How Liberalism Lost its Mind.

I listened to a podcast a while back about the weakening of liberalism in the west as a distinguished guest speaker weighed in on the problem of where it all went wrong.

It was food for thought all right.

And it’s a very good question, while we know what’s wrong with liberalism now how did it get to the place where it’s at?

Well it all began in the mind with the transformation of education in the sixties and escalated from there.

It was at that time when the mission of higher education underwent a dramatic shift; away from one to broaden the mind to one to cap it, and deceptively restructure society. A move that saw education politicized; read compromised.

The process got off the ground when the social sciences colonized all academic disciplines; from the arts, to the sciences to law.

And so here we are.

It’s the main reason the left has thrown its lot in with government and why they believe they are the most important people in society.

They are emboldened, there’s nothing like having the power of the state on their side it gives them license for one thing.

The speaker brings up a lot of other salient points.

He compares the situation today with that of the seventies where people were forced out of academia for holding incorrect opinions. Now as then Freedom of Speech is also threatened at every turn under the guise of hate speech; which is just censorship by another name.

The argument was also a little different then, when students complained that allowing others Freedom of Speech threatened their own Freedom of Speech; okay so you can’t beat that logic!

We’ve lost track of the idea of what education is supposed to be. It’s not just about acquiring information and skill; or earning a living even, it is meant to inform the mind for life; as well as instill values and character.

It is meant to build up character not to be used as a tool to undermine it; now look around you and what do you see? Its rotten fruits.

Intellectual virtue has been replaced by wonky intellectual dogma.

People aren’t interested in defending their values, mostly because they can’t; could be because they know at some level they off, so all that remains is to dismiss and name-call those who don’t want to go along with it.

Intellectual dishonesty is at the heart of it.

Words have no meaning as they supposedly evolve at such a rate that no one can keep up.
In addition they used as weapons which you could say is diabolical.

Leftists are not only proud of the confusion they create they flaunt it with pride and pass it off as intellectualism.

They miss the irony, since academia is corrupt and illogical to the core; they inhabit a fools’ paradise.

I remember a debate I tuned into where one member of the team was some academic philosopher. It was reminiscent of a scene straight out of the Mad-hatter’s Tea party; and I’m not kidding.

I can’t even remember what it was they were arguing about, it was that forgettable; suffice to say; so many words spent on nothing of substance.

I don’t know why his opponent bothered he just couldn’t win against that level of insanity.

In fact the philosopher wrapped up the show with the words ‘that doesn’t mean what you think it means’ So arguing at cross purposes is a win now?

That was Twilight Zone stuff all right.

And yes the other guy was a philosopher as well, but from a different mode. I suspect Marxist or Hegelian Dialectics was at work regardless it was a pile of steaming crap.

It’s worthwhile to remember that the ability to reason is one of the things that separate humans from beasts; so when that goes….they done for.

Then there’s the elevation of mediocrity that leads to the drop in standards, the point being standards are necessary to maintain a standard, people aren’t equally capable; like it or not.

Nor should they be forced to be.

The professor stressed a point that will be difficult for many liberals to stomach; he differentiated between longer and higher education saying the former is necessary because times are more complex; so this applies to the majority of people.

Higher education on the other hand should be only for those with ability and moral aptitude.

He admits throwing open the doors of higher education to everybody was a huge mistake.

Here are some other interesting observations;

Like he says; progressives should always ask themselves are we on the right track or are we just bullshitting ourselves.

They don’t blink an eye now they just forge ahead with the latest trend that takes their fancy.

They insist on looking at the world a certain way because they derive some or other benefit from it.

It used to be all about diverse ideas no longer it’s all about persuasion or getting people to change their minds, everybody has to agree.

That’s the point of things like sensitivity training where people have to become advocates of certain ideas.

As Nicholas Capaldi notes the moral purpose of higher education has been lost and replaced by social reform so the entire system is corrupt.

Funding from government institutions and special interest groups lead some academics to entertain every absurd idea to justify their existence and keep the money rolling in.

No wonder they want to silence their critics.

One false premise is that man is born if not perfect than good, and the other that education, that is the learning of facts, is the panacea to the problems of the human condition; it’s not.

The course of human history proves otherwise.

It’s not enough to lead decent, fulfilling lives anymore; everybody wants to transform the world; to be a revolutionary, to be a rebel.

The institutions are too corrupt to think the situation can ever be reversed for the better; they are just too far gone.

In this case so are the minds they have shaped.