The Middlebury College Inquisition
Conservatives are upset that Middlebury College has cancelled a conservative speaker, allegedly out of concern for safety. The safety angle shows how utterly degradingly stupid college officials have become. Of course, any rational person despises Middlebury for this and a thousand other crimes. But, let us take a breath and reflect.
Middlebury is simply enforcing academic Orthodoxy. The mistake is not the decision to silence a point of view they regard as evil--that is the fantasy of Liberalism in which no Christian can seriously believe. What, we should allow Sade to be taught to our children? Diversity of opinion is not a good thing per se but only useful as a sort of Darwinian strategy to keep sensible alternatives alive and in the discussion. To permit evil to be taught is to defend evil. Middlebury's more basic errors lie at the root of everything taught (except business and some of the sciences) in colleges and universities. The Academy is Christophobic, hates the classical tradition, and rejects a just social order as understood by our ancestors. They are the enemy. But, just as serious an error is being committed by American conservatives and Christians who continue to hope against hope that there is something good that can come out of "higher" "education."
just as serious an error is being committed by American conservatives and Christians who continue to hope against hope that there is something good that can come out of “higher” “education.”
I thought this truth deserved repeating. In one long lifetime education has moved from crippled to incapacitated. Conservatives and Christians of my generation would do well to give a “do not resuscitate” directive for their posterity!
I’m shocked that there was anyone in that fever swamp at Middlebury who invited Professor Legutko in the first place. Apparently, some clump of snowflakes discovered that he had spoken critically of multiculturalism, feminism and homosexuality; they couldn’t accept anyone who would challenge these three pillars of the modern Academy.
These colleges are financed, at root, by monies donated a long time ago. What happens if a descendant of a donor sues them for misuse of funds donated with a named purpose, e.g. scholarships for the children of protestant pastors, or a chair endowed for the teaching of Christianity? All these places have reneged completely on the principles of their founders.