Mascots of the Anointed

Mascots of the Anointed

After the unfortunate death of Jason Arday, Ed Driscoll wrote: IT RARELY ENDS WELL FOR A MASCOT OF THE ANOINTED: "The real [Arday] story is of an elite academic world that was so excited by a compelling narrative that they rushed a clearly mentally unbalanced man with no real qualifications to the heights of academia because he ticked so many useful boxes."

The sentence just above quotes Enguerrand VII de Coucy but the Mascot of the Anointed phrase is linked to a short archived piece from 1995 by Thomas Sowell in which "the anointed" worked at the New York Times and their "mascots" were old prison inmates.

Thomas Sowell:

The "New York Times" recently ran a front-page story dripping with sympathy for a multiple murderer who is now very old and who, on some days, "cannot remember" why he is in prison. His victims, however, cannot remember anything on any days.

There are also photographs of him and other prisoners. One prisoner is described as having a disease that "brings mental deterioration." Another, with his legs amputated, is shown trying to catch a baseball on his knees. Yet another prisoner is shown in a wheelchair.

All sorts of heart-tugging stories are told about elderly inmates who are succumbing to various diseases and infirmities of age. There are, however, no stories at all about their victims, or their victims' widows or orphans, or how tough their lives have been. . .

Ways that statistics are disconnected from the images are described.

Criminals are just one of the groups adopted as mascots of the media. All sorts of parasites and predators have been displayed as if they were ocelots or other exotic creatures that adorn the world of the anointed. The deeper question is: Why is it necessary for the anointed to have human mascots? And why do they choose the kind of people that they do?

Whoever is condemned by society at large - - criminals, bums, illegal aliens, AIDS-carriers, etc. -- are eligible to become mascots of the anointed, symbols of their superior wisdom and virtue. By lavishing concern on those we condemn, the anointed become morally one-up on the rest of us.

Is that important? To some it is paramount. A quarter of a century before the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said in a speech in Springfield, Ill., that the greatest danger to the future of the United States would come, not from foreign enemies, but from that class of people that "thirsts and burns for distinction."

These people could not find that distinction "in supporting and maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others," according to Lincoln. In other words, there is not nearly as much ego satisfaction in building up this country as in tearing it down.

Our schools and colleges are today turning out more and more people who have been taught to want to "make a difference," "save the planet" or "reinvent government" -- in short, to treat policy-making as an ego trip. . .

A lot of potential quotes are packed into this little piece, which has aged well.

On August 6, Richard Fernandez wrote something that seems too prescient a week and a day before Jason died:

The way I understand it is the bureaucracy uses people like Jason to walk point. Behind him comes the whole pageant of Cambridge DEI administrators, lavishly funded programs with strange names and a highly paid sinecures. If trouble comes he'll be the first to get it.

What they… https://t.co/pxPh4dKgz6

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) August 6, 2026

And in the USA: Plagiarist Claudine Gay getting paid $3.1 million/year after "resigning" from Harvard.

What is the purpose of Cambridge?

One thing that I found interesting is that there were stories about Jason Arday learning to read at the age of 18 and video clips of him hugging the man who taught him, but no one seemed interested in putting his teacher into the lecture circuit in higher education. The teacher seemed to accomplish something amazing, according to "the anointed." Was it the absence of dredlocks which kept him out of the limelight?

Jason Arday was diagnosed as autistic, but he seemed to be articulate with people in the administration of Cambridge. His communication with students seemed to be less successful. What was his role in the institution?

On the other hand, Isaac Newton had a reputation for being unsociable, though he was famously part of Cambridge. Was Isaac Newton, a genius, the more usual autistic type?

Founding Father of the Week

Daily Dose of History

When the British invaded Virginia in 1781, General Lafayette was in command of the American forces opposing them and he was desperate for reliable information about the British forces. William Armistead, who was serving as Virginia’s commissary for military supplies offered a suggestion: why not use my slave James as a spy? After interviewing James, Lafayette approved the plan.

James passed through British lines and got a job waiting tables at British headquarters. Not only was he able to carry back to Lafayette the conversations he overheard while serving Lord Cornwallis, he smuggled out documents showing the British intent to remain in Yorktown—extremely valuable information that contributed to the decision to try to trap Cornwallis there. James was also able to carry messages from Lafayette to other Patriot agents behind British lines. According to tradition, a few days after the British surrender, Cornwallis was meeting with Lafayette when he noticed James. “Ah, you rogue,” he said to James. “You have been playing a trick on me all this time.”

After the war James returned to his old life as a slave of William Armistead, who was then serving as a delegate in the Virginia General Assembly. But in 1784, after a chance encounter in Richmond, Lafayette gave James a written statement which read: “This is to certify that the bearer by the name of James has done essential services to me while I had the honour to command in this State. His intelligence from the enemy’s camp were industriously collected and most faithfully delivered. He perfectly acquitted himself with some important commissions I gave him and appears to me entitled to every reward his situation can admit of.”

Two weeks later James submitted a petition to the Virginia General Assembly, requesting that he be emancipated in recognition of his services during the Revolution. James was formally freed by an act of the General Assembly, effective January 1, 1787. Upon being granted his freedom, James took the surname Lafayette.

In his old age James Lafayette was granted a pension by the General Assembly and he became something of a celebrity in Richmond, to which he would travel twice a year to collect the pension. James was in Richmond in October 1824, when Lafayette visited during his grand tour of America. As his procession was making its way to Capitol Square, Lafayette spotted James. Before a cheering crowd, he stopped the procession, called his old spy over and embraced him.
James Lafayette died in Baltimore at age 82, on August 9, 1830, one hundred ninety-six years ago today.

Weekend

The Week in Pictures: Sophie's Choice Edition

Apologies for a slightly light TWiP this week; John and I are both overseas gadding about. I think John is in London, and I’m today in Barcelona, where I am continuing research on my forthcoming guidebook to European hotels that have decent air conditioning and more than three ice cubes in inventory at any one time. Anyway, the most important issue of the week is who will replace the splendiferous Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary. It’s a tough call, but we have some suggestions.

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, August 8, The times that try men's souls

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 11:22 AM

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