A young nonwhite woman in graduate studies – at my university, but not in my department – told me how maddening she found it that none of her teachers or advisors would give her any constructive feedback no matter how she pleaded for it.  Everything she did was great, fine, wonderful.  It was as though she could do no wrong.

Observing that her woke mentors spent more time talking about race and sex than training her in her field, she told me she thought they were patronizing her.  I suggested that they may also have been terrified that they would be accused of racism or sexism if they didn’t patronize her.

She readily agreed.  We both knew that in the wokest circles, each person spends a lot of time nervously looking over his shoulder.