White (Liberal) Male Privilege

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The Left is willing to suspend judgment and waive all standards when it comes to their allies. Feminists nowadays are up in arms about “rape culture,” but 15 years ago they were defending accused rapist Bill Clinton in no uncertain terms: “I would be happy to give him a blowjob just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. I think American women should be lining up with their presidential kneepads on to show their gratitude for keeping the theocracy off our backs.”

Liberalism is simply a set of prejudices, a collection of syllogisms all of which end, “ergo, vote Democrat.” Their smug presumption of their own  moral and intellectual superiority makes liberals the most easily deceived people in the world. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is the latest example:

Now Margaret Sullivan, the public editor of The New York Times, is calling on Kristof to “give readers a full explanation” of his reporting on Somaly Mam, the celebrated Cambodian anti-sex-trafficking activist who, according to a recent Newsweek expose, fabricated parts of her story and those of some of the alleged victims she advocated for. The revelations have disillusioned many of Mam’s loyal supporters and left the press looking gullible. Just as importantly, they’ve highlighted the public’s seemingly insatiable desire for heroic narratives — and the willingness of many in the media to provide them.

As Instapundit remarks, Kristof was engaged in “white knighting” — posing as the courageous and enlightened rescuer — and was thus easily played for a chump by “the James Frey of anti–sex trafficking activism.” Liberals fall for this kind of hoax because (a) they overestimate the value of their own intelligence, (b) they naïvely underestimate the ability of cynical manipulators to wrap themselves in the mantle of victimhood, and (c) they are themselves  utterly unscrupulous in exploiting any narrative that advances the liberal cause.

Nicholas Kristoff’s status as a privileged white male, with a six-figure paycheck from the world’s most prestigious newspaper, might make him a natural target of identity-politics activists. His crusading on behalf of impoverished and exploited Third World women could thus be seen as a noblesse oblige gesture. This led to him being scammed by a hoaxer, so that he was publishing lies, but hey: It’s the New York Times.

If liberals cared about facts, they wouldn’t be liberals, would they?

 

72 comments

  1. “We must get rid of our arrogant assumption that it is the masses who can be led by the nose. As far as I can make out, the shoe is on the other foot. The only people who are really the dupes of their favourite newspapers are the intelligentsia. It is they who read leading articles: the poor read the sporting news, which is mostly true.” — C.S. Lewis

  2. Um, liberals and progressives aren’t the only ones with prejudices. Conservatives and libertarians have theirs as well.

    However, conservatives and libertarians are usually open to discussion on most things.

  3. The big difference between liberals and conservatives is what I like to call the “suck it up” factor. Far from being a mindset steeped in cold-hearted uncaring for whatever victim group is currently in vogue, it is a mindset informed by the idea that I am willing to help you, but I won’t do so if you insist on sitting on your ass and making me do all the work. You want out of a bad situation? Prove it. By working to get out of it.

    I’m often reminded of the scene in Where the Red Fern Grows where the kid has been praying and praying for puppies, but he still doesn’t have any. Then an old man tells him God isn’t going to do all the work, he has to meet Him half way. So he works his ass off, giving credit to God for his stamina, and lo and behold he ends up with puppies. Half way may be closer or farther depending on the circumstances, but I’m willing to help people who have proven by their effort that they are working toward a permanent change. This does not include making shit up about how hard your life was. In fact, that makes me less likely to help you. Because it points to you being a lazy ass who is trying to get other people to do the work for you.

    And of course liberals eat this crap up because they do exactly the same things. They avoid work as much as possible (apparently just breathing means you are entitled to a comfortable life with no effort expended or sacrifice made) and will lie to make themselves seem more sympathetic.

  4. About those feminists lining up to give Clinton BJs in gratitude for keeping abortion legal and the theocracy at bay – after eight years in office, George W. Bush returned to private life and abortion was just as legal as if had been, and no theocracy was in the offing.

    Did he get any BJs, I wonder?

  5. When the story is bad enough — and child sex trafficking qualifies as bad enough — there ought not be a reason to embellish, to pile it on, to add lies on top of truths, and contaminate the whole story. The most that can be said is that Mr Kristof didn’t deliberately fabricate things himself.

    Janet Cooke could not be reached for comment.

  7. It’s simply amazing the things people will believe about other people with no proof and, in fact, ample evidence to the contrary. I had the urge to slap anybody silly during the election who had the gall to actually repeat various ridiculous rumors about Romney. I think my favorite revolved around him turning the US into a theocracy. My response to that was generally “wow, I didn’t realize you had to be a tithing-paying temple-recommend-holding Mormon to get into Massachusetts.” Or the ever popular on Twitter “he gon’ ban weaves, y’all!” or “he gon’ put black people back in chains f’real!” Or ban the dollar menu. My only explanation for such idiocy is drugs. Lots of drugs.

  8. What’s horrifying about this is the fraud manages to cheapen the real tragedy of child trafficking.

  9. I don’t expect he would have, either.

    But it would have been polite for them to have made the offer.

  11. Anyone remember Cameron Diaz saying, “If you want rape to be legal, then vote Republican”? That one was a gem.

    And how is our current state of legal, easy abortion not a theocracy? All we need is to outfit every clinic with a burn-barrel shaped like an owl and we’ll have the Moloch worship they always wanted.

  12. Your diagnosis is quite correct for most leftist males and pundits.

    Kristof isn’t that complicated. He’s just a jerk and an idiot. His writing is utter drivel, not one piece he’s written will survive his death, it will be washed away with the other detritus. At least Frank Rich, while also a lowlife, can turn a tart phrase now and again.

    And Mo Dowd is useful as a lesson to young women of the eventual perils of sleeping your way to the top.

    But Kristof is just worthless. If they left the newsprint blank, at least it could be used for toilet paper in an emergency.

  14. MoDo is a shining example to young woman that they need never grow up. They can remain the same catty mean girl from high school and still rise to the top of their profession.

    Provided the profession is, um, professional Mean Girl, aka Progressive Writer. You want a real job, you have to eventually grow up and be an adult.

  17. Given Nina Burleigh’s statement concerning President Clinton, perhaps it’s unfair to say that conservatives are the ones who possess that “suck it up” factor. 🙂

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