Can someone 'translate' this paragraph for me?

[JFK90787]

It's from TPRH verbal workbook passage 20. What the hell does this even mean? I think I'm fine to the third sentence then I have no idea what it is even saying.

The time-honored American mixture of assimilation is denounced as a danger to racial and gender authenticity. This is an extraordinary reversal of the traditional liberal commitment to a "truth" that transcends parochialisms. In the new race/class/gender dispensation (class being the least important of the three), universality is replaced by, among other things, feminist science, Nubian numerals (as part of an Afrocentric science), and what Marilyn Frankenstein of the University of Massachusetts describes as "ethno-mathematics," in which the cultural basis of counting comes to the fore.

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[Dasypus]

All that last sentence is saying is: in this new sort of multiculturalism, instead of focussing on what makes people the same, people have come up with these weird alternatives in which 'ideas are simply the expression of individual identity' [from the next paragraph] -- for instance, instead of the universal truth of mathematics, they emphasize the cultural role of counting.

With a sentence that tortured, I recommend sort of skimming it, and seeing if it's glossed in the next sentence or three; which, in this case, it is.

 

[JFK90787]

With a sentence that tortured, I recommend sort of skimming it, and seeing if it's glossed in the next sentence or three; which, in this case, it is.

I think I will try this next time I come to something I don't fully understand. TY for translating that

 

[syoung]

that thing looks like verbal on crack, speed, and meth seen through a kaleidoscope

 

[Dasypus]

Would it be kosher for me to post the whole thing, if I provide attribution? I think it's a mindf*ck worth seeing.

 

[virtuoso735]

I honestly don't think verbal passages on the actual MCAT are that convoluted.

 

[DavetheMD]

It's beyond pretentious, it is that poorly written.

 

[Dasypus]

It's beyond pretentious, it is that poorly written.

I don't feel it's poorly written at all. He's making a point. In context, it works, at least to my ear. http://imgur.com/YnsbQ

 

[Medical Muse]

That's one of the most poorly written sentences I've read out of thousands of passages. If you come across something like that on the acutal MCAT (and I doubt you will), skip it. If they ask you a question about it, then go back and try to figure it out. The good thing, however, is that in that paragraph, the last sentence is just a detail. The idea is in the first two sentences. If you understood those, then you got the point of the paragraph.

 

[syoung]

sooo the main idea is:
multiculturualism demands the acceptance of differences among people and any changes to that is deemed as stereotyping. That any sort of assimilation into the american culture is a danger to the particularism of people's perspectives and culture?
I don't even know where to begin on this

 

[Dasypus]

I'm not convinced that this one boils down well. Main idea as I got it was roughly: multiculturalism started out good, with a commitment to overcoming racism and respecting cultural variation; but then some nutters took it over, and now the mainstream version of it is a batty attack on any sort of objective truth.

 

[Medical Muse]

Here's what I get out of it:

Assimilation into America now attacked as dangerous and inauthentic.

Main ideas shouldn't be that complex or detailed. The second sentence tells you the author's tone (extraordinary reversal). The last sentence is just details illustrating the main point.

Honestly, if I got a passage like this, I'd leave it until the end, and then just skim or preview the questions. If I'm going to run out of time on a passage in Verbal, this is the passage I'd pick.

 

[Maxine450]

It's from TPRH verbal workbook passage 20. What the hell does this even mean? I think I'm fine to the third sentence then I have no idea what it is even saying.

The time-honored American mixture of assimilation is denounced as a danger to racial and gender authenticity. This is an extraordinary reversal of the traditional liberal commitment to a "truth" that transcends parochialisms. In the new race/class/gender dispensation (class being the least important of the three), universality is replaced by, among other things, feminist science, Nubian numerals (as part of an Afrocentric science), and what Marilyn Frankenstein of the University of Massachusetts describes as "ethno-mathematics," in which the cultural basis of counting comes to the fore.

The American idea of assimilating cultures was denounced as a danger to racial/gender identity. This idea is at odds with liberal standards of truth that are beyond narrowness/pettiness. In the new race/class/gender order (class is least important), universal identity is replaced by feminism. Feminist science includes: nubian numerals (ethno mathematics), where cultural basis of counting comes to the foreground.

Yeah, it's really poorly written and confusing. The first two sentences have nothing to do with the last two. It doesn't really explain how/why feminism is replacing universal identity.

 

[syoung]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2112068,00.html

Only because it's about the Norway killer and he talks about multiculturalism... like our topic.