Lawn of Columbia University’s Morningside Heights Campus. One would think that someone capable of affording the $90K-per-year tuition could rely on her multi-millionaire parents for a little assistance.
https://hoisttheblackflag.substack.com/p/the-gifted-the-rich-the-clueless?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
All of their rhetoric betrays an intransigence and a hewing to one ideological strain, and that’s obvious to, I would say, most people. But it’s interesting to see that which was old become new again.
Specifically, the exhortation that Columbia sever their ties to Israel when even Arab countries are doing trade. That’s a dormant volcano rumbling with the echoes of Antiglobalization, which is another inconsistency among this crowd.
On the one hand, they talk about harmony and equality, and on the other, they discourage “cultural appropriation” and open trade due to the prospect that it could benefit “the wrong people”. Even if it could save the lives of the right ones.
This is another proof positive of the power of solipsism and narcissism that comes with privilege. It’s a concept called “leveling down”, which is an impulsive fallacy aimed at creating equality. The idea is to spread suffering instead of letting free processes - like open communication - bring about equilibrium.
It’s beyond curious how they can say they believe these things, yet act like unilateral despots with their demands, but it’s not surprising.
Good work. Thoroughly enjoyed it.