#die bureaucracy

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: John McWhorter

Published: Dec 21, 2023

Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, should resign.

I don’t love thinking so and hoped we would not reach this tipping point in the controversy over whether she should be retained in her position. But a tipping point it is.

Harvard has a clear policy on plagiarism that threatens undergraduates with punishment up to the university’s equivalent of expulsion for just a single instance of it. That policy may not apply to the university’s president, but the recent, growing revelations about past instances of plagiarism by Dr. Gay make it untenable for her to remain in office.

As a matter of scholarly ethics, academic honor and, perhaps most of all, leadership that sets an example for students, Dr. Gay would be denigrating the values of “veritas” that she and Harvard aspire to uphold. Staying on would not only be a terrible sign of hollowed-out leadership, but also risks conveying the impression of a double standard at a progressive institution for a Black woman, which serves no one well, least of all Dr. Gay.

It has always been inconvenient that Harvard’s first Black president has only published 11 academic articles in her career and not one book (other than one with three co-editors). Some of her predecessors, like Lawrence Bacow, Drew Gilpin Faust and Lawrence Summers, have had vastly more voluminous academic records. The discrepancy gives the appearance that Dr. Gay was not chosen because of her academic or scholarly qualifications, which Harvard is thought to prize, but rather because of her race.

There is an argument that a university president may not need to have been an awesomely productive scholar, and that Dr. Gay perhaps brought other and more useful qualifications to the job. (She held the high-ranking post of dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard before the presidency, and so may have administrative gifts, but that job is not a steppingstone to the modern Harvard presidency.) But Harvard, traditionally, has exemplified the best of the best, and its presidents have been often regarded as among the top in their given fields — prize winners, leading scholars, the total package.

As such, the academic writings and publications of a Harvard president and other top university presidents matter, including the integrity of that work. It might seem counterintuitive that university presidents typically begin their careers writing dozens of academic papers and multiple academic books. One might see their current duties — as administrators, fund-raisers, troubleshooters, meeting-havers — as only diagonally connected to the publish-or-perish realm of being a college professor.

This is especially because the world of academic papers and books is a weird and often gestural thing. Beyond the work of the occasional star, this academic material is often read only by a few reviewers (if even them) and university library shelves groan under the weight of countless academic books engaged by essentially no one. As to one of my own academic books — my favorite one, in fact — I am aware of a single person who has actually read it. And that’s about normal in this business.

But the allegations of plagiarism leveled at Dr. Gay come on top of her thin dossier and present a different kind of challenge.

There are indeed degrees of plagiarism. The allegations against Dr. Gay do not entail promoting actual substantial ideas as her own, but rather lifting phrases for sections of dutiful literature review and explicating basic premises without using quotation marks, or changing the wording only slightly, and, at times, not even citing the relevant authors shortly before or after these sections. This qualifies less as stealing argumentation than as messy. Much has been made of the fact that even her acknowledgments section in her dissertation has phraseology transparently cribbed from those of others. Sloppy, again — but still, this is not about her actual ideas.

But there are two problems here. One is Harvard’s plagiarism policy for students, its veritas image and other standards of integrity and conduct. Second is the sheer amount of the plagiarism in her case, even if in itself it is something less than stealing ideas. If the issue were a couple of hastily quoted phrases in one article, it would be one thing. But investigations have shown that this problem runs through about half of Dr. Gay’s articles, as well as her dissertation. We must ask how a university president can expect to hold her head high, carry authority and inspire respect as a leader on a campus where students suffer grave consequences for doing even a fraction of what Dr. Gay has done.

That Dr. Gay is Black gives this an especially bad look. If she stays in her job, the optics will be that a middling publication record and chronically lackadaisical attention to crediting sources is somehow OK for a university president if she is Black. This implication will be based on a fact sad but impossible to ignore: that it is difficult to identify a white university president with a similar background. Are we to let pass a tacit idea that for Black scholars and administrators, the symbolism of our Blackness, our “diverseness,” is what matters most about us? I am unclear where the Black pride (or antiracism) is in this.

After the congressional hearing this month where Dr. Gay made comments about genocide and antisemitism that she later apologized for, and now in the aftermath of the plagiarism allegations, some of her supporters and others have argued that the university should not dismiss Dr. Gay, because doing so would be to give in to a “mob.” However, one person’s mob is another person’s gradually emerging consensus among reasonable people.

I, for one, wield no pitchfork on this. I did not call for Dr. Gay’s dismissal in the wake of her performance at the antisemitism hearings in Washington, and on social media I advised at first to ease up our judgment about the initial plagiarism accusations. But in the wake of reports of additional acts of plagiarism and Harvard’s saying that she will make further corrections to past writing, the weight of the charges has taken me from “wait and see” to “that’s it.”

If it is mobbish to call on Black figures of influence to be held to the standards that others are held to, then we have arrived at a rather mysterious version of antiracism, and just in time for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in less than a month. I would even wish Harvard well in searching for another Black woman to serve as president if that is an imperative. But at this point that Black woman cannot, with any grace, be Claudine Gay.

And if Harvard declines to dismiss her out of fear of being accused of racism — a reasonable although hardly watertight surmise — Dr. Gay should do the right thing on her own. For Harvard, her own dignity and our national commitment to assessing Black people (and all people) according to the content of their character, she should step down.

[satan-wishes-he-was-me]

big L to all the ineffable husbands fans (me) big win to the gabriel x beelzebub fans (also me)

[peach-jam-on-toast]

I was looking at Ineffable Bureaucracy stuff on Pinterest AND I JUST NOTICED THAT WHEN BEELZEBUB IS IN HELL THEY HAVE THEIR GROSS LIL DEMON TEETH AND FLIES BUZZING AROUND BUT WHEN THEY'RE GOING TO MEET UP WITH GABRIEL THEY CLEAN UP FOR HIM

So either the teeth and whatnot are status symbols or something they have to wear while in hell to keep up with the aesthetic/make sure they can keep people in line, which they feel comfortable enough around him to take off, OR, in hell is how they naturally look and they tone it down when they go on their dates

ofc there's the possibility that it's just something they do to blend in with humans easier BUT I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THAT THEY GET DRESSED UP ALL NICE 4 THEIR POOKIE BEAR🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[mylittleredgirl]

is it possible all the problems with getting my prescriptions is an actual curse

[lithiumseven]

I see a lot of headcanons for what Q’s actual name would be and most of them are first names beginning with Q, which is fabulous of course, but honestly I think it’s much more likely that if he actually did have a name which began with Q it would be his LAST name

[imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper]

MASTERPOST OF MY IBWEEK 2023 FICS:

Day one, Dancing. "A Rhyme to Shine and to Pass the Time." A missing scene fic. A date we didn't see wherein Beelzebub and Gabriel do karaoke and dance.

Day two, Flies. "Then I Am a Happy Fly." A scene from a university AU. A second meeting between two college band kids.

Day three, Confession. "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind."

A "What if" style fic. When Gabriel shows up in hell with no memory and no fly, Beelzebub turns to the husbands for help.

Day four, Argument. "California Dreamin' "

Another missing scene style fic. Beelzebub doesn't want Gabriel to fall; Gabriel doesn't care if he does.

Day Five, Hot Chocolate. "Once Upon a Time There was a Tavern."

A scene set in a The Locked Tomb Series Good Omens AU. The High Commander Gabriel and The Reverend Dark Lord Beelzebub try an ancient drink.

Day six, Gifts. "Little Boxes on the Hillside."

Set in an AU where Gabriel is a human office worker and Aziraphale and Crowley are his shoulder angel and demon. A coffee not quite date on a special day.

Day 7, New Experiences. "Please Put Your Sweet Hand in Mine (And Float in Space and Drift in Time)"

Another missing scene style fic. Set after the end of season 2, Gabriel and Beelzebub arrive at Alpha Centauri.

[friendofgum]

I finally got a request pushed through for a CT scan of my chest BUT NOW I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE INSURANCE COMPANY TO APPROVE IT

*furiously punching the air*

[feydrautha]

Good Omens fandom challenge: try to not make anything related to Ineffable Bureaucracy about Ineffable Husbands

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

The universe is conspiring against me.

I needed to get something notarized last Thursday, but the notary at my bank didn't show up that day, and the guy filling in for her didn't bring his notary stamp

I went to a different bank, and they told me they only notarize for customers who hold an account with them

My bank told me their notary would come on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. They said she would "probably" be here on Thursday, today.

I wen in, and she's not there. They tell mw to go to the UPS store across town.

The lady at the UPS store is very friendly, very helpful, she signs my form, stamps it, puts it in the computer, I sign the screen, and then the power goes out because we're in the middle of a thunderstorm.

The power comes back on, but the computer needs half an hour to reboot, and I can't pay the notary with card, so I go to the Publix next door to buy a snack and get some cash back while I wait.

The power goes out at the Publix.

I get in line, the cashier computers are back online, but only for credit, not debit, so I can't get cash back.

I go BACK to my bank to use the ATM, anf wouldn't you know it the power's out, the ATM is out of service, there's a line of people huddled in the foyer waiting for the rain to stop and the power to come back on.

I've been sitting in my car for fifteen minutes, I'm sopping wet from going in and out and in and out, my AC is busted so all my windows are completely fogged, I can't drive anywhere until it lets up, I still have no cash, the UPS store closes in 45 minutes for lunch, and if I don't get this notarized in the next two days I'm gonna lose 40 bucks (I paid an application fee to get a copy of a document, I have to send in notarized proof of identity by Saturday or I eat the fee)

If it weren't raining I would commit self-immolation in the bank parking lot.

[mexashepot]

No, you are right, this government shouldn't resign, this government should go straight to hell jail

[shiroikabocha]

I’m about 90% of the way done with Paladin’s Hope and I’m already mourning that there are no more books (yet) set in the world of the White Rat. Ugh this world is so COOL I want to EAT IT

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Winkfield Twyman, Jr.

Published: Nov 28, 2023

In a recent Equiano Project podcast featuring Helen Pluckrose, Helen talked about the perpetuation of racial essentialism and stereotype training. I feel comfortable referring to Helen by her first name in that I have known her since my days with Counterweight and given her early support for my book, Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence on Race in America (co-authored with Jennifer Richmond).

Helen is the author of Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody (co-authored with James Lindsey). Cynical Theories may well be the most prophetic book about the dangers of racial dogma in the past decade. Helen’s interview landed well with respect to the dark underbelly of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training.

The most important fire bell in the night shared by Helen is that people write things they do not believe. The ability to write and publish a book is a privilege, and a blessing. Less than 1 percent of Americans have published a book. As one user on Reddit calculates, the number of humans who have published a manuscript is far less than 1 percent. “Well, 6 million books on Amazon, which includes a big chunk of the self published authors, divided by 7 billion people and you get .0086%. So a lot less than 1%.”

Why does writing falsehoods pose a problem for society? When one writes a lie in print, one is reducing the sacred trust between a reader and a writer. Reality becomes distorted for the writer who must suppress the truth and for the reader who doesn’t recognise reality on the printed page. For example, someone might write that incarceration of black men is the new Jim Crow. That assertion is a falsehood. Jim Crow was a legally mandated system of laws to segregate blacks and whites in the public sphere. Incarceration occurs because someone commits a crime. Incarceration does not equal Jim Crow. But once the lie is seized upon in public discourse, people begin to live in lies and to not see the truth; i.e. criminals are incarcerated because criminals commit crimes. 

I no longer believe anything authored by writer Michelle Alexander. She has abused her sacred opportunity as a privileged writer by bringing into the world a monumental falsehood, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. We have all suffered and been injured by her distortion of truth and reality. But for Alexander’s fictional argument, the fertile groundwork might not have been present for the rise of another falsehood, Black Lives Matter. Sadly, one falsehood leads to another falsehood and so it goes.

It is the duty of a published writer to write the truth. 

The next powerful insight from Helen was this idea that DEI training causes racial minorities to assess the level of racism as higher than it should be. Doesn’t this bad consequence ring true? Berry Gordy, the heroic founder of Motown in the year 1959, was once asked the reason for his success. Without hesitation, Gordy answered the reason was “focus.” This psychology applies to Gordy and, indeed, every ordinary human. If you focus on the positive, you will welcome the positive into your life. If you can only look at the negative, one invites the negative into one’s life. The divisive structure of DEI programs prompts participants to dredge up instances and examples of racism, no matter how remote or distant or of little consequence in one’s life.

If I were in a DEI program and the trainer asked me to name three examples of racism from my life when I felt oppressed, sure, I could search my memory banks and come up with three examples. Every black person could in the Western World. But having done so, the trainer has now implanted in my mind resentment and suspicion and ill-will towards my white colleagues. Such a poisonous outcome and for what purpose other than to raise race consciousness in the minds of work colleagues? It is a shame we enable these types of corrosive trainings. 

Finally, Helen channelled the opinions of many black employees who have had enough! Around 60% of the people who reached out to Counterweight for help were black. They pleaded with Helen to stop the racialising at work. Black employees want normal relations with their colleagues, not perpetual grievance struggles about how oppressed one is and how evil oppressor white colleagues are. We should listen to these black employees who don’t like anti-racism programs, Professor Ibram X. Kendi, and all of the manipulative slogan words in the office nowadays. 

Let people work together, lunch together and laugh together. DEI training should be discarded as an unworkable scheme that does more harm than good.

[bpdamn]

the mental health system and my bpd teaming up to ruin me:

[sanguinifex]

They raised the price of ramen to 45 cents

[thesaturdayb0y]

i forgot how absolutely insane bill seacaster’s return was lmao

[theskyexists]

Really wanna work on my multiplayer game idea again.... Hmmrrm.