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Today is my birthday, but I received an unexpected gift earlier this week—a story that practically wrote itself.
It came in the form of a comment on Peter Wood’s latest piece for Minding the Campus, a piece that critiques two young activists advocating for causes funded, knowingly or not, by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operatives. The comment, from a man named Rajesh Barnabas, does not engage with Wood’s central argument or question the alarming influence of CCP money in American protests. Instead, Barnabas launches a personal attack, focusing on Wood’s race and gender.
He argues that Wood, as a “privileged white male,” has no right to comment on or photograph the two women, framing Wood’s critique as a violation of anthropological ethics and comparing it to the outdated “colonizing, exoticizing gaze.”
In response, commenter Dr. Ed offered a sharp retort: “And as to your racism and ageism, according to your own purported ‘ethical’ values, you lack any right to comment on [Wood] at all because your name is ‘Rajesh’ and not ‘Ralph.’ Such are the consequences of your twisted values.” I quite literally laughed out loud when I read that response. But I also saw a deeper issue at play: Barnabas’s comment encapsulates exactly what’s wrong with the modern left.
Instead of addressing the substance of Wood’s argument—namely, the uncomfortable fact that young activists (likely college students) are unwittingly advancing the agenda of a foreign authoritarian regime—the best he can do is accuse Wood of wielding racial and gender-based power dynamics.
This kind of identity-obsessed response sidesteps the real issues in favor of performative outrage. And worse, it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how public discourse works in a free society. Wood was in a public place, where photography is allowed, and his commentary is grounded in real concerns about ideological subversion—concerns Barnabas chooses to ignore. As Wood writes, “Are they knowingly agents of CCP subversion?” The real issue isn’t who is taking the photograph but what these activists are doing and whom they’re unwittingly supporting.
This pattern of diverting criticism by invoking race and gender is symptomatic of a left that has lost touch with the core principles of debate and accountability—two things desperately needed in higher education and politics. Rather than engaging with the troubling facts at hand, they opt for a superficial critique that avoids substance altogether.
The only upside in their doing so is that they unwittingly provide a gift to those of us still dedicated to intellectual honesty: undeniable proof that the left is unwilling to confront uncomfortable truths. And, as for my gift, well, this was a story that practically wrote itself.
Photo by Peter Wood — NYC Subway — Originally Posted Here
Jared I have to admit you are dead on with me going over the top with ad hominem politics marinated in identity politics. I actually agree that this is a distraction from the main point. The fact that the author was describing braids and superficial descriptions I thought invited this, but I went too far. Now as far as actually addressing the topic at hand, I thought I did that here: “ensnaired in his own version of Make America Paranoid Again heresay, redbaiting, neo-McCarthyism. I hope that he will adhere to his own advice and “one day break free from the [capitalist, jingoist, US imperialist, genocide-funding] monster that has engulfed [him].” I am directly challenging the conjecture that everyone pushing for communism/socialism is some agent of the Chinese gov’t., a narrative super old and warn out during the era mentioned above. The author Mr. Wood is simply recycling old ways to defend capitalism. Also the idea that somehow these two are, or young people are “unwittingly” puppets for a foreigh authoritarian regime, well there are plenty of examples of socialism around the world that are not authoritarian, just as there are plenty of examples of capitalism around the world that are not orchestrated by the US gov’t. Are you “unwittingly” promoting your country’s hegemonic system? Many believe the US with the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest imperial footprint is quite authoritarian in their own right…Happy Birthday though and thank you for correcting my fixation on identity politics, you were 200% correct on that!
There is one other thing that needs to be said about the Chinese money — rural parts of Central Maine are having a serious problem with so-called “Triad Weed.” It seems that an estimated 270 illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations have been established in Maine (that Federal authorities apparently know about) but are unable or unwilling to do anything about. Investigative journalists have identified (and reported) over a hundred.
See: https://www.themainewire.com/2023/11/triad-weed-illegal-chinese-marijuana-grows-are-all-over-maine/
Central Maine Power, the electric utility, is having to install bigger transformers because these grow houses draw 70-90 KW* (the “average” house draws 1.4 KW). This is rural Maine where people notice things like NY & MA license plates, not to mention strange smells coming from adjacent houses. And the County Sheriff’s Departments (law enforcement outside of the cities) all seem to know about them.
There is a tollbooth in New Hampshire and (regardless of which way you go) two tollbooths in Maine, all with cameras that photograph every license plate. There’d be some work involved, but if the Federal Government really wanted to track down these vehicles, they have six photos of their license plates, three on the way up and three on the way back to MA or NY. I doubt they are paying cash for gas, so there will be credit or debit card receipts — that’s how the FBI tracked down who was in DC on January 6th.
And you’ve got all four members of Maine’s Congressional Delegation asking the Feds to do something about this — and three of them are Democrats. So why hasn’t there been a major bust?
Could it be that the profit from these operations (estimated at $1M-$3M per house) is funding Team Hamas and the other foolishness on college campi?
Assuming that Team Hamas is being funded by the CCP (and I don’t think that Iran is completely innocent in this) then could this be how it’s being financed? And let’s not forget an ample supply of marijuana — in both NY & MA you have to be 21 to buy it, and it’s also not cheap. Handing it out for free is a great way to attract the sorts of crowds that we saw with the encampments.
Remember that Central Maine is only four hours from Boston (if that), a bit over six hours from NYC (without traffic). Excepting holidays, it’s an open road once you get about 10 miles north of Boston. I really wonder how much of the pot being produced is going directly to college campi where its being freely distributed the way that politicians a century ago distributed beer. (Remember that most undergrads aren’t 21.)
And at the risk of being paranoid, I’m wondering if why the Feds haven’t put an end to this is because they want the money (and pot) going to these radical groups. That they *want* the disruptions on our campi and on our streets.
It’s a terrible thing to think, but logically what else can one think?
This is Jared Golden’s district, and he’s in a tight race in a seat that the Dems don’t want to lose, both because they want to re-take the House and because while Trump won’t win the state, if he gets the district, he gets one Electoral College vote. Angus King and WhatsHerName on North Haven Island are loyal Democrats, and Susan Collins isn’t exactly a Trump supporter.
So why wouldn’t Garland have a big bust and the subsequent big press conference and give the glory to Golden? We all know that Garland is partisan enough and the party does not want to lose that seat (or the EC vote), so why isn’t he sending in the FBI or the DEA, or whomever is supposed to deal with illegal aliens and having The Great Big Drug Bust?
No one in Maine wants this. The people in the legal pot business don’t, the cops don’t, the neighbors don’t — it may have overtones of “bootleggers and Baptists”, but it’s a win-win situation all around. So why is he ignoring it?
Could it be that our Federal government is tolerating this because they WISH TO HAVE disruptions on our college campi? It’s a terrible thing to think, but I can’t think of any other logical explanation for the Feds inability or unwillingness to act.
And then the question becomes what constitutes sedition?
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* This is the actual load — 300-400 amps at 240 volts is** 70-90 KW. If you have it for an hour, then you have 70-90 KWH. If you use 70KW for 12 hours a day for 30 days, you then have 25,200 KWH — as compared to the 550 KWH used by the average Maine house. Back in the ’80s, CMP would report outliers like this to the state police on the presumption that people were growing marijuana — apparently not anymore.
** It’s actually more, I rounded down — for continuous use, you really don’t want to use 100% of capacity because wires (etc.) start getting hot, and that’s not good. I’m assuming they know this, they may not…