Lyndon Baines Johnson didn't care for J. Edgar Hoover. He disliked the man before the world learned that he liked to wear lady's dresses and engage in sexual antics with young blond boys. But Johnson liked to keep his friends close and his enemies closer. "I'd rather have him in the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in." LBJ was an astute politician and he kept "Twinkle Toes" Hoover on a short leash. I, on the other hand, not so much... It's not that I'm paranoid, but everybody's pissing in my tent these days.
Diane Ravitch has documented this phenomena nicely in her new book, The Language Police. She demonstrates how the political correctness wags on the left and the moral crusaders on the right have conspired to sanitize public school text books. A school book can't mention snow because it "demonstrates" regional bias, it can't mention Mickey Mouse because he's actually a rodent and it can't mention polo since not everybody can afford to participate. Since I've never warmed myself to either side of the American political spectrum, this shit feels like a set of monkeys screaming in both ears. I can't relate to either side.
The "left" doesn't want references that it deems stereotype its subject. Therefore black guys and athletics are not permitted in the same sentence. From this I conclude that they have not watched a single minute of the NBA playoffs. Meanwhile the "right" refuses all references to the dinosaurs. Those prehistoric beasts complicate creationist theory and only serve to engage young tykes in the possibility of evolutionary origins.
I understand that some people don't believe in evolution. They're idiots and they occupy both sides of the aisle. The "left" is concerned that anybody with pigment darker than X should be promoted without merit. (I don't even try to pretend to know the value of X.) The "right" meanwhile pushes a social agenda whose values are derived from a myth whose authenticity can be complicated by science. They like to mitigate public school cirricullum in order to protect it.
If the "right" didn't dilute science, then the "left" would know that racial differences are superficial. Way before Coppertone displayed a young Jody Foster's butt, the sun emitted ultraviolet light harmful to humans. People from the tropics developed protection from harmful rays with the production of a pigment called melanin in the bottom layer of the epidermis. That pigment is dark. Under the epidermis, in the dermis, vitamin D is produced which is essential for bone development. Dermal cells must recieve sufficient ultra violet light to synthesize vitamin D. In the tropics, that is not problem. But in Northern climes where sun is scarce, melanin deterred vitamin D synthesis. People from those regions lost the pigment. Categories of black, white or asian are meaningless as as there is as much genetic diversity within the group as without.
Yet the "left" has persued policies of racial diversity and political correctness in order to promote and not offend melanin producers. The "right" has abetted this fiasco with its efforts to eliminate or temper evolutionary biology in school. Armed with an understanding of "racial" differences, the "left" would better grasp the folly in awarding 20 points for pigment on a college entrance application or the promotion of an unqualified candidate to the national desk.
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The allegations of sexual deviancy were leveled by Anthony Summers, in his 1993 book Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover. Summers' only true source was Susan L. Rosenstiel. Alleged participants Roy Cohn and Lewis Rosenstiel have since died so the author is left with little more than a case a of He said, She said.
The details of pigmentation differences was taken from The Neanderthal's Necklace by Juan Luis Arsuaga. This marks the second time in a week that I've used that reference. The book is recommended by this blogger.
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