The progressive pedigree

The Thanks Project ^ | 4/21/2014 | Steve Berman

[lifeofgrace]

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Political correctness is increasingly morphing into a more hideous monster hiding just beneath the surface.  Fully abandoning the decades-old dream of a classless society, the Left is embracing its opposite:  a caste system, complete with pedigrees, credentials, and the benefits of membership in the ruling caste.  Of course, this caste system places the progressive elite at the top, as the ruling class, where anything uttered or written, any action contemplated, any pursuit of power or money, is seen as having the imprimatur of Divine right.

Victor David Hanson published a parade of horribles committed by members of the Left, unhindered and free of consequences, in his NRO post "progressive insurance".

Instead of paying monetary premiums, one supports the proper causes, says the properly cool things, joins the right organizations, and votes the correct way, and by those means purchases a liability policy against the careless mistakes, plagiarism, offhanded lapses, sexual peccadillos, gaffes, and bad jokes that otherwise could prove ruinous.

I suggest that this liability policy is more than simply a risk transfer purchase - it is in fact not insurance at all.  It is the face of overt class preference and bigotry.  The Left is knowingly, purposefully, pursuing a caste society, with themselves on top, racial minorities whose votes they need just beneath that, unions, Wall Streeters, and corporate fat cats who provide useful cash alongside, and conservatives at the bottom as "untouchables".  It's easy to become "untouchable": just support a cause or idea that the elite oppose.

At the top is the unholy alliance of government, media and entertainment who issue the pedigrees and credentials.  For them, no crime is prosecutable, and if there is a "real" crime, it's buried like a black sheep family secret.  Most of their crimes go on in public, unashamedly, without remorse or conscience.

Criminal activity is no barrier either. Last week, at a convention hosted by activist Al Sharpton, Attorney General Eric Holder whined to Sharpton’s audience that he and Obama have been treated unfairly, his subtext being endemic racial prejudice. But Holder’s host knows a lot about racial prejudice. At that moment, Sharpton — who concocted the Tawana Brawley mythology, defamed a district attorney, and was forced to pay libel fines for his slurs; who avoided taxes; and who helped incite a fatal race riot — was back in the news, and not for his long history of racism, homophobia, and religious bigotry.

Sharpton may have had more visits to the White House than former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman.  He is certainly welcome there, because his progressive pedigree is of flawless lineage.

In the new American caste system, gaining access to certain professions may require a pedigree check.  CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson left the organization because her political views were not tolerated, and she had grown tired of being sidelined.  In fact, the news media is becoming increasingly polarized, and instead of pursuit of truth and journalism, there's a decided tilt toward "our side" or "their side" and "their side" is not to have a voice.

Journalism:  writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation (Merriam Webster, definition 2(b))

There's very little journalism going on at the major newspapers, mainstream television and news organizations.  Everything is interpreted, and one's right to participate in the craft is increasingly subject to your patent of nobility in the Left's elite caste.

American culture has always rejected rigid caste systems, in favor of supporting the underdog.  The only way the Left has of avoiding this cultural backlash is to continually, and without pause, paint their causes as victims, downtrodden, or rejected classes.  The nameless, faceless, uninsured, poor, at the mercy of the well-named rich, Republican blue-bloods.  The one-percenters.  The "rich".  In fact, the "rich" tend to be more liberal, socially progressive, and aligned with Democrat party values than the rest of the country.

This "matrix" version of the world can only be maintained by control of the media/entertainment/news industry, much of which happily spins the propaganda wheels of the Left and churns out stories word-for-word in agreement with the party line. The fact that AM talk radio, Fox News, and a large chunk of the blogosphere have taken the red pill is not a large cause for concern to the elites; as long as those without a pedigree are kept segregated, they can be labeled untouchable, preserving the untainted genealogy of the elite caste.

One day the fake projected realities of the Left's elitist dreams will come crashing down (mostly due to the economic havoc they're causing) and the reality of the tyranny they practice will be evident.  The left is channelling Senator Joe McCarthy while practicing his brand of blacklisting, fear-mongering, and demagoguery.  Then it will be time for the rest of us untouchables to piece things back together.

Hopefully, there'll be enough pieces left.