Mirror, Mirror On The Wall…
The Institutionalization Of Tokenism
April 23, 2001
Every morning Snow White’s evil stepmother would hubristically interrogate the mirror of truth by asking, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?” And, every morning the answer was the same, “Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all.”
All was well in her fairy tale world until one morning the mirror answered, “O Lady Queen, though fair ye be, Snow-White is fairer far to see.” Thereupon, the Grimm stepmother “…called a huntsman and said…Take the child away into the woods and kill her, for I can no longer bear the sight of her. And when you return bring with you her heart, that I may know you have obeyed my will.”
In our 2001 “stranger than fiction” society, life persists in imitating the art of a Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale.
Every morning, as the Liberals emerge from their 100% Egyptian cotton sheets (at 530 threads per square inch), they beckon to their mirrors:
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the most correct of them all?” And, every morning, the mirror of facts delivers the bad news, “O Liberal, though glib ye be, the truth is fairer far to see.”
“Banish the Conservatives to the woods of censored silence because I can no longer withstand the truth of their Constitutional-thumbing wisdom. Banish them to a dark place and rip out their hearts of First Amendment protections. Then you will all obey my will.”
And so it was this morning.
With the soul of an old shoe and the good intentions of Satan, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recommended an end to Indian (as in wampum) team names and mascots at non-Indian schools, colleges and universities.
“I realize it’s not the end of stereotypes in sports,” said the motley Mr. Cyd Crue, president of the Illinois chapter of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media, “but I think it was really important that a federal commission get involved and make a statement to move our country toward more equality and social justice.”
Approving the recommendation on a 5-2 vote, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that Indian names and mascots could be viewed as “disrespectful and offensive” to Indian groups and could create “a racially hostile educational environment” that may be intimidating to Indian students.
“Schools have a responsibility to educate their students. They should not use their influence to perpetuate misrepresentations of any culture or people,” the statement said.
Commission member Elsie Meeks, who sponsored the recommendation, called it “good civil-rights policy,” saying it would encourage schools to teach students “the true and historical experiences ….”
And now, to the ripping out of the heart, the commission also said the Indian names may violate anti-discrimination laws. What good is a federal commission if it can’t threaten the electorate with the thought police? If the power of the State can’t be used to intimidate citizens into surrendering their First amendment rights, political tyranny would just not be fun anymore.
And as for the mirror of truth, two Commission members did dissent from this laughable recommendation by observing that, “It did little to address Indians’ most intractable problems — poverty and poor education.”
Does anybody really want to hear the truth?
To satisfy the pious belief of Commission member Elsie Meeks that good civil-rights policy is served by the teaching of the truth, let’s start telling the truth.
This finding by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is just another ridiculous step in the progressive institutionalization of tokenism in the United States.
The Liberals have thrown billions of tax dollars into the fire with dismal results. The “Great Society” of Lyndon Johnson’s vision only served to institutionalize and perpetuate poverty. But, like all spoiled brats, the Liberals could never admit that they authored a failed policy, that they were wrong. Instead, they turned to Snow White.
Since the mirror on the wall was not reflecting the image that the Liberals wanted to see, a demon had to be created and his name was the white male. Although this is similar to the Nazis blaming Germany’s loss of World War I and the subsequent Depression on the Jews, it is no less ironic. Both Hitler and the American Liberals of contemporary times need a demon to mask the failings of their ideologically verbose yet pragmatically bankrupt world visions.
It would be sinful to suggest that the problems of the American Indian might be related to the perpetuation of the “Reservation”. Is it a violation of the Liberal dogma to suggest that Indian societal problems might stem from the Indian Reorganization Act and the Indian Civil Rights Act (also known as the Indian Bill of Rights), which sets apart from the entire U.S. population as a separate but equal class of semi-citizens living in autonomous states called Reservations?
No, the segregation of the American Indian from society as a separate class of humanity is in no way to blame because it is such an egalitarian concept. The real blame lies in a vast right wing conspiracy of White men (and some Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Others…) in secret militias known by various pseudonyms such as The Fighting Sioux of North Dakota, the Illini of the University of Illinois, the Seminoles of Florida State and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (whoops).
Every weekend in the Fall, these undergraduate warriors of the white man’s nation make war on the American Indian. They put on their armor suits with Nike spikes and thunder towards the goal post in a downpour of anti-Native American bellicosity. Those evil white spirits of the 100-yard prairie make war with their pigskin projectiles.
How, in the year 2001, does a government-sanctioned policy of separate but equal exists in the United States? It is incredulous that the American Indian nations support such a tokenizing state of affairs. It certainly could not be the patronage created by the multi-billion dollar Bureau of Indian Affairs that perpetuates this silly system. And, it most definitely is not the giga-billion dollar Indian casino empire that is flourishing as a result of this separate but equal system.
It must be that damned Snow White.
It’s not that I’m not the prettiest; it’s only that Snow white is prettier. If I can eliminate Snow White, then all will believe my delusion that I’m the prettiest. Rip out Snow White’s heart!
In answer to Commission member Elsie Meeks quest for the truth…”Elsie, you and the Liberals can’t handle the truth.”
Liberal reformers seem to have an overwhelming need for cognitive consistency (the tendency of a person's beliefs and actions to be logically consistent with one another). If Belief = I am the fairest of all then Action must = I am not threatened by the beauty of others. Belief is consistent with action.
In the absence of such consistency, cognitive dissonance results. If I believe that I am the fairest of all but I’m always jealous of Snow White’s beauty then my belief is inconsistent with my action and I am in personal conflict. This conflict mandates that I restore consistency by changing either my beliefs, behavior or perception. It is an exercise in either working away or rationalizing away one’s woes.
One choice would be to accept that I have competition and learn to coexist (a modification of behavior). Or, I could attempt to alter perception and make myself believe that Snow White’s beauty is really ugliness (similar to the way the Nazis masked their own insecurities by hating the Jews).
As long as there is an external enemy, there will never be a need to accept the responsibility of reality. If anybody thinks that changing the name of a university sports team is the real goal of the Liberal activists, think again. In the absence of accountability, there is a perpetual need for external enemies.
I AM NEVER THE REASON FOR MY OWN WOES, BLAME SOMEBODY OR SOMETHING ELSE.
For Hitler it was the Jews…and then the Slavs…and then the Gypsies…and then the Catholics…. This kind of a bating game never ends because it can never be allowed to end by those who play it. It becomes Institutionalized Tokenism.
The instigators of this racial game realize that, in the absence of perpetuity, there can only be one other outcome:
Then a pair of red-hot iron shoes was brought into the room with tongs and set before her (Snow White’s evil stepmother), and these she was forced to put on and to dance in them until she could dance no longer, but fell down dead, and that was the end of her.
(The ending of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs...er…um…Little People)
Perhaps Senator Clinton might appease the animal rights activists with a demand that Yale cease to call its football team the Bulldogs. The poor misunderstood bulldog has been caricatured into a snorting, snoring and hyper-allergic canine as a result of a vast New Haven-based conspiracy. Some say it is a sapiens-supremacist society known as the Sons of Eli.
This topic has me so irate that I need to go and eat an Eskimo Pie to cool down.
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