I have always been conflicted about intellectuals. On the one hand, it must be a wonderful thing to be recognized as an expert in one’s particular field of intellectual excellence. On the other hand, I recognized that many intellectuals have an overwhelming sense of superiority not only about their field, but a strange sense of self-righteousness about areas far removed from their particular discipline. Many have a belief that they understand so much more than the average person and that the world would be so much better if only they were allowed to direct the fortunes of humanity. All too often, when they have exercised power or influence outside of their specific field, the results have been disastrous. Seldom have they ever admitted their failures (the one exception I can think of is Robert McNamara’s written regrets of his decisions in the Viet Nam war) and in fact, their opinions are still sought and carry weight.

The attached link is an interview with Thomas Sowell, himself an intellectual, as he discusses the rise of intellectuals and their influence in our Republic. They can shape public opinion and policy but as he says, they never have to pay a price for their actions. Mr. Sowell is the type of intellectual who exemplifies what is the best of that title. I hope you enjoy the interview.

You may have to copy the link and put it in your search bar.

Thomas Sowell on the second edition of Intellectuals and Society (youtube.com)

Niall Ferguson is a noted historian and social commentator. In this interview, he discusses and compares the modern-day university with the German universities of the late Weimar Republic and how German universities acted as a recruiting ground for Hitler and the Nazis. He points out that just as the German universities of that time stifled free speech and drove out those who dared to question the direction of the universities, so too today many universities have become merely reflecting pools for those who espouse antisemitism and strict adherence to DEI which is the exact opposite of individual freedom and opportunity.

In the university world today, Jews who were once at the top of the academic food-chain in Germany are now, along with whites and Asians, at the bottom and viewed as the oppressors in much of the West. Antisemitism has a long history of being used by the Left such as when the Soviet Union used it to win over various Arab states.

In the end, unlike many talking heads, Ferguson offers solutions to undo the damage done by the Left at universities; these include but are not limited to excluding government participation in the administration, funding, rules for scholarship and the mountain of reports demanded by the government in return for funding. Money always comes with strings and there is no indication that those strings have done anything except hinder independent thought at the university level.

It is a pleasure to hear such clarity of thought on the subject and a welcome change from the bloviating that we hear every day on the various “news” outlets.

“The Treason of the Intellectuals,” with Niall Ferguson | Uncommon Knowledge (youtube.com)

It is reported that Mae West once said, “the difference between free love and paid sex is that free love is more expensive.”  A wise woman.

In the attached video, Jordan Peterson speaks extemporaneously about what he calls, “the unbelievable technological triumph of birth control.”  We are still trying to make some sense of fallout of that triumph with some of the most conservative options being offered by the radical left.

As he speaks, you realize that the adage, “what is the next question” is again proven to be of value, but he follows his thoughts to their logical ends.

I hope you enjoy this timely and timeless video.

Political movements are always evolving out of necessity. That is because each movement as it gains adherents gains strength and those new adherents have their own ideas of how that movement’s goals should be as they grow. This means that the basic tenants of the movement will gradually be altered, even ignored; the original purity will disappear to be replaced by the internal conflict caused by growth and success. Additionally, if that movement has any success and achieving its’ goals, it will produce new demands/ideas or wither and die.  Life is movement and as Napoleon realized that he needed new wars to stay in power, so to do movements need new goals. If they do not, the bureaucracy of that movement will be out of work. There is no movement that has ever decided to dissolve itself because it has achieved all its’ goals. Thus, new demands and as we can see with the “Progressive” Left, there is no end to causes and wrongs that must be addressed.

The article linked below points out that at a certain point, a movement may grasp onto any excuse to exist. This is amazingly easy for movements on the left as they have no moral guideposts. If one believes that all morality can be found withing oneself, then ten different people will have ten different moral guideposts and who can say which is “right” or “wrong”? In fact, if you are on the left you cannot question any moral guidepost or else you are reactionary, unenlightened, etc. Eventually the lunatic fringe, which exists on both the Left and Right, becomes the driving force and the rest of the movement is dragged along. This means that if you are a moderate on the left, you cannot condemn the most extreme elements of the left and thus you support by your silence, their most crazy, foolish, and ignorant demands.

Thus, the title of the post and article, Has Hitler Won on the Left? The article is by Carl Trueman a professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/12/has-hitler-won-on-the-left

The recent outpouring of support for Hamas across the nation’s universities seems to have caught many people from all classes by surprise.  How is it possible that thousands of what were thought (by many foolish individuals) to be our best and brightest, the future leaders of our nation to openly support an organization that could commit acts unknown in the Western world since the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century?  Were those students somehow cut off from the news services around the world who presented facts, images, and interviews of those who were attacked?  Were they unable to hear leaders from around the world who have seen the images of the rapes, burnings, and butchery from the cameras of the Hamas murderers themselves?  Or, had somehow, the accepted standards of conduct suddenly been rejected by those students as they marched and sounded like the Nazi storm troopers of the mid-1930s?

Suddenly millions of citizens were shocked by those young people, in many cases their very own children marching in support of terrorists, rapists, arsonists and murderers.  They were like the parents who suddenly realized what was being fed to their children during the pandemic as they were able to see on their computers the day-to-day propaganda being pushed by the radicalized teachers in their very schools.  But should they have been surprised?  Weren’t there warning signs for all to see going back for years?

One of the major warning signs was the change in course of the ACLU.  Since its founding over one-hundred years ago, the ACLU has had a zig-zag course of who it supported and who it favored.  The linked article below follows that course up to today’s organization which seems to have a problem with the Bill of Rights.  It is a disappointing charge of course that started well over a decade ago and one which reflects the product the major law schools are putting out today.  It reflects a mind set that is much closer to that of a totalitarian rather than our Founding Fathers and which aims to overturn the very basic concepts of our society.  There is a direct line between the new generation of attorneys and those students who celebrated the slaughter of innocents last month.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/12/what-happened-to-the-aclu

I certainly give credit to this professor for openly stating the many problems that universities face today.  Plus, he points out what has caused those problems and it all centers on hiring the correct personnel. Programs like DEI place race or politics above academic excellence and the result has been the hiring of radicalized individuals who “are predominantly closed-minded, ignorant ad stupid enough to believe that Marxism works despite overwhelming historical”.

He also provides ideas on how the problems of the universities can be fixed. The true first line of defense is the parents of the students; it is their responsibility to investigate the schools where they will send their children.  Before they commit their child to four years, which will significantly determine the course of their child’s life at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars, they need to fulfill their last great significant educational act as parents. A school should not be picked based on the whim of the child, or because it has a great reputation. There are ratings for universities, and they should be used.  Would a diligent parent, for example, send their child off to a university which is poorly rated around freedom of speech, such as Harvard?  What should a rating like that tell anyone about the value of the classes?

Just as the pandemic revealed the problems in our public-school systems, so too we are finding that the same rot is deep within our temples of higher learning.  We must turn the educational system around to survive in a hard and unforgiving world.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/higher-ed-has-become-a-threat-to-america-antisemitism-dei-college-f52bb0b5

Imagine you are a parent, and your bright, young son or daughter wants to become a marine biologist.  Your child has applied to three universities, and you have the financial ability to allow them to attend any of the three that they wish.  You must ask yourself a key question:

Do you want your child to go to a university which has the best professors in their field, or do you want your child to go to a university which intentionally does not seek to hire the best professors but rather only seeks ones which are 67% professional qualified but are a full 33% committed to DEI. Well, what is there to ponder?  Of course, you would prefer the university who refuses to hire the best professors.  Especially in a field such as marine biology where racism is a major problem.

Silly?  Not if your child is thinking of attending Ohio State university.  In the article linked below, the Director of University Policy at the National Association of Scholars states that every search committee must create a “Diversity Faculty Recruitment Report” to be approved by various deans to interview finalists for any position.  Perfect!

You might think that since your child is not going to be taught by the best you will get a substantial break on the out-of-state cost of Ohio State which is about $50,000/year just for room and board.  What a charming and naïve idea!  No, you should pay full ticket so your budding scholar will be exposed to their field by an individual who may have an entirely new theory of astrophysics, engineering, etc., thanks to their adherence to DEI.

Excellence and merit are so yesterday. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-ohio-states-dei-factory-faculty-report-diversity-hiring-cefd804d?page=1

Go to any bookstore (remember those?) and go to the self-improvement section.  It is huge with titles all designed to make you believe you have found the secret of the ages, and you can have it for only $19.95.  Or Google self-help on the internet, and you will find more than 13,000 books listed on eBay, all promising to help you become more successful, confident, etc. Financial freedom, happiness, love, everything you have ever wanted will be yours if you only follow what is written on those sacred pages.  I have known individuals who have shelves filled with those types of books, most of which have not been read cover to cover and which are gathering dust day to day, year to year.

In the video linked below, we hear that most people have lust, not passion in their search for a goal.  That is an important distinction and one that a very successful and secure individual makes time and again. Over 18,000,000 people have heard his words, who knows how many have followed his advice. It really does not matter, for no one can force anyone to accept words of wisdom. But really, if you are one of those individuals who has a library of self-help books, invest a few minutes, and listen to what he has to say. 

Asking A Retired Shipping Billionaire If It Was Worth It – YouTube

Let us be honest: we have a major problems in our public education system. Let us look at some basic data:

1. Nationally, 29% of students read at grade level.
2. Only 26% do math at grade level.
3. In Chicago, only 11% of Blacks and 17% of Hispanic students read at grade level.

Somehow, most of these students pass from year to year until they either drop out or graduate unable to read or do basic math. Amazing. What kind of life awaits them?

Yet there is more:

• In Washington State, while the student population has increased by 3%, the staff has increased by 20%.
• In Massachusetts, the number of students has fallen by 42,000 but the number of staff has increased by 18,000.

What exactly are all those new administrators and teachers doing aside from pushing transgender studies and asking the students if they would like to use ziv, zim or some other meaningless scramble of letters that are proclaimed pronouns. Pronouns that are made up from thin air by ideologues who are only seeking to further their own agendas, regardless of the negative impact on others.

Does anyone other than those who are getting paid by the system believe that we are getting our monies worth? That the children are being prepared for the real world? Do they honestly think at the end of each day that they have contributed to a better world?

The real crime, yes crime, of the system, is that millions of individuals who pass through the system are being cheated and denied an opportunity at living a full life. They graduate unprepared and ill-equipped to get a decent job, to be good parents, and to look forward to a life of increased beauty and ease. They are condemned by the system and their lives that will be harder and less rewarding than necessary. This is a moral failure on the part of those who profit from the system and who accept it.

The attached article should shock you and make you ask who is accountable for the failings of the public school system other than the children themselves.

Low Grade Schools | Frontpage Mag

The other day I was in a liquor store purchasing some liquid refreshment for a celebration and all around the store were signs warning that you had to be at least eighteen to purchase any alcohol.  Not eight years old, or fourteen, but eighteen.  Yet, there are those who walk among us who believe that children eight years old or younger can determine their “true” sex and demand that those children be treated with life altering drugs and operations.

The attached article by Christopher Rufo is shocking to read for he describes the hideous operations which are performed on children by licensed medical doctors. One immediately draws a parallel between those operations and the “war crimes” performed by Nazi doctors on children and adults in the concentration camps from 1940-1945.  Just as shocking and disgusting is the fact that many operations on performed on children who have the least amount of protection in our world, minorities from broken homes in the lowest income brackets.  Where are the advocates for those children whose lives are permanently altered and who will suffer pain for the rest of their lives, all in the name of “trans-genderism”?

I advise you to be prepared to be disgusted and outraged but read the article to fully understand the pain and perversity that some people are capable of inflicting on others.

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Imprimis_Sept_8pg_9-23web.pdf