The far-left assault on the quality of intellectual and creative work is frequently neatly and explicitly acknowledged in the language of the diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) dogma that serves as the movement’s philosophy.
For example, on the campus where I am employed and many others, the term “inclusive excellence” is increasingly used to express commitment to academic achievement. But of course, the very term is a deformation of the notion of excellence, which in its broadly understood meaning implies something that is distinguished in quality from the less than excellent, i.e., in the classic academic grading scale, the good, the average, the poor, and the failing. But such a demonstrably hierarchical ranking system is seen under DEI logic as intolerably “non-inclusive.” “Inclusive excellence” in practice then necessitates changing the old hierarchical standard of excellence in order to ensure the politically desired amount of diversity among the newly defined “excellent,” some of whom are by definition not excellent.
Sometimes the leftist assault on quality brazenly attacks standards by just inserting obviously inferior work in company with works of much higher quality.
During a trip to France last year, I fell upon a depressing example in the world of art. On a visit to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, I was surprised to encounter the kitschy mediocrity in the image below. It is the work of the same American painter, Kehinde Wiley, who gave us that bizarre, amateurish rendering of President Barack Obama in a suit sitting on a chair in the middle
