Right-wingers on Twitter are high-fiving over the forced resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay on Tuesday after conservative news outlets dug up several more plagiarism incidents — the first three examples apparently weren’t enough — but trust me: Gay will be just fine. Her ousting will likely end up being the best thing to happen to her in every way.
That’s because Gay has the ultimate privilege in modern America: She loudly and unashamedly claims to be an irreparable victim of her country, and she has the dominant institutions on her side to reinforce the message.
True, Gay is a member of the wealthiest and utmost elite, serving as the president of an Ivy League university. But that’s neither here nor there.
She’s a woman. She’s black.
The only way she could possibly be more powerful is if she used a wheelchair. (Not that I want to give her any ideas.) This is an America created by a left that has seized every cultural center — the entertainment industry, the news media, and, most importantly, academia. If you can claim to be oppressed, you’re owed something. A lot of it. (See my book Privileged Victims.)
That entitlement was perfectly reflected in Gay’s very resignation letter, which hopefully no one bothers to run through TurnItIn. “[I]t has been distressing,” she wrote to the campus at large, “to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”
It’s not that she did anything wrong. It’s the racial animus she faces!
Nowhere in the brief missive did Gay even bother to account for her academic transgressions (which under different circumstances would be simply referred to as “fraud”) nor apologize for them. On the contrary, her only expression of regret was that the student body wouldn’t get to have her as president anymore. “I had hoped with all my heart to lead us on that journey, in partnership with all of you,” she continued. “As I now return to the faculty, and to the scholarship and teaching that are the lifeblood of what we do, I pledge to continue working alongside you to build the community we all deserve.”
Gay is no longer president, and it is sad. But she pledges. She will continue. She will work. She will build. Alongside you.
The courage and fortitude it takes to be a self-professed victim in America is truly awe-inspiring.
The opportunities for Gay won’t dry up with her resignation. They will surely multiply — a book deal, TV appearances, speaking gigs, and on and on.
Recall the last time a prominent leftist lost some influential post and sauntered off to live out the rest of her days in obscurity. I’ll wait.
No, what happens is they take a short-term loss — like, say, a resignation allowed with undeserved dignity — and within days, it’s announced that they’re “excited” to join the board of some prestigious organization or take a new lucrative position at an exclusive institution created explicitly for the heralded victim.
They’re never gone for long. They can’t be. There’s too much work to be done. Too much building to do. Alongside you.
Enjoy the little victory while it lasts, right-wingers. Gay isn’t going anywhere. She’s here to stay and with more power than she had yesterday.
