CommentsCOMMENTARY - If our qualifications for moving up in the world are reduced to our body parts and skin pigmentation, what a sad world that looks like.
None of us choose what we end up with the generic lottery but great societies like America allow us to transcend all that to grow, succeed and accomplish.
That was the America of the past. Today, America’s cancel culture desperately wants to simplify things to shallow attributes. Never mind details. Never mind hard work. A virtue signal is all that is needed. Check a few demographic boxes off and run up your score on intersectionality and you’re good. It’s kinda lazy.
I started noticing this a few years back hitting a scary critical mass with the hysteria around Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh. Without any real evidence, just hearsay and character assassination, a media circus reported accusations as facts. Due process was thrown out the window for a hungry mob eager to vilify a man based on his shallow attributes. But let’s be honest: it was because he was a white man. Notice how much quieter society was around the Amy Coney Barrett pick, a female.
By crassly proclaiming that he would pick a black female, President Biden is basically showing his true colors, and that of his Democratic Party. Their true colors of laziness. By doing this, his pick will be seen by some as only getting the position due to her gender and race. This does a sad disservice to the eventual Supreme Court Justice, minimizing her qualifications.
In addition the headlines have been insulting. A Santa Barbara Independent headline says “About Time For A Black Supreme Court Justice”. Clarence Thomas, hello?
Also if you want to play the token game, what about an Asian American Supreme Court justice? After all, we have our “wise Latina”, Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan if we are playing a quota game. Sorry but where’s the Asian on the court?
These confusing and arbitrary standards are an insult to the many who are qualified. Which begs the question: why not just nominate Whoopi Goldberg? She may be looking for a job if her bosses don’t bring her back after her temporary suspension.
So here we are in 2022 and we aren’t even pretending anymore when we “token”. But we have seen the damage of tokenizing without qualifications. Buttigieg was not qualified to be secretary of transportation, look at the supply chain crisis. We saw the disaster that was Anthony Blinken as our Secretary of State ushering the most disastrous pullout in Afghanistan. We saw our “wise Latina” Sotomayor playing loose with facts as she peddled hyperbole of 100,000 children in serious conditions due to COVID.
But surprisingly for those on the right, the shortlist is looking pretty conservative, or at least moderate. South Carolina’s Michelle Childs, who is now getting heat from the progressives, is one of the frontrunning picks. In fact Republican Senators Lindsay Graham, Lisa Murkowski and Tim Scott have great words for her as a potential, “a fair minded, highly gifted jurist”, said Graham. Murkowski expressed excitement.
The moderate Childs has sided with management in labor laws and discrimination issues, causing loud progressives to speak out against her pick. The far left’s legislative priorities have not been addressed this administration and this may be the ultimate slap in the face or step back.
But live and die by low information and box checking on race and gender. Enough Americans who are only lightly paying attention will be happy with a sensible pick like Childs, who is highly qualified and even checks off the demographic boxes.
The end result though is the 6-3 Supreme Court moving to the right as she could be replacing a more liberal Breyers. The irony is just rich. The progressive left has made their bed. They can sleep in it.
(Marc Ang ([email protected]) is a community organizer in Southern California and the founder of Asian Industry B2B. He focuses on the minority conservative experience. Marc’s book “Minority Retort” will be released in early 2022.)
