The College Republicans at Berkeley have stirred up a political storm by holding an affirmative bake sale, a not uncommon satirical political action. Frankly, I have very little confidence in the people that call themselves “College Republicans” at elite universities (I imagine the situation must be quite different in more conservative parts of the nation). Most of these kind folks have all but capitulated to the liberal agenda and can only back-peddle furiously when faced with accusations of racism, sexism, etc. Issues such as the legality and morality of homosexuality, the benefits of diversity, have faded into the background as these so called “conservatives” gleefully buy into the liberal framing of political issues not realizing that by doing so they have thrown up the white flag.
Therefore I was not at all surprised to find this pitiful defense offered up by the president of the College Republicans at Cal, Shawn Lewis.
Event organizers received numerous threats on Facebook, and some of the group’s members changed their names and profile pictures. “This event was not organized by a bunch of white guys,” Mr. Lewis said. “We’re not racists.” The group’s 10-member board of directors includes several Asians and a Latino, he said, and more than half the board members are women.
The implication here is that if the event was somehow organized by a “bunch of white guys” (fraternities) then it would consequently be very racist and wrong. Mr. Lewis points to the diversity of his board as if its diverse nature makes his defense more credible (it doesn’t, it just makes liberals laugh), a stellar example of buying into the progressive framing of diversity=strength=doubleplusgood. A proposition is either valid or invalid; the diversity of the messenger(s) is irrelevant, though Mr. Lewis, having been conditioned to a certain diverse state of mind, believes otherwise, or in any case is too much of a coward to suggest otherwise.
And as many others have pointed out, why the hell is white bread more expensive than Asian bread?
To make this event even tastier, I would have sold European pastries (yum), Asian pastries (yum, dim sum anyone?), Mexican pastries (yum, pan dulce), and dirt cakes (gross) or injera (ok). Of course this wouldn’t be possible if the College Republicans were all stupid white males. Good thing they have diversity.
$1.50 (in San Francisco Chinatown!)
$2.00 (only problem is that white people don't eat white bread because it is white and unhealthy)
$1.00
$.75 (dirt cakes alone is just too cruel but then again I am an evil person)
As for what I think about the whole affirmative action issue as it applies to (elite) higher education? I really don’t care one way or the other, all I really want is transparency. Some people would like to believe that being diverse makes you a sure-thing in the admissions game, but it’s more random than anyone can imagine. Take a look at the new US News with the college rankings and you will find a profile of a female African-American prospective mechanical engineer with high test scores who did not gain admission to Stanford or Duke (but is going to MIT). Maybe she didn’t write about being oppressed by The Man and confused the admissions officers? I suppose that US News included her in an attempt to secretly defend affirmative action policies (by using an exception to the rule thus pointing out to AA opponents that AA is not as a great as it seems). But on the contrary, they would never dare profile a wealthy black with low test scores who gained admission everywhere because it would highly offensive to many of the Asians and whites who obsess over the college admissions game.
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