Saturday, March 31, 2018

1270

I haven't yet talked about pixie-ish, plectrum-faced David Hogg, the high-schooler who purportedly survived the Parkland school shooting and became a strident national voice for gun control. One is apparently not supposed to talk trash about the kids who survived that tragedy because to do so is to brand oneself as a piece-of-shit garbage person who hates kids, blames victims, and eats babies. That said, Hogg and his sanctimony annoy the living fuck out of me. He's said a number of stupid and hypocritical things (plenty of Hoggisms here—just keep scrolling down), all while ducking the chance publicly to debate several students who have challenged him. He's a hypocrite and a pussy, as far as I'm concerned, and I'll be happy when his fifteen minutes are up.

So it warms the cockles of my heart to hear, from Hogg's own mouth, that he's having trouble getting accepted into college: he's been rejected by several prominent institutions so far, despite having a magnificent 4-point-something GPA (4.2-ish...?). I suspect the problem might be (1) the schools he's applied to have high entry standards and plenty of competition to get in, and (2) his SAT score, which is apparently 1270, doesn't quite cut the mustard. Remember: the new SAT (new as of 2016) is once again a two-part test (down from three parts), each section of which can be scored from 200 to 800 points, just as it was when I was in school along with my ancient velociraptor classmates. According to this site, a 1270 puts someone at roughly an 80-somethingth percentile, which isn't all that high when you're trying to enter a very competitive school: at the very least, you ought to be in the 90s, which means scoring over 700 in each major section of the SAT.

Here's hoping that Hogg is eventually rejected by all the schools he's applied to, but I doubt that'll happen. A man can dream, though, right?

NB: one's SAT score correlates closely with one's IQ. Jordan Peterson confirmed this in one of his videos: the SAT is basically an IQ test. This doesn't speak well of David Hogg, who will never be more than second-rate with his limp and floppy 1270. Then again, one's success in life doesn't correlate with one's IQ, and as my old high-school biology teacher once noted, there's the Law of the Septic Tank: the biggest pieces rise to the top. This explains much in American society, and it certainly explains the David Hoggs of the world.



8 comments:

John Mac said...

Thank you for saying what I've been thinking to myself. It's fucking madness to have punks like this being granted moral authority to lecture us by the media.

Kevin Kim said...

Agreed. And we do live in mad times.

King Baeksu said...

The left want to weaponize teen activists so they can play the victim and claim the right are "picking on kids."

Sorry, but if you want to play politics in public, you don't get a free pass for whatever bullshit reason you've pulled out of your ass.

Charles said...

I can't say that I've been following this all that closely, so I had no idea who David Hogg was before I read this... but he sounds kind of insufferable--like most teenagers. I'm all for not committing the genetic fallacy and saying that he has nothing of worth to say just because he's a teenager, but that blade cuts both ways--if you have a public voice and you say inflammatory and irresponsible things, you should be held accountable no matter who you are.

Kevin Kim said...

Scott,

Yeah, I've seen some folks on the right talking about how Hogg is using the "clown nose on, clown nose off" tactic perfected by Jon Stewart, i.e., Stewart used to make trenchant political points, but whenever he got called out for flaws in his arguments, he'd retreat to his "hey, don't take me seriously—I'm just a comic!" shtick. Hogg is vacillating between "take me seriously—I'm a big boy with something to say" and "don't attack me—I'm just a kid!" For this reason, many righties are saying, "Pick a path, asshole. You can choose only one."

Charles,

Good point re: genetic fallacy. Personally, I take Hogg seriously, but not merely because of the content of his rhetoric: Hogg's political influence, buoyed by CNN et al., has grown exponentially, and he's reached a point where he wields actual power.

I know you haven't followed his story closely, but here's an example of Hogg's power: Fox talking head Laura Ingraham recently mocked Hogg's inability to get into any of his preferred colleges (she later apologized for piling on; Hogg refused to accept her apology). Hogg, by way of reply on Twitter, researched what companies are sponsoring Ingraham, and he listed them in a tweet, suggesting that people boycott those companies' products and services. In response, some of those companies have actually yanked their sponsorships of Ingraham. That's power. And it's in the hands of a seventeen-year-old.

The right's responses to Hogg have ranged from the genetic fallacy ("Why are we listening to a kid?") to taking him seriously as a crusader ("This is a major challenge to 2A rights") to taking him seriously because he's just a kid who can potentially do enormous damage to the Constitution if enough people rally behind him (see previous paragraph).

A few righties have cheerfully said they back Hogg, the March for Our Lives movement, and the other teen crusaders pushing an anti-2A agenda. The reason should be obvious: a threat to gun rights will automatically galvanize the conservative base and pump voter turnout come November. We're also seeing the left become increasingly frank about its true goal: the disarming of US citizenry (see any number of vids on this topic on YouTube: there are so many man-on-the-street interviews with marchers who openly admit they want all guns not merely banned, but eliminated). So as long as the left's campaign continues, the left is, to borrow a gun metaphor, shooting itself in the foot and increasing the chances that any "blue wave" will be blunted or even nullified come the midterm elections.

Charles said...

It's a train wreck, no doubt. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes of all of this.

Dymphna said...

He'll have his 15 minutes. Years from now, someone will post a "Whatever Happened to This Hogg?" essay...

Kevin Kim said...

Dymphna,

One can only hope.