Phrases that Need to be Euthanized

Dealing with progressives in my daily life has become increasingly harder to do. It’s bad enough that it’s become impossible for me to log onto Facebook without encountering meaningless platitudes about how tolerant we should be, but it’s now come to the point where I’ve met people in real life (outside of universities no less) who take “white privilege” seriously. When I finally leave California, it will be too soon. On the bright side, being the only reactionary in a room full of progressives means you will always win Cards Against Humanity. It’s the simple things in life.

Anyway I’m sure most of my audience can relate to this. We’ve all heard progressives say some dumb things. Dumb enough to betray their own willful ignorance.

Take for example, “People are not crayons.”

Not only is this phrase so cheesy it makes me want to chug ipecac for the express purpose of vomiting on the shoes of whomever says it, but it also doesn’t make sense coming from someone who believes race is a social construct. Racial constructionists believe that race is “only skin deep,” and beyond skin color there are no innate differences between people of different races (none that they consider biologically significant, anyway). Ironically, this constructionist view of race implies that people are analogous to crayons. So any racial constructionist who utters the phrase, “People are not crayons” is unwittingly contradicting himself. But if that’s what they genuinely believe, then great! I don’t believe people are crayons either. It’s good to know we can agree on something.

Let us consider a similar phrase, “People are not colors.” While it isn’t any less cheesy than “People are not crayons,” social justice crusaders can rest assured it’s at least internally consistent with race being a social construct. Nevertheless, this phrase essentially derails any honest conversation about race progressives may relish the thought of having because it’s nothing more than a straw man of race realism. No race realist worth his salt believes race is limited to skin color. As such, when racial constructionists suggest that “people are not colors,” they betray a lack of understanding about what race realists believe.

Of course, this shouldn’t surprise any of my audience. The various buzzwords and platitudes of leftists aren’t meant to clarify meaning or encourage debate. Rather they serve as a means for people to feel morally superior to others. It’s not just that they don’t understand rightist thought, it’s that they refuse to understand it. Inhibiting opposing viewpoints and coddling sentiments in order to stifle debate requires less effort than taking the time to understand opposing viewpoints. “There is a culture war to be fought,” says the leftist. “Why understand our opposition when we can subdue them by hurling our righteous indignation toward them?”

Thus the Left frames its opposition as evil, ignorant racists. “People are not colors,” you say? If you chose to understand the Right, you would see just how useless many of your platitudes are.