Friday, February 28, 2014

Matt 15:14 University blindness

Matt 15:14 KJV  Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

University blind led by blind
From first to second defenestration of Prague
There is a parallel between the meanderings of current denizens of our universities and those of first century Judaism. The moral confusion of the led is a reflection of the moral confusion of their leaders.
That great prophet of the last century, William F. Buckley, warned us of the cluelessness of American tertiary education in his God and Man at Yale (God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom': William F. Buckley: 9780895266927: Amazon.com: Books http://amzn.to/1mKwEne ). The "big blog daddies" at PowerLine have provided updates using their alma mater as an example. The latest is included below.
The softening of the penalties for "physical action" in our elite universities over the last half century is reminiscent of the softening of penalties for city leader backwardness during the two centuries of European religious wars (Defenestrations of Prague - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://bit.ly/Nc0cu6 ). There was a literal softer landing toward the end of those conflicts. A garbage heap, rather that pikes. We may have some hope from the parallel. Perhaps a new era is at hand.

Threats of “physical action” at Dartmouth, then and now [UPDATED TWICE]
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 26, 2014 BY PAUL MIRENGOFF IN DARTMOUTH
PowerLine post http://bit.ly/1fvPMLO
A collection of Dartmouth students who describe themselves as “Concerned Asian, Black, Latin@, Native, Undocumented, Queer, and Differently-Abled students” have threatened “physical action” if the administrators do not respond to their list of demands. The list of demands is lengthy. Here are some of them:
Incorporate into each department at LEAST one queer studies class.
Commit multi-millions of dollars to increase faculty and staff of color in all departments, and create a “professor of color” lecture series.
Require ALL professors to be trained in “cultural competency” and the “importance of social justice in their day to day work.”
Ask faculty to use preferred gender pronouns. Allow body and gender self-determination.
Provide gender-neutral housing to all students. Provide gender-specific AND gender-neutral bathrooms in EVERY BUILDING on campus.
Provide free legal assistance and financial aid for undocumented students to “better understand each of their unique legal statuses.”
Require that every Dartmouth student be taught and made aware that the land they reside on is Abenaki homeland.
All male-female checkboxes should be replaced with write-in boxes to make forms, surveys, and applications more inclusive for trans, two-spirit, agender, gender-nonconforming and genderqueer folks campus-wide.
The students say that Dartmouth must commit to meeting these demands by March 24, 2014. Otherwise “physical action” will ensue.
I was once part of a group of Dartmouth students that threatened (and engaged in) physical action if the administration did not respond to a demand. The physical action was taking over Parkhurst Hall, the main administration building. The demand was ending ROTC at Dartmouth.
Our demand was probably more pernicious than the entire laundry list presented by the “Concerned Asian, Black, Latin@, Native, Undocumented, Queer, and Differently-Abled students.” But at least it had the virtue of being sane.
The administration’s response to our demand made me secretly proud of Dartmouth even at the time. The College obtained a court injunction against the building-takeover. When we violated the injunction, it gave us time to reconsider (which was never going to happen). Then it called in the national guard to remove us (through physical action).
Having violated the injunction, we were in contempt of court. This meant that our sentence was pretty much at the discretion of the court. It sentenced us to 30 days in jail, just enough time for law abiding Dartmouth students to finish their trimester course work without further interference from our lot.
That course work did not include a queer studies class or instruction that we were all squatting on the Abenaki homeland.
How will the current Dartmouth administration respond to the “physical action,” if any, of the current incarnation of campus rads? We’ll see. My guess is that if the students take over a building, Dartmouth will serve them snacks.
STEVE adds: One thing I have discovered to my dismay during my year here at Colorado is that the gender-extremism is much worse than I imagined it could be.  There is virtually no resistance to it from administrators who probably–or at least should–know better.  It is an iron law of extremists that if they meet no resistance, they’ll keep going.  The average administrator reminds me of the stories of Lyndon Johnson, asking uncomprehendingly about North Vietnam, “What does Ho want?”, not realizing that what Ho wanted was to defeat the United States and conquer the whole of Vietnam.  Johnson kept thinking Ho was like a ward-heeling pol who could be bought off with a few more post offices.  The cravenness of college administrators treat campus extremists the same way.
Instead, Dartmouth and other colleges should follow the example of the University of Chicago back in the 1960s, which simply expelled the first students who conducted sit-ins and other “direct action.”  Problem solved.
UPDATE: I can’t say for certain, but it may be that the story about “physical action” at Dartmouth, first reported on The College Fix, is satire. I certainly hope so.
If the story is satire, it is very cleverly done, and it fooled a number of good bloggers including at NRO, where I first picked up the story. Nonetheless, satire or not, I shouldn’t have written this post without checking more carefully.
SECOND UPDATE: According to the “D” — Dartmouth’s student-run newspaper — more than 200 students and faculty met yesterday to discuss the “physical action” demands. Several students said that they were among the authors of the document. Sadly, then, it looks for now like this was not satire, at least as the word is commonly understood.

Related Notes [Retained from my Clearly / EverNote copy of article. Mike Adams is must read concerning leftie campus capers.]
Disorderly Conduct Mike Adams | Apr 26, 2013 Author's Note: check out www.letterstoayoungprogressive.com for a free chapter of my latest book. Students and their parents need to be warned about the lat...
A Queer Need for Rejection Dec 05, 2012 Click if you like this column! Whenever I write about the issue of First Amendment Freedom of Association, I defend the right of campus groups, not government ad...

I2C 140228a aa Mat 15v14 University blindness / I2C / 140228 0910 / Matt 15:14 University blind led by blind / From first to second defenestration of Prague