“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…”
-John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Towards the apex of Matt Walsh’s “Am I Racist?” the star suggests to “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo that they pay reparations to his black producer.
Matt models the practice by bringing the producer on screen, reciting some choice DiAngelo lines and handing his producer all the cash in his wallet. They then turn to the bona fide millionaire borne of the “antiracism” industry to test her integrity.
Her response is perhaps the best proof of the perverse incentives of an industry that professes to cure racism by conditioning us think in racial terms, cling to past narratives and accept a racial hierarchy that proved toxic in the summer of 2020.
Walsh poses as an average white American consumed by the racial guilt and double standards, the sad legacy of George Floyd’s death. Unlike Walsh’s past hit, “What is a Woman?” he adds a man bun and tight pants to dive deeper into his woke alter-ego.
The mission? Get the real experience from the “antiracism experts.”
The titular question might as well be, “Are we all racists like they say we are?” or “Is America fundamentally racist?” You won’t be surprised that there is only one acceptable opinion: these women and racial minorities profit by answering, “Yes.”
They aren’t paid to understand or even communicate a contrary opinion.
That these race evangelists are the problem they want to fix is an idea that hovers over the entire film. That grows harder to ignore as Walsh’s alter-ego claims expertise with his own (ludicrous) DEI credentials and leads a workshop of self-flagellating whites.
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In order to expose the “antiracism” grift, Walsh poses as woke through expensive seminars meant to bilk guilt-ridden Democrats by “persons of marginalized groups.” He also interviews grievance profiteers and eavesdrops on an expensive “Race 2 Dinner” lecture about acknowledging individual bigotry meant exclusively for white women.
(The irony in all these events is reserved exclusively for the viewer: the Race 2 Dinner participants are brought to the brink of hysteria trying to prevent Walsh, posing as a waiter, from speaking. It’s all in the interest of preserving “conversation,” of course.)
The ultimate message? The people who obsess over racial distinctions are the true bigots who prolong our obsession with the horrors of human history.
“How did we get so confused about race?” might be an alternate title for the pseudo-documentary. The answer would relate to the Floyd-induced moral panic over racism in America, the rise of faux moral leaders to clear guilty whites of their supposedly innate racism and the cult mentality required to persevere in these beliefs despite all evidence to the contrary.
One “workshop” is led by a woman who is paid tens of thousands to run the course for wealthy whites. She claims at the outset that she is inherently “unsafe” in the room because of its racial composition.
Later, when Walsh is discovered to be a conservative commentator, the white participants form a human wall around their leader as they shout catch phrases, play the victim and demand that Walsh leave.
A theater in California canceled their showing of “Am I Racist?” after leftwing activists bullied them.
They caved to the pressure and are now claiming the movie causes “division” and can harm their staff.#projectmatilda pic.twitter.com/HkCPAPfs30
— Project Matilda (@ProjectMatildaX) September 13, 2024
This is not an ideology prepared to defend itself. Nor does it seek to learn or improve upon itself or even accomplish anything substantive. These seminars and their overpaid beneficiaries are the movement’s payoff.
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Walsh and The Daily Wire know their targets well enough to realize they will never be given access without an act of overt deception. It’s why “Am I Racist?” is so important to the present moment. As information landscapes separate across partisan lines, Walsh strides confidently into the enemy camp to show just how empty and manipulative the “DEI” industry is.
“Am I Racist?” asks a crucial question with the insight and effort to answer it as effectively as the “What Is A Woman?” query was handled. Highly recommended for those who care about our culture and its collapse.
George Denny is a novelist, culture critic and California refugee who just moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, after spending the last 20 years in Los Angeles and San Francisco. His work aims to preserve classic American values, such as in his first novel “Wokelynd,” a satirical saga about the intersection of government and California identity politics.
The post The Real Questions Answered by ‘Am I Racist?’ appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.