22 April 2009: "Every time I see a progressively dressed group of black males, I search for Kanye West. [Progressive Racial Profiling]"

This post is about invidious comparison. Drawing from the writings of 18th-century Dutch controversialist Bernard Mandeville, Thorstein Veblen presented a sociological theory of luxury that leaned heavily on the presumption that members of the lower social classes are ineluctably drawn to imitate their betters. One of the operative principles of his theory was "invidious comparison," the envious gaze we direct at others and our consequent efforts to inscribe our social distinction on the level of surface appearances. Unlike Adam Smith, who assumed in The Theory of Moral Sentiments that we harbored in our breast a sympathetic observer who permitted us to regard ourselves as others saw us and adjust our social behaviour accordingly, Veblen presumed the essential and integral hostility of the gaze, which saw in the presence of the other a status threat. To neutralize that threat, he argued, we turn to the solace of conspicuous consumption, which seems to guarantee that we can't be seen without being envied, and that envy becomes the guarantor of our status -- we know we are secure inthe hierarchy only when we are assured that those below us envy and despise us.

As usual, Carles situates a sociological precept within the crucible of race to test its exegetical purity.

I feel like whenever I see a group of black males who are ‘dressed progressively’, I look for the face of Kanye West 2 be proudly looking at me, like ‘hey yall…just dressed nice and fashionable. not really dressed like a traditionally black person.’ Think that this might be some progressive kind of racial profiling.

Does invidious comparison explain what the image captures, or does it simply supply Carles' with an analytical alibi for a deeper racist tendency. Furthermore, how can that question be answered, since to pose it is to take on some of its racist taint? Carles concedes that he "Might be ‘too educated’ for my own good to the point that I have developed a post-racial mindset."

But of course, such a mind-set too would be a flashpoint for invidious comparison in a society rapidly destigmatizing both racism and postracism -- such that only the anxious politically correct middle remains suspect for its racial views. To position oneself outside of that flabby and compromised cohort is imperative, particularly for those with a profitable sideline in cultural consulting, such as Carles himself.

To that end, Carles adopts the nomenclature of the assault on scientism and declares that "it’s a good thing that Kanye West is shifting paradigms." By that Carles refers not only to the surface changes in apparel that West has effected by the larger shift of the contested geography of invidious comparison into the field of philosophical inquiries into the future of race. "I feel like 1 day we’ll look back and realize that this was one of the most important minority memes of all time," Carles announces.