Recently, a story surfaced in the blogosphere that has captivated liberals and conservatives alike. It is the narrative of a young Harvard Law School student who, during a casual dinner party, made some pithy and, no doubt, timely comments about black genetic inferiority. This, of course, is not unprecedented. Haven't we all said some things during drinks that we care not to be repeated?
But what has made the story all the more interesting is that, in order to more systematically defend the wisdom of her racial worldview, our young heroine decided to unwittingly document and reiterate some of her points by circulating a mass e-mail to all her dinner companions. The e-mail has now made the rounds.
As a result, young Stephanie Grace -- pretty, smart and blonde -- has become something of a celebrity and a cultural touchstone: among conservatives, she represents a voice that speaks a truth nobody dare utter; among liberals, she is a specimen of a certain type of highly educated fellow-traveler who might very well be standing next to one, doing the down-dog position, in yoga class, polluting one's chakra with her hate-speech.
As a professor of Ethnic Literature in the English Department at a rather prestigious liberal arts college, I am ambivalent about this turn of events. On the one hand, I do not entirely agree with the racial worldview of young Stephanie Grace. On the other hand, I have been shaped by what is essentially a teaching institution, whose mandates compel me to empower all young people to find their voice in civic discourse. Therefore, I have been conditioned to encourage all young people to make a name for themselves, especially if they are women or minorities.
In whatever pursuits and whatever fields my young charges choose to pursue, at the drop of a hat, I am ready to champion them and write a letter of recommendation. So despite what are basically ideological differences. I will put aside my reservations in order to applaud Miss Stephanie Grace and encourage her in her fledgling racialism. I believe that she should capitalize upon her current celebrity and I would encourage young Miss Stephanie Grace to quit law school (where statistics show she will never succeed as a true intellectual) and pursue television where her youth and spunk will distinguish her.
Let's face it, we just don't have enough female high profile racists in this world. Frankly, I don't want to look at a fat, bald, chubby-cheeked Glenn Beck or a prescription-pill-popping Rush Limbaugh. Anne Coulter, the Republican party's sad attempt to put a pretty face on their politics is, let's face it, objectively ugly. She has a weird jaw that is mannish and horsey. All the make-up that she slathers upon the old, dried-up race track of her face is not enough to erase what is ultimately an essential uncomeliness. Anne Coulter is old and an old woman is as attractive as a poodle, for then we come to realize that there is not much to distinguish a woman and her canine counterpart in the brains department.
What is quite delightful about Miss Stephanie Grace is that she is young and pretty. I have it on good authority that she also is a natural blonde. Miss Stephanie Grace provides something we all need, especially nowadays, when there is darkness all around. She adds a feminine touch to the preponderance of slack-jawed, double-chinned shock jocks of the world, leavening their testosterone with her estrogen.
Of course, her detractors will argue that the limitation of her racialism is that she says nothing new about our racial stereotypes. What she has been saying, we have heard being said since the Social Darwinists of the late 19th Century and, later, since the eugenecists called for the sterilization of blacks and the extermination of Jews. But what can we expect?
I would enjoin my liberal cohort to be less hard on Stephanie. For one, she is after all a woman, and we should applaud her in the name of all woman-kind who have been historically and quite systematically oppressed since time immemorial. This, no doubt, has made an impact on all woman-kind's lack of original insight, which like all things are genetic as well as cultural.
No matter what course Miss Stephanie Grace chooses to pursue, I will add one caveat. Though she may be correct to observe that black people are clearly small-brained and genetically programmed for inferiority, white people also have tendencies that distinguish them as a race: They tend to put their foot in their mouth. Most often they do so in print.