A Theory About Theories

Hypothetically, is this idea a hypothesis?

Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play. -Immanuel Kant
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. -Yogi Berra

According to a story in the Washington Post this past week, the term “critical race theory” has been mentioned 1,860 times on Fox News shows this year after only 132 references to it on the network all last year. The term has emerged as this year’s “defund the police”- a talking point to be used as a cudgel by the cynical right in the forever culture war it wages against the ideological left. It has now become the popular theme of the opera buffa performed by Republican governors like RonDesantis (FL) and Greg Abbott (TX) who have signed laws regulating the teaching of the nation’s history, especially its racial history. And if the events in Loudoun County, VA, where a raucous school board meeting required police intervention, are an example, the talking point is an effective method of energizing a susceptable segment of the population.

Like all talking points based on a dumbed-down description of a complex issue, the effect is often a confused understanding by the listeners… Which may be the point. Critical race theory is a perfect example. Let’s parse the words. Critical is a word with several unique connotations. If you criticize a person, you are being critical. When we discusss something reaching a specific level or a tipping point, we often refer to that point as critical- think of the crtical mass of fissionable material neccessary to sustain a chain reaction. But another meaning applies to the critical as it’s used in the term Critical race theory, the same connotation that obtains when we use the term critical thinking. In this usage, critical means rigorous analysis in order to make careful evaluations.

The other word of significance is obviously theory. Think of theory as a possible explanation for an observed phenomenom. Theories are mutable; in science, theories are questioned and tested. Theories are proved, disproved, and often replaced by a new theory when more evidence is gathered. Theories are often organizational tools, ways to examine and learn in a methodical manner.

Critical race theory is an academic endeavor that dates back several decades. It appears to be a project undertaken by legal scholars to investigate the racial impact of our past history on our current legal system. Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor, has defined Critical race theory in public statements as

An approach to grappling with a history of White supremacy that rejects the belief that what's in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it… The so-called American dilemma was not simply a matter of prejudice but a matter of structured disadvantages that stretched across American society.

It appears that through the efforts of right-wing activists such as Christopher Rufo the the theory morphed into a talking point. (In a strange coincidence, Critical race theory was released from academia last year just as, according to conspiracy theorists, the coronavirus was let loose from a Wuhan lab.) The version that is currently the subject of fascination for Fox News hosts is reductionist to the point of not even being a theory. There is not a critical approach to the subject, just the ham-fisted implication that our schools are teaching our children that white people are responsible for messing up America.

If you, as I, have not read the studies and other works of the scholars who developted this theory, you probably need to reserve judgment of its meaning. On the other hand, if you are white and feel that our glorious history is being sullied by such revisionist narratives, I suggest you learn about the fate of the natives who were here before the Europeans showed up. That might give you different perspective.

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