How I became a conservative.

[Biff_Poindexter]

How I Became Conservative

It was a slow, reluctant process.
I started out liberal: the child of Asian immigrants, both parents always voting Democratic.

Then, at college one day, I was sipping coffee in the cafeteria, which featured an enormous glass window. Suddenly, my reverie was broken by the crash of that window being smashed. It was broken deliberately by a mob of black students carrying signs such as “Free Housing for Bridge Students.” “Bridge” was a program that admitted blacks and Hispanics to my prestigious public university with far lower grades and test scores than those required of Asians and whites. That struck me as an example of biting the hand that feeds you: increased entitlement rather than gratitude and subsequent hard work. It was also my first awareness of redistribution, since my parents’ taxes would be paying for the damage. My dismay accelerated when, in my classes, it was clear that most of the black students were grossly underprepared yet felt entitled to ask question after question, slowing the class down.

The next prod toward a realistic view of race occurred when—still as a liberal—I took a job running drug-prevention groups in a largely non-white high school. A number of the kids were very undisciplined—running around the classroom—and when I firmly but calmly asked them to sit down, I was met with such responses as, “Make me! You ain’t my father.” I could not believe that such behavior was caused by the explanations they taught me in college: “the legacy of slavery,” “income inequality,” or “white privilege.”

I quit in shame because of my inability to control the class, let alone get them to slow their drug use; by high school, they already were well beyond experimentation. But with liberal ideology so firmly implanted in my brain, I mainly blamed myself and decided that what I needed was more education, so I got a PhD in education from an Ivy League university.

Despite that university’s liberal reputation, I occasionally had a professor who was not liberal. One said, “80 percent of kids will learn to read and 20 percent won’t, no matter what methods you use and how much you spend.” Even my liberal professors provided solid evidence that IQ and its correlates (SAT, GRE, etc.) are the strongest predictors of school and life achievement, and that they overpredict black student performance. That is, blacks, on average, do worse in college than their test scores would predict. (For a current review of the literature on this, see The Neuroscience of Intelligence.) That was a major turning point for me. Before, while I was aware of blacks’ high crime rate and poor performance in school and at work, I ascribed it to the usual liberal explanations.

In graduate school, I attended a talk by a libertarian woman—unfortunately, I can’t recall her name—who said something I’ll never forget. She asked, “If the reason for high black crime rates and low achievement is racism, elitism, classism, and so on, why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

After completing my PhD, armed with the best that educational theory has to offer, I returned to inner-city high school teaching. Alas, despite a class size of just 15 and profound effort, I felt I was making little difference. I prepared carefully for all lessons, tried to be charismatic and kind while firm, and maximized time on crucial subjects such as reading, writing, and math. I came up with unusual motivating methods. I visited my students’ homes to try to engage the parents. I so often saw a drunken or stoned parent living in a smelly pigsty. Could this really be caused by racism?

But the coup de grace was this: I had recruited a neighbor, a kind woman, to be my classroom aide. And in yet another attempt to be a good liberal, I invited my entire class to stay at our home for a weekend so my students could experience a middle-class life, including being around my daughter. There wasn’t enough room in my house for all of them, so some stayed at my aide’s house. Two of them raped her. The aide—a Berkeley liberal hippie—insisted that I not report the rape to the police. She said she didn’t want to “ruin their lives.”

I quit, not only because of that, but because despite all my efforts—and I had the same kids for two years—I felt I made no significant, enduring difference. Indeed, a few of the kids (now decades later) keep in touch with me and each of their lives is the stereotype: They have lots of children and are in and out of government programs. One proudly told me she’s a lesbian and has sex with men so she can “give ’em my HIV.”

Over the years, I learned that trying to close the achievement gap is a poor use of taxpayer dollars. Even the Obama Administration’s meta-analysis of Head Start found it doesn’t work. Spending $7 billion to turn around “low-performing” schools was a failure. The U.S. ranks at or near the top on education spending yet scores near the bottom on PISA scores among developed countries and the achievement gap remains as large as ever.

What feels most unfair and bad for society is that the liberals have reallocated resources from average and top students to the weakest. For example, for decades now, schools replaced ability-grouped classes with mixed-ability classes on the assumption that low achievers will benefit from being with brighter students. Not surprisingly, any benefits are outweighed by the decrease in the amount of appropriate-level instruction because of the wide range of students in the class. A second-order meta-analysis of the effects of placing students in groups by ability demonstrate that all students—high- medium- and low achievers—benefit when they are grouped separately by ability. But that doesn’t stop the liberals, who’d rather see students do worse as long as it’s equal. Similarly distressing, most programs for the intellectually gifted have been largely or completely defunded and repurposed as programs for the “gifted and talented,” which means the programs do not help intellectually gifted kids live up to their potential as our future leaders, doctors, and bridge builders.

The focus on redistribution extends even to special education students. Students with severe behavioral or learning disabilities—with autism, retardation, etc.—are required by law to be mainstreamed to the maximum extent possible, meaning they are in over their heads and the bright students are bored.

As I’ve become more sensitized to these issues, I’ve wanted to write about them. But while I’m easily published on apolitical topics, when I write about the issues I discuss here, I’m censored—always. For example, I wrote what I believe is my best book, which discussed these issues. It was rejected by 20 publishers. The editor at Simon and Schuster wrote me, “Your book is excellent, but I’d be scared to even bring it up to the publication board—they’re all liberals, women, and minorities.” The censorship from the Left is far more crushing than the McCarthyism that liberals continue to harp on decades later.

This has increased my sensitivity to media bias. While I have concerns about President Trump, the juxtaposition of mainstream media running essentially an eight-year commercial for Obama and Hillary, and the 24/7 assault on Trump is unfair and not in society’s interest. The media has gone from its appropriate role as presenter of the full range of responsibly held positions to leftist agitator-in-chief.



I’m not an across-the-board conservative. I think protectionism is a short-term feel-good, long-term disaster. I’m not a fan of materialism. I’m pro-choice, and favor gay marriage and the right to die. I’m in favor of modest regulation. But many of my views are now conservative because I believe the world is best when—as every battlefield medic knows—most resources are invested in the people not with the greatest deficit but those with the greatest potential to profit. I also believe that government is a terribly poor steward of our tax dollars. Our money is better left in our pockets.

I am not brave enough to write this under my name but hope this encourages others to stand up—if only anonymously—lest the biased voices of the media-inflamed public burn down America to replace it with what is likely to be just another struggling Third-World nation.

The author is a well-known public intellectual who has been published and interviewed countless times in America’s most prestigious mainstream media. She feels she cannot be honest publicly about the issues discussed here.

At first I was thinking this was going to be one of those that creepy Catholic priest touched me confession moments...


instead, its the usual racism....booooorrrriiinnnggggg

 

[The VOR]

I was destined to be a conservative...influenced by my grandparents and parents. I thank God everyday for that. I cannot imagine being viewed like I view left loons

I was wondering where you got that false sense of superiority from.

It must be nice sitting up there on your high horse looking down upon other people, telling them how shitty they are and how great you are.

In reality, you're nothing more than a scumbag hypocrite.

 

[norwegen]

I enjoy looking down my nose at snowflakes.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

How I Became Conservative

It was a slow, reluctant process.
I started out liberal: the child of Asian immigrants, both parents always voting Democratic.

Then, at college one day, I was sipping coffee in the cafeteria, which featured an enormous glass window. Suddenly, my reverie was broken by the crash of that window being smashed. It was broken deliberately by a mob of black students carrying signs such as “Free Housing for Bridge Students.” “Bridge” was a program that admitted blacks and Hispanics to my prestigious public university with far lower grades and test scores than those required of Asians and whites. That struck me as an example of biting the hand that feeds you: increased entitlement rather than gratitude and subsequent hard work. It was also my first awareness of redistribution, since my parents’ taxes would be paying for the damage. My dismay accelerated when, in my classes, it was clear that most of the black students were grossly underprepared yet felt entitled to ask question after question, slowing the class down.

The next prod toward a realistic view of race occurred when—still as a liberal—I took a job running drug-prevention groups in a largely non-white high school. A number of the kids were very undisciplined—running around the classroom—and when I firmly but calmly asked them to sit down, I was met with such responses as, “Make me! You ain’t my father.” I could not believe that such behavior was caused by the explanations they taught me in college: “the legacy of slavery,” “income inequality,” or “white privilege.”

I quit in shame because of my inability to control the class, let alone get them to slow their drug use; by high school, they already were well beyond experimentation. But with liberal ideology so firmly implanted in my brain, I mainly blamed myself and decided that what I needed was more education, so I got a PhD in education from an Ivy League university.

Despite that university’s liberal reputation, I occasionally had a professor who was not liberal. One said, “80 percent of kids will learn to read and 20 percent won’t, no matter what methods you use and how much you spend.” Even my liberal professors provided solid evidence that IQ and its correlates (SAT, GRE, etc.) are the strongest predictors of school and life achievement, and that they overpredict black student performance. That is, blacks, on average, do worse in college than their test scores would predict. (For a current review of the literature on this, see The Neuroscience of Intelligence.) That was a major turning point for me. Before, while I was aware of blacks’ high crime rate and poor performance in school and at work, I ascribed it to the usual liberal explanations.

In graduate school, I attended a talk by a libertarian woman—unfortunately, I can’t recall her name—who said something I’ll never forget. She asked, “If the reason for high black crime rates and low achievement is racism, elitism, classism, and so on, why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

After completing my PhD, armed with the best that educational theory has to offer, I returned to inner-city high school teaching. Alas, despite a class size of just 15 and profound effort, I felt I was making little difference. I prepared carefully for all lessons, tried to be charismatic and kind while firm, and maximized time on crucial subjects such as reading, writing, and math. I came up with unusual motivating methods. I visited my students’ homes to try to engage the parents. I so often saw a drunken or stoned parent living in a smelly pigsty. Could this really be caused by racism?

But the coup de grace was this: I had recruited a neighbor, a kind woman, to be my classroom aide. And in yet another attempt to be a good liberal, I invited my entire class to stay at our home for a weekend so my students could experience a middle-class life, including being around my daughter. There wasn’t enough room in my house for all of them, so some stayed at my aide’s house. Two of them raped her. The aide—a Berkeley liberal hippie—insisted that I not report the rape to the police. She said she didn’t want to “ruin their lives.”

I quit, not only because of that, but because despite all my efforts—and I had the same kids for two years—I felt I made no significant, enduring difference. Indeed, a few of the kids (now decades later) keep in touch with me and each of their lives is the stereotype: They have lots of children and are in and out of government programs. One proudly told me she’s a lesbian and has sex with men so she can “give ’em my HIV.”

Over the years, I learned that trying to close the achievement gap is a poor use of taxpayer dollars. Even the Obama Administration’s meta-analysis of Head Start found it doesn’t work. Spending $7 billion to turn around “low-performing” schools was a failure. The U.S. ranks at or near the top on education spending yet scores near the bottom on PISA scores among developed countries and the achievement gap remains as large as ever.

What feels most unfair and bad for society is that the liberals have reallocated resources from average and top students to the weakest. For example, for decades now, schools replaced ability-grouped classes with mixed-ability classes on the assumption that low achievers will benefit from being with brighter students. Not surprisingly, any benefits are outweighed by the decrease in the amount of appropriate-level instruction because of the wide range of students in the class. A second-order meta-analysis of the effects of placing students in groups by ability demonstrate that all students—high- medium- and low achievers—benefit when they are grouped separately by ability. But that doesn’t stop the liberals, who’d rather see students do worse as long as it’s equal. Similarly distressing, most programs for the intellectually gifted have been largely or completely defunded and repurposed as programs for the “gifted and talented,” which means the programs do not help intellectually gifted kids live up to their potential as our future leaders, doctors, and bridge builders.

The focus on redistribution extends even to special education students. Students with severe behavioral or learning disabilities—with autism, retardation, etc.—are required by law to be mainstreamed to the maximum extent possible, meaning they are in over their heads and the bright students are bored.

As I’ve become more sensitized to these issues, I’ve wanted to write about them. But while I’m easily published on apolitical topics, when I write about the issues I discuss here, I’m censored—always. For example, I wrote what I believe is my best book, which discussed these issues. It was rejected by 20 publishers. The editor at Simon and Schuster wrote me, “Your book is excellent, but I’d be scared to even bring it up to the publication board—they’re all liberals, women, and minorities.” The censorship from the Left is far more crushing than the McCarthyism that liberals continue to harp on decades later.

This has increased my sensitivity to media bias. While I have concerns about President Trump, the juxtaposition of mainstream media running essentially an eight-year commercial for Obama and Hillary, and the 24/7 assault on Trump is unfair and not in society’s interest. The media has gone from its appropriate role as presenter of the full range of responsibly held positions to leftist agitator-in-chief.



I’m not an across-the-board conservative. I think protectionism is a short-term feel-good, long-term disaster. I’m not a fan of materialism. I’m pro-choice, and favor gay marriage and the right to die. I’m in favor of modest regulation. But many of my views are now conservative because I believe the world is best when—as every battlefield medic knows—most resources are invested in the people not with the greatest deficit but those with the greatest potential to profit. I also believe that government is a terribly poor steward of our tax dollars. Our money is better left in our pockets.

I am not brave enough to write this under my name but hope this encourages others to stand up—if only anonymously—lest the biased voices of the media-inflamed public burn down America to replace it with what is likely to be just another struggling Third-World nation.

The author is a well-known public intellectual who has been published and interviewed countless times in America’s most prestigious mainstream media. She feels she cannot be honest publicly about the issues discussed here.

Holy fuck, Is there an abridged version?

 

[BluesLegend]

When I realized I was living on a Democratic party plantation and those thieving scum tried to take every dollar I earned I left the plantation and became a conservative.

 

[imawhosure]

why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

Liberals will run to a safe space rather than acknowledge these facts. ....

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

The issue is wisdom.

That's why the Left is so addicted to science and knowledge. They think science is the key to destroying religion which they view as foolish and is destroying us.

Then science gives us fossil fuels to exploit so that we have global warming, then they give us WMD's to play with and solar panels that cause more environmental harm to make than the good they produce, it is the knowledge of how to produce plastics that clog our oceans, etc.

It is the knowledge that science brings us that threatens us and the globe, devoid of the wisdom needed to handle such knowledge.

The story of the Tree of Knowledge and forbidden fruit in the Bible has never been more applicable than it is today.

Knowledge devoid of wisdom brings us death.

How I became a conservative ...

that's the liberal form

A very wise person said, and I concur------------->

We, the older generation...………….send our children to college to become educated. When they come out, they are usually faaaaaaaaaaaar more educated, then the parents who foot the bill to send them to these institutions of learning.

The problem is---------> While they are educated, they have no knowledge. An oxymoron? NO! You can cram and input brilliance in a short time, but it takes looooong periods of time to gain knowledge on life.

This is exactly why these young people on spring break, can get an A in their classes at an ivy league university, but can't tell you anything about life, liberty, the founders, or politics. They are crammed with indoctrination, at the same time they are crammed with all the factoids for the major/minor of their choice. They get an A in their major/minor, so now believe that their indoctrination should also receive an A!

College students have no realization, that an engineering study that takes mathematical facts and explains them, has absolutely NOTHING to do with taking POLITICAL OPINION from the same professors, can be proven using the formula. That is why they come out of school, come on message boards like these, and believe that they are sooooo smart, they are legends in their own minds, so should dictate to the rest of us. After all, they are EDJUMICATED, and got great grades! Their stodgy parents? Oh hell, they are just blue collar, or lower level white collar. These kids, (and I do mean kids) think they have all the answers to everything.

 

[MacTheKnife]

why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

Liberals will run to a safe space rather than acknowledge these facts. ....

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

The issue is wisdom.

That's why the Left is so addicted to science and knowledge. They think science is the key to destroying religion which they view as foolish and is destroying us.

Then science gives us fossil fuels to exploit so that we have global warming, then they give us WMD's to play with and solar panels that cause more environmental harm to make than the good they produce, it is the knowledge of how to produce plastics that clog our oceans, etc.

It is the knowledge that science brings us that threatens us and the globe, devoid of the wisdom needed to handle such knowledge.

The story of the Tree of Knowledge and forbidden fruit in the Bible has never been more applicable than it is today.

Knowledge devoid of wisdom brings us death.

How I became a conservative ...

that's the liberal form

A very wise person said, and I concur------------->

We, the older generation...………….send our children to college to become educated. When they come out, they are usually faaaaaaaaaaaar more educated, then the parents who foot the bill to send them to these institutions of learning.

The problem is---------> While they are educated, they have no knowledge. An oxymoron? NO! You can cram and input brilliance in a short time, but it takes looooong periods of time to gain knowledge on life.

This is exactly why these young people on spring break, can get an A in their classes at an ivy league university, but can't tell you anything about life, liberty, the founders, or politics. They are crammed with indoctrination, at the same time they are crammed with all the factoids for the major/minor of their choice. They get an A in their major/minor, so now believe that their indoctrination should also receive an A!

College students have no realization, that an engineering study that takes mathematical facts and explains them, has absolutely NOTHING to do with taking POLITICAL OPINION from the same professors, can be proven using the formula. That is why they come out of school, come on message boards like these, and believe that they are sooooo smart, they are legends in their own minds, so should dictate to the rest of us. After all, they are EDJUMICATED, and got great grades! Their stodgy parents? Oh hell, they are just blue collar, or lower level white collar. These kids, (and I do mean kids) think they have all the answers to everything.

hehheh How old are your kids?

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

“How I became a conservative.”

You start with a propensity for authoritarianism and intolerance.

Add to that a fear of – and contempt for – change, diversity, and dissent.

And top it off with a desire to compel conformity through force of law – and there you have it: a conservative.

It’s also quite common to add bigotry and racism to the mix.

 

[MacTheKnife]

why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

Liberals will run to a safe space rather than acknowledge these facts. ....

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

The issue is wisdom.

That's why the Left is so addicted to science and knowledge. They think science is the key to destroying religion which they view as foolish and is destroying us.

Then science gives us fossil fuels to exploit so that we have global warming, then they give us WMD's to play with and solar panels that cause more environmental harm to make than the good they produce, it is the knowledge of how to produce plastics that clog our oceans, etc.

It is the knowledge that science brings us that threatens us and the globe, devoid of the wisdom needed to handle such knowledge.

The story of the Tree of Knowledge and forbidden fruit in the Bible has never been more applicable than it is today.

Knowledge devoid of wisdom brings us death.

How I became a conservative ...

that's the liberal form

A very wise person said, and I concur------------->

We, the older generation...………….send our children to college to become educated. When they come out, they are usually faaaaaaaaaaaar more educated, then the parents who foot the bill to send them to these institutions of learning.

The problem is---------> While they are educated, they have no knowledge. An oxymoron? NO! You can cram and input brilliance in a short time, but it takes looooong periods of time to gain knowledge on life.

This is exactly why these young people on spring break, can get an A in their classes at an ivy league university, but can't tell you anything about life, liberty, the founders, or politics. They are crammed with indoctrination, at the same time they are crammed with all the factoids for the major/minor of their choice. They get an A in their major/minor, so now believe that their indoctrination should also receive an A!

College students have no realization, that an engineering study that takes mathematical facts and explains them, has absolutely NOTHING to do with taking POLITICAL OPINION from the same professors, can be proven using the formula. That is why they come out of school, come on message boards like these, and believe that they are sooooo smart, they are legends in their own minds, so should dictate to the rest of us. After all, they are EDJUMICATED, and got great grades! Their stodgy parents? Oh hell, they are just blue collar, or lower level white collar. These kids, (and I do mean kids) think they have all the answers to everything.

hehheh How old are your kids?

A wise man once said:
'The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.'

 

[imawhosure]

why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

Liberals will run to a safe space rather than acknowledge these facts. ....

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

Most people lean left in their youth and as they mature they become wiser and they become conservative.
The problem is that some people never grow-up.

The issue is wisdom.

That's why the Left is so addicted to science and knowledge. They think science is the key to destroying religion which they view as foolish and is destroying us.

Then science gives us fossil fuels to exploit so that we have global warming, then they give us WMD's to play with and solar panels that cause more environmental harm to make than the good they produce, it is the knowledge of how to produce plastics that clog our oceans, etc.

It is the knowledge that science brings us that threatens us and the globe, devoid of the wisdom needed to handle such knowledge.

The story of the Tree of Knowledge and forbidden fruit in the Bible has never been more applicable than it is today.

Knowledge devoid of wisdom brings us death.

How I became a conservative ...

that's the liberal form

A very wise person said, and I concur------------->

We, the older generation...………….send our children to college to become educated. When they come out, they are usually faaaaaaaaaaaar more educated, then the parents who foot the bill to send them to these institutions of learning.

The problem is---------> While they are educated, they have no knowledge. An oxymoron? NO! You can cram and input brilliance in a short time, but it takes looooong periods of time to gain knowledge on life.

This is exactly why these young people on spring break, can get an A in their classes at an ivy league university, but can't tell you anything about life, liberty, the founders, or politics. They are crammed with indoctrination, at the same time they are crammed with all the factoids for the major/minor of their choice. They get an A in their major/minor, so now believe that their indoctrination should also receive an A!

College students have no realization, that an engineering study that takes mathematical facts and explains them, has absolutely NOTHING to do with taking POLITICAL OPINION from the same professors, can be proven using the formula. That is why they come out of school, come on message boards like these, and believe that they are sooooo smart, they are legends in their own minds, so should dictate to the rest of us. After all, they are EDJUMICATED, and got great grades! Their stodgy parents? Oh hell, they are just blue collar, or lower level white collar. These kids, (and I do mean kids) think they have all the answers to everything.

32 and 30, used to be liberal, now conservative, lol. They changed as soon as their familys hit 6 figures-)

 

[SmokeALib]

“How I became a conservative.”

You start with a propensity for authoritarianism and intolerance.

Add to that a fear of – and contempt for – change, diversity, and dissent.

And top it off with a desire to compel conformity through force of law – and there you have it: a conservative.

It’s also quite common to add bigotry and racism to the mix.

Change and diversity being - men wearing women's underwear, men in women's bathrooms, male sperm gurglers, etc. Very important if you're a libturd.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

How I Became Conservative

It was a slow, reluctant process.
I started out liberal: the child of Asian immigrants, both parents always voting Democratic.

Then, at college one day, I was sipping coffee in the cafeteria, which featured an enormous glass window. Suddenly, my reverie was broken by the crash of that window being smashed. It was broken deliberately by a mob of black students carrying signs such as “Free Housing for Bridge Students.” “Bridge” was a program that admitted blacks and Hispanics to my prestigious public university with far lower grades and test scores than those required of Asians and whites. That struck me as an example of biting the hand that feeds you: increased entitlement rather than gratitude and subsequent hard work. It was also my first awareness of redistribution, since my parents’ taxes would be paying for the damage. My dismay accelerated when, in my classes, it was clear that most of the black students were grossly underprepared yet felt entitled to ask question after question, slowing the class down.

The next prod toward a realistic view of race occurred when—still as a liberal—I took a job running drug-prevention groups in a largely non-white high school. A number of the kids were very undisciplined—running around the classroom—and when I firmly but calmly asked them to sit down, I was met with such responses as, “Make me! You ain’t my father.” I could not believe that such behavior was caused by the explanations they taught me in college: “the legacy of slavery,” “income inequality,” or “white privilege.”

I quit in shame because of my inability to control the class, let alone get them to slow their drug use; by high school, they already were well beyond experimentation. But with liberal ideology so firmly implanted in my brain, I mainly blamed myself and decided that what I needed was more education, so I got a PhD in education from an Ivy League university.

Despite that university’s liberal reputation, I occasionally had a professor who was not liberal. One said, “80 percent of kids will learn to read and 20 percent won’t, no matter what methods you use and how much you spend.” Even my liberal professors provided solid evidence that IQ and its correlates (SAT, GRE, etc.) are the strongest predictors of school and life achievement, and that they overpredict black student performance. That is, blacks, on average, do worse in college than their test scores would predict. (For a current review of the literature on this, see The Neuroscience of Intelligence.) That was a major turning point for me. Before, while I was aware of blacks’ high crime rate and poor performance in school and at work, I ascribed it to the usual liberal explanations.

In graduate school, I attended a talk by a libertarian woman—unfortunately, I can’t recall her name—who said something I’ll never forget. She asked, “If the reason for high black crime rates and low achievement is racism, elitism, classism, and so on, why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

After completing my PhD, armed with the best that educational theory has to offer, I returned to inner-city high school teaching. Alas, despite a class size of just 15 and profound effort, I felt I was making little difference. I prepared carefully for all lessons, tried to be charismatic and kind while firm, and maximized time on crucial subjects such as reading, writing, and math. I came up with unusual motivating methods. I visited my students’ homes to try to engage the parents. I so often saw a drunken or stoned parent living in a smelly pigsty. Could this really be caused by racism?

But the coup de grace was this: I had recruited a neighbor, a kind woman, to be my classroom aide. And in yet another attempt to be a good liberal, I invited my entire class to stay at our home for a weekend so my students could experience a middle-class life, including being around my daughter. There wasn’t enough room in my house for all of them, so some stayed at my aide’s house. Two of them raped her. The aide—a Berkeley liberal hippie—insisted that I not report the rape to the police. She said she didn’t want to “ruin their lives.”

I quit, not only because of that, but because despite all my efforts—and I had the same kids for two years—I felt I made no significant, enduring difference. Indeed, a few of the kids (now decades later) keep in touch with me and each of their lives is the stereotype: They have lots of children and are in and out of government programs. One proudly told me she’s a lesbian and has sex with men so she can “give ’em my HIV.”

Over the years, I learned that trying to close the achievement gap is a poor use of taxpayer dollars. Even the Obama Administration’s meta-analysis of Head Start found it doesn’t work. Spending $7 billion to turn around “low-performing” schools was a failure. The U.S. ranks at or near the top on education spending yet scores near the bottom on PISA scores among developed countries and the achievement gap remains as large as ever.

What feels most unfair and bad for society is that the liberals have reallocated resources from average and top students to the weakest. For example, for decades now, schools replaced ability-grouped classes with mixed-ability classes on the assumption that low achievers will benefit from being with brighter students. Not surprisingly, any benefits are outweighed by the decrease in the amount of appropriate-level instruction because of the wide range of students in the class. A second-order meta-analysis of the effects of placing students in groups by ability demonstrate that all students—high- medium- and low achievers—benefit when they are grouped separately by ability. But that doesn’t stop the liberals, who’d rather see students do worse as long as it’s equal. Similarly distressing, most programs for the intellectually gifted have been largely or completely defunded and repurposed as programs for the “gifted and talented,” which means the programs do not help intellectually gifted kids live up to their potential as our future leaders, doctors, and bridge builders.

The focus on redistribution extends even to special education students. Students with severe behavioral or learning disabilities—with autism, retardation, etc.—are required by law to be mainstreamed to the maximum extent possible, meaning they are in over their heads and the bright students are bored.

As I’ve become more sensitized to these issues, I’ve wanted to write about them. But while I’m easily published on apolitical topics, when I write about the issues I discuss here, I’m censored—always. For example, I wrote what I believe is my best book, which discussed these issues. It was rejected by 20 publishers. The editor at Simon and Schuster wrote me, “Your book is excellent, but I’d be scared to even bring it up to the publication board—they’re all liberals, women, and minorities.” The censorship from the Left is far more crushing than the McCarthyism that liberals continue to harp on decades later.

This has increased my sensitivity to media bias. While I have concerns about President Trump, the juxtaposition of mainstream media running essentially an eight-year commercial for Obama and Hillary, and the 24/7 assault on Trump is unfair and not in society’s interest. The media has gone from its appropriate role as presenter of the full range of responsibly held positions to leftist agitator-in-chief.



I’m not an across-the-board conservative. I think protectionism is a short-term feel-good, long-term disaster. I’m not a fan of materialism. I’m pro-choice, and favor gay marriage and the right to die. I’m in favor of modest regulation. But many of my views are now conservative because I believe the world is best when—as every battlefield medic knows—most resources are invested in the people not with the greatest deficit but those with the greatest potential to profit. I also believe that government is a terribly poor steward of our tax dollars. Our money is better left in our pockets.

I am not brave enough to write this under my name but hope this encourages others to stand up—if only anonymously—lest the biased voices of the media-inflamed public burn down America to replace it with what is likely to be just another struggling Third-World nation.

The author is a well-known public intellectual who has been published and interviewed countless times in America’s most prestigious mainstream media. She feels she cannot be honest publicly about the issues discussed here.

At first I was thinking this was going to be one of those that creepy Catholic priest touched me confession moments...


instead, its the usual racism....booooorrrriiinnnggggg

Racism? Knee-jerk response so common from the left

 

[SassyIrishLass]

“How I became a conservative.”

You start with a propensity for authoritarianism and intolerance.

Add to that a fear of – and contempt for – change, diversity, and dissent.

And top it off with a desire to compel conformity through force of law – and there you have it: a conservative.

It’s also quite common to add bigotry and racism to the mix.

Another one spewing racism and throws in bigot.

Unfreaking believable...well not really

 

[imawhosure]

“How I became a conservative.”

You start with a propensity for authoritarianism and intolerance.

Add to that a fear of – and contempt for – change, diversity, and dissent.

And top it off with a desire to compel conformity through force of law – and there you have it: a conservative.

It’s also quite common to add bigotry and racism to the mix.

Another one spewing racism and throws in bigot.

Unfreaking believable...well not really

That is all they have. They are out of ideas, and any ideas they have are proven false by facts, and figures. Without rage, they can't get anyone to vote. They are pathetic!

 

[SassyIrishLass]

I was destined to be a conservative...influenced by my grandparents and parents. I thank God everyday for that. I cannot imagine being viewed like I view left loons

I was wondering where you got that false sense of superiority from.

It must be nice sitting up there on your high horse looking down upon other people, telling them how shitty they are and how great you are.

In reality, you're nothing more than a scumbag hypocrite.

^^^^More reasons I am a conservative. Can anyone imagine going through their life like this hate filled nothing troll? Dude you're so beneath me, wtf happened in your miserable life for you to turn out like this? Seriously

You're what my grandfather warned me of in a nutshell, an ignorant, ill informed parasite who thinks the man owes him something and will leech off of society and then bitch and moan at the ones footing the bill, taxpayers all the time trying to transform society into some leftist Utopia where everyone is equal on all levels. It's a pipe dream, normal people are not going to stand for the crap the left is trying to pull off. Want proof? Donald Trump is POTUS, you got stuffed in 2016 and your Messiah's legacy is now shit

 

[ColonelAngus]

Great piece of writing. Thanks for sharing OP.

There are 2 groups of Lefties. The exploiters and the exploited. There are no other kind.

 

[chesswarsnow]

Sorry bout that,

1. The writer needs to stop lying she is still a *LIBERAL*.
2. And hates *BLACK PEOPLE*.
3. And *ALL LATIN AMERICA*.

Regards,
SirJamesofTexas

 

[ptbw forever]

How I Became Conservative

It was a slow, reluctant process.
I started out liberal: the child of Asian immigrants, both parents always voting Democratic.

Then, at college one day, I was sipping coffee in the cafeteria, which featured an enormous glass window. Suddenly, my reverie was broken by the crash of that window being smashed. It was broken deliberately by a mob of black students carrying signs such as “Free Housing for Bridge Students.” “Bridge” was a program that admitted blacks and Hispanics to my prestigious public university with far lower grades and test scores than those required of Asians and whites. That struck me as an example of biting the hand that feeds you: increased entitlement rather than gratitude and subsequent hard work. It was also my first awareness of redistribution, since my parents’ taxes would be paying for the damage. My dismay accelerated when, in my classes, it was clear that most of the black students were grossly underprepared yet felt entitled to ask question after question, slowing the class down.

The next prod toward a realistic view of race occurred when—still as a liberal—I took a job running drug-prevention groups in a largely non-white high school. A number of the kids were very undisciplined—running around the classroom—and when I firmly but calmly asked them to sit down, I was met with such responses as, “Make me! You ain’t my father.” I could not believe that such behavior was caused by the explanations they taught me in college: “the legacy of slavery,” “income inequality,” or “white privilege.”

I quit in shame because of my inability to control the class, let alone get them to slow their drug use; by high school, they already were well beyond experimentation. But with liberal ideology so firmly implanted in my brain, I mainly blamed myself and decided that what I needed was more education, so I got a PhD in education from an Ivy League university.

Despite that university’s liberal reputation, I occasionally had a professor who was not liberal. One said, “80 percent of kids will learn to read and 20 percent won’t, no matter what methods you use and how much you spend.” Even my liberal professors provided solid evidence that IQ and its correlates (SAT, GRE, etc.) are the strongest predictors of school and life achievement, and that they overpredict black student performance. That is, blacks, on average, do worse in college than their test scores would predict. (For a current review of the literature on this, see The Neuroscience of Intelligence.) That was a major turning point for me. Before, while I was aware of blacks’ high crime rate and poor performance in school and at work, I ascribed it to the usual liberal explanations.

In graduate school, I attended a talk by a libertarian woman—unfortunately, I can’t recall her name—who said something I’ll never forget. She asked, “If the reason for high black crime rates and low achievement is racism, elitism, classism, and so on, why has there not been one country in the world, at any time in history, in which black achievement isn’t at the bottom? That’s true of majority-black nations, formerly colonized nations, as well as other nations.” She then said, “Now let’s look at Latinos. There are 21 countries in Central and South America. Can you name one that gives you confidence that a Latino USA would be a better USA?”

After completing my PhD, armed with the best that educational theory has to offer, I returned to inner-city high school teaching. Alas, despite a class size of just 15 and profound effort, I felt I was making little difference. I prepared carefully for all lessons, tried to be charismatic and kind while firm, and maximized time on crucial subjects such as reading, writing, and math. I came up with unusual motivating methods. I visited my students’ homes to try to engage the parents. I so often saw a drunken or stoned parent living in a smelly pigsty. Could this really be caused by racism?

But the coup de grace was this: I had recruited a neighbor, a kind woman, to be my classroom aide. And in yet another attempt to be a good liberal, I invited my entire class to stay at our home for a weekend so my students could experience a middle-class life, including being around my daughter. There wasn’t enough room in my house for all of them, so some stayed at my aide’s house. Two of them raped her. The aide—a Berkeley liberal hippie—insisted that I not report the rape to the police. She said she didn’t want to “ruin their lives.”

I quit, not only because of that, but because despite all my efforts—and I had the same kids for two years—I felt I made no significant, enduring difference. Indeed, a few of the kids (now decades later) keep in touch with me and each of their lives is the stereotype: They have lots of children and are in and out of government programs. One proudly told me she’s a lesbian and has sex with men so she can “give ’em my HIV.”

Over the years, I learned that trying to close the achievement gap is a poor use of taxpayer dollars. Even the Obama Administration’s meta-analysis of Head Start found it doesn’t work. Spending $7 billion to turn around “low-performing” schools was a failure. The U.S. ranks at or near the top on education spending yet scores near the bottom on PISA scores among developed countries and the achievement gap remains as large as ever.

What feels most unfair and bad for society is that the liberals have reallocated resources from average and top students to the weakest. For example, for decades now, schools replaced ability-grouped classes with mixed-ability classes on the assumption that low achievers will benefit from being with brighter students. Not surprisingly, any benefits are outweighed by the decrease in the amount of appropriate-level instruction because of the wide range of students in the class. A second-order meta-analysis of the effects of placing students in groups by ability demonstrate that all students—high- medium- and low achievers—benefit when they are grouped separately by ability. But that doesn’t stop the liberals, who’d rather see students do worse as long as it’s equal. Similarly distressing, most programs for the intellectually gifted have been largely or completely defunded and repurposed as programs for the “gifted and talented,” which means the programs do not help intellectually gifted kids live up to their potential as our future leaders, doctors, and bridge builders.

The focus on redistribution extends even to special education students. Students with severe behavioral or learning disabilities—with autism, retardation, etc.—are required by law to be mainstreamed to the maximum extent possible, meaning they are in over their heads and the bright students are bored.

As I’ve become more sensitized to these issues, I’ve wanted to write about them. But while I’m easily published on apolitical topics, when I write about the issues I discuss here, I’m censored—always. For example, I wrote what I believe is my best book, which discussed these issues. It was rejected by 20 publishers. The editor at Simon and Schuster wrote me, “Your book is excellent, but I’d be scared to even bring it up to the publication board—they’re all liberals, women, and minorities.” The censorship from the Left is far more crushing than the McCarthyism that liberals continue to harp on decades later.

This has increased my sensitivity to media bias. While I have concerns about President Trump, the juxtaposition of mainstream media running essentially an eight-year commercial for Obama and Hillary, and the 24/7 assault on Trump is unfair and not in society’s interest. The media has gone from its appropriate role as presenter of the full range of responsibly held positions to leftist agitator-in-chief.



I’m not an across-the-board conservative. I think protectionism is a short-term feel-good, long-term disaster. I’m not a fan of materialism. I’m pro-choice, and favor gay marriage and the right to die. I’m in favor of modest regulation. But many of my views are now conservative because I believe the world is best when—as every battlefield medic knows—most resources are invested in the people not with the greatest deficit but those with the greatest potential to profit. I also believe that government is a terribly poor steward of our tax dollars. Our money is better left in our pockets.

I am not brave enough to write this under my name but hope this encourages others to stand up—if only anonymously—lest the biased voices of the media-inflamed public burn down America to replace it with what is likely to be just another struggling Third-World nation.

The author is a well-known public intellectual who has been published and interviewed countless times in America’s most prestigious mainstream media. She feels she cannot be honest publicly about the issues discussed here.

Another one of those fake Russian bots from #walkaway who doesn’t look anything like a Russian....

 

[Biff_Poindexter]

Why I became a progressive had nothing to do with white people, black people, brown people, gay people -- it has to do with what policies create the best outcomes for the maximum amount of people -- period

But most times, when I see these so-called conservatives opine about how they became one -- it is always rooted in racial bias, some perceived cultural attacks on their way of life -- because they feel too many brown people live here -- a juvenile disdain for liberals which most likely links back to their high school days --- but very seldom do these folks speak about policies that they believe provides the best outcomes for the maximum amount of people.

So when a person spends 3 or 4 paragraphs talking about how inferior blacks are in his eyes -- and gets called out for being racist -- I could care less about you clutching your pearls in fake outrage

 

[MacTheKnife]

Why I became a progressive had nothing to do with white people, black people, brown people, gay people -- it has to do with what policies create the best outcomes for the maximum amount of people -- period

But most times, when I see these so-called conservatives opine about how they became one -- it is always rooted in racial bias, some perceived cultural attacks on their way of life -- because they feel too many brown people live here -- a juvenile disdain for liberals which most likely links back to their high school days --- but very seldom do these folks speak about policies that they believe provides the best outcomes for the maximum amount of people.

So when a person spends 3 or 4 paragraphs talking about how inferior blacks are in his eyes -- and gets called out for being racist -- I could care less about you clutching your pearls in fake outrage

Newsflash...the hallmark of true conservatism involves taking care of our own. Why should white working folk have to pay to support our largest minority who bites the hand that feeds them. It really is not a question of who is inferior or superior....that is irrelevant. The most important thing that folks need to understand is that there are just too many differences in blacks and whites for them to live together in a peaceful and harmonious relationship.

Abraham Lincoln the great emancipator said..............“I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races … I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality.'



America chose the wrong path decades ago and we are so far down that path now that it is most likely impossible to get back on the right path. We are witness to an ever increasing division in our society and it is steadily getting worse accompanied by political violence that has not been witnessed since The War Between The States. The white middle class though awakening has still not awoken to the drastic changes we must make if we are to preserve The America we all once knew, grew up with and loved.

We were betrayed by politicians who wanted to help everyone in the world but our own people. That mus be changed and President Trump is the one to do it--with the support of white working folks.

February 2008 - American Renaissance

A white teacher speaks out: July 2009 - American Renaissance