Liberal Groupthink Is Anti-Intellectual (An analysis of liberalism on campus)

Chronicle of Higher Education ^ | 11/12/04 issue | MARK BAUERLEIN

[Republicanprofessor]

Good question. I don't see them linked as he does, or if linked at all.

I think he is trying to say that those who value "the life of the mind" (i.e. liberals) also value "change in the world" (i.e. more to the liberal left).

However, as I think the article proves, this is the unquestioned mindset of the liberals in academe. This same man was shocked when I questioned his Marxist assumptions in a class we co-taught. He still seemed to believe Marxist ideas would work, but that there had to be a better mechanism than communism. But for Marxism to work, there has to be someone forcing others to do distribute their income, work where the state tells them to, etc. I mentioned the fall of the Wall, how bleak life was on the East side of the Berlin wall, but he didn't seem to get it. (The students did, however. But others of them have no conception of the lines people used to wait into buy a few ounces of meat for dinner, etc.) I have a class upcoming on Solzhenitsyn and Shostakovich and repression under Communism, so they'll get the point then. Even the liberals who have to report on Solzhenitsyn.

What I find interesting in his choice of words (written recently, after the election): "change in the world" to me denotes George Bush who is bringing radical change to the world (especially to the Muslim world). I see that it is the conservatives who value "diversity" of thought and the "life of the mind," as proved in this article.

However, I have abandoned hope of arguing with my colleague for a while. It won't go anywhere. Those mind walls are too firmly erected. Retirement....

[headsonpikes]

I think the problem here is the stolen concept 'liberal'.

For these lefty ideologues to descibe themselves as liberal is a perversion of the historical roots of liberalism. They are not liberals - they are Liberals, a mere factional label, largely enjoyed by those who believe im some sort of totalitarianism, the logical antithesis of liberalism.

The only true liberals I meet regularly are right here on FreeRepublic.

[Gefreiter]

R,
It's deplorable that faculty members, who are supposed to be both teaching and seeking to further humankind's knowledge, can make assumptions like you describe.

You have a stronger constitution than I. Like I told gunrunner2 on this thread, politics and the pressure that comes from it was enough to send me packing.

I am heartened that some academics are still willing to stand up to these Marxist philosopher types. You, the man from Smith who was denied tenure, the writer of this Chronicle piece- maybe eventually higher ed can make sense again.

[PhilipFreneau]

>> There's also a draft-dodger factor. Take a look at any given faculty in America. You'll find that many of them got their PhDs in the late '60s. They stayed in school not for intellectual pursuit, but to stay out of the war.

Exactly. Shortly after the Vietnam War ended there were so many PhD's in the soft 'sciences' (Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Political Science, etc.) that quite a few were pumping gas. Many that did not get a University faculty job eventually ended up as one of the Army of Federal and State government Social Workers (recall this was near the beginning of Johnson's disastrous "war on poverty").