The Ugly—Part Two
Science and math hold out (it’s hard to suggest a postmodern Pythagorean theory would pass muster, or houses could rest on ideological constructs of phallocentric power machinations), and still ensure America’s universities are world-class as the partisan, ossified humanities departments piggy-bank on the reputation established by others.
We sadly assume that the higher one’s office in the university—full professor to dean to provost to president— the more likely one’s has mastered doublespeak. There are no longer real contentious issues, there is only one correct all-encompassing ideology—America’s history is largely race/class/gender exploitation; gay marriage and abortion on demand are civil rights issues of our times; diversity and affirmative action trump disinterested examination of merit; greedy capitalists have smoked the planet for their limos and private jets; improving student “profile,” not demonstration of character and competence, ensures promotion.
The odd thing is that those who excel at all this don’t even seem happy about it. They are empty suits, proverbial ‘hollow men’ without belief who have about as much self-respect for their habitually falsity as the Wall Street guy at AIG who assures his investors his company’s liability is manageable. After all, you cannot make $100,000 a year for 9 months work, with lifelong ensured employment, full benefits, and no daily audit—and seriously believe that you are perennially manning the barricades at the tip of the revolutionary spear.
What might yet restore the university? Transparency would be a small start. Release the test scores, grades, etc. of those who are admitted (we can do that without the individual names). Suggest, in this new age of AIG-accountability, that those institutions that take public funds release full budgetary figures, not percentages, but real detailed expenditures. Cut public funding off for students after four years. Replace tenure with five-year renewable contracts. Have exit exams for graduating seniors (half might well flunk basic benchmarks for math and fundamental English).
As it is now, most colleges expect alumni to give blindly—assuming that they are to remain unaware of the nature of the faculty profile, the content of the curriculum, or the activities of the universities—on the premise that any would-be donor, had he known what his alma mater was up to, would not like to subsidize classes like “The poetics of the low-rider,” or faculty like Ward Churchill (most colleges have a few), or $50,000 and up paid out for a 45-minute “I hate Bush” rant by Michael Moore at the student union, or 139-5 faculty senate votes (like Saddam’s plebiscites) on extraneous issues like gay marriage. Yes, there is humor in higher education. Nothing is weirder to see a provost head-nod among a wacked-out faculty meeting, then put on a suit and rush off to a five-star restaurant to reassure an aging capitalist that the university is a steward of American values. It reminds me of Petronius’s description of Croton.
3) Europeanization.
I don’t know quite what the allure of Europe is for the American Left. But it seems to be that more of us will soon all be working for the government, habitually striking, hunting out that rare capitalist in hiding for a shake-down, and bitching over our weary 35 hr. work week.
Yet without hardship, challenge, and hope, the individual dies daily. Once the government ensures that all your needs will be taken care of, from your teeth and joints to job and retirement, ennui sets in, and with it the cargo we see in Europe—pacifism, cynicism, the loss of transcendence marked by atheism and childlessness, and worry about what others have rather than what you aspire to.
A Dutch friend once asked me why we Americans work 2-3 jobs. I replied to leave something better for our children than what we inherited. He answered, “But why? They will be taken care of by the state.” But if one does not have a vision of building something big, a thing that will last, endure, or at least appreciating such audacity in others, then we will be sentenced to live crummy, little lives of punching in at the government clock, perennially worried that someone else has something marginally better in our view than what we were allotted. It’s like running a race in which the goal is that all the runners cross the finish line at the same time, corner-eyes fixed on each other, scared to death that some trouble-maker might bolt out ahead.
So strange (or not so strange, after all?) that the liberal impulse in postwar Europe led to millions living in nearly identical houses and apartments, driving the same sort of cars, thinking about the same (their parties are like the feuds and squabbles among the Democratic Party here at home), and exuding the identical teen-age petulance when events belie the gospel.
We can see what Europeanization leads to: you worship at the altar of the goddess Pax, but hate the United States for still having a military that saves postmodern you from premodern others. You praise diversity, but are terrified of unassimilated Middle East Muslims thriving in your midst, who unlike you, really do believe in something and it’s not Western liberalism. You praise openness and tolerance, but demonize anyone who questions orthodoxy, whether it be global warming or the efficacy of state redistribution. You rant about class and privilege, but live private lives of secret values predicated on status, aristocratic pedigree, and rank.
Europeanization is so at odds with human nature that it bifurcates it—a false public face, a cynical private one. (I used to love living in Greece, going to the beach in the summer as a student and seeing all these socialist public power, phone, water, bank, etc., vans parked as their left-wing employees “got away” for some downtime around 2 PM—or being told I could hire a public worker after hours for cash for a phone installation rather than wait 9 months on “the list”.) Marxist at the day-job, conniving entrepreneur in the night hours.
It seems that in just 60 days we are heading that way—fast. These gargantuan deficits will require the most insidious taxes (on everything, as in the age of Augustus) we have yet witnessed, to make up the soon to be $20 trillion national debt. Universal health care, college for everyone, government jobs will mean a vast array of technocrati and less-skilled overseers and guardians. Less defense, higher taxes, more social spending, bigger government will expand the public sector to such a degree that to dismantle it will result in the sort of European mass protests and strikes we see daily in Greece or France when a poor fool like Sarkozy thinks it could be1950 again, and wants to head-off pension insolvency, or bring back a 40 hour work week to the subway drivers.
The one positive? Have any of you met a disenchanted European who emigrated to the States, or lives a life of near isolation in Europe? They are almost hyper-American in their free market and democratic zeal. So full of anger at what their nation under the EU has become, they appear nearly fanatical in their allegiance to the free market, merit, free-thinking, liberty, and Western traditions. I have met dozens and they are the most remarkably competent individuals that I have come across in my lifetime—sort of the last few with unsnatched bodies dodging the zombies of Europe. I only wish we would offer instant citizenship status for these highly educated, highly trained, highly motivated but disconnected Europeans. We could lure 20 million in one fell swoop if we offered fast-track legal American citizenship—and reap the technological and entrepreneurial dividends for a half century to come.
Next posting. The good—and there are lots of good developments. So don’t despair.
There is something to be said for the moment of clarity. The realization is unpleasant but the nagging uncertainty and fear are gone, and the truth of the matter can be dealt with or accepted with resignation, if it must be.
The truth is a majority of Americans are liberals or inclined to listen to liberals on many important matters. Liberals own the culture, and they own the educational system. Conservatives can’t even begin to speak without first being required to prove they are not greedy racists.
W was as much a product of the therapeutic culture as any typical liberal, due to his alcohol recovery and squishy religiosity. This is just the way people are now.
Not all of this can be blamed on 60′s liberalism. If people have an inflated sense of their own entitlement, it is largely because marketers are always telling them they *deserve* the stuff htey see on TV.
The US is now Argentina.
Too late. I despair.
Dr. Hanson;
First, congrats on words well written and well said. In your post you said;
“The papers would become even harder one-sided and Left, once market forces were eliminated and the now soon to be unemployed could find federal media tenure doing, at best, what NPR does, and, at worst, having a sinecure at something public, but analogous to Air America. Oh yes, crede mihi, tax-free newspapers will be very biased.”
I would only add here a few thoughts.
1)IF the feds bailout the newspaper media, the media will of course have become nationalized and as such, will be VERY MUCH, a mouthpiece for the socialist agenda. We have already wittnessed Newsweek Magazine unabashedly declaring that “We are all Socialists now”.
2)As we all know bailouts come with strings, so what will and will not get printed will no longer be decided by an editor-in-chief, but will be “okayed” by some federal commissar/partymember.
3)We will have wittnessed the creation of an honest to God Orwellian type Misistry of Truth
4)Since they will be non-profit organizations, they will be exempt from any types of Fairness Doctrines/Laws that might later come down the pike. I would put forth the proposition that if not immediately declared to be exempt the Socialist Congress will enact legislation that will move towards that end.
5)There will be a crackdown on alternate media, such as internet blogs (conservative ones only of course), as they will probably be made to pay extra “fees” (perhaps in the form of licencing, to be allowed to exist. Certianly many of the average joe coffee cup blogger types such as myself will not be able to afford such licences or fees
While not a one of us can predict the future, I can see nothing but evil coming out of a takeover of the newspaper industry.
BTW, just as a side note, I once asked my grandmother, who left Russia just before the Revolution, (I guess her family saw the handwritting on the wall), just what the word “Pravda” meant in English. She looked at me and said with a sigh,,, “The Truth”
“It seems that in just 60 days we are heading that way—fast.”
Agreed but I hope that this velocity of radical change will create a backlash that will get us on track. Just as we seem to produce a Sherman or Petreus in war or a Reagan when politicaly things look despairingly bleak – our country always seems to find a way to lead itself back.
I surprised myself this morning (I live in UK) watching Geithner’s testimony/spinning to Congress – and realized that I did not believe one word that came out of his mouth. I did not start off that way – I thought of him as technically competent if a hopeless manager. Somewhere I changed to total rejection without realizing it. That leaves literaly no one in the administration or Congressional leadership who is credible to me. I suspect I am not alone.
I am on my third daughter going through university, taking such absurdities as “women’s struggles in America” or international studies with a far/ultra left bent – at an average cost of around $40K per year. Your description of our broken University system really hits home to me.
I have met dozens of disenchanted Europeans as you describe – and many many more Asians. It amazes me how little we recognize our true exceptionalism and how little we appreciate just how special it is. It is also remarkable that our immigration policies are geared to the lowest common denominator rather than towards people who could truly make a contribution towards a more dynamic society.
I have noticed the private universities are now telling prospective students and their parents that it will cost almost $50K without any sort of financial aid.
What might yet restore the university? Calling it Big Education and vilifying.
Isn’t that how we bring everything to it’s knees. It costs to much,it’s bloated, and it’s certainly corrupt. It’s a sink hole.
Barney Frank could demand to know where all the money is and threaten to bring the deans up before the congress.
You are right about everything as usual. One of the most disturbing things I saw was last night on the news people marching in Oakland calling that cop killer their hero. I’ve been going to Greece in the summer for quite a few years and wonder if that will be able to continue after all the unrest over there.
Please, for God’s sake, hurray with “The Good, Part Three,” I for one need it, badly. However, your Part Two offering isn’t too bad at all. The misstatement “Insane Nation” is a hoot and that’s a good thing!
What would be interesting would not be the reactions of your avid readers but people like my cousin who adores President Obama and would consider you to be “Insane;” that’s her reaction to a recent article by Thomas Sowell! Does she even see the changes we’re experiencing and understand the negative impact on our lives?
Well Doc,
You really did a good job of describing Europeans. I have lived in Europe for many, many years and have yet to meet the “disenchanted European” you mentioned.
For the most part, they are happy slaves, living on a nice plantation with very kind masters. They seem quite content with their little flats, enviro friendly cars and high taxes.
Obama must have discovered the secret Kool Aid recipe the EU has been using. Whenever I visit the USA I see more and more Americans that resemble these Eloi Europeans.
For any “real American” reading this….trust me, you don’t want to become a European.
Live free or die – Pops
Great post Dr. Hanson,
The trick appears to be a swimmer amongst the drowning, a flyer amidst the grounded, an angel amidst devils, practical-intelligent amidst the horriby deceived, a remnant among the soul-and-brain-dead.
There is no possible way, at this late date, to save the self-destructive from destroying themselves. God have mercy on the innocent.
Let the self-destructive obtain the rewards of their life-long efforts: To be fully engulfed in their doctrines, which are insane, which brings death unto themselves.
The dogma-insane shall not survive this present age. Their dying thoughts can be presumed to be known, however. They shall curse the remnant that outlives them!
Carry on, remnant with brave hearts and brains and souls. You shall outlive this present inigma, and there will be brooms and shovels enough to clean up the mess the Obamatized leave behind after they eliminate themselves in collosal self-destruction: their only favor to posterity.
Actually the Nazi radio propaganda broadcaster in WW2 was ‘Lord Haw Haw’….not ‘Lord Ha Ha’…otherwise and excellent piece
Looking forward to your next post!
And I thank God my first born majored in engineering in college, not in the humanities. Plus he’s getting paid at 22 what his dad made at 52….but is saving his money, spending only carefully, and is a huge source of pride to his family!
This is the kind of thinking and writing we need from Mr. Hanson.
At his best, he is brilliant and uniquely insightful.
After dozens of sensational columns, this was the best. Thank you.
“Next posting. The good—and there are lots of good developments. So don’t despair.”
Now you tell me.
I really do have a life, but I was waiting for this Part II with anticipation. This is a good series. Kudos, professor. Some well-selected “Ugly.”
One positive we may associate with the court-lackey-like prostration of the news media to Obama is how informative it has been. Even people who aren’t particularly political or partisan recognize the phenomenon. The MSM have shown themselves so clearly for what they are — and that’s not all bad.
I remember an obviously young, barely post-college blog responder lecturing me some months back about how the press does what it does on behalf of the people. How the news media are an independent public voice speaking for US, the anonymous Joe and Jane. I told him at the time that the news media are just private citizens earning a living at something we have been willing to pay them to do; but he had been too well indoctrinated, and was unwilling to even entertain the possibility of that, much less concur with it.
As time goes by, however, and the sycophancy of the MSM toward Obama becomes increasingly obvious, it will become commensurately clearer that the media are not appointed to any public role by the people, but by themselves.
Speaking of being lectured by college kids, VDH’s second “Ugly” is another good one. A key result of the impassioned indoctrination of students by professors is that the students come out of their 4(+) years completely lacking in the useful quality of intellectual humility.
Now, I have to say I learned that quality (to the extent I may be said to have done so) from my Dad. He didn’t even deliberately teach it, so much as model it. He would listen to people, and wait — sometimes with a quizzical brow lifted — for them to finish. He didn’t wade in with rhetorical fists flying, on assumptions about the meanings of sentence fragments and unfinished thoughts. He’d let the other person make a case, and then seek to clarify what wasn’t clear about it, before launching on any counterargument. He’d also just spend a lot of time listening, on the theory that he knew what HE knew — but he didn’t know what the other guy knew. Maybe he could learn something.
I didn’t encounter many classroom propagandists in college (which, granted, I spent in a small private university in Oklahoma). Dad’s legacy stood me in good stead, and it seems, as I look back on it, that many of my fellow students must have had a similar heritage. Our professors didn’t seek to train us out of it at all, but rather relied on it, for civil and wide-ranging classroom discussion.
It’s amazing today, however, to see the absolute intellectual certainty of many youthful college graduates. One big thing I learned in college was that if I thought a speaker was making statements counter to commonly-accepted theory, I needed to wait and see where he was going with them, because (a) he might have a very, very good critique of commonly-accepted theory, or (b) I myself might not understand that he wasn’t contradicting accepted theory at all, because I didn’t know enough yet to see that.
The whole intellectual atmosphere was conducive to this cautious approach. Professors didn’t teach us theory as if it were incontrovertible fact. I remember using the inevitable Samuelson text for Econ 101 and 102, but having two different professors who both approached the text CRITICALLY — not meaning that they called it bad names, but that they invited us to compare its (then largely Keynesian) theoretical constructs with reality, and see how explanatory or predictive they actually were.
I get the sense, talking to today’s econ majors, that there is no serious criticism of theory in their learning process. And more than that, they absorb — uncritically — some theory, and then march off in a vacuum-sealed certainty that they know something their elders don’t. I had very few professors who tried to inculcate that latter certainty in us; and frankly, we students were pretty immune to it already. Most of us were working in the outside world, had been for some time, and had been interacting with our elders, whom we knew to be not at all ignorant, for years before we got to college.
Encounters with students today, however, often evoke the passage early in the movie Good Will Hunting, in which a callow college kid spouts some historical (literary? can’t remember) theory, to amaze and establish intellectual dominance over his friends, and the Matt Damon character unerringly identifies its origin, and cynically describes to the spouter exactly how his views will evolve as he encounters each new course in the curriculum.
There is some inevitability in the course of students’ intellectual development, as they go through a given curriculum. But the self-referential arrogance is neither inevitable nor desirable. There is no point in attacking students themselves for something that have not been taught better about. But the reign of a professoriate that actively seeks to instill this dangerous quality in them needs to come to an end. Being certain you’re right about the world, even though is doesn’t behave according to your theories, sets you up best to be a Romanov or a Bolshevik — not anything in between, like a small-propertied yeoman middle class.
Sorry this turned into a rant. Go, professor!
VDH:
“As a young twentysomething year old college educated and politically aware student of life, I find your Bad and Ugly essays extremely reductionist and counterproductive. You clearly fail to understand that rationality, and its by product — skeptical assessment of progressive thinking — is no longer a useful approach to orienting and controlling American society.
“Capitalists are corrupt, not the Press. The Press sees the path to a new future, one where they no longer play Devil’s Advocate to government proclamations. Sure, all governments lie, but someone needs to sort out the wheat from the chaff here. Clinton lied about Monica and we had to hear all about it, though it was no big deal. Bush lied about Iraq and people died. Now that’s important. The New People’s Press is in the best position to determine for us which government lies are worth knowing about. Thus, with President Obama bringing the press to heel, we will feel so much better about our lives.
“A university education is not an indoctrination. My professors were brilliant PhDs who confirmed most of what I already knew from high school. More importantly, there was a subtle pedagogical pretext to their teaching, that being that hard work and serious study are not the answer to the fundamental philosophical question in life: How, then, should we live? Well, we live in a SOCIETY. The most important thing to concentrate on is your SOCIAL life. My professors gave me ample time to explore this philosophical precept.
“Finally, VDH, you are wrong to deride the Europeans. I spent a semester in France and that culturally progressive society is the fulfillment of this new philosophy about life. The good life requires a good government to control the competitive and anti-socialist tendencies of individuals. In all your years of learning VDH, you never realized this simple basic fact.”
Trees take in CO2 and emit Oxygen. Go green. Save trees. Sacrifice newspapers.
Colleges have grown fat thanks to Stafford Loans and Pell grants. It has seemed to me that any 18 year old can get $100,000. and give it to a university – no problem…until they graduate or drop out. Of course, now they can blame their debt on so called greedy bankers. It seems to be the ‘in’ thing today.
One opinion holds that Islam will swallow Europe. Another holds that, as in the grand European tradition, there will be blood and war and killing between the groups. I wonder if there will be a middle ground?
Who is going to remember that America was the place where we used the power of our ideas to follow our dreams before we were all reduced to game the system by a careful tug on the nearest filament of corruption?
People living under the communist regime of the soviet union were using all their intellectual resources to invent the next trick that will snag one extra rouble without getting the next token of trouble.
Is that the model to follow?
I count those exiled ex-european-othodoxy refugee’s and their apostate rebirth here as the achievers of the equality that stands as an Ideal, but instead forms the glib pretext for a hijacking. A hijacking designed to place us into Eloi and Morlock strictures that impose what form or level of “equality” is appropriate for your station in life, as decided by those who hold chain-of-command and pecking-order ambition as the highest virtue qualifying one for advancement, of any kind.
Those folks have no compunction about uttering the secular blasphemies in the face of the equally glib gospel about Equality of results paradigm they were forced to live in and from which they seek asylum.
That press conference was difficult to watch as the journalists had an assigned order as who would ask the questions. It was hard not to assume that the questions were pre-arranged and submitted before hand to the president. Although the questions had a certain cautious hardness, the journalists seemed to be following the script of what Obama wanted to sell. My guess that the whole info-mercial was fixed. Therefore, there is no more ‘free press’ in America. Jeffersonian democracy has lost its standard bearers.
It reminds me of Petronius’s description of Croton
Wasn’t Croton where the youths tried desperately to ingratiate themselves with the hordes of childless elders so they would be written into their wills? Given the coming implosion of Social Security and public pensions, I suspect we may see something like that happen in reverse.
Great post. I especially like your description of Europeans who have come to the U.S. I have also witnessed this deep appreciation for America, but not just with Europeans – Filipinos, Koreans, etc. Their energy and ambition often makes me feel ashamed and lazy, yet at the same time, motivated and inspired. It reminds me that many of us have taken the “land of opportunity” for granted. My wife (who is the daughter of hard working Filipino immigrants from the 1960s) and I were watching the news last night in complete disbelief at how our country has turned. She asked me “Which country should we move to if things get really ugly?” Answer: There’s nowhere else to go. This is the last stand for a truly free society – it is here or nowhere.
..so Dr Hanson writes yet another brilliant piece about the decaying society we are forced to endure.
So, as with all of the other fine editorials and observations here at PJM, what are we going to do about it?
I mean, do we just sit here and bloviate or do we strike out against this rising tide of sludge that is about to consume us?
Is comparing the Teleprompter’s invite to Notre Dame to A-Hit being invited to a Bar Mitzva going to far? Riot anyone?
I lived in France for some time, and I can tell you that the ennui is real. It was common experience to talk to French youths, whose counterparts in America aspire to something they view exciting (be it firefighter or crack computer progammer), and then listen to them passively bleat their hopes that they can get a secure civil service job and pass away their years in security. What teenager thinks that way? A European one, I can tell you.
I do have a French friend who is exactly that sort of European that you mention at the end. However, he is a Moroccan immigrant, and that itself tells you something. The best we can hope for is that some Arabs will save Europe from the other Arabs.
Dr. Hanson,
Thank you for your wonderful post. I always enjoy your writings. Unfortunately, I have to agree with part of what XXX #18 wrote: “A university education is not an indoctrination. My professors were brilliant PhDs who confirmed most of what I already knew from high school. ”
My oldest son in a senior in high school. He has had an interest in politics from a very early age. He was one month old when he watched his first State of the Union address, and by the time he was 2, he could name the president and most of the cabinet members. That is all besides the point; however, he has very conservative political views, which has made his high school experience a living hell.
Forgive me, I hit the wrong key and my comment was posted before I was done.
As I was saying, TLM #18 is correct in saying that the indoctrination does not begin in college. Rather, it is now starting as early as the 4th grade in some places, as I have seen from the papers my 4th grade son brings home.
But, my oldest son, who is in the 12th grade has had to stop participating in political discussions at school because, as he found out in a very rude way, his conservative views are not only a source of friction between him and his classmates, there have been teachers who have told him that his views are wrong (in front of the class no less), and then allowed the class to gang up on him to debate his political views.
I am exceptionally proud that my son is intelligent enough to debate a whole class, including the teacher, but I am also angry that there is no tolerance when it comes to someone who has refused to drink the Kool-Aid. Of course now that things are changing, those same classmates and teachers no longer want to debate the weaknesses of The Chosen One.
To make a long story short, the indoctrination that you speak of starts long before students get to the college level. I just have to make sure that my children understand what is going on in the world around them, and trust that they can hold on to their beliefs and values regardless of what liberal teachers and classmates have to say.
Fan-freaking-tastic. Seriously, that was so spot-on, it gave me a mental contact-high. About 15 years ago I was in a “College of Education” to become a teacher, something I have a real knack for in math and science. (I was a well-regarded Physics teaching assistant while in grad school, and a well-regarded math/sci tutor at other colleges.) BUT – little did I know that the professors in the ‘college of education’ only wanted politically correct individuals to teach in schools. I kid you not, the first 2 days of classes (and that’s all I lasted) were ONLY about how devilish white people are/were/will always be. I was flabbergasted. I became an engineer. I am pretty sure whoever got my job teaching math and science knows virtually nothing about math or science, has a poetry of feminine studies degree, finds math and science suspect (since it can’t easily be manipulated to ideological goals), and is more than happy to turn out students similarly suspect of math and science but who now intuitively KNOW that all Republicans are fascists/rapists/kooks/murderers. 1984, anyone? 2+2=5? God help us all.
Even my despair is in disrepair.
VDH….the capo di tutti capi of “uglies”, is the loss of information strean, Loss is actually too mild, it has been kidnapped, bound, gagged and gang raped.
I have tried repeatedly to find the right words, to structure the correct phrase, to capture and articulate…precisely how and why every other issue pales in comparison.
We have reached the nadir in our societal evolution, We have submerged our collective souls beneath a Mount Trashmore…burying our competitive spirit, our expansion of ideas, our freedoms of choice, expression and of our individuality under a pile of toxic sophistry.
We have sacrificed the strengthening of our species by pre-fabricating the “right” answer…to every yet to be asked question. We have stolen from ourselves the greatest gift to mankind and the mirrored gift to Americans at her birth given in our Consitution…the gift of being allowed to be “wrong” and to learn from it.
When the “information stream”…(those gathering places where we obtain our “facts” in order to allow our consciousness to absorb, reflect, weigh, measure and compute “right” from “wrong”) distorts the facts, pollutes the equation, photoshops the mental pictures, forges the documents, all in furtherance of a scheme to assure that we will always arrive at the ONE RIGHT ANSWER, then that “information stream” has signed our death warrant as a society.
It doesn’t matter whether the forced conclusion comes from the furthest left reaches (Pravda) or from the 3rd Century thinking of a mullahfia, reason and choice die the same death from anoxemia, it matters not one whit whether they have been strangled by the left hand or the right.
And every day…our entrenched media, our universities, our entertainment industry squeeze our last breaths out of reason, choice, dissent.
Here’s the sum of it…if we can’t reason, choose, test, weigh and measure EVERY issue, if we all march in lockstep to the Sea of Equality of Result and sacrifice our honor and individuality at the altar of the “message”…if we act the fools chanting the “pre-ordained ONE RIGHT ANSWER” to every question, we have stopped evolving. We are necrotic in our development and in our souls.
We cease to exist…in any meaningful way.
And that, my dear friend VDH…is the ugliest outcome of all.
I think that most accept the future as presented by the current ruling elite.
For this reason, you can accept the following as done: no guns, much higher taxes, government controlled medical system, media controlled by the government, no private ownership of pensions, and low wages.
we will have a socialist system like France, but with none of the good stuff. Month of August off? No way. We will have all the government controls plus continue to work for the assholes we work for that demand 60 hour work weeks and pay for 40 etc etc…..
I think that most accept the future as presented by the current ruling elite.
For this reason, you can accept the following as done: no guns, much higher taxes, government controlled medical system, media controlled by the government, no private ownership of pensions, and low wages.
we will have a socialist system like France, but with none of the good stuff.
TLM: LOL!
10 Robert Winkler Burke
Thank you.
I lived and worked various places in Europe for 10 years. You hit the nail on the head.
But please, VDH, don’t say “adjudicate” when you mean “judge”. Fancification obfuscates.
Point #3/ Universities: completely true, and the consequences of Pc thinking and double speak are vast and corrosive. Corrosive in that extent that even VDH has been affected a little bit: prey, what is that “sub-standard behavior”?
Beastly, boorishness, vugarity, etc.! A Roget’s has for what I suspect that “sub-standard behavior” is, plenty of terms defining the situation in cause.
The “Military/Industrial Complex” has morphed into the “Media/Academia Cabal”. It’s even worse than Hanson suggests! Science and math are NOT immune. The socialist mantra permeates all professional schools (engineering, architecture, journalism, education, medicine and law) and is causing severe repercussions in society. Just the other day I came to the conclusion (sparked by a radio host’s comment) that our lawless society is probably not the result of policing (good, bad, or otherwise), but rather the result of liberal-activist judges who have been indoctrinated by their law school professors. It’s very much like a cancer within.
Where do we begin to change this when kindergartners are turning off the classroom lights to read by flashlight in the dark in order to better appreciate global warming? (Wouldn’t the correct lesson be to learn to turn off lights when you leave the room?) The socialist/Marxist propaganda/indoctrination/brain-washing is beginning so early, it does not bode well for our ability to counteract it. Nevertheless, it seems the only possible solution is to recognize that education and academia are the source of the cancer and begin there. As to HOW, your guess is as good as mine.
So strange (or not so strange, after all?) that the liberal impulse in postwar Europe led to millions living in nearly identical houses and apartments, driving the same sort of cars, thinking about the same (their parties are like the feuds and squabbles among the Democratic Party here at home), and exuding the identical teen-age petulance when events belie the gospel.
where in Europe, UK ?
The one positive? Have any of you met a disenchanted European who emigrated to the States, or lives a life of near isolation in Europe? They are almost hyper-American in their free market and democratic zeal. So full of anger at what their nation under the EU has become, they appear nearly fanatical in their allegiance to the free market, merit, free-thinking, liberty, and Western traditions. I have met dozens and they are the most remarkably competent individuals that I have come across in my lifetime—sort of the last few with unsnatched bodies dodging the zombies of Europe. I only wish we would offer instant citizenship status for these highly educated, highly trained, highly motivated but disconnected Europeans. We could lure 20 million in one fell swoop if we offered fast-track legal American citizenship—and reap the technological and entrepreneurial dividends for a half century to come.
some confortable self congratulations here LMAO,
while there are persons that look for security jobs in administration, and generally it’s a family transmissing business, (still about 30% of the labour forces), some search adventure abroad, some make their way on place ; I was travelling in my twenties, but one finally returns home after a few month, or years ; my sons made that, now they have a super job in France. Going abroad helps to get a better perspective of what you are up to ; emigrating to the US for a better job has been an apeal an an opportunity for quit a few young graduated, especialy in PC programmation for the last nineties and early millenarium, cuz these kinds of jobs were saturated here ; restauration and hostellery jobs aren’t definitive, it’s a way to learn and or to improve a foreign language.
So, I would say what you wrote is true for a part, and inadequate for the majority
Life isn’t so boring here as you believe, there is an alive cultural and intellectual emulation, majoritarly seen on the left side, though even the different faction of lefties don’t agree with each others, independant and right creations still participate to the noise…and, also, Eurabia, like certins think isn’t yet on the agenda
I asked my high school seniors to analyse the various systems of government to determine where we stand in America today. Their answer after three days of discussion: we now live under an oligarchy. Indeed, we labor now for a privileged (from the Latin private + law) class consisting of lawmakers and those with the coin to buy access to the law. One law for the rulers, and another for the rest of us. It’s rather useless to accuse oligarchs of hypocrisy. They are creatures who understand only grab and grasp.
I asked the same group of kids to describe our economic system. Their answer surprised me: kleptocracy. The nation produces a vast amount of goods and services, but the oligarchs redistribute reserving the lion’s share for themselves. Was it any different in the Roman Senate? Or in the soviets of a communist Russia?
I am beginning to believe that republican government is an ephemeral creation. Politics is, and has ever been, nothing more than a squabble over the spoils. Eventually a cartel will rise within any structure that will dominate both the government and the economy. A constitutional government can impede the rise of an oligarchy, but the rule of law cannot prevent the inevitable. Our republic has reached the end of its natural lifespan.
Well, the question is, what are we going to do about the march towards enslavement? The window for dissent and political revolution will be open for only a little while. Obama, a mix of manchurian candidate and orwellian double-speak, and his pals know this. They use fear well. Many Americans are being scared into accepting that the only route is to trust and invest in the government as a benefactor, not ourselves or our highly-criticized culture. They also know that the Republicans have little credibility given their track record over the last six years so there is a leadership vacuum. Its up to us, the average American, to push back hard or to take the money. The choice on paper is easy, but is the spirit willing to fight. Tea bag anyone?
9,
That’s exactly why this will never be stable in the US. The “kind master” thing. There’s too much racial animus in the US for the masters to ever be kind. They won’t resist the temptation to be vindictive. I’m not going to be happy to watch this happen, but it seems pretty clear to me that the current administration is going to drive the non-self-hating whites right into the lap of Stormfront and the Ayrian Nations.
Eventually, Europe will also experience a variation on this same end; in fact they may even get there sooner than the US, by being too accommodating to the immigrants, particularly the Muslims ones.
Multiculturalism will be the end of the happy kool-aid party.
VDH:
“What might yet restore the university?”
De-funding. End the subsidies to the Education Industry for majors that have no job market.
Big Business should wise up and stop requiring college educations for jobs that can be learnt via an apprenticeship. Becuase it’s obvious that along with whatever they’re hiring that degree for, they’re getting a big fat socialist entitlement mentality with the package.
There’s also been an explosion in what used to be called Vo-Tech schools and Secretarial Colleges that just teach the useful stuff and dispense with all the fluffery and bullsh+t.
Newspapers?
As you pointed out, it’s “Air America meets PBS” in print. And it’ll run right into the brick wall that Liberal Talk Radio did…no one wants to listen, and no-one wants to buy the fish-wrap.
They couldn’t make a go of it despite an effective monopolization of the market in most metro areas. The only thing left for them is a government subsidy, and then, like radio again, a “Fairness Doctrine” where they get a ban on those press organs that print ThoughtCrime.
A lot of good comments — but few solutions. So here is a possible solution regarding avoiding the swamp that is the University.
(1) If you can, home school your kids. If not, make sure your kid gets extra math and science — hire a tutor.
(2) When your kids hit 16, have them start taking courses at the local community college. For credit. Make sure the credits are transferable. Focus on math and science.
(3) When they can go full time, have them knock out all the “required” classes at the community college, plus knock out “required” courses by taking and passing the AP exams. Focus the AP study on the “softer” courses like English and History.
(4) Then check out “Western Governors University” — it is fully online, has low tuition (currently $3K for 6 months), is fully accredited — in fact it was formed by a consortium of 19 state governors. True — it only offers 4 degree programs: education, information technology, business, and nursing. But it is possible, if previously having knocked off the base classes at a community college plus advanced placement, to pick up a degree entirely online in 2 years for only $12K. Reason it is so cheap is that it is a nonprofit.
Now I suspect in the future there will be alternatives to WGU. But for right now — the approach I describe above will permit anyone to pick up an accredited university degree very inexpensively and without having to suffer through left-wing indoctrination. True, it will only salvage those who are self motivated and intelligent. But it will at least do that.
The media knows what they’ve become, and already have seen the flip side of their one-eye Jack—and is now trapped in culthood.
If the NYT and WaPo weren’t called on at the President’s recent press conference because they have dared…dared!…hint as to negatives of The One™ and his agenda, then this is one of the more disgusting blows to free expression.
It would seem Obama demands a Slobbering Love Affair or banishment, which is typical of a thin skinned, fundamentally insecure individual who conducts himself through subtle, or not so subtle, intimidation.
3. Richard
“5)There will be a crackdown on alternate media, such as internet blogs (conservative ones only of course), as they will probably be made to pay extra “fees” (perhaps in the form of licencing, to be allowed to exist. Certianly many of the average joe coffee cup blogger types such as myself will not be able to afford such licences or fees.”
~
UGH! Let’s hope it NEVER gets to that. If people have to begin speaking in ‘code words’ on the WORLD WIDE WEB then people BETTER revolt. China has underground websites which proves it would be impossible to completely control the internet. People would just become a lot sneakier in order to avoid being under big Bro’s thumb. :!:
Thank you, Sir [Prof. Hanson] for another painfully truthful article.
The news media has had a bias for a long time. What happened this last election cycle was a joyful abandonment of the plausible deniability they’ve had to maintain for so long. They’ve come out of the closet.
MARK TWAIN ON SOCIALISM: TWAIN HAD IT RIGHT
This is not what made America great.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/mark-twain-on-socialism.html
Another excellent and discriminating article. This article and the first one (the Bad)confirm that the USA has been taken over by crazy people. This new order is robbing the USA of its freedom to be American and the rest of the world suffers from the theft. The question is: how does America crack itself across the side of the head with a baseball bat in order to smarten up and start acting like America again?
“The one positive? Have any of you met a disenchanted European who emigrated to the States, or lives a life of near isolation in Europe? They are almost hyper-American in their free market and democratic zeal. So full of anger at what their nation under the EU has become, they appear nearly fanatical in their allegiance to the free market, merit, free-thinking, liberty, and Western traditions. I have met dozens…”
Yup.
So very true.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Mr. Hanson, YOU’VE FOUND THE PERFECT WORD TO DESCRIBE THE CURRENT MEDIA:CULT. Once you’ve joined the cult, you defend and protect it’s belief system to the death. Having bought in, they need to stay in, in order to justify their purchase/choice.
By doing so, they are cutting their own throats, eliminating their own jobs, discrediting anything they say or write, but–here’s the hubris—NOW THEY WANT US TO SUBSIDIZE their efforts. I HOPE NOT!! If this happens, we’ll know the republic is finished. Alley Oop! Over & Out! “30″.
In-spired to Twain-isms…
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.(1866)
The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
There is no distinctly native American criminal class…save Congress.
(even nearly numb “I” have been shocked at some of the recent utterances of Barney Frank, Harry Reid, Maxine Waters…apparently, the atmosphere of the place is such, that the most extreme idiots feel empowered to strut their stuff, with little fear of retribution or, even, wrist slapping)
We had sixteen years of triangulation, deliberately blurring the differences in mounds of moral equivalence. So, we have a wolf in sheeps clothing, a radical Marxist who persuaded many he was a centrist. Perception is reality, you know. (sarc) fortunately, Hanson and Guernrich are boldly stepping out and proclaiming the truth. last night Newt told Greta we are in a dictatorship. Hanson reveals that it is reactionary. Instead of looking forward, they celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln, Darwin, and Marx. McCain could not defrock the imposter. He may even be on the Soros traim, as Horowitz says.
I almost went to live in the USA, but alas my US company then decided to pull out of Europe. I was already disillusioned with the fat cat idiot at the top telling me to cut expenses and taking tens of millions in options, but that is not capitalism to me, that is just an ignorant elite lording while they could now they are getting a dose of what they deserve, and I repeat they are not real capitalists, just its rapists.
As for me, I stopped, I worked hard following a dream, then a contact got me a contract job at a good time and then bang, I was earning more than when I was employed, but I was now living in France and boy was I taxed, so I got what I wanted, multiple properties setup pretty well and then I said, no more, back to the dream, do what I want, I do the odd contract job, but I want my companies profit to be no more than €10,000, it adds to the pot and I don’t pay for all those wasters, another thing I do is never get my T/O over €25,000 for then I pay sales tax VAT in the UK, TVA in France and that goes to the EU and they have my total hate, so I would rather starve then pay you anything directly…
davidt: Re the media
“They’ve come out of the closet.”
And so have our socialist leaning politicians.
By their words and their actions shall we know them. Now, after all the obfuscation of the election, this has come to pass. The media have abandoned all pretense at impartiality and declared their allegiance to the new political powers that be. And whether those political powers reside in Congress or the White house, they are no longer to be confused with pragmatic centrism. The political trajectory the Dems have launched us on is toward Socialism. After only 2 months, few would argue otherwise.
Personally, I’m glad the debate on this issue is coming to an end. With the growing realization that this is Obama/Reid/Pelosi’s intent, the country will further divide along political fault lines. The advantage to conservatives is: The “enemy” has self-identified, acknowledged his intent and is out in the open. He necessarily has made himself, therefore, an easier target (FYI for any libs out there, the military analogy here is not meant to be taken literally). So, no more worries about hidden bias in the MSM, or creeping socialism in our schools, or the beast slouching towards Babylon. The creature is out in the open, and it’s inside the gates. We just need to fix it in place and kill it.
Dr. H
I am one of those Hyper-Americans, having escaped from my beloved Greece many years ago. I only wish that more of my fellow Americans would visit or live for a while in the socialist paradises that the left is so enamored of, so that they can see and realize the greatness of America and step back from the current Obama led march into the abyss.
Keep up the good work. America, freedom and capitalism are worth the fight.
Ah, the flaming industry of “what if” being fully stoked by the marketers of fear, not directly mind you but by proxy through the mindless hands of their very own proletariat. “They’re coming for your children! . . . They want all your guns . . . They don’t love Jesus . . . They want to outlaw Merry Christmas . . . Vote Republican.”
Get a grip for god’s sake. You all watch way too much TV. And start thinking of some good ideas instead of more ways to say “No.” (Need I point to that deathless document of democracy presented in the form of a Republican budget? Wow! The brain power and insight contained in that document was absolutely staggering! How anyone could possible say that Republicans spend too much time on obstruction and not enough time on positive strategy is beyond me.)
I find it endlessly rewarding to watch the continuing dissolution of the Republican Party – who seem far more interested in Britney Spears than in governing a nation.
“I despair” was exactly what I thought I would post.
Before I got to the “don’t despair” line.
But yes, I despair.
Rewatching Manchurian Candidate……All of the Lincoln statuary….creepy
Barack Obama would not have been elected if more of my father’s generation were still alive, they were much better at spotting a socialist and calling it what it was. The generation that went to war during or right after high school and fought for this country and for freedom loving people everywhere would not have been taken in by some teleprompter reading, say-one-thing-do-another politician with a sketchy background and occasional patriotism.
In 2008 the MSM dropped any pretense of being real journalists and many of them today are still acting like they are running to be the President of Obama’s fan club. It is absolutely ridiculous that those of us who think his ideas are lousy cannot openly say so, without being personally attacked.
May the fighting spirit that my father had be felt by others. My father left home during the middle of his senior year in high school and served in the Pacific for 2.5 years. He returned home, finished high school, and went to college on the GI Bill. My father worked hard to take care of his family and always treated everyone he met with kindness and respect. He had a special place in his heart for the people of the Philippines and knew how hard they fought too during WWII. Everytime I spoke to him after I became an adult he always began the conversation with the same question, “What are you doing for the good of the country?”
Today I would have to respond “not enough”. I no longer read MSM newspapers and magazines, I no longer watch cable news (other than Fox). Me no longer being a Democrat would please him but truth is, the party left me. The Republicans have some good ideas but not a big enough megaphone.
The Tea Parties are a start. What else can we do to get back on the right track to a better future?
Ron Kean – Nr. 19. Trees take in C02 and emit oxygen only during daylight. At night they burn their photosynthesis generated sugar and emit C02 and vater vapor, two “greenhouse gases”. I’m assuming you flunked high school biology.
VDH:
The Bad, The Ugly, and The Good.
You must have avoided the usual Good vs Evil dichotomy for a reason. Have anything to do with our three branches of government? A bad Administration, an ugly Congress and a (so far) good Supreme Court, perhaps? Won’t stay that way for long. Obama will wreck the SC before his first term is over.
Addendum to my last post:
To be clear, I’m not calling for violence. The fight is a political one. Some of what Obama & Co (Co here refers to Comrades not Company) are doing seems designed to spur a violent right wing backlash, so they can demonize all conservatives. Don’t take the bait. We don’t need another lunatic Timothy McVeigh.
Julius Obama has crossed the Rubicon. That’s good. The fights on. It’s a GOOD fight to have. Maybe we can settle this issue re socialism in America once and for all.
Just ruminatin’ on the future and waiting on the last segment of your tripartite essay.
I do wonder what Twain would have said with the likes of Barney Frank.
My late father-in-law had a saying; “If you want government handouts, be prepared to live in poverty!”
AP exams should always have priority over community college courses: they are cheaper and the courses always count toward a High School Diploma. Personally, I never had an issue getting enough math and science AP courses: it was the equivalent of a year’s worth of college and then some.
I agree with Marie Claude that your description of a dreary life in Europe is not correct. There is also a lot of traveling to far-away, and culturally interesting places, countries like India.
However, other parts of the article are very good.
I just wanted to comment on the following part:
[The odd thing is that those who excel at all this don’t even seem happy about it. They are empty suits, proverbial ‘hollow men’ ....After all, you cannot make $100,000 a year for 9 months work, with lifelong ensured employment, full benefits, and no daily audit—and seriously believe that you are perennially manning the barricades at the tip of the revolutionary spear.]
This is basically the theme of the recent book by Jamie Glazov “United in Hate”. It is this unhappiness that you describe well, this psychological dichotomy between what they wish and how they live, that propels the frustration behind the behavior of people like Ward Churchill, who called the innocent victims of 9/11 “little eichmanns” or Sean Penn, befriending Castro and Chavez, and before them Hanoi Jane.
So would you say the cultish aspects of Obama are on par with those of, say, Kim Jong Il?
The only way to affect the educational establishment is to reduce the flow of dollars until it takes notice. Notice how nicely the lack of advertising has decimated the newspaper biz.
Regarding the Fine Art of Caring
My friend told me my pastor was a jabberwocky demagogue,
But I don’t care,
And that my pastor does what he learns from a TV preacher,
Extraordinaire.
And that that’s how majorities elect a demagogue leader,
Vanity fair,
My critical thinking friend also says things are not good,
To all beware.
And that there is a prophet who saw all this coming,
With insightful flares,
Saying cheap preaching dumbs down sheep who elect,
Mad ravenous bears.
And that the prophet says the cats teach the mice to,
Lie on tableware,
And be eaten by pastors, broadcasters and leaders,
Wheat eaten by tare.
So my friend says the prophet says there is horrible,
Bad trouble brewing,
But MY pastor says HIS broadcaster says THIS prophet,
He’ll be skewering.
So I told my friend the problem is solved,
So there!
And to shut up! ‘Cause he’s wrong to think,
We care!
To say we’re wrong is something we would,
Never dare!
But my friend says we will as soon as our,
Cupboard’s bare.
The problem for socialists has always been
the American sense of liberty, enterprise
and individualism. By attacking the American
spirit they do not have to kill the man, as
Stalin did, to kill the problem.
Through media and educational propaganda
they make right wrong and wrong right.
Facts are not absolute, like the pictures
of people on the Kremlin Wall. Most
Americans still feel uncomfortable with
the changes the liberals want to bring
about but they doubt their own values.
Obama chastised Americans for clinging to
religion and resisting his brave new world.
Once enough Americans turn on their own
values and step into the dark room it will
be mission accomplished. Buying obedience
through massive reliance on government
in one way or another is a good step.
It is ironic that the supine press hold the power, not the POTUS or Congress.If they choose to break a politician, they can, and that is heady stuff.The media have NOTHING to fear from Obama;they want him desperately to succeed and will lick his boots to make it a reality.
61. one of my own
Chile, do you ever ask why you come here to yourself? I mean…really? I’d never haunt a ‘libtard’ website because I don’t need the circular logic.
Here’s some more idiocracy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6QKcARdl2w
Where are you Marie Claude (Madame Marianne), French woman?
You remind me of Charlotte Corday, singing La Carmagnole with the sans-cullottes instead of the Marseillaise. We have our own Marat here now, but need a new modern Mademoiselle Corday.
That part of France you are from was really Maquis country, no good place for Le Boche. They also gave good emigrants to La Algerie, who later became proud Pied Noirs.
Au revoir!
65. William
vater you talking about?
I’ve been told the word assume makes an ass out of u AND me.
…and isn’t Croton something you put in salad?
Hawkeye of the Mohicans said “i am not subject to much.”
i will ride this wave until it crashes,and looking to get off before it hits the rocks. capitalism requires ever new markets for expansion, an there is an end when the retraction commences, we are in one now. the “ONE” just wishes to keep the staus quo. no expansion, no retraction, a house of cards, an illusion. if we count on the new generation who has gone to war and not to college, i will not despair.
one of my own:
Mind you: I’m not a Republican, I don’t watch TV, and member of the proletariat wouldn’t accurately describe anyone here.
Get a grip for God’s sake. The Republican Party is not in position to govern the nation right now. Are you ignorant of the results of the recent election, or what?
“Marketers of fear” is an excellent descriptor of Obama and his Congressional Comrades. Note the fear and anxiety expressed by the markets since these clowns came to power.
BTW, your blog post handle is a pathetic misnomer. You’re just the latest of a number of trolls who wander in here and let their all too evident elitism bleed all over the page. “One of my own”? Yes. Of course you are. And though you may be legion, I’m sure that’s what Obama calls each and every one of his useful little botniks. Run along now and take your post to the next conservative website. Your master bids you to carry his message far and wide.
It’s all Alinsky. Sow doubt. But it’s backfiring. The doubt will grow — about Obama — or at least giving him both houses and possibly the court, especially as the economy worsens and his escalation makes Afghanistan his Vietnam and Pakistan his Cambodia, while failing to prevent further attacks here at home. In 2010, the Dems will lose a number of seats, but not control. Then the question is whether to replace Pelosi and the others.
Well put Robert,live free or die. Hope it’s not the latter.
uh, Miamiman, I wa patrolling :lol: no danger in sight !
well, I suppose we got to get the guillotine prepeared, did you see the manifs in Europe on TV ? Banks directors were the stars to hang ! In Germany it degenrated in general fight at the end… we live in amazing times, that never occured before, it’s history in acceleration
To JE Dyer:
Re your comment kids come out of college completely lacking in intellectual humility.
As a college professor–of history, for 15 years (big state school, small private university, and community college)–I can inform you that students ENTER college completely lacking in intellectual humility. Many are convinced that college has NOTHING to offer them: they “know” it all already. College is but a hurdle in the way of a career that they have to leap.
To Sunsword: History, a “softer” subject? Please do come and take my classes. History as a subject suffers at my school precisely because we are the only department that requires rigor–read my student evaluations, students will tell you that again and again and again. If you knew anything about history as an academic subject you would know it is under assault-internally from those co-opted by the daftness of postmodernism but also externally from the appalling standards (or lack thereof) of business, communication, education et al “schools”.
To all, while I sympathize with a lot of what VDH and many of you are saying about universities, I think maybe you should consider your sources. Those universities that suffer most from liberal fascism are, in my humble experience, those that live least in the “real world.” (How I HATE that description of my universe). The Yales, Princetons, UCLA’s etc etc. Most academics DO NOT teach in such institutions and their concerns and outlooks are very divorced from those who do (maybe that’s why we don’t get hired at Rutgers or Brown–and no, I a NOT bitter ;>)
There are GOOD people in higher education
I don’t know quite what the allure of Europe is for the American Left.
I can answer that question, Victor. Many young people take a month-long vacation to tour Europe, stay at youth hostels (the bastion of European leftist politics) or camp-outs, take trains, meet Europeans, engage with them and come back to America all “worldly”. That’s how Europeanization creeps into the American psyche, all thanks to young, politically-naive Americans’ touring of Europe.
seansarto@72
So would you say the cultish aspects of Obama are on par with those of, say, Kim Jong Il?
Not yet. Obama’s “cultish aspects” parallel those of the Kim Jong Il’s father. You should recall that these tyrannies take some time to develop into fullscale slavery. Once in control, it’ just a question of pace.
Absent the sarc tag, I must take your question for what it is. Like a question one of Obama’s army of cretin canvassers will ask me next year, to determine my eligibility to vote in the future. You’re someone working toward promotion to Kapo 2nd Class, right? You unveil your true character too early, Comrade.
34: cfbleachers and 59: TLM
Two posts that ring true for me…thanks.
I’ve got an old friend who just bought his first weapon, now seeks a concealed permit and safety vest. Told him he should have bought it on the open market where no record would exist. I think more are doinng this.
Would love to see Detroit go bankrupt…then Obama and his people (you people!) will be dancing faster than ever! Maybe the whole state will follow.
HIllary nods her head in aggreement as Obama tells us here come thousands more of American troops along with hundreds of civilians to help those Afgans and kept the bad guys at bay while we here at home try to define what “defeat” means, much like “is” if I am thinking right.
And if “thinking right” is important, would it be too far off to suggest that those bad guys in Afgan and Pakistan who were listening to our “dear leader’s” lecture (CNN) came to an immediate understanding that they needed to check with fellow “terrorist/bad guy/disadvantaged” brothers to see where those “civilians” will be heading so that as many as possible could be captured and presented to American television as evil doers while the knives come out to behead them?
Volunteers to help Obama the Great? God, I just love these “lawyer trained” politicians who have words in their quivers!
Remember, you people are to “die” for their goals, their great ideas and plans.
Ron Kean:
What are they teaching kids nowadays? How to have a know it all attitude, and be wrong to boot?
William @ 65:
You missed the forest for the trees. Plant respiration is a small component of their physiology compared to photosynthesis. Trees are NET consumers of CO2, and NET producers of O2. The carbon in their biomass comes from atmospheric CO2. Atmospheric oxygen comes from plants via photosynthesis. This is rather basic. Drop the attitude and you might learn something.
Hillsdale College is reliably conservative, I receive their newsletter Imprimus and I’m impressed.
There is almost no dissent on the comment board here. Most of the comments are cheerleading the writer – and each other – without any substantive analysis. This sort of total consensus seems frightening to me – even “cult-ish,” which is a common critique of Obama.
How are we any different here? Where is the rigorous evaluation of the writer’s evidence, or of each others’?
#44-Paules: I agree with your students’ analysis of the current system as politically oligarchic and economically kleptocratic.
To which Franklin’s comment, “A Republic, Madam–IF YOU CAN KEEP IT.” is most pertinent.
I (finally) have a grandson on the way. Damned if I will stand by and watch this.
Marie Claude, yes, let’s bring back Club des Jacobins.
Here:
Obama – Danton
FBI – Joseph Fouche (Terror in Nantes, Guillotine ready)
Secretary of State – Cripple Talleyrand
Church affairs – Abate Sieyes
But, most importantly, we need an incorruptible republican like Maximilien Robespierre to clean up corruption and guillotine Barney Frank and others.
@94 Thomas Casey
Thanks for the comment. Final exam question: How does Madison’s Federalist Paper Number Ten square with the current situation in our politics? What happens when a professional political class backed by a large bureaucracy and a complicit press becomes the dominant faction? What happens when elections become merely a mechanism by which oligarchs fight among themselves? What recourse is left to the people?
AB123 at #93 — well, go for it, shipmate. Critique away. As my mother would ask, Are YOUR fingers broken?
Pace at #87 — Not to worry. My comments, at least, weren’t intended to tar all professors with the same brush. I do understand that college students are ARRIVING completely shorn of intellectual humility, from the culture of self-reference and self-indulgence they have too often been bred in.
MiamiaMan — Your #95 made me laugh. What poor Barney Frank doesn’t understand is that he WOULD have been guillotined by Robespierre.
That whole Robespierre thing did get to be a bit nasty. And it did remove an impediment (even if it did not necessarily solve the whole problem). Just needed an adjustment, I guess. Works for me.
who could be Robespierre nowadays ? do you one person with power that isn’t corrupted ?
AB123:
VDH is a dissenting voice against the total insanity of what is coming out of Washington. Whatever disagreements I have with him regarding the particulars seems to pale in comparison to the gist of what he is saying. I don’t argue detail if I agree with the overall synthesis.
The other side of the problem is that countervailing opinion on this site is usually voiced by fly by night liberal trolls. They offer ad hominem attacks, but little argument.
VDH:
“Science and math hold out…”
Perhaps not for long. Here’s what Bill Ayers, distinguished Professor of Education and friend of BO has to say about science education:
“Creating a science education that is transformative implies not only how science is a political activity but also the ways in which students might see and use science and science education in ways transformative of the institutional and interpersonal power structures…” blah blah blah.
Also, I didn’t know Algore was a fan of Ayers too.
As a full-time high school teacher I can assure you that failing a student is illegal — the burden of proof rests entirely on the teacher, and the loss of a student (read: indolent, disruptive thug) counts against the school in evaluation and funding.
As a part-time evening college instructor I can still drop indolent thugs, but as so many of them are federally-funded for — hmmm –diversity, it is only a matter of months before maintaining order in a college classroom will be as illegal as it is in grade school.
The People complain about laxity, but they line up obediently to vote for it.
J.E. Dyer: Very right you are.
Before accusing others of indoctrination, let’s look to ourselves.
Let me be specific.
As a community college English prof., I take issue with this statement:
“Higher education in the humanities has devolved into a sort of indoctrination/reeducation camp, on the following apologia: the corporation, the family, the church, the military, the government are illiberal.”
I agree that there are some profs. who strive to indoctrinate, based on my own observations as faculty. I also agree that indoctrination is the enemy of education – whether it comes from the right or left.
My issue isn’t with the truth of this claim, but the lack of evidence provided by the author, and how easily it appears accepted by the audience – which is indoctrination, right?
The willingness to believe without evidence is what concerns me – here, and in the classroom. For when people turn off their critical thinking, when they stop evaluating evidence, is when they can be lead around on faith. And I believe that is the concern of many of the commenters here, as well it should be.
More concretely:
I don’t see any evidence provided here that Ward Churchill, or other radicals, are actually the norm. We have to be careful not to conflate the exception with the rule – which would be like saying Savage or Rush represent all Republicans, eh?
The only evidence this author provides is his expertise as a professor – which is compelling, sure, but not comprehensive. Why should I take his word for it just because he’s a professor? Doesn’t that sound strikingly close to professors in the university brainwashing students?
Someone, provide substantive evidence – beyond your own personal experience or prejudices – that indeed, the thousands of humanities departments across the country, and hundreds of thousands of professors, are all engaged in this activity. Show me research. Show me something other than feelings and intuition.
93. AB123 -
Any moron can dissent for the sake of dissent. Big deal. It’s not evidence of critical thinking skills.
Bob, #88: Many young people take a month-long vacation to tour Europe, stay at youth hostels (the bastion of European leftist politics) or camp-outs, take trains, meet Europeans, engage with them and come back to America all “worldly”. That’s how Europeanization creeps into the American psyche, all thanks to young, politically-naive Americans’ touring of Europe.
And nowadays, of course, we have the Internet, international sat-phone services, etc. which facilitate the same process of exposing Americans to these same influences, only without the need for hostels or even for anyone to physically cross borders at all. It seems to me that this is a vastly underappreciated “dark side” of the ongoing technological revolution.
78. Delia: . . . one of my own . . . “Chile, do you ever ask why you come here to yourself?”
No, Delia – assuming I can unravel that syntax – I know exactly why I come here. Can you guess for why it is coming here I do for myself?
The federal government has three responsibilities: fight the wars, print the money and deliver the mail. It refuses to fight to win and neglects our own borders, it prints too much money, and now the post office admits that it’s broke. We are a failed state by our own standards.
On top of that, English is the minority language in our largest cities, diseases few have heard of crop up in the suburbs, and our corporations outsource millions of jobs while our government imports millions of immigrants annually. We are finished and it’s already over.
VDH: “$100,000 for 9 months work”
At the universities for which I worked, summer was not vacation. It was the season during which the professors (and their graduate students) were expected to do much of their research. And it was research output that counted for tenure and promotion, not teaching.
Mack: “As a full-time high school teacher I can assure you that failing a student is illegal ”
At the public high school where I know the most teachers, a great many students are given F’s, especially in math. Students routinely fall behind in credits and either fail to graduate, go to summer school, or are transferred to continuation school to catch up. They are not “passed along.”
VDH and Mack’s experiences are different, but the situation is not uniform.
AB123 @103:
“My issue isn’t with the truth of this claim, but the lack of evidence provided by the author, and how easily it appears accepted by the audience – which is indoctrination, right?”
Indoctrination if it is controversial, or wrong, and if the reader has limited access to other information. I’ve been reading about college education for the past 2 years (that’s how I found this site in fact), and I don’t think the authors claim here is wrong, or even controversial anymore. That’s not to tar every college or college professor with the same brush.
VDH makes a lot of similar claims in his essays. He doesn’t mince words or hedge, and he doesn’t offer supporting evidence — here. He does in his other writings, lectures etc. These are available on line. Basically, you get the distilled version of his opinions here.
#103 AB123.
I am reminded of that joke where the wife comes home early and upon entering the bedroom discovers her husband in bed with her best friend.
The husband looks at her and says” “Honey, are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?”
In other words AB123, who in the hell are you trying to kid? Ward Churchill is just one of thousands who teach hate in our educational system. You’re just playing a stupid game…grab the chalk and come to the big blackboard fool!
kathy: You’re right. Dissent for the sake of dissent is pointless.
But that wasn’t my point.
My point is:
There is just cause to dissent with this article, as I pointed out in my previous post (103). The professor generalizes in the extreme, substituting style for substance.
Take this statement about the press, for example:
“The front pages of the New York Times or Washington Post are op-eds in thin disguise. We live in an age of affluent, rather inbred ironists who punch in at the Ministry of Truth” ”
No evidence or proof for this beautifully written generalization. The professor states it with authority as if true and writes with eloquence, as if a presidential-speech writer, but there is not a shred of evidence provided to demonstrate its veracity. (In fact, this statement is made so frequently in general its taken as a truism – but where’s the proof? Simply because you state something over and again doesn’t make it true.)
What if this were in a classroom? What if Prof. Hansen was teaching students in this way – telling them the “truth” without evidence – and they believed it? Would you not call that indoctrination?
Are these political websites – liberal, conservative, communist – simply indoctrination engines, for us to be steeped ideology without truth?
That is my point.
Prof. Hansen’s essay reminds me of a lecture by one of those indoctrinating professors – heavy on claims, heavy on stylized language and references, but weak on evidence, other than his authority as a professor.
In other words: I have yet to see persuasive evidence on this point either, that there is a “liberal bias” in the media. I have been reading these arguments for years, and have yet to have even the most eloquent and insightful authors prove this comprehensively. Typically, it is simply state as a fact – but no facts are provided.
I would love to see the author, or another poster, demonstrate this liberal bias with compelling evidence beyond:
1) Because it is (circular logic);
2) Because it’s obvious (500 years ago it was obvious the world was flat);
3) Because everyone knows this (appeal to the people – again, not proof, as 500 years ago, everyone believed the world flat).
4) Because you’re a moron (I might be a moron – and right.)
What I want to see is some sort of comprehensive study by an independent observer that demonstrates consistent “liberal bias” in major news organizations.
Madame Marie Claude:
We need to enforce La Carmagnole, we don’t need La Marseillaise now. Quoting:
Madame Veto avait promis,
Madame Veto avait promis.
de faire égorger tout Paris,
de faire égorger tout Paris.
Mais son coup a manqué,
grâce à nos canoiners.
Translation:
Madame Veto has promised
Madame Veto has promised
To cut everyone’s throat in Paris
To cut everyone’s throat in Paris
But she failed to do this,
Thanks to our cannons.
Keep Madame Veto, change Paris for Washington, remove the cannons, make it happen.
Vive la violence!
Hey, it’s Monday already. Seems like the Professor is having a hard time coming up with anything ‘Good’ to say for Part III…
In discussing the state of academia today, Dr. Hanson does not go on to mention how political, back-stabbing, and demoralizing the “life of the mind” can be in our research universities. The university is full of tenured faculty who have no experience in “real life” (many go from undergrad straight to grad school and then straight into the tenure track), who deal with theories and “isims” all day, and whose very survival depends upon carving out a niche of research that is controversial and edgy. While some can work around this and find joy in the career, I couldn’t and left.
This is the problem–why would most thinking conservatives want to work in such an environment and to teach hoards of eighteen-year-olds and churn out irrelevant research for so little pay (and with years worth of student loan debt to re-pay)? There are much better jobs out there. (For those who don’t know, salaries for humanities professors with a Ph.D. begin in the 40s. I know tenured faculty with Ph.D.s who are at the end of their careers in big, expensive cities and only making in the 60s. These individuals work 50-60 hour weeks to keep up with the lectures, grading, committee work, and the requirement to research and publish. Compare that with medicine, law, and even some public school gigs). So, chances are we won’t have more conservative minds teaching humanities any time soon.
The sad thing is, the humanities is where students are really taught to think–to write, speak, analyze, synthesize information, etc. It is where they discuss ethical issues and apply history to the future. The humanities address this in a way that the sciences cannot. But unfortunately many humanities departments/faculty have made themselves irrelevant to the larger population in a time when parents want their children to go to college to obtain real-life skills and job training.
One of the student groups on our campus conducted a survey on the U.S. Constitution. Evidently a good percentage of the students they interviewed couldn’t even name one ammendment to the Constitution. Others failed basic questions about the document. I think that much of a student’s basic knowledge, ethical/moral/religious outlook, work ethic, and outlook on life is establish before college–through the school system and through parents. I think we need to consider the public school system too and the majority of liberal educators who teach children.
“Panda eats shoots and leaves?”
106. oomo – The reason you come here is clear: To offer no substantial criticism of the author. Just a simple, relativistic verbal ejaculation that helps you self-validate and the reader to understand you’re a troll.
The alternative offered by the Republican party is simple, summed up as – stop spending so much f#*king money and this s#!t would correct itself. Of course the author made this point as well, but I think you were too busy conceiving an intellectually limited response based on your inability to get…the…whole…point.
Then again, crafting an intelligent budget takes time to do responsibly. Time which The Big O has failed to allow, because he also fails to grasp that fundamental point, or the basics of our economic system. Either that, or his agenda is to fundamentally change our economic system. In either case, they’re both scary.
You know, scary…like the fear mongering your Obama did by telling us several times many weeks ago that if we didn’t get this passed next week, the economy would collapse? Surely you saw that on TV.
Fear mongering indeed.
@AB123 #103 – I think that given Dr. Hansen’s background as a professor at a major public university in California and his close involvement in that level of education in general, his professional observations are more than adequate testimonial. This is not unheard of as legitimate argument.
Should Dr. Hanson take up even more space to include personal observations of every point he’s made, or should we regard him as a subject matter expert for the sake of brevity? How would you suggest he provide evidence? How much evidence would be satisfactory?
While you are correct that indoctrination is the enemy of education regardless of whether it comes from the left or the right, it is widely known that the leftist bent is all pervasive in our education system.
So as one other poster put it…all this revelation is nice, but what else are we going to do abnout it?
AB123 — Got it. One thing I would say right off the bat is that many of the readers here have no doubt read VDH’s own books on standards and trends in academia, but also those of Thomas Sowell, Dinesh D’Souza, David Horowitz and a number of others. (I could go check my library shelves for more names, but, Yes, Mom, my legs are broken…)
The broad agreement here on the topic of academia may be a bit too reflexive, or at least seem to be. That’s certainly an arguable point. Having hung around here for a while, though, I do have a sense that many of the regular correspondents take the trouble to inform themselves from multiple sources, and are always appreciative of the information from readers who actually teach in classrooms.
People bring a variety of backgrounds and experiences to these blogs, and the readership at VDH’s is among the most intelligent and informed I have encountered. A lot of people do have experience that’s relevant to the topic, and a wise analyst considers both survey and statisical information, and the trend of anecdote.
Someone always occupies the “exception to the rule” position: in this case, the academic environment that’s not politically lockstep or otherwise compromised. We also have to keep in mind the sample populations we’re talking about: state university systems differ among each other, major “name” private universities from their lesser-known counterparts, community colleges from any of them.
In my experience, the original land-grant state schools that now focus on agriculture, engineering, veterinary science, etc tend to be a little less influenced by PC leftism. The flagship state U systems — with the law schools, the big arts programs, doctoral offerings in every conceivable area of study — tend to be MORE so. Similarly, some small private Us are hardly influenced by PC leftism at all, whereas others are the main water-carriers for the phenomenon. And other readers may well have different experiences.
But I’d also make the point that minority developments do matter. I don’t see that VDH suggested “Ward Churchill” is the prevailing or majority academic phenomenon, but rather that such characters and situations do exist (and often at the expense of the taxpayer), and that there is a systemic reason why they do. It is perfectly legitimate to make observations about that, and equally legitimate for the people who pay for the system to question the outcome at issue.
The poor we will always have with us, but there is no principle of either human life or morality that says tuition-payers, taxpayers, or donors must support Ward Churchill or Bill Ayers. Their advocacy postures in academic fora do damage not just to specific students, TAs, etc whom they may supervise, but to the standards of academic inquiry themselves, and the profession of teaching.
Surgery poorly performed is the exception rather than the rule too, as are major airline accidents. But a good case can be made that their rarity does not render them so tolerable as to be immune from investigation and corrective measures.
When a state university system’s faculty senate votes 106-5, or whatever it was, to condemn a state ballot propostion (as recently happened in California), we may justly be concerned, not so much that the faculty disagrees with the people — who voted FOR the proposition — but that it does so in such an overwhelming way. Academic consensus fosters complacency, and militates against vigor, rigor, and contrarianism in thought and research; it should make us uneasy, and to the extent we pay for it, we should not accept bromides and dismissal in lieu of elucidation and serious, respectful argument.
If you’re looking for attacks on VDH’s assertions, maybe you should cut and paste a few of his passages over at HuffPo, and see what you can get started. :-)
Ward Churchill gets away with stuff cause’ he is Native American, look how he looks so “Injun”, he is of the Liberakota Tribe from Colorado, part of the Injun family of the Midwest. I do not think he’s related to Winston Churchill though they have the same last name, and Winston had no Injun blood although his mother was American.
As for that queer Bill Ayers, with them cute rings on his ears like Michael Jordan, he is alright, he is Professor of Terrorism in Chicago public schools, a Knight of the Order of The Acorn.
119. J.E. Dyer: Thoughtful reply. Thanks for taking the time. I’ll have to process what you’re saying and consider it. I wish this was the general tenor of dialogue on the net.
117. G.May: I agree that Dr. Hansen’s expertise provides him authority on the matter. And style-wise, it would be very boring to get into extreme detail on these matters. That written, I don’t buy that his expertise gives him a “pass” at having to provide independent evidence for bold assertions.
Now, something specific:
“it is widely known that the leftist bent is all pervasive in our education system.” Widely known does not mean true. Where is the proof, other than that the “expert” Dr. Hansen says it is? This seems like a doctrine of faith, rather than an exercise in critical thinking.
Thanks for a fun ride everyone.
Engineers who emigrated from the former Soviet Union and its satellites to the US are among the ruggedest individualists I have met. How they ever coped with Communism deserves a book.
116 G May . . . So sorry. i was relying on the minority leader’s characterization . . . perhaps you remember John “The Flaccid” Boehner’s words . . . “Two nights ago, the president said, ‘We haven’t seen a budget yet out of the Republicans.’ Well, that’s not true, because here it is, Mr. President … Today, we’re introducing a detailed ‘Road to Recovery’ plan and our plan curbs spending, creates jobs, and cuts taxes while controlling the debt.”
Did you catch that? ” . . . DETAILED Road to Recovery plan . . . ”
I should have been listening to VDH AFTER the fact – you know, when it needed to be spun out of its pathetic and embarrassing spiral -rather than take Boehner at his word during the fact.
Don’t you people get tired of setting aside your principles in order to defend idiots? (What am I saying . . . I’m on PJM!)
AB123 (#121): You wrote, ““it is widely known that the leftist bent is all pervasive in our education system.” Widely known does not mean true. Where is the proof, other than that the “expert” Dr. Hansen says it is? This seems like a doctrine of faith, rather than an exercise in critical thinking.”
I can verify Dr. Hanson’s observations about the leftist orientation of our academic institutions, from the following perspective: I have taught in the public schools, and have been both an instructor and a recent student at the university level. The following observations are of course my own, but have been corroborated by others over the years.
While there are exceptions, primary and secondary education as a career field tend to draw more liberals than conservatives. This would not in itself be a bad thing, except that our public education system has become more and more ideological over the past two to three decades. Teachers are now being allowed or even encouraged to take “social justice” positions by their administrators, by government policy, and by schools of education. In some schools, this took the form of advocating openly for Barack Obama in the last election cycle. In other schools, teachers (even in non-science subjects)are taking sides in the global warming debate. I have seen both happen with my own eyes. What do these positions have to do with teaching the “3 R’s”? I have also heard of schools “taking a position” on things like gay marriage, with children as young as the primary grades. The reasons for this trend are arguable and many, but one possible reason is that education is a career field dominated by women, and therefore by “compassionate” values, and a nanny state mentality.
At the university level, I am studying for a second Masters (my first was in biochemistry), in history. Perhaps I am engaging in hyperbole, but I have never been around so many post-modernists, radical leftists, Marxists, extreme feminists, and other species of the left, as I have been in this program. Not a single faculty member self-identifies as a conservative, not one – while many conspicuously mention their “progressive” credentials. I had one historian try to insert global warming propaganda into his course on American history!
He planned to show “An Inconvenient Truth” but did not plan to show the opposing (conservative) point of view. Where I come from, that’s not called scholarship but indoctrination. Another bit of evidence about political orientation lies in the textbooks chosen by the faculty; prominent among them were books by Eric Hobsbaum, the noted Marxist historian. No one to my knowledge presented the opposite point of view, there was no ideological balance at all. A last thread of evidence lies in the fact that whenever the Middle East came up, the faculty took pains to criticize Israel, but excused violence, terrorism, torture by the Arabic/Islamic world – or failed to mention it at all.
The foregoing adds up to a leftist bias in the academy, public school as well as the university/college environment.
Ab123 (#111): You wrote, “What I want to see is some sort of comprehensive study by an independent observer that demonstrates consistent “liberal bias” in major news organizations.”
You are a liberal, correct? Regarding liberal left bias in the mainstream media, have you considered that because of your political orientation, you may be blind to the bias to which we are referring?
To turn this on its head, it is probably fair to state that business is a more conservative environment than much of the media. I would not expect most conservatives to feel ill-at-ease in such an environment, or even to notice whatever intellectual bias exists. Why? Because many conservatives feel at home there and share those values.
Returning to the media, conservatives are awash in liberal-left news and information all day long, coming from the daily newspapers (NY Times, Chicago Tribune, etc.) and newsweekies (Time, Newsweek) and other periodicals (Men’s Health magazine ran an endorsement of Obama; Men’s Health!), and many network news programs (NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, PBS). The sole exceptions are talk radio, one or two business publications and newspapers (WSJ, IBD), and Fox News; that’s it.
I am conservative, and I can tell within seconds whether I am watching a conservative outlet (of the ones listed) or reading a conservative publication, versus one of the vast numbers of liberal outlets – without reference to the channel or title! It’s not that I am somehow special, it is simply that the editorial positions of liberal outlets are so reliably of the political left, that I recognize them immediately. They are nothing if not predictable.
Since liberals are generally more likely to be found in the big city, and conservatives in the country, another way to imagine this is to go visit a small, conservative town sometime. As a liberal, you will probably immediately notice a contrast with your cultural values, just as someone from that town might feel “out of water” in a liberal big-city.
Ok, enough of that line of thought. You want hard data on the liberal bias in the mainstream media? Go visit Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center on the internet. The MRC has done a ton of very rigorous work collecting and analyzing the content of television shows, magazines and newspapers, and other media outlets. The proof you seek is there.