A version of this post originally ran 12 November 2014, but given the events in Missouri, Yale, and elsewhere, it is time to up the payload.
What happens when you discover you have cancer? Right: you kill it. Poison it, radiate it, cut it out. Make it dead. Terminate it with extreme prejudice.
If you don’t act, what happens?
Right: the cancer grows. It crowds out healthy cells, choking the life out of them. The cancer weakens then destroys its host. But in causing the death of its host, the malignancy eventually kills itself too. If the cancer could think, which of course it cannot, it would, as it gazed contemptuously at the rotting corpse which surrounds it, take pleasure in being the last thing standing. Cancer is evil.
I of course should have checked my white privilege and led this story with a Trigger Warning in case a college professor or her student accidentally read it and became traumatized for life. Too late.
Trigger Warnings are a farce, a contemptible asinine idiotic burlesque. Anybody who is not insane knows this—and that is still most of us. But our knowing this, our laughter and our ridicule, and our exposing every form of nonsense created by universities, is not stopping the cancer from spreading.
Infected professors and students are successfully corrupting or purging healthy cells from university bodies. And the cancer is violent. Mobs of students, as their approving radical minders sit watching, charge stages or quads and chase away the uninfected in order to protect their corroded ears from Truth, which is the only medicine known to work. Professors and administrators, their minds ravaged by disease, ban Truth via speech codes and help raging students find targets.
Every cancer has a cause, and in this case the carcinogen was and is Equality. Never was there a more pernicious and malevolent idea. It was Equality that inspired the diversity quota system in hiring professors, which directly led to the creation of “Studies” departments staffed by representative members of Grievance Groups. Administrators thought this form of appeasement would isolate the cancer, keep it in plain view so that it could be controlled.
Any doctor could have told them cancers don’t work that way. It wasn’t long before the infection spread to other departments and to the creation of multifarious budget-hungry Offices of Diversity and Indignation. Then came diversity quotas for the students themselves.
Then came the rigorous enforcement of ideology.
All pretense that universities are places to study Truth, Beauty, The Good, What Is Best For Man have now been abandoned, except (partially) in so-called STEM fields, where students find false refuge in believing the answer to every question is “Science!” But we need only say “Global Warming” or “Amygdala” to know that the rot has infected these redoubts as well.
So much for the disease; the crime, really. Truth as a cure won’t work at this late stage. Something more radical is needed before the effects spread to the entire culture and destroy it.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the charge is Corrupting the Youth and I ask for a verdict of guilty.
If we are save our young from becoming temperamental sniveling thumb-sucking snot-nosed molly-coddled tantrum-throwing ignorant know-nothing cowardly narcissistic blood-lusting brats, we must eliminate their exposure to grasping avaricious hateful lazy gossiping caustic vindictive grievance-mongering race-bating sex-obsessed privileged cultural leech professors and administrators.
Since there isn’t enough hemlock to go around, nuking the cancer from orbit will have to do (though kinetic weapons would make a cheap alternative). It’s the only way to be sure.
I’m guessing it’s not a coincidence this is the day after Veteren’s Day. Ever wonder why we celebrate Veteran’s day at all? I suppose we wouldn’t if many vets weren’t armed, fearless and undeterred by social status of the speaker. Remember when the War Memorial was “closed”? Did a barricade stop them? NO! We need more of this kind of reaction.
Also, I blame parents who send their kids to public schools and then pay for universities to further teach their kids that the world is designed to coddle them and all violations of this are intolerable. This, more than anything else, leads to violence of all kinds when Junior discovers the world really doesn’t care about his tiny little hurt feelings. Parents, if are reading and have engaged in this behaviour, why are you not stopping this by cutting the purse strings? Why do you pay to have your children indoctrinated? I would like to understand this behaviour.
The wee ones begin their indoctrination as early as kindergarten, and in some places, pre-k, courtesy of tax dollars.
You might find this interesting and/or depressing. I was walking across ASU’s campus yesterday and saw a calendar of “culture and heritage celebrations” for the current school year:
https://twitter.com/joeclarknet/status/532298278029631489
All,
Apropos:
More at the link. Submit. Or else.
It’s a pretty thin line between the elitist desire to protect others from the ills of the world that they alone are prepared to handle, and a totalitarian regime.
If there is one thing many liberals just don’t get about conservatives is that “we don’t need or want your stinkin’ protection”.
It is so ironic (or a paradox?) that these institutions simultaneously claim they excel at teaching critical thinking to students and then routinely engage in acts like this (or bowing to the banning of certain commencement speakers).
If the legend is true, then these institutions would be leading the charge against these type of shenanigans. The unfortunate truth is that there is a great deal of hypocrisy from those who claim themselves to be tolerant of other views. This is a dangerous statement to make, because you get called out pretty quickly. Are you tolerant of intolerant views? Are you tolerant of the views of sex offenders? Etc.
Mostly it comes down to people are tolerant of views just like theirs, and a few selected and approved by the tribe others. Social norms is just another name for suppression of selected views. My guess is the drive to erase the N word from history accomplishes nothing other than allowing a few suffering from a bad case of white guilt to find absolution through action. The underlying issues remain unchanged.
Symptoms of a far greater disease.
Ref: Henry Kissinger’s latest book:
WORLD ORDER.
They say generals always re-fight the previous war, and the same is true of Justice Warriors.
“Made to feel unsafe“? The Incomparable Marge was made to feel unsafe while walking between 3000 screaming, hate-filled bigots on the 16th St. Viaduct who were incensed by the thought of black families purchasing a house. (In the case in point a black veteran using his GI Bill money.)
“Were hurt“? Hurt is the Jesuit priest who was pummeled by that same mob when he strayed within their clutches.
Milwaukee, Wisc., 1967.
Late Modern privileged academics should be accused of “stolen valor” or (to paraphrase the Last True Liberal, Daniel P. Moynihan) accused of “defining ‘unsafe’ down.”
“Social Justice” was a phrase coined by the Catholic Church and hijacked by Caesar, who promptly shucked the subsidiarity that was such an important component of it.
After 40 years, I am finally getting around to reading C. S. Lewis’s “That Hideous Strength”.
Universities are NOT the source of Evil.
Universities are, however, Evil’s source of “useful idiots”.
Loved the hemlock reference. Do you think anyone studying history, philosophy, (or really, just studying at all) at a modern university would have the slightest notion as to that Greek practice?
Sheri:
“This, more than anything else, leads to violence of all kinds when Junior discovers the world really doesn’t care about his tiny little hurt feelings.”
But, here in California, all three of our state governmental branches and many cities and counties are doing all they can to make sure that little Junior isn’t exposed to a world that really doesn’t care about his tiny little hurt feelings. I can’t hire anyone without posting to a variety of locations and we must tap dance, in many cases, to hire the most talented or skilled individual if we can do so at all. I must be able to show why a candidate’s criminal record (which I can’t get until he or she is already in the hiring process – I can’t use it in a prequalification process) would endanger my employees or the public or that the position SPECIFICALLY would involve areas where the crime was pertinent (I can DQ a CFO candidate for embezzlement, so long as it wasn’t too long ago). I can’t say “we have a culture in our firm that doesn’t have room for {wife beaters, armed robbers, etc.}.
We have requirements for all manner of xBEs (the x may be small, disadvantaged, local, very small, etc., and the BE is “business enterprise”). We passed a proposition prohibiting race and gender qualifications in state or local contracts, these xBEs are the surrogates for what used to be MBEs and WBEs (minority and women’s business enterprises, everyone pronounced it “meebeeweebee”). An exception in the proposition was made for contracts where federal funding is involved and has race or gender requirements. Through a tortured line of reasoning, we now have six (6) disadvantaged groups. A “statistical” evaluation compared the proportion of awarded contract $ to the population proportion of each group and thence divided the six groups into two subgroups: “RCDBEs” and RNDBEs.” RC is “race conscious” and RN is “race neutral.” My firm is no kind of an xBE and thus we must, in many cases, find xBEs with whom to partner to meet requirements. Now, DBE won’t do, we must exclude RNDBEs and find RCDBEs. Of course, an entire cottage industry of finding and advertising to these has sprung up, and I must often produce evidence that I’ve advertised in them (EVEN IF I’ve already met the quota!), helped them with insurance, etc. in order not to be disqualified. There is also, of course, a spectrum of firms whose ONLY claim to be qualified to do work is “we can help you fulfill your RCDBE quota.
No doubt little Junior can find a home in California upon graduation. By then, the state will simply tell me whom I must hire and what I must pay him or her (or it).
I hope no one with whom we work reads this blog since I’ve used my actual name. I’m sure it would be thrown in my face by plaintiff’s counsel in some wrongful termination (or, “constructive termination” wherein I’m such a reprobate that my poor my victim just couldn’t tolerate it and HAD to quit) lawsuit.
Please excuse typos and grammatical errors, I couldn’t be bothered to proofread.
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@Rob Ryan — That was beautiful in its own painful libertarian way.
The irony of “actions” is that they invariably end up doing the opposite. My son recently took on the role of Senior Patrol Leader for his troop. He immediately ran into the same wall that all of his predecessors had run into. Being a leader in a group with no negative feedback mechanisms available. We are just a month into his 6 month tour and he is pounding his head against the wall.
I tried to point to the liberal angle on this. “How are you going to behave when you are no longer the SPL? Will you be helpful, now that you know how painful it is to keep order?”
“NO!”
Tit for Tat is a very successful strategy in life. Attempting to convince him it isn’t IS A VERY bad idea on my part.
He has just forced me to look in the mirror. $*)@#$ @#$)@# $*(#) $. List of swear words associated with my kid reminding me of fundamental truths..
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First of all, one cannot help but note that the idea behind Trigger Warnings is valid: -if- there are hippies/ atheists among the readers.
What is also obvious, is that Trigger Warnings need their own Trigger Warnings.
The actual danger is that some -ideas- are, in fact, dangerous: so how can you warn about them, without raising them? Simple, add a Trigger Warning that “Here Be A Dangerous Idea”.
That way, the hippies (being Self-Identified Inner-Children) can be legally protected against Negativity: which, as every hippie knows is, Like, A Black Hole In Real Life, Dude!
If you think it bad now, wait until they start holding office and actually gain control. We will then know how many have bizarre thought processes like Melissa Click who begged for media coverage then demanded they leave after they showed up. Interesting times.
John B
Yeah – I finished reading CS Lewis’s “Space Trilogy” after 40 years as well. having read “Out of a Silent Planet” back then. Heck of a story. Almost glad I hadn’t read it then, I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much as now.
ALL:
I would HIGHly recommend “A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War” by Joseph Loconte. I think all here would appreciate his insights. How CS Lewis’s and Tolkien’s experiences in WWI inspired their celebrated works (which were actually quite from most of the works that came out of the “Great War”).
Sheri:
November 11 was originally “celebrated” as Armistice Day, and since that really hadn’t been enough to circumvent, and may have encouraged, WWII; the US changed that date to honor veterans.
Other people are noticing the sorry state of higher ed: Mizzou And Yale Show Why It’s Time To Burn Universities To The Ground.
Nobody reads this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm anymore. Or understands it if they happen to stumble upon it. The foremost among the Seven Commandments of Animalism: “All animals are equal.”
…and some (of course – like media professors) are more equal than others.
As Anon notes, others are noticing:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nation-wimps/201510/where-did-colleges-go-wrong
There are other articles out there on “helicopter parenting” which now apparently extends to getting your “child” into graduate school and a job. Parents go along to job interviews with their children. Society is being crippled in ways that are going to make life very painful for these adults who remained children emotionally. Parents do them no favor. (I’m still hard pressed to believe that parents even love their children and I am not alone in this belief.)
Not all colleges have turned into frightened little jellyfish:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/09/while-yale-students-seek-safe-spaces-u-oklahoma-professor-wants-campus-carry/
JB(), Bingo!
I read the trilogy 40 years ago as well. Perelandra was most peculiar of the three. I’ve forgotten so much of them it’s time for a rereading.
Housekeeping:
The “Amygdala” link in the OP goes nowhere.
Sheri,
A few of the underclass who struggle against sociological disadvantages and yet make it through college may eventually be the winners, having learned to succeed without the benefits of elite helicoptering. Not all, but some, if they’re wise…
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Gary
Yeah! I think I stumbled on the opening chapter or 2 of Peralandra – I couldn’t figure it out (what was happening) at the time so didn’t go any further.
(Had a similar problem getting past the opening chapter of Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – had to see the Rock Hudson made-for-TV miniseries before I could read on…Had problems getting past the “Fellowship of the Ring”s opening pages…Had big problems with Clarke’s 2001 last third of the book – had to see Kubrick’s movie before I could figure it out.)
Eventually made it through the LotR series well before the movies came out :: As good as I found Jackson’s movies, in general, his handling of Farimar almost ruined it for me. Either Jackson didn’t “get” Farimar at all, or Jackson just wanted to “beef up” the movie at Farimar’s expense. That part of the movie is still difficult to watch.
Perhaps with the advent of online higher education the so-call institutions of higher learning will be forced by marketplace considerations to offer an education, not political indoctrination. There are, by-the-way, still colleges that are traditional, which don’t despise what “dead white men” have taught us:
St. John’s (Annapolis and Santa Fe); Thomas Aquinas (Calif); Christendom (Va)
and quite a few other Catholic institutions; see
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/TheNewmanGuide/RecommendedColleges.aspx
I’m not sure where C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy entered into the comments (I haven’t read them all), but I did a short piece on two of them (“That Hideous Strength” was not up to”Out of the Silent Planet” or “Perelandra”); see (shameless self-promotion time):
http://rationalcatholic.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-theology-of-science-fiction-ii.html
I see a tab “awaiting moderation”… is this a new policy, or because I put links in?
As I say:
The longer you wait to address the problem,
The more drastic a solution is required to solve it.
Bob K
It’s not you – yesterday’s post created a lot of fiery comments and Briggs just wants to stay ahead (on top) of them = see his news notes at the top
Bob K – Hideous Strength was all about a “college town” and it’s denizens – John B thought it applied to the subject and I agreed it was appropriate for the discussion at hand.
John B’s comment was that Universities while not the “source of evil”, find themselves the useful idiots thereof.
While Hideous could not easily be understood without the other two, I found it more engaging than the other two. (See also my comment about the book by Joseph Loconte)
Thanks for that comment John B(). I see now where the reference to the Space Trilogy entered.
“That Hideous Strength” is a better novel, better in sociological and political color, than the first two; it is weaker as a theological text, which why I like the first two better.
JB(), some Tolkien scholars despise Jackson’s version, especially his glorification of violence. Tolkien strives to limit the war scenes in the books by having his characters pass out or carried away from the battle. In such a titanic struggle, violence is unavoidable, but Tolkien had lost friends and suffered in WWI and had no wish to make war an heroic endeavor.
Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/NationalOffendACollegeStudentDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This vignette is not to far off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcWu0tsiZM#t=16
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