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July 16, 2020 - Dennis Prager Show
07:00
In Seattle 'Objectivity' is now 'Racist'
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Christopher Rufo is with two fantastic groups, Manhattan Institute and Discovery Institute.
You live in Seattle, is that correct?
That's correct.
So I asked you, will the realization that Seattle is being destroyed by the left have an impact on the fools who call themselves Democrats in your overwhelmingly democratic city?
Yeah, I think there is a really interesting dynamic that holds true for Seattle and also holds true for all of the progressive large West Coast cities.
It's that I think the majority opinion, I mean, I think the majority of Seattle voters don't want to defund the police by 50%.
According to polling data, the majority of Seattle voters want to take a more zero-tolerance policy towards homelessness.
On the issues, Seattle voters are actually fairly moderate as far as municipal government.
But the problem is that the majority sentiment has no means of translating itself into political power.
And what's happened is that all of these kind of full-time...
What happened to the concept of elections?
This is the thing, is that you have very well organized, very disciplined...
Kind of full-time activists that are representing all of the most extreme interests, whether it's the Marxist-Leninist political party socialist alternative that can deploy hundreds of activists to the streets, or it's the progressive kind of democratic socialist movement, or the kind of more extreme unions.
And what you see is the actual political infrastructure represents the most progressive views and can really just use that I'm sorry, I'm not following.
I don't care how many great activists they have.
If the majority of voters in Seattle vote these communists out of power, then they're voted out of power.
Do they not vote?
Do non-Marxists not vote in Seattle?
I'm sorry, I don't follow.
I'll try to explain the dynamics.
It's really a candidate-by-candidate election.
I'll give you an example that I think will illustrate it.
The most extreme council member, Shama Sawant, who has advocated for the overthrow of the United States and capitalism in favor of the revolution, the political old guard and the business community put in a tremendous amount of resources.
Into a candidate to try to defeat her, but she simply out-organized, out-hustled, and relied on the kind of activists to push a narrative, and she ended up winning.
So you don't have the bench, you don't have the candidates, you don't have the infrastructure to challenge these people who have run the city.
You're right.
You don't have any of that.
You either do or don't have the votes.
Infrastructure, schmintra-structure.
If you don't have the votes, you don't win.
So obviously, the average liberal doesn't give a damn if Marxists win.
Otherwise, they'd vote them out.
I don't understand why what I said is not accurate.
No, I would agree with that.
And I think that that's really the paradox.
And I think that up until now, the Marxist candidates have been almost kind of the token or kind of an ironic manifestation of Seattle's politics.
But I think you're starting to see that these Marxists are actually going to do what they've said they're going to do.
And I do hope that if all of the extreme policies get put into place, things will shift dramatically and there will be kind of a re-emergence of the center-left vote.
The center-left enables the far-left to win.
The center-left are cowards.
Okay.
All right.
Anyway, I'm yelling at you like you're responsible.
Forgive me.
I want to go back to your article.
Your article about the cult-like atmosphere.
You went to a civil rights commission in Seattle.
Did you actually go to the meeting?
No, I didn't.
I filed a Freedom of Information request to get the materials from the meeting.
Is there...
Did they...
You right here...
The trainers claim that individualism, perfectionism, intellectualization, and objectivity are all vestiges of internalized racial oppression.
Is that accurate?
That's accurate.
It comes from a chart that they say, these are manifestations of internalized racial oppression, and then they list those items and more.
So, I hope everybody listening understands that the word objectivity It means truth.
It's a synonym of truth.
Truth is a white supremacist notion, is that correct?
I mean, I don't believe that, but yeah, that is what they're claiming.
And I think it's really an attempt to demolish all of the certainties and all of the institutions of the current society that they can remake in a kind of new utopia.
Wow.
Objectivity, individual.
Individualism.
What prompted you to file the Freedom of Information Act?
And why is that the only way to get something that a public commission publishes?
Well, it's, you know, I had a tip from someone inside Seattle City government.
Forwarded me an email where the Office of Civil Rights was saying, we invite all white-only employees to attend this training.
On undoing their whiteness.
And once I saw that, I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg.
And I filed the request and received a trove of documents and materials.
They're still not telling me the names of the people who ran the training or the budget for the training.
Should be getting those in the next few weeks.
But I knew that something was going on beneath the surface.
And then if I think it's important for you and your listeners to understand, this isn't an anomaly.
The City of Seattle has put thousands of employees through these trainings, and the vendors who conduct these trainings are really all over the country.
That's right.
I know, I know, I know.
Listen, I'm gonna have you on again.
You're doing very important work, and I thank you for it.
Thanks for having me on.
We'll be back in a moment.
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