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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2400 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 13, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I find Matt Walsh vapid and not very bright in general but sometimes I have to laugh at his antics. He produced this new mockumentary called "Am I Racist?" and tricked Robin DiAngelo into sitting down for an interview with him (while wearing the flimsiest disguise).

Robin DiAngelo figured it out eventually, weeks later, and offered a statement in defense: https://www.robindiangelo.com/about-that-film/

From her damage control statement above:

Matt asked what I thought about reparations for Black Americans. I said that I agreed with reparations but that it was not my area of expertise. He then pulled up a chair and invited a Black crew-member who went by “Ben” to sit with us, took out his wallet and handed Ben some cash. He said that if I believed in reparations, I should also give Ben cash. While some Black people have asked white people to engage in reparations by giving directly to individuals, reparations are generally understood as a systemic approach to past and current injustice. The way Matt set this up felt intended to put Ben and I on the spot. Because Matt was pushing this on us, I expressed my discomfort and checked in with Ben, to be sure he was okay with receiving cash in this way. Ben reassured me that he was, so I went to my wallet and handed him my cash and the interview ended.

My reaction to this is: what the fuck? Did she really feel pressured into handing a random black person money because they were talking about reparations? LOL

While we're on the topic of mockumentaries, Tyler Cowen mentioned in a recent podcast that Trump has a surprisingly good bullshit detector and that when Ali G tried to punk him, Trump figured out in like one minute that this was a con and bounced. Contrast to Noam Chomsky just going on and on. Ali G punks a lot of people, but not Trump? Completely unexpected!

Robin DiAngelo seems in a class of her own here. Self-punking, perhaps? Talk about being high on your own farts.

My reaction to this is: what the fuck? Did she really feel pressured into handing a random black person money because they were talking about reparations? LOL

It seems highly relevent that she was paid $15,000 for this interview. I too would likely pay a few hundred bucks to stay in the good graces of such generous benefactors.

$15,000 for a couple of hours of answering questions on camera is crazy. Is this amount normal for academics?

For the very top household names it probably is (biblical scholar Bart Ehrman charges about this much for an appearance), Walsh and Co picked a number that was too good to pass up, but not so outrageous as to arouse suspicion.

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