House of Wax

If I might be forgiven for horning in Paul’s racket, our old friend Amy Wax — the free speech martyr who just wants everyone to stipulate that she’s right about everything open debate — has some more carefully considered thoughts for us to consider:

Comedian Cristela Alonzo has this bit about walking through a racist locale and facing shouts of “Mexicans are lazy” and that “Mexicans are taking all our jobs,” forcing her to wonder “well, which one is it?”

Professor Amy Wax of Penn Law would do well to remember this little life lesson in racist contradiction before she makes any more public statements. In September, Wax appeared on Brown University economics professor Glenn Loury’s Skypecast and rambled about her unorthodox (read: lazy) views on race and sex. But toward the end of the show, Professor Wax found herself flummoxed by an interviewer applying basic logic and that’s landed her in more hot water.

The full interview is below, but it’s cued up to the most important point. Right after she’s finished explaining how black people would be better off if they understood that they’re better at menial tasks — yes, that’s actually part of the discussion that precedes this clip — Professor Wax claims that a black student has never finished in the top quarter of a graduating class Penn Law as far as she can remember and that they “rarely, rarely” finish in the top half. That prompts this money exchange:

For those unable to watch, here’s a transcript:

Loury: Do you have a racial diversity mandate for law review appointments at Penn?
Wax: Yes. Yes.
Loury: So you’re telling me that students of color who have served on law review are pretty much in the bottom half of their law classes at Penn?
Wax: …

I’m beginning to see why she’d rather whine about being criticized than engage with critics! The good news is that “it wasn’t a statistic–it was a hypothetical” should be a sufficient defense if she wants to join the Washington Post op-ed page.