Could a "Live and Let Live" philosophy poison our education system, and, ultimately, our society.
Yes...if it is based on a view that all viewpoints are equally good, and produce equal success.
1. There is little debate that higher education is a wholly owned subsidiary of liberalism. This means that a huge and significant captive audience is exposed to a kind of thinking that imperils the American idea, and the American contract. One of the most eloquent exponents of the nature of the peril was University of Chicago philosopher Allan Bloom, who, some 25 years ago, warned that the intellectual relativism that was taking over the academy, and the claim that it represents greater openness, in fact, led to "the closing of the American mind."
2. According to Bloom, traditional liberal education had been founded on a belief in rationality and objective truth, in vigorous and free inquiry, and in the importance of encountering the great ideas and the great books; now, the university, and the culture as a whole, was under the sway of relativistic thinking and rigid political ideology, and this change represents a menace to American democracy.
3. One result of this relativism is identity studies. The problem is not simply a pathological fixation on group identity, but a preoccupation with the historical grievances of certain groups, combined with a virulent hostility to America, which is consistently cast as the villain in the histories of these groups, and of the world at large.
4. A major impetus was the Neo-Marxist philosophers of the Frankfurt School. “The Frankfurt School of philosophers emigrated from Nazi Germany and became dyspeptic critics of American culture. Several landed in Southern California where they were disturbed by the consumer culture and the gospel of relentless cheeriness. Depressive by nature, they focused on the disappointments and venality that surrounded them and how unnecessary it all was. It could be paradise, Theodor Adorno complained, but it was only California.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/opinion/17wed4.html
a. The Frankfurt School propagated a revisionistic Neo-Marxist interpretation of Western culture called Critical Theory, an aggressive promotion of a radical left-wing socio/political agenda. In essence, Critical Theory was a comprehensive and unrelenting assault on the values and institutions of Western civilization.
b. Thus, there is a straight line from the Frankfurt School to the formation in many colleges and universities of programs, and departments of African-American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, Peace Studies, and LGBT (Lesbian/Gay/Bi-sexual/Transgender) Studies. Breitbart, "Righteous Indignation.
c. Waiting to ally themselves with the Frankfurt School Marxists were the Americans who had accepted the Wilson/TR synthesis of Hegel and Marx. And a welcoming ‘nest’ was provided for these vipers by the Columbia University Sociology department. And, the perfect storm: America was up for helping scholars fleeing from Germany. The guy in charge of this was Edward R. Murrow, the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars. Ibid.
5. The ideas that have increasingly dominated American universities since the sixties have flowed from the graduates out into the larger society.
a. The radicals of the sixties did not remain within the universities…They realized that the apocalypse never materialized. “…they were dropping off into environmentalism and consumerism and fatalism…I watched many of my old comrades apply to graduate school in universities they had failed to burn down, so they could get advanced degrees and spread the ideas that had been discredited in the streets under an academic cover.” Collier and Horowitz, “Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About The Sixties,” p. 294-295.
b.“The radicals were not likely to go into business or the conventional practice of the professions. They were part of the chattering class, talkers interested in policy, politics, culture. They went into politics, print and electronic journalism, church bureaucracies, foundation staffs, Hollywood careers, public interest organizations, anywhere attitudes and opinions could be influenced. And they are exerting influence.”
Robert H. Bork, “Slouching Toward Gomorrah,” p. 51
c. “[The radicals] did not go away or change their minds; the New Left shattered into a multitude of single-issue groups. We now have, to name a few, radical feminists, black extremists, animal rights groups, radical environmentalists, activist homosexual organizations, multiculturalists, organizations such as People for the American Way, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), the National Organization for Women (NOW), and Planned Parenthood.” Ibid p. 53
And these individuals, this philosophy, is infecting the students, the captive audience, in almost every college and university in the nation.
It is no wonder that individuals who have benefited from the wealth of this nation, been educated at the finest institutions of higher learning, say things like:
"For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I’m Really Proud of My Country”
Yes...if it is based on a view that all viewpoints are equally good, and produce equal success.
1. There is little debate that higher education is a wholly owned subsidiary of liberalism. This means that a huge and significant captive audience is exposed to a kind of thinking that imperils the American idea, and the American contract. One of the most eloquent exponents of the nature of the peril was University of Chicago philosopher Allan Bloom, who, some 25 years ago, warned that the intellectual relativism that was taking over the academy, and the claim that it represents greater openness, in fact, led to "the closing of the American mind."
2. According to Bloom, traditional liberal education had been founded on a belief in rationality and objective truth, in vigorous and free inquiry, and in the importance of encountering the great ideas and the great books; now, the university, and the culture as a whole, was under the sway of relativistic thinking and rigid political ideology, and this change represents a menace to American democracy.
3. One result of this relativism is identity studies. The problem is not simply a pathological fixation on group identity, but a preoccupation with the historical grievances of certain groups, combined with a virulent hostility to America, which is consistently cast as the villain in the histories of these groups, and of the world at large.
4. A major impetus was the Neo-Marxist philosophers of the Frankfurt School. “The Frankfurt School of philosophers emigrated from Nazi Germany and became dyspeptic critics of American culture. Several landed in Southern California where they were disturbed by the consumer culture and the gospel of relentless cheeriness. Depressive by nature, they focused on the disappointments and venality that surrounded them and how unnecessary it all was. It could be paradise, Theodor Adorno complained, but it was only California.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/opinion/17wed4.html
a. The Frankfurt School propagated a revisionistic Neo-Marxist interpretation of Western culture called Critical Theory, an aggressive promotion of a radical left-wing socio/political agenda. In essence, Critical Theory was a comprehensive and unrelenting assault on the values and institutions of Western civilization.
b. Thus, there is a straight line from the Frankfurt School to the formation in many colleges and universities of programs, and departments of African-American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, Peace Studies, and LGBT (Lesbian/Gay/Bi-sexual/Transgender) Studies. Breitbart, "Righteous Indignation.
c. Waiting to ally themselves with the Frankfurt School Marxists were the Americans who had accepted the Wilson/TR synthesis of Hegel and Marx. And a welcoming ‘nest’ was provided for these vipers by the Columbia University Sociology department. And, the perfect storm: America was up for helping scholars fleeing from Germany. The guy in charge of this was Edward R. Murrow, the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars. Ibid.
5. The ideas that have increasingly dominated American universities since the sixties have flowed from the graduates out into the larger society.
a. The radicals of the sixties did not remain within the universities…They realized that the apocalypse never materialized. “…they were dropping off into environmentalism and consumerism and fatalism…I watched many of my old comrades apply to graduate school in universities they had failed to burn down, so they could get advanced degrees and spread the ideas that had been discredited in the streets under an academic cover.” Collier and Horowitz, “Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About The Sixties,” p. 294-295.
b.“The radicals were not likely to go into business or the conventional practice of the professions. They were part of the chattering class, talkers interested in policy, politics, culture. They went into politics, print and electronic journalism, church bureaucracies, foundation staffs, Hollywood careers, public interest organizations, anywhere attitudes and opinions could be influenced. And they are exerting influence.”
Robert H. Bork, “Slouching Toward Gomorrah,” p. 51
c. “[The radicals] did not go away or change their minds; the New Left shattered into a multitude of single-issue groups. We now have, to name a few, radical feminists, black extremists, animal rights groups, radical environmentalists, activist homosexual organizations, multiculturalists, organizations such as People for the American Way, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), the National Organization for Women (NOW), and Planned Parenthood.” Ibid p. 53
And these individuals, this philosophy, is infecting the students, the captive audience, in almost every college and university in the nation.
It is no wonder that individuals who have benefited from the wealth of this nation, been educated at the finest institutions of higher learning, say things like:
"For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I’m Really Proud of My Country”
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