Affirmative Action and the Making of a Token
Update: 2023-10-10
Description
This is a bonus episode (a bit bigger than one might expect) that adapts and, more importantly expands, an essay I wrote for my friend and editor Jamie on his American Dreaming Substack. I seriously need to thank him for letting me write something so…I dunno, controversial? Combative? Anyway, whatever, so THAT under his publication’s name).
This does use a very contemporary and contentious issue as its launchpad, and while some might see this as impolitic or even inappropriate, my history-addled brain only allowed me to see, hear, and read what I see, hear, and read and interpret it thusly. Pretentious way of saying, yes, I know I’m being edgy, and I know I’m being provocative, but I do implore all of my listeners to hear me out. This is not only history, but it’s, in my mind, an important aspect of history both in the United States and the “West” more broadly.
So yes, we’re talking about the biggest problems with the mere idea of affirmative action and what I—and by extension Hannah Arendt—believes is the real issue at heart when aristocrats and monarchs (literal and figurative) grant privilege as a means to improve their own lots, while, of course, always under the guise of improving everyone’s lot. Is History Impossible too cynical? It’s been suggested. But there’s a polemic in here that needed to be made, otherwise I’d go a little crazy without making my self-important analysis known.
Love to you all who support this show:
David Adamcik
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Elias Borota
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
CJ
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Paul DeCoster
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
Joseph Hurst
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Benjamin Lee
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Monica
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Ben Mullen
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Brian Pritzl
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna
Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
F. You
This does use a very contemporary and contentious issue as its launchpad, and while some might see this as impolitic or even inappropriate, my history-addled brain only allowed me to see, hear, and read what I see, hear, and read and interpret it thusly. Pretentious way of saying, yes, I know I’m being edgy, and I know I’m being provocative, but I do implore all of my listeners to hear me out. This is not only history, but it’s, in my mind, an important aspect of history both in the United States and the “West” more broadly.
So yes, we’re talking about the biggest problems with the mere idea of affirmative action and what I—and by extension Hannah Arendt—believes is the real issue at heart when aristocrats and monarchs (literal and figurative) grant privilege as a means to improve their own lots, while, of course, always under the guise of improving everyone’s lot. Is History Impossible too cynical? It’s been suggested. But there’s a polemic in here that needed to be made, otherwise I’d go a little crazy without making my self-important analysis known.
Love to you all who support this show:
David Adamcik
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Elias Borota
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
CJ
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Paul DeCoster
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
Joseph Hurst
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Benjamin Lee
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Monica
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Ben Mullen
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Brian Pritzl
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna
Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
F. You
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