A Surrender Of Dignity

Brown University Professor Glenn Loury put forth a scathing condemnation of equity that unmasks how harmful it is to the people it’s intended to uplift.

If you’ve used a different standard of assessment in order to achieve equity you’ve just patronized me. You’ve just communicated tacitly that you don’t think I’m capable of performing according to the objective criteria of assessment as well as anybody else.

I am now your client.

I am now a ward.

I go or come by your leave.

It’s a surrender of dignity. You will not be equal at the end of that argument even if you get what you ask for.

Watch the whole clip here. It’s worth it.

Some time back, I asked whether the Best-and-Brightest saw their fellow members of society as exhibits in a zoo rather than as equal citizens deserving equal treatment. Their attitudes toward the lower classes suggest the former, and Professor Loury’s diatribe supports that conclusion.

While they will never admit it, progressives have behaved condescendingly toward everyone they champion for nigh-on a century.

Planned Parenthood was originally about reducing the number of black births.

LBJ’s Great Society tackled a problem that was already solving itself, worsened rather than improving that problem, and created massive new problems. Upward economic mobility among blacks was good, and accelerating IIRC, before LBJ’s welfare state. It slowed to a crawl afterward, in part because of the “welfare trap,” and in part because it removed the social pressures that produced an 80% two parent household rate among blacks (higher than whites at the time).

Now, that two-parent rate is 25%. Since the biggest predictor of a child’s success is two parents in the house, generations of black kids were badly harmed by the progressive helping hand.

The Department of Education was formed under Carter in the late 70s. Since that “helping hand” arrived, per-student spending has more than doubled in adjusted dollars, but academic success has not improved one whit, and in many cases regressed.

There’s much more.

Rather than say “we got it wrong,” however, the Best-and-Brightest chose instead to make excuses, such as “systemic racism,” to mask their failures. And to lower standards for the populations they harmed. There’s the condescension. There’s the message “we have concluded you cannot keep up, so we’re going to dumb things down for you, and give it a fancy new name: Equity.”

• Equity perpetuates a permanent underclass.

• Equity destroys self-esteem. Even those who achieve on merit will be questioned based on their skin color - and will be inclined to question themselves.

• Equity undermines self-determination and the primacy of the individual.

• Equity expects conformity to the Left’s narratives, and those who don’t get labeled “ungrateful.” What a great message to send to the underprivileged kids trying to break forward in their lives.

• Equity exalts victimhood, which encourages more people to claim victim status. Victims rarely see their lot as something they themselves can or should remedy. They are inclined toward a sense of entitlement, toward expecting “society” to take care of them, and they vote accordingly.

Which may or may not have been the initial purpose of The Great Society - LBJ, for his many faults, did appear to have a genuine desire to improve civil rights - but is certainly embraced by big-government politicians today. Buying votes by promising handouts is the norm today, and it’s a huge contributor to the unraveling of our society. Every “bought” vote is a declaration that “my wants override your right to keep the fruit of your labor.”

Back in the 70s, the TV show Good Times dealt with dignity.

Consider this clip. Father-of-three James got laid off from his job, so his wife Florida reached out to an agency to get a job. James insisted that her job was at home, raising the kids and running the household, and insisted that his role as the man of the house was as provider.

She offered:

James, there is dignity in all work. It’s not the kind of work you do that gives you dignity, it’s how well you do it.

I recall another episode, where James lost another job and realized the family would have to go on welfare. We witnessed a broken man, a man whose dignity could not abide going on the dole.

Is there any similar messaging in entertainment or the media today?

Is there any talk of dignity that isn’t attached to expecting no-strings handouts from the government? I was once told that precluding people from using food stamps for junk food or sodas undermined their dignity. You can imagine my response.

America’s promise has been that of self-determination, of the freedom to pursue goals with fewer obstacles and fewer people standing in your way. This is why millions immigrated here across the nation’s history. Not for handouts, but for opportunity.

As Florida remarked, the path to dignity is in self-realization, not in having your “betters” patronize you. Our society needs to return to that standard, and the way to do that is to stop treating the less fortunate as less capable. Get out of their way, remove the corrupting incentives, and re-liberate the impetus to achieve.