Homage To Progressivism

Over the ... years now, amazing! ... I've criticized CTH and sundance roundly when I've believed that criticism has been necessary, even as I've taken advantage of the wealth of information resources the site has provided access to. Today I offer a hat tip. I never thought I'd see this day, although in its own way this example really says more about America as a society than about any one organization:

I recognize that these two photos can't truly be taken as representative of the FBI as a whole, although at the same time it is a valid snapshot (!) of what you can now get away with in the FBI. For the record I'd like to point out that the one person in these two photos who isn't 'taking a knee' is a Black female. [My wife disputes that in part, so make your own minds up.]

Sundance, of course, has plenty to say and you can follow this link to read it: FBI Pledge Allegiance to Black Lives Matter, Antifa, Nation of Islam and New Black Panthers Protesters. Were these girls and boys of the FBI really pledging allegiance? Perhaps not in the strict sense, but it certainly is a shameful display of homage to the Progressivist Zeitgeist.

Here's a small portion of what you can read about this at CTH:

The FBI is now a political agency with police powers within the federal government.  The activity of Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, James Comey, Andrew McCabe and a host of very familiar names has shown just how important politics is within the institution.  Indeed, as we saw in the ridiculous Hillary Clinton investigation, politics was the prism for every decision; and protecting their ideological tribe was the biggest concern within the agency.

I'm sure there are many agents who don't feel that way. We can think back to examples of 'political bias' from the Horowitz dossier, which included texts of agents rejoicing at Trump's electoral victory and looking forward to the disappointment they'd see when they arrived at their office in the morning. But that's the point, right? They'd be keeping their joy to themselves--not out of a sense of civility but lest they be marked for retaliation by the powers running the FBI. The form of the retaliation, in today's America, needn't take the form of outright denial of job entitlements or promotion. Any federal employee--any government employee at any level, really--can tell you that there are any number of ways for the progressives who have the levers of power to enforce discipline and punish Wrongthink.

The situation is much like you find at our institutions of education, K through professional school, that are so top heavy with administrative personnel. Their true function is to ensure that all expressions of point of view (for want of a better word) will conform to the norms of political correctness. That enforcement function has found judicial sanction in the name of 'diversity'--meaning, in our 1984 Speak, conformity to PC speak. The personnel or 'human resources' departments at all levels of society--government (including the FBI), education, corporate--have long since been taken over by the descendants of 60s radicalism in the form of current PC Progressivism. They are the gatekeepers, who weed out all candidates (or, if need be, threaten current employees) who are recalcitrant in the face of Progressivism. Call those recalcitrant few, the Normals. Opposition to normality, to human nature itself, has been inculcated through long years of educational indoctrination and now has been institutionalized. It takes a village, and bureaucratic organizations are the village inhabited by the Left, the sea in which they swim. That the FBI has been so thoroughly transformed, as it seems, has to be a barometer measuring the health not only of the organization but of our society as a whole.


Here's a reminder of all this, written in light of the revelations from the Horowitz dossier--FBI Reaction To Trump's Election. It offers hope, of course, but also serves as a warning. Those photos provide ample reason for great disquiet:

==========================

I've written in the past of the army of lawyers who, in recent decades, have been "parachuted" into top positions at the FBI, including placing former prosecutors into the Director's office. I spoke of this to Lee Smith, about the toxic, politicized, and antinomian culture that was thus imported. Smith was good enough to include my views in Chapter 15 of his book, The Plot Against The President.

As always happens, these changes in leadership also led to changes in the selection not only of agent candidates but, especially, of those who would rise through management ranks. The rise of the Strzoks and McCabes and Priestaps tells a lot about the cultural state of the FBI, in and of itself.

Showalter writes about some of this at Daily Beast reports presence of conservatives in the FBI like it's a bad thing. Note, of course, that the agents who are quoted, while apparently unapologetic, do feel embattled. Here's the quote from The Daily Beast:

The report released Monday by Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz revealed messages between several FBI employees celebrating President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. 

One supervisory special agent wrote via instant message that he was “so elated with the election” and that watching election coverage was like “watching a Superbowl comeback.” The agent later explained his messages to Horowitz’s office, claiming that they thought Hillary Clinton would win and it was “energizing” to see Trump claim victory. “I didn’t want a criminal to be in the White House,” he said. 

Hey, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me! A lot more reasonable than the views of the Strzoks, Pages, and McCabes of the FBI world--let alone Jim "So Many Questions" Comey.

Two other FBI agents also expressed pleasure with the 2016 election results. “Shit just got real,” one employee wrote in messages uncovered by the IG report. “I saw a lot of scared MFers on... (my way to work) this morning. Start looking for new jobs fellas. Haha.” The other agent replied, “LOL.” In response, the employee remarked: “Come January I’m going to just get a big bowl of popcorn and sit back and watch.” The other agent replied: “That's hilarious!”

I have to say, I LMAOed when I read that. It gave me just a bit of hope. There's a lot of truth in Bill Haydon's observation to George Smiley that the health of the intelligence services reflects the health--or lack thereof--of a society. And that means there's a long road ahead, judging from the Horowitz Dossier.