According to an assistant math professor at the University of Hawaii, any white man with a job that puts him in power over anyone else should quit or at least think about a voluntary demotion. Piper Harron, who graduated from Princeton with a PhD in mathematics, said in an American Mathematical Society blog post last week that it was impossible to achieve equality until white “cis” men gave up their positions of power so they could be filled by minorities.
“Not to alarm you, but I probably want you to quit your job, or at least take a demotion,” wrote Harron. “Statistically speaking, you are probably taking up room that should go to someone else. If you are a white cis man (meaning you identify as male and you were assigned male at birth) you almost certainly should resign from your position of power.”
Harron went on to remind men who “identify as male and were assigned male at birth” that they do not deserve their own success, no matter how hard they worked to obtain it.
“Get off your hiring committee, your curriculum committee, and make sure you’re replaced by a woman of color or a trans person,” she wrote. “Remember that you live in a world where people don’t succeed in a vacuum; most success happens on the backs of others who did not consent. You have no idea how successful you would have been if you were still you, but with an additional marginalization (not white, or not male, or not cis gender, or with a disability, etc).”
Since Harron recognizes that few white cis men will take her advice (since they are evil), she calls on schools to take matters into their own hands.
“What can universities do?” she asked. “Well, that’s easier. Stop hiring white cis men (except as needed to get/retain people who are not white cis men) until the problem goes away. If you think this is a bad or un-serious idea, your sexism/racism/transphobia is showing.”
Ah. The “if you don’t agree with my idiotic proposal, you’re a bigot” argument. Very powerful stuff.
“When the applications come in, remember society makes dominant applicants look better than they are,” she warned. “Society makes marginalized applicants look worse than they are. There is no objectivity. There is no meritocracy.”
Even better. The “if you don’t hire felons and layabouts, you’re a bigot” argument.
Good news, though. If you’re worried about this kind of nonsense gaining acceptance in mainstream society (and, well…who knows anymore?), and you think you’re in danger of losing your job as a white cis man…all you have to do is put on a dress, change your name from Sam to Samantha, and – voila – you move from the oppressor category to the oppressed category like magic!
Seriously, though…has the fall of a civilization ever been so glaringly predictable?
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