Excess love

Some of you may have seen the episode of Seinfeld in which Jerry tries to return a jacket. He says he wants to return it for “spite” because he didn’t care for the salesman who sold it to him.

He’s told he can’t return a jacket simply for spite. The manager is called in.

Manager: “That’s true. You can’t return an item based purely on spite.”

Jerry:. “Well So fine then … then I don’t want it and then that’s why I’m returning it.”

Manager: “Well you already said spite so …”

Jerry: “But I changed my mind …”

Manager: “No … you said spite. Too late.”

Princeton University finds itself in a similar scenario. Christopher Eisgruber, the president of the school, wrote in a letter, quite emphatically, that Princeton is systemically racist and that racism is “embedded” at the school:

“Racism and the damage it does to people of color nevertheless persist at Princeton as in our society, sometimes by conscious intention but more often through unexamined assumptions and stereotypes, ignorance or insensitivity, and the systemic legacy of past decisions and policies,” Eisgruber wrote. “Racist assumptions from the past also remain embedded in structures of the University itself.”

In response to this wholly unsolicited confession of profound sin, the Department of Education is opening an investigation into whether or not Princeton has been falsely claiming in official documents that it doesn’t discriminate on the basis of race. “Based on its admitted racism, the U.S. Department of Education is concerned Princeton’s nondiscrimination and equal opportunity assurances in its Program Participation Agreements from at least 2013 to the present may have been false,” the letter says. “The Department is further concerned Princeton perhaps knew, or should have known, these assurances were false at the time they were made.” …

I love this so much I want to rent a limo I can’t afford, take it to the prom, and maybe get a tattoo celebrating my love.

Jonah Goldberg, Taking Racism Seriously—And Literally (hyperlinks omitted).

The Dispatch, for which Goldberg wrote this, is one of many new efforts to provide pretty straight news and commentary free of advertisers’ corrupting influence. It is currently offering 30-day free trials.

I subscribed early on, in large part because I can’t get enough of David French and Sarah Isgur’s legal commentaries, but apart from a little recent neocon hawkishness, I’ve enjoying the whole thing, not just David and Sarah.