"It Depends on the Context."

The headline of this essay is the phrase that ended the career of (now former) Harvard President, Dr. Claudine Gay.

Late last year during a contentious House hearing about the harassment and abuse of Jewish people on college campuses, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R) asked a simple question to Dr. Gay: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's code of conduct?”

“It depends on the context” was her answer.

The Presidents of Penn and MIT had similar answers to the question. And in an academic culture that often encourages moral relativism, it is not surprising that Dr. Gay was under investigation for plagiarism. (Dr. Gay recently resigned her post as President of Harvard.)

A similar situation on a different end of the political spectrum …

During a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, was asked “What was the cause of the United States civil war?”

Her answer was as stunningly stupid and morally vapid as Dr. Gay’s response:

“I think the cause of the civil war was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”

This is extra tragic considering it came from someone whose given name is Nimarata Randhawa.

In both cases, this is not just a poor job of reading the room. It was about placating a particular audience - something that can also be ascribed to Congresswoman Stefanik, a former critic of Trump. As often is the case with corrupt power structures, moral relativism is rampant on both ends of the politic spectrum.

Here’s the irony …

90% of the time, it does depend on the context. If I had a dollar for every time I misread of a facial expression, a tone, a text, I would be a multi-billionaire. To help with this, I’ve borrow a mantra from Virginia: “If it’s confusing, just wait.”