First let's make it quite clear that in the view of this blog, ALL LIVES MATTER. When people who claim to be trying to stamp out racism start being selective, one suspects they are just trying to earn politically correct brownie points.
The news that students and administrators at a Connecticut, USA, university are ‘boycotting’ the Wesleyan Argus student newspaper for publishing an op-ed that was mildly critical of some aspects of the anti-police-brutality group Black Lives Matter (BLM). Their petition reads: ‘This boycott includes recycling the Argus and demanding [its] funds… be revoked.’ According to the op-ed’s author, Bryan Stascavage, hundreds of papers have already been stolen, some possibly burned or shredded.
Well burning books on a university campus is a bad idea ever since Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451 was published, but burning is not the only way to destroy printed matter available to those involved in the genocide of ideas
Alas, the censorious do not seem to appreciate the irony of composting ideas on a university campus. At Wesleyan College and elsewhere (in the UK and mainland Europe too), 'right on' students (and sometimes administrators and faculty) cry ‘blasphemy!’ and demand the heads of unbelievers whenever and however the politically correct dogma is questioned.
The methods being used by the authoritarian 'left' are downright scary. Protesting against views you disagree with is acceptable. Trying to stop others from encountering views your group disagrees with undermines the rights of free speech and free access to information that are so crucial to liberal democracy. The Book Burners are nothing if not pedantic however and see no irony in identifying themselves as 'liberal' and 'progressive' while trying to suppress the views and ideas of the 'bigots' who oppose them.
Sadly thousands of years of religious conditioning has caused bigotry to bleed into DNA it appears. The lefties or 'liberals' are just as authoritarian and self-righteous, dogmatic and intolerantly narrow minded as any Roman Catholic Inquisitor or a Puritan of the era when heretics were burned at the stake.
The purpose of a school university ought not to be the brainwashing of students into accepting Marxism and political correctness as the universal truths any more than it is to impart the dogmas of Roman Catholicism, Calvinism, Orthodox Christianity, Judaeism or Islam.
The idea that people should be encouraged to develop and express their own ideas, and that it is nothing to do with educational faculties of student bodies to prevent discussion of a person's opinions seems to be totally beyond the comprehension of these fascists. Their attitude equates to: No adults allowed, only silly children who want to be exactly the same as everyone else.
The West failed for decades to stamp out Communist totalitarianism in student communities and we are still paying the price. No wonder that the Kremlin and Beijing think that the West is a spent force.
2 comments:
The problem with the left that any criticism of the "movement" (whatever it may be) undermines the people's "struggle" and "solidarity" in their fight for social, economic justice in their pursuit of global utopia. While Karl Marx was focused mainly on the class struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat, the new left is now concerned with any group that is perceived as being victimized by another "privileged" group--so the "struggle" takes on a bigger scope. Now it's fight for women, blacks, elderly, handicapped, LGBT, animal rights, the environment, endangered species, stopping human-caused global warming, etc., etc. So the critics are labeled homophobes, xenophobes, racist, islamophobes, sexists, heterosexists, speciesists, ableists, ageists, and whatever other absurd term that becomes fashionable, depending on which group is being victimized. Global warming skeptics are called "deniers" and any deviation from the "party line" is not tolerated. I'm reminded of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks after the Russian revolution. What started as a cultural rebellion in 1960s has turned into a repressive orthodoxy that uses "political correctness" and censorship of debates to deal with critics and opponents.
Thanks Alex, my view of the left is that far from being the altuistic social justice warriors who care only about fairness, equality and human rights, they are actually self righteous and selfish individuals who care only about the peer approval and social kudos they can gain by being "seen to care."
Hypocrites, in a single word.
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