Posted On: Thursday - June 22nd 2023 7:40PM MST
In Topics: University Americans US Feral Government The Future Race/Genetics Educational Stupidity Big-Biz Stupidity
Under this recent post, Peak Stupidity commenter E.H. Hail pointed us to this very interesting article on the decline of competency in America. The writer is one Harold Robinson, and exactly who he is, his occupation, and his whereabouts were discussed in that same thread.
Mr. Robinson wrote this article for Palladium on-line (I guess?) magazine. (Who prints stuff out anymore?) After reading this excellent article, to be discussed herein, I did check out a few of the other articles on that site. From the looks of the home page and half of another article I perused there (on Xinjiang, China, from '18) this magazine features long well-written essays. It's not the site you can depend on to, cough, cough, you know like ... cough have something new to read daily. It looks like you'll see something new once or twice a week.
Palladium magazine's ABOUT page has the names of 5 Editor/Manager types and 8 regular "correspondents". They invite freelance writing, and that must be the deal with Mr. Robinson and his article to be discussed. It is directly within Peak Stupidity's wheelhouse. The regular reader would have seen our recent articles on the subject of declining competency in America. For starters, check out the Harvesting the fruits of a half-century of Affirmative Action series - Part 1 - - Part 2 - - Part 3 - - Part 4 and Part 5, or Demographics to DIE
OK, link bomb away, we can climb up to cruise altitude and praise and critique the article in question. As I wrote, this is in our wheelhouse. Peak Stupidity sees the slow (for now!) decrease in the ability to live 1st World lives. It is mostly due, IMO, to the large change in demographics that has occurred in America over the last half century. Affirmative Action, in effect for over half a century now, was a screw-job on White Men, no doubt. However, there were lower, sometimes token, numbers, and we had the attitude that we'd still do our thing with the additional burden of parasitic AA hires. The new Wokeness, with its insistence on quotas in all fields is making, and will make, a competent workforce a thing of the past wherever it's in effect.
Mr. Robinson seems to agree with this assessment. He starts off, in his introductory section, discussing recent military and industrial disasters, and he relates the problem with the workforce and modern Woke working environment. He discusses the century old to half-century-ending American practices of meritocracy and the use of the many standardized tests. He notes the "collision course" of the meritocratic system with the decade long (early 1960s to early '70s) series of Civil Rites laws, Supreme Court rulings, executive orders, and laws that were made to push non-White-Men into all the American Institutions.
Mr. Robinson's 2nd section, titled From Meritocracy to Diversity, goes back to the origin of the entrance qualifications to universities, with the explanation going back to Griggs v Duke Power (the impetus from Big Biz for the hiring of degreed employees). He discusses the ways Big Biz has been roped into the D.I.E. program, including the scourge of the HR "professionals.
Next, in Diversity in Theory and Practice, Mr. Robinson explains more about the escalation of D.I.E. in big corporations via "ask, tell, make". Going back to colleges and professional programs, he tells us how all the admission qualifications have been going away, because, DIEVERSITY. Then he discusses the very recent changes from the BLM/Woke pressure - with a helping hand from the Kung Flu PanicFest - that has resulted in the elimination of entrance and even EXIT! (i.e. Medical Boards) qualifications.
Mr. Hail noted that this great article may be something to bring to the attention of illustrious blogger Steve Sailer This university admissions discussion is especially in Steve Sailer's wheelhouse. He just loves that stuff. However, I will say here that Mr. Sailer likes to see and play with the numbers. Harold Robinson, writing here for Palladium tells the story without numbers and specific schools and racial headcounts. I'm fine with that, as I can see this guy's reasoning is sound, and he has the story right. Mr. Sailer might not be fine with that. Also, Mr. Sailer is too nice, and often a bit naive, to straight-out tell readers that the continuation of all this is leading to serious trouble, as in a 3rd-World nation.
There are 2 more long sections in this article, Competency Is Declining From the Core Outwards and The American System Is Cracking, that are not fun, but are very important reading material. This all goes along with what the articles on this site are trying to explain about our future. All the "complex systems" that let us live good lives in this nation are breaking down due to the lack of any serious fight against the D.I.E. non-White-male madness. I wish that a large majority of America could read this article.
Now, I'll give a few criticisms. Harold Robinson concentrates almost solely on the white-collar workforce in this article. He talks about the increasing numbers of AA/D.I.E. executives and managers who are incompetent including discussion of people running the Government.* Really, I don't see that as the real problem. After all, the NAZI and Soviet Russian Governments were run by almost all White men, but, arguably, Totalitarianism is worse on us the more competently it's practiced. I am not at all concerned with the US military having gotten into this Wokeness. Let the navy ships crash out in the South China Sea. I would like a weaker and weaker American military that (when it eventually comes to it) States or the American people can beat more easily. I'd like to see the US Feral Gov't, most especially, the IRS, be so incompetent that they do nothing resembling their functions as prescribed by Congress.
As can be seen in our Hotel Haiti series for example, Peak Stupidity is more concerned with the incompetence in blue collar and/or service work. There are professionals that Mr. Robinson discussed too, doctors for worrisome(!) example. Incompetent engineers are a REAL problem. Put the latter together with an incompetent blue collar workforce and bridges fall down, roads crack, machines break even faster than the current China-made Crap, and life becomes ever more of a struggle just to stand still economically. Bad service everywhere adds to the misery.
Mr. Hail brought up the lack of attention paid in this article to the Kung Flu as a point of discussion. Besides mentioning that the Covid gave impetus to the removal of testing requirements (done previously in person), the writer had only this to say:
The more recent coronavirus pandemic was another teachable moment. What started just three years ago with a novel respiratory virus has caused a financial crisis, a bubble, soaring inflation, and now a banking crisis in rapid succession.I don't think that was all about incompetence. Much of that was purposeful, by power-hungry and greedy people who took advantage of the latest virus. It doesn't sound like Mr. Robinson gets this, but I'm not sure from the 2 sentences.
I will now excerpt the last part of Harold Robinson's conclusion:
Americans living today are the inheritors of systems that created the highest standard of living in human history. Rather than protecting the competency that made those systems possible, the modern preference for diversity has attenuated meritocratic evaluation at all levels of American society. Given the damage already done to competence and morale combined with the natural exodus of baby boomers with decades worth of tacit knowledge, the biggest challenge of the coming decades might simply be maintaining the systems we have today.It could be worse than that even. All of this reminds me of the Mike Judge movie Idiocracy. I don't think Mike Judge's time span of 500 years is correct. We could be there in 100, maybe 50.
The path of least resistance will be the devolution of complex systems and the reduction in the quality of life that entails. For the typical resident in a second-tier city in Mexico, Brazil, or South Africa, power outages are not uncommon, tap water is probably not safe to drink, and hospital-associated infections are common and often fatal. Absent a step change in the quality of American governance and a renewed culture of excellence, they prefigure the country’s future.
* The writer rightly puts the focus on the FAA's Air Traffic Control system, which is a part of government. There have been an undue share of near-disasters lately. I wonder if the Globalist elites who push all this D.I.E. stuff onto the Western world can see the problems they have caused. These people do like to travel. Maybe they plan on bailing out of the West.
Comments:
Peak Stupidity Book Club
Sunday - June 25th 2023 8:23PM MST
PS: Good evening, everyone,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiRn3Zlw3Rw
Cynical Theories:
https://tinyurl.com/3kwd8se3
Head Hand Heart:
https://tinyurl.com/mrxncffn
When Race Trumps Merit:
https://tinyurl.com/urvzsat2
A little info about submersibles...
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/bathyscaphe/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste_(bathyscaphe)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepsea_Challenger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_Submarines
Cheers! ☮
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiRn3Zlw3Rw
Cynical Theories:
https://tinyurl.com/3kwd8se3
Head Hand Heart:
https://tinyurl.com/mrxncffn
When Race Trumps Merit:
https://tinyurl.com/urvzsat2
A little info about submersibles...
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/bathyscaphe/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste_(bathyscaphe)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepsea_Challenger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_Submarines
Cheers! ☮
Moderator
Sunday - June 25th 2023 6:04AM MST
PS: Indeed, Alarmist, our Mr. Kief probably eats his Milky Way bars with a knife and fork too.* That's if they even HAVE Milky Way bars, rather than those elitist Toblerone and Cadbury bars.
Just kidding, Dieter. Those 2 are nearly my favorites! Heath bars may be #1 now.
* See "Seinfeld".
Just kidding, Dieter. Those 2 are nearly my favorites! Heath bars may be #1 now.
* See "Seinfeld".
The Alarmist
Sunday - June 25th 2023 5:50AM MST
PS
You say that as if drinking beer from a bottle is a bad thing ... bloody European elitist ;)
You say that as if drinking beer from a bottle is a bad thing ... bloody European elitist ;)
Dieter Kief
Saturday - June 24th 2023 2:43PM MST
PS
It's Weinkönigin. That simple Alarmist. Oh - and the Batschkapp in Frankfurt was an anarcho place proud of being ugly - eaw concrete walls, no wood panels at the bar but compressed wood-splinter plates, unpainted - the beginnnig of Punk ca. 1976 there. - The complete opposite of the See-Studio, which was stylish in just the right way and intesity.
See-Studio had lightyears better music too. - - - The girls in the See-Studio loved to look - and move - - pretty - -
In the Batschkapp, people drank beer from the bottle and the girls took pride to look like men. They too weanted to be rebels and street-fighters, throwing bricks at the banking-imperialst Frankfurt. - No street-fighting attitude in the See-Studio at all - - - but - - - this hippie-conncetion to romanticism: style, grace, humor - - - reflections of The Lad's Magic Horn - the collection of folk-songs of old, that the romantics had rediscovered in Heidelbrg, 150 years earlier - - - .
Walter- one of the two managers of the See-Studio loathed if people drank beer from bottles: No style! - He wanted the place to be stylish; and they managed to achieve that goal.
See-Studio was an extremely peaceful place too. I remmber a summer evening, when Chicken-Shack played there. The palce was so crammed that you could not walk on the floor anymore - - -there were people all over -- -somebody should make that into a movie - - 10 minutes of this concert - - how that worked - - -and how - - blue eyed it was and - - how lucky we all were, to suvive such - - - ecstasies - - - the band played as if they were led on by magic strings - -efforlessly and precise - - - the perfect world second of love, art, togetherness, hipness - - -
It's Weinkönigin. That simple Alarmist. Oh - and the Batschkapp in Frankfurt was an anarcho place proud of being ugly - eaw concrete walls, no wood panels at the bar but compressed wood-splinter plates, unpainted - the beginnnig of Punk ca. 1976 there. - The complete opposite of the See-Studio, which was stylish in just the right way and intesity.
See-Studio had lightyears better music too. - - - The girls in the See-Studio loved to look - and move - - pretty - -
In the Batschkapp, people drank beer from the bottle and the girls took pride to look like men. They too weanted to be rebels and street-fighters, throwing bricks at the banking-imperialst Frankfurt. - No street-fighting attitude in the See-Studio at all - - - but - - - this hippie-conncetion to romanticism: style, grace, humor - - - reflections of The Lad's Magic Horn - the collection of folk-songs of old, that the romantics had rediscovered in Heidelbrg, 150 years earlier - - - .
Walter- one of the two managers of the See-Studio loathed if people drank beer from bottles: No style! - He wanted the place to be stylish; and they managed to achieve that goal.
See-Studio was an extremely peaceful place too. I remmber a summer evening, when Chicken-Shack played there. The palce was so crammed that you could not walk on the floor anymore - - -there were people all over -- -somebody should make that into a movie - - 10 minutes of this concert - - how that worked - - -and how - - blue eyed it was and - - how lucky we all were, to suvive such - - - ecstasies - - - the band played as if they were led on by magic strings - -efforlessly and precise - - - the perfect world second of love, art, togetherness, hipness - - -
The Alarmist
Saturday - June 24th 2023 4:11AM MST
PS
That should have been ‘Dorfweinkönigen.’
What an unfortunate typo.
That should have been ‘Dorfweinkönigen.’
What an unfortunate typo.
The Alarmist
Saturday - June 24th 2023 4:10AM MST
PS
Never made it to the Schwimmbad Musik Club, but I would guess it was legendary. The “scenery” in Heidelberg can be pleasant at times, but I noted when in London a couple days ago that there is five hundred percent more “scenery” per square metre in London than in HD. Berlin is the only German city that compares to NYC and London for scenic beauty (power and money is more of an aphrodesiac for females than males) that males can appreciate, though the occasional Dorkweinkönigen provides some interesting scenery in the land.
I have made it to Batschkapp, where I last saw Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine perform, but it distinctly lacked the scenery of the classic German disco scene.
Never made it to the Schwimmbad Musik Club, but I would guess it was legendary. The “scenery” in Heidelberg can be pleasant at times, but I noted when in London a couple days ago that there is five hundred percent more “scenery” per square metre in London than in HD. Berlin is the only German city that compares to NYC and London for scenic beauty (power and money is more of an aphrodesiac for females than males) that males can appreciate, though the occasional Dorkweinkönigen provides some interesting scenery in the land.
I have made it to Batschkapp, where I last saw Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine perform, but it distinctly lacked the scenery of the classic German disco scene.
Cosmic Carly - Oceanic Diversity Overseer
Saturday - June 24th 2023 12:23AM MST
PS -
- It all fits together nicely - - - the imploded vessel(that's right - I mean - - I envision it having happened this way)- has been on the Navy's systems with a recorded explosion (= implosion? a bit confused) not on thursday but days! earlier - but - - but what?
I guess what: The Navy did not want to spoil the story! - Tension for billions out there on - earth - - - you don't want to spoil that!! - Let people live through that thrill! Panem & Circenses - Bread & Plays, as the Romans of old put that one!!-
- One more woke thing: Respect the viewer's sensibility before putting out facts! - Colonel MacGregor did notice that there are more and more women in the press-offices of the Pentagon etc. talking about the Ukraine war- - - because they can lie better than men, the Colonel said - not least because they are less attacked by reporters for not wanting to look rude against women - - - (this is all öhh: Peterson (Kief) territory too - since years now.
Same women-thing in Germany. German Rail can't get the famous Scharzwaldbahn (Black Forest-line)going on schedule, because - - - well: We are not informed what the reason is for train delays without end and even the temporary .c.l.o.s.i.n.g. of parts of the train line Konstanz-Karlsruhe altogether. And who is there as the spokesperson: Well: We are not told! Reporters are not allowed to say who that is!! - It is a secret! now who is spokesperson of the Deutsche Bahn in Badenia!! - This is a first-ever-thing! - - -All we know: There are women now doing this disinformation business for Deutsche Bahn! - - -
One factual reason: Somehow the wheels destroy the rails and the destroyed rails destroy the wheels in return and - much more so than in the past - - - and guess what: Deutsche Bahn is committed to the diversity hires standards set by Chancellor Merkel who stated (and made it one of her conservative party's (Christian Democrats) top-topic: Equal numbers of women in the engineering dept. too - - - And one more thing: The crew that did this job before is -- in retirement. Now I have to guess: This crew consisted of engineers and technicians that were male - - - ca. 98%.
One more thing: The spokeswoma/en say(s) she'd be not entitled to give details about the disaster!!! = No technical information whatsoever. But - I've read yesterday in our local paper what she did go into at great length: How everybody cares, and how much they appreciate their customers and how glad they are about them and how important it is for them to make sure that people know that they care etc. pp. - - - - a suada of longhouse networking jargon - - hehe: There were longhouses at the Lake - - in the water - - on oak stumps that survived the last 10 000 or so years, - so: This women business is the final resurrection of an autochthon local tradition!! - True conservatism!!!
Btw.: I regularly swim above those longhouse constructions of old - - so: Mine is a first hand report!! - I am where this all stems from!
One more - - the submersible, ohhh - - - was most likely destructed at a much .h.i.g.h.e.r. altitude than most people thought according to the US Navy.
The last one: The Gateway Pundit reports that it was not least built with Covid-loans, handed out to support small businesses willing to - - - survive the pandemic. And they did.
Final remark: The deplorable thing had no windows! - Just tiny cameras!! - What kind of authenticity was that then, looking at a laptop- or cell-phone screen - even if they had managed to reach their goal? Turns out: Such details don't matter as long as you're part of a modern day myth at the top of the - - - dominance hierarchy - which was developed .i.n. these very waters - - when in doubt: Ask Dr. Peterson about crabs and stuff - serotonin - circling in the veins - - and regulating the brain - and the mood!. That serotonin-cycle developping to regulate the fighting part that constitutes societal hierarchy- - stems from there also!
II More about the Deep Sea and our Deeper Desires (and sex'n'drugs 'n' rock'n'roll (beautiful young women) - - -
Since you asked, Alarmist - - below the Grateful Dead - Cosmic-Charly- Post - - here's Part II of my answer - - (Part I is at the Cosmic Charly post)
The disco and live act venue I wrote you back about, Alarmist, in Walldorf at some length - - you had been asking me and I'm not sure whether or not you did see my answer - - - this disco had that crab/fish (!) part reflected already in it's vey name: See-Studio - which meant: Lake-Studio or: in German: (in the) Sea Studio...
Dr. Freud, who loved Heidelberg, had been pointing out a few decades before, that one basic longing of men is to encounter the - - oceanic feeling - - his expression for - - the - deeper - reasons for - - the orgasm . . .
Ok - when the legendary See-Studio closed, the "Swimming-Pool (!) Disco" in Heidelberg stepped in as the hippest place of the Rhine-Neckar-Region - and I knew the manager of that place quite well: It was Guru-Guru-guitarist Ax Genrich's girlfriend - - the charming run-away daughter of the Heidelberg - - Rabbi - - -
She once told me about a trip in her Citroen "Duck" ("2-CV" - four doors, two cylinders, textile roof, you could simply roll-back, 18 horse-power, 4,5 liters /100km) to the chalk-cliffs of Dover and I asked her what she did there and she said: I enjoyed myself! . . Of course: The cliffs of Dover are -- the remnants of the sea, that had been where Europe is now.(the darn things all hanf together (I let the typo be - - because - - - "hanf" is the biological German expression for - - Marihuana - - - (but, just to repeat that: you would not have believed when I told you how little we peers consumed - - especially in the See-Studio - - I spent an awful lot of time there - 20 hrs. /weekly - I'd say: 95% of that: completely sober (no alcohol too - - just - - music/being in this - - peer-flow/beauty realm of youth (I told you about Heidi and Babs and Anita***... and our dance mood).***a man who later became a well known director of two of the most appreciated psychosomatic clinics in Germany, and who drove an old Volvo P 18 as a student and whom I knew well (we worked in the famous Free Clinic in HD together - he was the magic five years older than me that made a lot of difference then) - - once said: She is the most beautiful girl in Heidelberg - - (and that was saying quite something: She was that beautiful - - I once watched a scene: She stepped into a seminar room through the window - - in her brown fur-coat, smiling - - and everybody stopped talking and she then stood there enjoying the effect her simple presence had on all these - - hip! - - people - - - - by the time I've forgotten - - that scene alone, - - - I'll be dead).
- It all fits together nicely - - - the imploded vessel(that's right - I mean - - I envision it having happened this way)- has been on the Navy's systems with a recorded explosion (= implosion? a bit confused) not on thursday but days! earlier - but - - but what?
I guess what: The Navy did not want to spoil the story! - Tension for billions out there on - earth - - - you don't want to spoil that!! - Let people live through that thrill! Panem & Circenses - Bread & Plays, as the Romans of old put that one!!-
- One more woke thing: Respect the viewer's sensibility before putting out facts! - Colonel MacGregor did notice that there are more and more women in the press-offices of the Pentagon etc. talking about the Ukraine war- - - because they can lie better than men, the Colonel said - not least because they are less attacked by reporters for not wanting to look rude against women - - - (this is all öhh: Peterson (Kief) territory too - since years now.
Same women-thing in Germany. German Rail can't get the famous Scharzwaldbahn (Black Forest-line)going on schedule, because - - - well: We are not informed what the reason is for train delays without end and even the temporary .c.l.o.s.i.n.g. of parts of the train line Konstanz-Karlsruhe altogether. And who is there as the spokesperson: Well: We are not told! Reporters are not allowed to say who that is!! - It is a secret! now who is spokesperson of the Deutsche Bahn in Badenia!! - This is a first-ever-thing! - - -All we know: There are women now doing this disinformation business for Deutsche Bahn! - - -
One factual reason: Somehow the wheels destroy the rails and the destroyed rails destroy the wheels in return and - much more so than in the past - - - and guess what: Deutsche Bahn is committed to the diversity hires standards set by Chancellor Merkel who stated (and made it one of her conservative party's (Christian Democrats) top-topic: Equal numbers of women in the engineering dept. too - - - And one more thing: The crew that did this job before is -- in retirement. Now I have to guess: This crew consisted of engineers and technicians that were male - - - ca. 98%.
One more thing: The spokeswoma/en say(s) she'd be not entitled to give details about the disaster!!! = No technical information whatsoever. But - I've read yesterday in our local paper what she did go into at great length: How everybody cares, and how much they appreciate their customers and how glad they are about them and how important it is for them to make sure that people know that they care etc. pp. - - - - a suada of longhouse networking jargon - - hehe: There were longhouses at the Lake - - in the water - - on oak stumps that survived the last 10 000 or so years, - so: This women business is the final resurrection of an autochthon local tradition!! - True conservatism!!!
Btw.: I regularly swim above those longhouse constructions of old - - so: Mine is a first hand report!! - I am where this all stems from!
One more - - the submersible, ohhh - - - was most likely destructed at a much .h.i.g.h.e.r. altitude than most people thought according to the US Navy.
The last one: The Gateway Pundit reports that it was not least built with Covid-loans, handed out to support small businesses willing to - - - survive the pandemic. And they did.
Final remark: The deplorable thing had no windows! - Just tiny cameras!! - What kind of authenticity was that then, looking at a laptop- or cell-phone screen - even if they had managed to reach their goal? Turns out: Such details don't matter as long as you're part of a modern day myth at the top of the - - - dominance hierarchy - which was developed .i.n. these very waters - - when in doubt: Ask Dr. Peterson about crabs and stuff - serotonin - circling in the veins - - and regulating the brain - and the mood!. That serotonin-cycle developping to regulate the fighting part that constitutes societal hierarchy- - stems from there also!
II More about the Deep Sea and our Deeper Desires (and sex'n'drugs 'n' rock'n'roll (beautiful young women) - - -
Since you asked, Alarmist - - below the Grateful Dead - Cosmic-Charly- Post - - here's Part II of my answer - - (Part I is at the Cosmic Charly post)
The disco and live act venue I wrote you back about, Alarmist, in Walldorf at some length - - you had been asking me and I'm not sure whether or not you did see my answer - - - this disco had that crab/fish (!) part reflected already in it's vey name: See-Studio - which meant: Lake-Studio or: in German: (in the) Sea Studio...
Dr. Freud, who loved Heidelberg, had been pointing out a few decades before, that one basic longing of men is to encounter the - - oceanic feeling - - his expression for - - the - deeper - reasons for - - the orgasm . . .
Ok - when the legendary See-Studio closed, the "Swimming-Pool (!) Disco" in Heidelberg stepped in as the hippest place of the Rhine-Neckar-Region - and I knew the manager of that place quite well: It was Guru-Guru-guitarist Ax Genrich's girlfriend - - the charming run-away daughter of the Heidelberg - - Rabbi - - -
She once told me about a trip in her Citroen "Duck" ("2-CV" - four doors, two cylinders, textile roof, you could simply roll-back, 18 horse-power, 4,5 liters /100km) to the chalk-cliffs of Dover and I asked her what she did there and she said: I enjoyed myself! . . Of course: The cliffs of Dover are -- the remnants of the sea, that had been where Europe is now.(the darn things all hanf together (I let the typo be - - because - - - "hanf" is the biological German expression for - - Marihuana - - - (but, just to repeat that: you would not have believed when I told you how little we peers consumed - - especially in the See-Studio - - I spent an awful lot of time there - 20 hrs. /weekly - I'd say: 95% of that: completely sober (no alcohol too - - just - - music/being in this - - peer-flow/beauty realm of youth (I told you about Heidi and Babs and Anita***... and our dance mood).***a man who later became a well known director of two of the most appreciated psychosomatic clinics in Germany, and who drove an old Volvo P 18 as a student and whom I knew well (we worked in the famous Free Clinic in HD together - he was the magic five years older than me that made a lot of difference then) - - once said: She is the most beautiful girl in Heidelberg - - (and that was saying quite something: She was that beautiful - - I once watched a scene: She stepped into a seminar room through the window - - in her brown fur-coat, smiling - - and everybody stopped talking and she then stood there enjoying the effect her simple presence had on all these - - hip! - - people - - - - by the time I've forgotten - - that scene alone, - - - I'll be dead).
The Alarmist
Friday - June 23rd 2023 2:59PM MST
PS
Speaking of the sunset of competence in the USA, your daily dose of Zen from the Bee ...
https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-dons-feathered-headdress-to-welcome-indian-president
Speaking of the sunset of competence in the USA, your daily dose of Zen from the Bee ...
https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-dons-feathered-headdress-to-welcome-indian-president
Hail
Friday - June 23rd 2023 9:12AM MST
PS
Dieter Kief wrote: "2000+ twitterati did look at my Hrold Robinson/PALLADIUM post so far."
If that is the "Impressions" number, the true number of human eyeballs is generally 1/10th (+/-), in my experience. But Impressions is not unique people.
Dieter Kief wrote: "2000+ twitterati did look at my Hrold Robinson/PALLADIUM post so far."
If that is the "Impressions" number, the true number of human eyeballs is generally 1/10th (+/-), in my experience. But Impressions is not unique people.
Moderator
Friday - June 23rd 2023 8:32AM MST
PS: SafeNow and Dieter, I know only a little bit of that story - from headlines and a friend's description. That's ~ 6,000 psi!! down there at 12,000 ft below the surface. (Well, I assumed no compressibility of water, but that's not strictly true. There's a little bit, so that'd make the pressure slightly higher)
It does deserve a post, but that'll have to be next week. Timeliness is not particularly a thing here at PS.
PS: I'll check out the LiberalPatriot article, Dieter.
It does deserve a post, but that'll have to be next week. Timeliness is not particularly a thing here at PS.
PS: I'll check out the LiberalPatriot article, Dieter.
Moderator
Friday - June 23rd 2023 8:28AM MST
PS: Mr. Kief, thank you also for the book recommendation. I find you a bit optimistic when it comes to the end of Wokeism. These people are not used to backing down, and they won't without a big fight. They are used to having the upper hand, being Commissars of Big Biz and the Universities, etc.
As for Naomi Klein apologizing for her Totalitarianism on the Kung Flu, WOW! What's next, dogs and cats living together?!*
* H/T, Dave Letterman
As for Naomi Klein apologizing for her Totalitarianism on the Kung Flu, WOW! What's next, dogs and cats living together?!*
* H/T, Dave Letterman
Moderator
Friday - June 23rd 2023 8:24AM MST
PS: That was referring to Steve Sailer, Mr. Hail. I cleared up the wording.
Dieter, thanks for the interesting comment (12:30 AM MST - early morning for you). It's entirely plausible that this Harold Robinson, the actual person of whom we are not quite sure - Adam's searches notwithstanding - has never heard of Steve Sailer. He may just "travel" in different parts of the big internet. As for Peak Stupidity, if he's heard of us ... it's, yeah, his lucky day!
You brought up a great point in noting that the writer did not touch Feminism at all, regarding the workplace, as would be appropriate to an article about incompetence. It's not that some women can't do competent jobs in many fields, even some men's fields of endeavor, but when there is AA/quotas/Wokeness, the same problems occur. Perhaps the writer had bit off all he could chew with this article. Should we expect another nice long article from him on Feminism and the workplace?
As for Peter Boghossian's daughter, well, I don't know if that many women are smitten with electricity (in that way). I think her chances of a happy life would be better if she found something to do with children - and, of course, had some herself. I don't know these people, so that's just a general statement.
Dieter, thanks for the interesting comment (12:30 AM MST - early morning for you). It's entirely plausible that this Harold Robinson, the actual person of whom we are not quite sure - Adam's searches notwithstanding - has never heard of Steve Sailer. He may just "travel" in different parts of the big internet. As for Peak Stupidity, if he's heard of us ... it's, yeah, his lucky day!
You brought up a great point in noting that the writer did not touch Feminism at all, regarding the workplace, as would be appropriate to an article about incompetence. It's not that some women can't do competent jobs in many fields, even some men's fields of endeavor, but when there is AA/quotas/Wokeness, the same problems occur. Perhaps the writer had bit off all he could chew with this article. Should we expect another nice long article from him on Feminism and the workplace?
As for Peter Boghossian's daughter, well, I don't know if that many women are smitten with electricity (in that way). I think her chances of a happy life would be better if she found something to do with children - and, of course, had some herself. I don't know these people, so that's just a general statement.
The Alarmist
Friday - June 23rd 2023 4:25AM MST
PS
The US won’t exist as we know it in ten years, so younare being optimistic.
The US won’t exist as we know it in ten years, so younare being optimistic.
Dieter Kief
Friday - June 23rd 2023 1:16AM MST
PS
UnSafeNow submersibles - - oh - - go with the flow - - throw out old white men from the construction team (they did!!) and - -go for a deep dive and see what happens - - - lookin' back, this rich cat's minor tragedy might also be deciphered as another nail in the coffin of wokism/diversity! -
- So: In this case, the death of the five adventurers apporaching at a past tragedy of white engineerial supremacy and hubris - might add to the insight, that now it's the neglect of old white men - as a neglect of quality and decency in general - - is what goes totally wrong.
The Depp Dive of Diversity & the folowing destruction of decency - - - that's how the catastrophic expedition might be interpreted - - - and sooner than many think - - .
See here: Wokism IS in decline - a sociological look at what I said in my comment below - -
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-great-awokening-of-higher-ed
I - Mr. Hail - - found this at Steve Stewart Williams' titter thread - and I did post Haold Robinson's PALLADIUM article there too. Btw. - - 2000+ twitterati did look at my Hrold Robinson/PALLADIUM post so far.
UnSafeNow submersibles - - oh - - go with the flow - - throw out old white men from the construction team (they did!!) and - -go for a deep dive and see what happens - - - lookin' back, this rich cat's minor tragedy might also be deciphered as another nail in the coffin of wokism/diversity! -
- So: In this case, the death of the five adventurers apporaching at a past tragedy of white engineerial supremacy and hubris - might add to the insight, that now it's the neglect of old white men - as a neglect of quality and decency in general - - is what goes totally wrong.
The Depp Dive of Diversity & the folowing destruction of decency - - - that's how the catastrophic expedition might be interpreted - - - and sooner than many think - - .
See here: Wokism IS in decline - a sociological look at what I said in my comment below - -
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-great-awokening-of-higher-ed
I - Mr. Hail - - found this at Steve Stewart Williams' titter thread - and I did post Haold Robinson's PALLADIUM article there too. Btw. - - 2000+ twitterati did look at my Hrold Robinson/PALLADIUM post so far.
SafeNow
Friday - June 23rd 2023 12:44AM MST
PS
Because the submersible is such a perfect metaphor for Peak Stupidity, and because this tragic event, RIP, relates to a lack of competence, it deserves a mention. I noticed that the CEO wears one of those rubber bracelets. If I had somehow been considering going on this trip, as soon as I saw the rubber bracelet, I would have said no thanks. Btw, for perspective, regulations for USCG cutter swimmers provide that the rescuing swimmer is prohibited from entering underneath a capsized hull floating on the surface. It is too dangerous.
Because the submersible is such a perfect metaphor for Peak Stupidity, and because this tragic event, RIP, relates to a lack of competence, it deserves a mention. I noticed that the CEO wears one of those rubber bracelets. If I had somehow been considering going on this trip, as soon as I saw the rubber bracelet, I would have said no thanks. Btw, for perspective, regulations for USCG cutter swimmers provide that the rescuing swimmer is prohibited from entering underneath a capsized hull floating on the surface. It is too dangerous.
Dieter Kief
Friday - June 23rd 2023 12:30AM MST
PS
Thanks Mod., this article is indeed close to Steve Sailer's - and your - - analyses for decades - and - - as he mentioned in his speech this week at the VDare-conference - this happens almost exclusively without mentioning Steve Sailer's Website - or name - let alone yours...
Now - the politicial dynamic. Mr. Sailer points out time and time again, that the diversity concept has at its core a - - dividing force: It is loaded with conflicts, because to give the fruits of labor away for free - or for simply virtue-signaling, makes it impossible to decide who should - and who should not be granted access to the more or less free privileges - and exactly in what order: Mr. Sailer named that phenomenon the inherent shortcomings (= tendentially: the inherent self-destructiveness) of the Coalition of the Fringes. -
- This important political and societal dynamic is not spelled out by Harold Robinson. Another aspect he does not touch is the climate-change topic. And maybe wisely so. His article is long already. He also misses out on the "women are equal to men in every respect" -ideology. A point, Jordan B. Peteson attacked bravely and head on - since years now.
Jordan B. Peteson dug too that Steve Sailer's Coalition of the Fringes is an inherently conflict-loaden and tendentially self-destructive idea. He also saw, that Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton sprang in parts directly from that inner tension of the Coalition of the Fringes concept (her highly self-defeating basket-of- deplorables remark she made at a gay conference in NYC...).
...there is a big book hidden in this fact alone - and Peterson too got that - - as did Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald et. al - - - lately: Naomi Klein (note also: These pundits were all once on the left - Naomi Klein .a.po.l.o.g.i.z.e..d. to the regular US american citizens /to the Trump voters explicitly a few months ago, for attacking them from a left perspective in the Jan. 6 case - - because she said, that she 'd have been - - wrong!).
Mathematician James Lindsay and Jordan B. Peterson talk not least about the tendency of the Coalition of the Fringes, to wipe out excellence and competence in general and paint a rather dark picture in this super insightful & clear convesation:
Marxism, Religion & Everything In Between | Dr. James Lindsay | EP 367 - YouTube.
James Lindsay - as his partners in their most successful effort to make the destructiveness of woke-ism in academia clear - philosopher Peter Boghossian and medieval (!) lit expert Helen Pluckrose in their Sokal Square project, in which they wrote on purpose highly bogus sociology etc. woke papers which - were accepted by the leading academic journals - and even highly praised.
Pluckrose and Lindsay wrote the - thanks god - -also highly praised book about the destructiveness of the woke value system:
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody.
This great book - and this was the beginning of the end of wokism, I tend to think - - -got high praises across the spectrum from left to right: Not least in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek etc. - and was a big success.
So:I think we're seeing the beginning of the decline of the woke success.
Here is Peter Boghossian looking back in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung at how wokism succeeded in academia:
It went from,
1) ‘There is no problem, this is a few fringe nutcases in fringe departments in the academy’ to
2) ‘This is just in a few departments in the academy, it will never leak.’ Then it goes to institutional governments, and people said, 3) ‘Oh, it’ll never leak out into the broader society.’
Now look where we are. It’s the dominant value in the system. -
- And now Harold Robinson declares, that it did affect the productive side of society with such intensity, that its destructive effect can't be overlooked any longer. -
- A Peak stupidity claim for years now. But with the insight in the very deceptive nature of the woke mindset, the downfall of it might well be what's up ahead.
As a sidenote, what this canging of theguards of the zeitgeist might bring with it:
Pluckrose is married to a forklift driver.
James Lindsay to a massage-therapist. And he did resign from mathematics to work as a massage hterapist too for quite some years - - and
Peter Boghossian said, that his daughter will not be educated in academia, but become an electrician - - -
As in another hindsight too: David Goodhart did get this too and - - has written a book about it
Head Hand Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21st Century (2020) - a praise of the trades - and doing htings by hand!
A last sidenote. Boghossian and Lindsay parted ways over atheism: They both were in the atheist movement in the beginning. But Lindsay says now in his talk with Peterson, that that was a mistake on his side: He now thinks that (Christian) religion does count and - - make sense.
Thanks Mod., this article is indeed close to Steve Sailer's - and your - - analyses for decades - and - - as he mentioned in his speech this week at the VDare-conference - this happens almost exclusively without mentioning Steve Sailer's Website - or name - let alone yours...
Now - the politicial dynamic. Mr. Sailer points out time and time again, that the diversity concept has at its core a - - dividing force: It is loaded with conflicts, because to give the fruits of labor away for free - or for simply virtue-signaling, makes it impossible to decide who should - and who should not be granted access to the more or less free privileges - and exactly in what order: Mr. Sailer named that phenomenon the inherent shortcomings (= tendentially: the inherent self-destructiveness) of the Coalition of the Fringes. -
- This important political and societal dynamic is not spelled out by Harold Robinson. Another aspect he does not touch is the climate-change topic. And maybe wisely so. His article is long already. He also misses out on the "women are equal to men in every respect" -ideology. A point, Jordan B. Peteson attacked bravely and head on - since years now.
Jordan B. Peteson dug too that Steve Sailer's Coalition of the Fringes is an inherently conflict-loaden and tendentially self-destructive idea. He also saw, that Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton sprang in parts directly from that inner tension of the Coalition of the Fringes concept (her highly self-defeating basket-of- deplorables remark she made at a gay conference in NYC...).
...there is a big book hidden in this fact alone - and Peterson too got that - - as did Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald et. al - - - lately: Naomi Klein (note also: These pundits were all once on the left - Naomi Klein .a.po.l.o.g.i.z.e..d. to the regular US american citizens /to the Trump voters explicitly a few months ago, for attacking them from a left perspective in the Jan. 6 case - - because she said, that she 'd have been - - wrong!).
Mathematician James Lindsay and Jordan B. Peterson talk not least about the tendency of the Coalition of the Fringes, to wipe out excellence and competence in general and paint a rather dark picture in this super insightful & clear convesation:
Marxism, Religion & Everything In Between | Dr. James Lindsay | EP 367 - YouTube.
James Lindsay - as his partners in their most successful effort to make the destructiveness of woke-ism in academia clear - philosopher Peter Boghossian and medieval (!) lit expert Helen Pluckrose in their Sokal Square project, in which they wrote on purpose highly bogus sociology etc. woke papers which - were accepted by the leading academic journals - and even highly praised.
Pluckrose and Lindsay wrote the - thanks god - -also highly praised book about the destructiveness of the woke value system:
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody.
This great book - and this was the beginning of the end of wokism, I tend to think - - -got high praises across the spectrum from left to right: Not least in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek etc. - and was a big success.
So:I think we're seeing the beginning of the decline of the woke success.
Here is Peter Boghossian looking back in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung at how wokism succeeded in academia:
It went from,
1) ‘There is no problem, this is a few fringe nutcases in fringe departments in the academy’ to
2) ‘This is just in a few departments in the academy, it will never leak.’ Then it goes to institutional governments, and people said, 3) ‘Oh, it’ll never leak out into the broader society.’
Now look where we are. It’s the dominant value in the system. -
- And now Harold Robinson declares, that it did affect the productive side of society with such intensity, that its destructive effect can't be overlooked any longer. -
- A Peak stupidity claim for years now. But with the insight in the very deceptive nature of the woke mindset, the downfall of it might well be what's up ahead.
As a sidenote, what this canging of theguards of the zeitgeist might bring with it:
Pluckrose is married to a forklift driver.
James Lindsay to a massage-therapist. And he did resign from mathematics to work as a massage hterapist too for quite some years - - and
Peter Boghossian said, that his daughter will not be educated in academia, but become an electrician - - -
As in another hindsight too: David Goodhart did get this too and - - has written a book about it
Head Hand Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21st Century (2020) - a praise of the trades - and doing htings by hand!
A last sidenote. Boghossian and Lindsay parted ways over atheism: They both were in the atheist movement in the beginning. But Lindsay says now in his talk with Peterson, that that was a mistake on his side: He now thinks that (Christian) religion does count and - - make sense.
Hail
Thursday - June 22nd 2023 10:19PM MST
PS
"Harold Robinson, writing here for Palladium tells the story without numbers and specific schools and racial headcounts. I'm fine with that, as I can see this guy's reasoning is sound, and he has the story right. Mr. Sailer might not be fine with that. He is also too nice, and often a bit naive, to straight-out tell readers that the continuation of all this is leading to serious trouble, as in a 3rd-World nation."
Who is the "he" you refer to (in "He is also too nice, and often a bit naive"), Steve Sailer or Harold Robinson? I think it's probably Sailer, but it could apply as a criticism to the Harold Robinson article.
"Harold Robinson, writing here for Palladium tells the story without numbers and specific schools and racial headcounts. I'm fine with that, as I can see this guy's reasoning is sound, and he has the story right. Mr. Sailer might not be fine with that. He is also too nice, and often a bit naive, to straight-out tell readers that the continuation of all this is leading to serious trouble, as in a 3rd-World nation."
Who is the "he" you refer to (in "He is also too nice, and often a bit naive"), Steve Sailer or Harold Robinson? I think it's probably Sailer, but it could apply as a criticism to the Harold Robinson article.
Moderator
Thursday - June 22nd 2023 9:09PM MST
PS: Thanks for the info on Palladium magazine, Mr. Hail. VDare had this quarterly print version of their magazine too, something along these lines, but not quite so high-level as far as the budget.
Hail
Thursday - June 22nd 2023 7:55PM MST
PS
- On the Palladium print edition -
"Mr. Robinson wrote this article for Palladium on-line (I guess?) magazine. (Who prints stuff out anymore?)"
Palladium Magazine, we learn, has for some years now produced a sleek, high-production-value magazine and sends it out to subscribers by mail, approximately quarterly.
I think the current coming edition, with the Harold Robertson essay, will be "Palladium 10."
Here is Palladium 10, said to have been sent out by mail just yesterday (June 21):
https://hailtoyou.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/palladium-magazine-print-edition-issue-10.jpeg
https://www.palladiummag.com/subscribe/
You can see that Palladium Issue-10's theme is "Cultural Excellence," under which the Harold Robertson essay fits.
The print subscription is highly expensive, at $600/year for "subscription to quarterly Palladium print editions and invitations to private events," and there two more-expensive tiers even than that. This very-expensive rate is an interesting shift in philosophy on how to peg subscription rates from the old days. Formerly, they wanted to move Newsweek and Time magazine and such at low-rates to large numbers of people. This magazine clearly aims for low numbers of people but charging 10x to 20x what a typical mass-subscription quarterly magazine of old would charge
It seems all the material is available publicly online. If so, the subscription is to show financial support, in essence being a large donation to the foundation and its work. The philosophy is like a buy-in to an exclusive, private club, which also charge high fees in part to get people to "buy in" in a metaphorical and not just financial way. The rest of us can still read the material but are relegated to being Internet-plebes. It's an interesting adaptation to the Internet-world.
- On the Palladium print edition -
"Mr. Robinson wrote this article for Palladium on-line (I guess?) magazine. (Who prints stuff out anymore?)"
Palladium Magazine, we learn, has for some years now produced a sleek, high-production-value magazine and sends it out to subscribers by mail, approximately quarterly.
I think the current coming edition, with the Harold Robertson essay, will be "Palladium 10."
Here is Palladium 10, said to have been sent out by mail just yesterday (June 21):
https://hailtoyou.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/palladium-magazine-print-edition-issue-10.jpeg
https://www.palladiummag.com/subscribe/
You can see that Palladium Issue-10's theme is "Cultural Excellence," under which the Harold Robertson essay fits.
The print subscription is highly expensive, at $600/year for "subscription to quarterly Palladium print editions and invitations to private events," and there two more-expensive tiers even than that. This very-expensive rate is an interesting shift in philosophy on how to peg subscription rates from the old days. Formerly, they wanted to move Newsweek and Time magazine and such at low-rates to large numbers of people. This magazine clearly aims for low numbers of people but charging 10x to 20x what a typical mass-subscription quarterly magazine of old would charge
It seems all the material is available publicly online. If so, the subscription is to show financial support, in essence being a large donation to the foundation and its work. The philosophy is like a buy-in to an exclusive, private club, which also charge high fees in part to get people to "buy in" in a metaphorical and not just financial way. The rest of us can still read the material but are relegated to being Internet-plebes. It's an interesting adaptation to the Internet-world.
uuuh Adam - - -this Cliffs of Dover instrumental I didn't know - - / it is goosebumpy stuff - - thx. a lot - for that too!/ I want to add that one of the by me most beloved landscape photography series is featured in a little promo-brochure for the (posh and great!) Contax G2 film camera (shot ca. 1990 - - - around the same time, E.C. 's song was recorded) in a stretch of perfect summer days on - - - the Cliffs of Dover... - - - such are the coincidences: Sharon Levinson's, wife of guitarist Ax Genrich - - spontaneous five day trip from Heidelberg to Dover and back in - - June 1972 -- the Contax brochure - - E. C.'s masterly instrumental - - - which seems to have made quite an impression on you - - - circles within circles - -