Literal Explanation Required

[Contains spoilers for White Fragility and Atlas Shrugged.]

I.

It is a timeless story: one woman, alone in her awakening in the midst of sleeping lemmings, opens her eyes to gaze upon the true nature of the society she finds herself in – and sees something she wasn’t expecting, something she wasn’t supposed to see. After a long struggle, she finally manages to discern the ugly truth beneath all the lies and assumptions that conceal her world’s true nature, like a scab over gaping wound. And what she discovers is this: that the people around her are split into two groups, as distinct as blue and red, one of which is good, and the other of which is evil. And these two forces are constantly in opposition, as evil attempts again and again to oppress and destroy the struggling and battered forces of good. The forces of evil, remarkably enough, possess no central coordination, yet nevertheless manage to act in concert to spread their malicious lies and twisted ideology, taking control of the country and its institutions, and shutting out any who would oppose them. A harsh reality to face, indeed – but our plucky protagonist is not discouraged. Undaunted, she rolls up her sleeves, and planting her feet firmly on the side of the good, she begins her journey of personal change in order to be ready to fight for the side of truth and goodness.

I speak, of course, of the novel Atlas Shrugged.

Despite the fact that DiAngelo – as I discuss later – valiantly opposes the individualism that Rand so cherishes, and despite other points of disagreement too numerous to mention, these surface differences only mask the underlying similarities in their stories – for make no mistake, DiAngelo’s libellus is a story of self-overcoming as much as Rand’s thousand-plus page tome, just as Atlas Shrugged is a text meant to persuade the reader to change their ideological viewpoint no less than White Fragility.

These books are both built on the idea of questioning assumptions, and seeing through surface appearances to discover non-obvious connections that present the world in a very different light. There is much to be gained by gazing from such a perspective – but such an enterprise is not without its risks, not the least of which is, that you might accidentally end up actually changing your mind. Just as Atlas Shrugged is a trap for the unwary right-leaning college student, White Fragility is the same to the incautious left-leaning undergraduate. Luckily, such dangers can mostly be avoided by taking a few simple steps (“Ideologists Hate Him!”).

Continue reading “Book Review: Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility”

In light of recent events, I find it is necessary to put in my word on that subject which so enthralls the current imagination. Long have I kept my silence, but at this point I feel compelled to give some comment upon that most burning question of our times – that is, of course: “Do angels have government?”

Consider the quote:

Such an august authority as James Madison himself cannot be doubted. But does this then mean, that angels necessarily have no government? By no means!

Continue reading “The Divine Congress?”