Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes

Keiran’s Take on the Week Ending July 2^nd

This week was chaotic, and the main event this week was the attempted coup by the Wagner group in Russia. In response to it we were subjected to the orgasmic glee of neocons and the rest of the illiberal liberal class who were drooling at the thought of Putin finally being overthrown. I will discuss this event soon, but in more detail and as part of a larger argument. I have decided to focus on two news events this week, the banning of affirmative action in universities by the US Supreme Court and Volodymyr Zelensky’s suspension of elections under martial law.

Affirmative Action Needed to Go

Affirmative action, a policy where the government mandates that institutions adhere to racial quotas, where the goal is to ensure that work forces and student bodies are more ‘representative’ of the national population, was banned from use in universities this week by the US Supreme Court. This needed to happen, as not only does affirmative action violate the civil rights act and the US constitution, but it exacerbates racial tensions, it does not heal them.

The reaction from many in the illiberal liberal class is as expected, vitriolic and hostile. Apparently, this court decision is a step backwards. The notion that non-white Americans cannot attain higher education without the enforcement of racial quotas is insulting and a much more offensive implication than the ban on affirmative action. This should not be seen as part of the conservative ‘war on the woke’. Instead, it should be seen as a victory for those of us who seek a society that is more ideologically equal, which is attained organically, not through force. A society that is diverse on the surface, but ideologically uniform, is not beneficial for anyone, and is the opposite of an equal society.

What many miss in the debate over affirmative action is how universities have changed and who is most disadvantaged in college admissions, not just in the US but across the West. Universities are now little more than training centers for administrators of Western empire. It is interesting that those who claim to be advocates of fields of study like postcolonialism and anti-racism are the most entrenched in mindless jargon, the most read in nonsense theory that exists in a bubble, and the most steeped in a vapid, insipid culture that prizes conformity over dissent, normality over radicalism, and diversity of race and sexuality over diversity of opinion.

The faux radicals in the illiberal liberal class are the most outraged at the ban on universities considering race in their admission processes, as affirmative action proves their faux radicalism. Their primary interest is not a diversity of ideologies, it is diversity of race, gender, and sexuality. All of this ignores some of the people who are least likely to go to college. The white working class in the Appalachians, who mostly went straight from high school to a job in natural gas or coal, may need to consider higher education to increase their career prospects, as their jobs in energy will continue to disappear as the West transitions to renewable forms of energy. Entire communities are already left behind, and their disadvantage in access to education is made worse by affirmative action.

Policies like affirmative action, combined with the rhetoric of illiberal liberals who assure us that such policies are necessary to right the wrongs of history, are fuelling the far right. Affirmative action is itself an illiberal policy, and thus has no place in a democratic society. While this supreme court decision will not deal a death blow to the Diversity and Inclusion industry, not even close, it will hopefully spark a debate around whether policies like racial quotas mend racial tensions, or whether they worsen them.

If we are to create a truly equal society, then we must look at economic and educational disparities as a class issue, not a race or gender issue. Those who claim that the US is systemically racist, necessitating policies like affirmative action, are not wrong that some people and institutions are not totally colorblind, however, it is evident that they themselves are class blind.

Amiable Autocracy Versus Abject Autocracy

The grand narrative on Western support for Ukraine in its plight against Russia’s invasion is that we are supporting democracy against autocracy, and that if we let Valdimir Putin win then autocracy will win against democracy, imperilling the world and threatening US hegemony, so it goes. However, if one observes the actions of the Zelensky regime in Ukraine, then it would be obvious that the notion that its fight against Russia is liberal democracy versus aggressive autocracy is at best misleading.

Zelensky, like Biden and many other Western leaders, is not liberal at all. In some ways, he is more illiberal than Biden. Zelensky is a member of what I call the illiberal liberal class, not of the fictional coalition of democracies standing up against Putin. In a recent BBC interview, Zelensky enacted martial law in Ukraine, cancelling elections until the war is over. According to Zelensky, “Elections must take place in peacetime., when there is no war, according to the law. I really want there to be peace in the next year, and life to be as it was before the war.”[i] Hilariously, Zelensky is head of the Servant of the People party. The people his party’s name refers to must be oligarchs in Ukraine and the US, not the Ukrainian people. Zelensky’s announcement has been met with little criticism from Western media, apart from Tucker Carlson and some on the left.

Interestingly, Zelensky recently expressed concern over the 2024 US presidential elections, noting that a shift in the presidency could impact his US funding.[ii] Perhaps Biden should follow Zelensky’s lead and cancel elections in the US until the war against the far right is over, who are after all, victims of Putin’s propaganda, or so we’re told everyday.

Carlson argued in his last monologue on Twitter, the seventh episode of his show on the platform, that Zelensky had become a dictator, and he said “We have a problem. It looks like they’re not going to be able to vote in Kyiv—and no, for once, it’s not Putin’s fault. Democracy in Ukraine seems to be suspended by the world’s foremost democracy advocate himself: field marshal Zelensky.”[iii] Carlson is right to point out the contradiction between the proclaimed objective of Western support for the Ukraine war and the reality of the Zelensky regime.

However, the Ukrainian government does not approve of Carlson’s rhetoric. The Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), an institution established by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, whose stated goal is to monitor and curb threats to Ukrainian national security in the information and media sphere, posted what they think is a refutation of Carlson’s monologue. Their assessment notes that he received support from supposed Western sympathizers of Russia like journalist Glenn Greenwald, and that “Carlson once again distorts the facts to supplement his narrative aimed at discrediting Ukraine and its leadership.”[iv] Firstly, Greenwald is not a supporter of Putin or Russia, he is critical of US and Western foreign policy and its role in antagonizing Russia. Even if you do not agree with this position, if you are an advocate of a free and open society, then such positions should be debated and considered, not denounced as pro-Putin. Secondly, Carlson does not need to distort facts to discredit Ukraine and its leadership, they do it to themselves.

Ukrainian officials have pointed out that their constitution allows Zelensky to suspend elections, so for them, what they are doing is not a violation of their laws nor is it evidence of Zelensky being a despot. However, by the standards of a liberal democracy, calling for martial law until a likely endless conflict is ended is problematic at best, tyrannical at worst.

The CCD was created via decree by Zelensky, and it is like similar institutions in the West who seek to erase dissenting narratives and ideas from the information space. Ukraine is just like other Western nations, a wasteland run by oligarchs who fancy themselves the protectors of democracy. Zelensky’s suspension of elections, like his other despotic measures, like banning opposition parties, is more proof that the Ukraine war is not democracy versus autocracy, it is amiable autocracy versus abject autocracy. It also exposes who our real enemy is, not Putin or whoever will follow him, but the cabal of venal, corrupt elites, populated by politicians like Zelensky and Biden, who will retain US and Western empire by any means necessary.

---

[i] Devlin, Bradley. “To Save Democracy, Zelensky Will Push Elections.” The American Conservative, June 28, 2023. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/to-save-democracy-zelensky-will-push-elections/.

[ii] Thurston, Joshua. “Zelensky Hints at Fear over US Election in 2024.” Www.thetimes.co.uk, July 4, 2023, sec. world. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/zelensky-biden-putin-ukraine-war-usa-weapons-bakhmut-g7b3tgmlt.

[iii] Carlson, Tucker. “Https://Twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/Status/1673856877841764352?Ref_src=Twsrc%255Etfw%257Ctwcamp%255Etweetembed%257Ctwterm%255E1673856877841764352%257Ctwgr%255Ea44acace32377216bbca81f69c8d45122b2b346f%257Ctwcon%255Es1_&Ref_url=Https%253A%252F%252Fwww.newsweek.com%252Ftucker-Carlson-Volodymyr-Zelensky-Ukraine-Democracy-1809590.” Twitter, June 28, 2023. https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1673856877841764352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1673856877841764352%7Ctwgr%5Ea44acace32377216bbca81f69c8d45122b2b346f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Ftucker-carlson-volodymyr-zelensky-ukraine-democracy-1809590.

[iv] Center for Countering Disinformation. “Tucker Carlson Disinforms Viewers about the Elections in Ukraine | Center for Countering Disinformation.” Center for Countering Disinformation, June 29, 2023. https://cpd.gov.ua/en/warnings/tucker-carlson-disinforms-viewers-about-the-elections-in-ukraine/.

References

Carlson, Tucker. “Https://Twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/Status/1673856877841764352?Ref_src=Twsrc%255Etfw%257Ctwcamp%255Etweetembed%257Ctwterm%255E1673856877841764352%257Ctwgr%255Ea44acace32377216bbca81f69c8d45122b2b346f%257Ctwcon%255Es1_&Ref_url=Https%253A%252F%252Fwww.newsweek.com%252Ftucker-Carlson-Volodymyr-Zelensky-Ukraine-Democracy-1809590.” Twitter, June 28, 2023. https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1673856877841764352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1673856877841764352%7Ctwgr%5Ea44acace32377216bbca81f69c8d45122b2b346f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Ftucker-carlson-volodymyr-zelensky-ukraine-democracy-1809590.

Center for Countering Disinformation. “Tucker Carlson Disinforms Viewers about the Elections in Ukraine | Center for Countering Disinformation.” Center for Countering Disinformation, June 29, 2023. https://cpd.gov.ua/en/warnings/tucker-carlson-disinforms-viewers-about-the-elections-in-ukraine/.

Devlin, Bradley. “To Save Democracy, Zelensky Will Push Elections.” The American Conservative, June 28, 2023. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/to-save-democracy-zelensky-will-push-elections/.

Thurston, Joshua. “Zelensky Hints at Fear over US Election in 2024.” Www.thetimes.co.uk, July 4, 2023, sec. world. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/zelensky-biden-putin-ukraine-war-usa-weapons-bakhmut-g7b3tgmlt.