Cultural appropriations pays dividends for leftists

Racism has become a political weapon, a rallying cry for left wing nonsense

When Elizabeth Warren pretended to be an indigenous American, it was laughable and made late night TV hosts richer making jokes about the scam. The left loves to blame everything in society they disagree with on race except when they can claim misogyny or white supremacy as the culprit. Heaven forbid anyone attribute society’s ills to socialism, promotion of LGBTQ+ sexual orientation to children, teachers that indoctrinate grade schoolers on their twisted views of gender, reckless government spending, or the World Economic Forum (WEF) since these are sacrosanct elements of the leftist ideology and climate change; diversity, equity (DEI) and inclusion rhetoric; and, environment, social and governance (ESG) goals are preferred solutions in their world view, not problems to be solved.

Happiness can be achieved simply by turning over to a leftist government everything important to your life and sitting back letting Klaus Schwab, Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau or Rishi Sunak look after your every want and need. Forget about making any personal effort or taking personal responsibility for your own life - that has become passe.

Merit has long since left the left as having any value for individuals seeking to improve their lives or those of their families. Don’t even try to advance based on personal effort or knowledge and competence - the Democrats and Liberals will look after you as long as you toe the line and pledge fealty to the leftist narrative of the day.

Warren is not alone in using racial appropriation as the path to greater success. Academics, politicians, activists and a throng of other left wing ideologues have pretended to belong to a different race than the one they actually belong to to get the benefits of the reverse discrimination inherent in DEI. If you are Asian, your chances of getting into Harvard are less than if you are Black. If you are white, no one is going to hand you an equity interest in a mining project or oil & gas development - you will have to pay for that or pretend to be a member of a First Nation. Sound extreme? Let’s review a few cases.

Jesse Smollett was unsatisfied with his fame as a successful actor and hired a couple of friends to pretend they had assaulted him so he could claim a “racist” and “homophobic” attack. One of the “attackers” was one of Smollet’s sexual partners - unlikely to be “homophobic”. That plan backfired when Smollett was convicted of a criminal offense for the scheme and sentenced to 150 days in jail and a fine, but his name became a household word and he got a lot of oxygen from CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NYT and a host of left wing politicians who signed on to the scam before it was exposed by the facts. Being a victim of “racism”, even pretend “racism”, was capital he could take to the bank and mainstream media could appropriate to advance their leftist attack on normalcy.

In his excellent book “Nation of Victims” presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy lists a handful of cases¹ where pretending to be a “victim” paid off for the scammer.

• Rachel Dolezal’s pretense that she was “black” saw her propelled to the presidency of the Spokane NAACP chapter, get a position as an instructor of Africana studies at Eastern Washington University, and b appointed to a seat on a police advisory commission. When her parents “outed” her as white, she said she “identified as black”.

• Jessica Krug claimed to be an “unrepentant and unreformed child of the hood” chronicling her “experiences as an Afro-Latinx woman” until exposed, when she claimed her racial appropriation resulted from mental health issues. That self-diagnosis seems spot on. She just moved down the menu of “victimization” choices shifting readily from being a fake victim of “racism” to a fake victim of a mental health disorder.

• Beth Ann McLaughlin created a fake Native American adjunct professor on Twitter who she pretended died of COVID as she built her MeTooSTEM organization, a virtual plethora of victimhood choices.

• Kelly Kean Sharp resigned as a professor of African American history after being exposed as white instead of Hispanic.

Pretending to be a victim of racism advances ones status as an oppressed person deserving of sympathy and enhances ones credibility when ranting about their life as a victim, a benefit they would lack if they simply made their claims as the privileged white person they were. White people aren’t credible when sympathetic to the lot of minorities since in leftist America they don’t have the right “lived experience”.

There are plenty of Canadian examples.

Carrie Bourassa, a professor studying indigenous health issues, was outed as pretending to be indigenous when her European ancestry was exposed. Presumably she thought pretending to be First Nations made her more credible. Lying about her background did the opposite.

Jurist Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond came under fire for pretending to be of Cree ancestry when CBC exposed the reality that her mother Eleanor was of British descent and her father William Turpel was of German, Irish and U.S. ancestors. It is not enough success to be appointed to the bench when you can advance even further by pretending to be indigenous.

Award winning Queen’s University professor Bob Lovelace seems to have taken the same path claiming First Nations heritage. His pretense assisted him in establishing the Queen’s University curriculum in indigenous studies leading to his award for "exemplary leadership in teaching, mentoring, and building the profile of Indigenous issues." At Queen’s University, lying about your ancestry pays off with awards. His pretense diminished the value of his solid work and accomplishments.

When Justin Trudeau photos in blackface were exposed, Canadians had a good laugh. In Trudeau’s Liberal Canada, pretending to be indigenous carries weight and comes with privileges. Trudeau’s own appearances wearing “blackface” only took place based on Trudeau believing it offered him some benefit although it is hard to find anyone who admires him for doing so.

The rise of Black Lives Matter (BLM) is testimony to the economic value of claims of “racism”. BLM raised donation so over $80 million and while little of that money was used to help American blacks advance economically, a lot of it went to BLM founders like Patrice Cullors and her husband who coined millions from the scam. Martin Luther King’s assertion that people should be valued based on the strength of their character rather than the colour of their skin rings hollow when there are millions of dollars or widespread fame to be gained by claiming to be a victim of racism. Felon George Floyd became a national hero by trying to pass off counterfeit money while taking drugs but succumbing to a cop trying to arrest him, a cop later convicted of murder when Floyd died at his hands. You can be a despicable person, even a criminal, and still be a beacon of virtue in leftist America.

Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, New York City and Chicago are examples of cities where criminals roam freely, are permitted and even encouraged to rob stores as long as they steal less than $1,000 on each visit, and can shoot up fentanyl or heroin or snort cocaine with impunity knowing no one will hold them to account for crimes they commit to raise the money to support their habits. Ordinary citizens have to wade through sidewalks covered with drug paraphenalia and subject themselves to abuse by homeless addicts when they try to shop at CVS or Walmart, both of which are abandoning stores in the California or Washington cities where the left has almost completely destroyed civilized society.

This is America today. If you like it, vote for Joe Biden in 2024 and be assured the drift to anarchy will persist. If you are Canadian, just work to keep Justin Trudeau in office and expect a similar outcome.

I am old and old-fashioned. A lifelong Liberal until Justin Trudeau emerged, it is pretty clear to me that Conservatives now espouse the values Liberals did in 1968 and Liberals have become toxic socialists. Pierre Poilievre seems to talk sense and if he can oust Trudeau can return Canada to the country I was proud to serve as an RCAF Pilot.

1. A Nation of Victims, Vivek Ramaswamy, ISBN: 9781546002987, pages 30-31