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Jude Curtis's avatar

Is any "Moral Panic" ever justified? If it were, it wouldn't be a panic would it. Hence, you've already begged the question in the headline. But ok.

Critical race theory is just a conveniently ambiguous cultural signifier that allows pundits to characterize as a "moral panic" any reaction that falls beyond a flat acceptance widespread changes to how institutions handle race post 2020.

It was a major tactical error to let CRT become the placeholder for all the race-crazed insanity that has infiltrated every public institution in north america. But say you think that attacking the cultural movement that, in practise, unite everything from Kendi to police abolitionism is necessary. But what then should we call it?

Say you think that ubiquitous concepts like "white privilege/white mediocrity/white women's tears" are facially racist, political poison that don't deserve official sanction. Say you don't think it's fair that mandatory social justice statements in higher ed hiring practices become the norm, or that endless affirmative action rebranded under the name of DEI is bad for society. What if you think that objective standards, individual merit, empirical validity, and math aren't rooted in white supremacy and that to assume that they are would have the worst outcomes for the people that need the most help? What are you supposed (allowed to) to rail against in that situation? More to the point, how do you form a viable political coalition to impede these very real top-down cultural changes many people see as harmful?

I can't say very well I'm against "social justice", can I? I can't sat I'm "ANTI-anti racist", that doesn't sound very good, either. I can't say I'm anti-"equity"-- another term perniciously ill-defined both by its detractors its defenders, the latter of whom are legion.

My best bet is to try to find the philosophical underpinning that lends the flavour of legitimacy to all of these ugly trends. CRT is one candidate for this job, as it is the one most steadfastly defended by both by above-the-fray pundits, breezily insisting there's nothing wrong with race in the schools, and Kendi-Ite corporate race zealots.

Depending on the charge, you can either say it's an either esoteric legal framework, never taught k-12. Or revert to the "just teaching about slavery, bro" posture, where anyone remotely concerned is charged with being racist, granting further license for bracing new approach to rooting out their ilk.

Either way, you shift the burden of proof onto small-c conservatives, who don't see the Summer of 2020 as revealed truth, and just want people to be treated as individuals.

For defenders it's very convenient indeed that there is such an impotent and misguided "moral panic" at CRT in specific, when the problem is actually much more general.

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diamondheart's avatar

Your generous and naive view of CRT is undermined by their own writings, and you may want to revisit it. "Critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law."

— Angela Harris, leading critical race theory scholar

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