Althouse: "Parents can rid campuses of communists..."

April 25, 2011

"Parents can rid campuses of communists..."

"... who cloak themselves in 'academic freedom.'"

37 comments:

traditionalguy said...: There is some vacant room at GITMO. But then who will be left to live in Madison?; 4/25/11, 11:13 PM
Ralph L said...: Why not teach your children the truth about Communism and Socialism when they're in high school--and then let them pay their own way if they go over to the dark side?; 4/25/11, 11:15 PM
David said...: Hate to tell you, trad, but the problem on campus is fascists these days, not communists. No way they want the people to have power, slogans notwithstanding. They want power for the academics, the government and shadow government "elite," the bureaucrats (domestic and international.) They are deeply uninterested in nationalizing the means of production, since a properly foolish and docile capitalist class funds all they do.

They do keep a few communists around as pets, but these have been well domesticated.; 4/25/11, 11:18 PM
Palladian said...: "Hate to tell you, trad, but the problem on campus is fascists these days, not communists."

Communism/Socialism is the head and Fascism is the tip of the tail of the ouroboros. Turn, turn, turn, world without end.; 4/25/11, 11:23 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/11, 11:24 PM
Karl said...: I'm kinda a reactionary dude. Can't help that as my formerly liberal parents pushed all kinds of socialist workers party bullshit down my gullet during my formative years.

I loved my lefty college professors. I could easily pander to their prejudices to get the grade I was after. All it took was a few minutes perusing the crap taped to their office doors. Write the blue book to reflect said crap - easy A.

The few conservative profs I had (never self-identifying in an obvious manner) were a much tougher nut to crack. I recall spending way too much time reading up on why chert makes concrete shity for what I thought would be am easy BOK geology tip in.; 4/25/11, 11:30 PM
traditionalguy said...: David...I agree. The nationally selected private business is the fascist's dream. Mass borrowing is the only safe economic model until inflation kills it. Meanwhile the capital is hostage to the Czars'permits, regulation and slow strangulation. All private business must go along to get along or else it will be put out of business. I wonder if The Donald's experiences have destined him to be the man to deal with this by telling us the simple truths about Obama that will bring him down.; 4/25/11, 11:31 PM
Revenant said...: I loved my lefty college professors. I could easily pander to their prejudices to get the grade I was after.

Yep. I was surprised how many of my fellow students wanted to argue with them -- or even write papers that argued with them.

Kids, don't ever fall victim to that old bullshit line about how professors like to see people show courage in their convictions. What professors want is to hear how brilliant and insightful they are.; 4/25/11, 11:58 PM
reader_iam said...: Well, no, actually they can't.

They can raise their children to not be afraid to be, um, irritating individuals, however. Better yet if those so-raised children enter college with a surprising number of AP credits--you know, so they can *focus* on not just the credits they'll have left to accomplish, but also on being irritating, as necessary (but ONLY as necessary; you know, when people insist by quite literally begging for it, which, you know, those people *don't* actually **have** to do).; 4/26/11, 12:10 AM
Anonymous said...: No, they keep showing up, like ants.

http://tinyurl.com/3wgrjsd; 4/26/11, 12:23 AM
reader_iam said...: Kids, don't ever fall victim to that old bullshit line about how professors like to see people show courage in their convictions.

Likewise, don't fall victim to that bullshit line that no professor, anywhere, likes to see people show courage in their conviction.

[Avoid bullshit lines handed down by anyone, is what I'd say. ***Think for yourself.*** Which thing--which think!--includes making judgments by your very own self, no matter who else be damned.]

What professors want is to hear how brilliant and insightful they are.

Some do, some don't. Hell, even most do and some few don't. Regardless, the correlation with regard to liking "to see people show courage in their convictions" is tenuous when writ so large, especially when wielded by paintbrush rather than fountain pen.

For that reason, I repeat this:

[Avoid bullshit lines handed down by anyone, is what I'd say. ***Think for yourself.*** Which thing--which think!--includes making judgments by your very own self, no matter who else be damned.]; 4/26/11, 12:25 AM
Ralph L said...: I went to college with several AP chem/math credits and high enough SAT/ACT to skip freshman English, too. Also went with an unhealthy obsession with GPA (fortunately leaving the HS class rank BS behind), but not much real self-confidence. Fat lot of good a Magnum Cum has done me.; 4/26/11, 12:32 AM
reader_iam said...: Ralph: Yes. There has to be better way. No?; 4/26/11, 12:36 AM
reader_iam said...: Me, I got invited to join a test honors program that would have allowed me to skip my senior year in high school (yet get that diploma, participate in the ceremony and everything!) AND be ahead in college.

I refused, because I thought that maybe, if I stayed where I was, I might get to go to a prom. From this distance in time, I can LOL without all that much rancor directed at various adults with various opinions and even without all *that* much rancor directed at my own younger self. ; )

Half-way through my senior year, I ended up dropping all but one class (in order to maintain eligibility) and spent the time around that one class a) working a job and b) taking classes at the local university, among other things.; 4/26/11, 12:45 AM
reader_iam said...: Also went with an unhealthy obsession with GPA (fortunately leaving the HS class rank BS behind), but not much real self-confidence.

Me, I was so disgusted when I went to college I said to HELL with grades (and I ranked in HS...well, let's just say that despite essentially quitting all classes and abandoning my senior year, I still ended so close to the very top in my class it would amaze, amuse and disgust you, I suspect, as it certainly did me, at the time--

but then, I was so very young and so very foolish then. ; ) )

--

[Also, I never took an AP test in my entire life.

Which is partly why I don't they're such a bad idea, especially much earlier than in late high school.]; 4/26/11, 12:59 AM
reader_iam said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/26/11, 1:09 AM
reader_iam said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/26/11, 1:11 AM
reader_iam said...: but not much real self-confidence

Yeah, that. Get it.

Which thing I'd like to be different for my son, above all else in tandem with:

Avoid bullshit lines handed down by anyone. ***Think for yourself.*** Which thing--which think!--includes making judgments by your very own self, no matter who else be damned.

Including me. : )

Risky business, that.

; ); 4/26/11, 1:15 AM
Toad Trend said...: @Revenant

"Yep. I was surprised how many of my fellow students wanted to argue with them -- or even write papers that argued with them."

This is the 'think for yourself' approach...use with caution. If you have a red diaper doper baby for a professor, and don't toe the line, that may cost you.

"Kids, don't ever fall victim to that old bullshit line about how professors like to see people show courage in their convictions."

Speech codes on campuses are instituted to blunt students with 'courage'. The PC approach to 'free speech' is alive and well.

"What professors want is to hear how brilliant and insightful they are."

Yes, because the elitist is self-impressed, by design.; 4/26/11, 5:15 AM
Mick said...: Any parent that allows their kids to attend U. of Ill., w/ unrepentent American terrorist William Ayers as a professor, have rocks in their head.
Likewise, anyone who voted for the Usurper Obama (born a British Subject, because his father was a British Subject, and never a US Citizen), who had close association w/ Ayers, has more rocks in their head.; 4/26/11, 5:47 AM
Unknown said...: Since the magazine cover is dated '51, no one can say we weren't warned.

And the Lefties always laugh about the Red Scare. The only scare was that the Lefties might really have been run out of public life in this country.

But when Joe McCarthy happily offered himself up as their one-size-fits-all club to beat down anybody with a legitimate concern, they had an open track.

David said...

Hate to tell you, trad, but the problem on campus is fascists these days, not communists. No way they want the people to have power, slogans notwithstanding. They want power for the academics, the government and shadow government "elite," the bureaucrats (domestic and international.) They are deeply uninterested in nationalizing the means of production, since a properly foolish and docile capitalist class funds all they do.

So what are we doing with the automobile and financial industries, not to mention what's trying to be done with health insurance?

PS Fascism and communism are really the same animal - state capitalism.; 4/26/11, 5:57 AM
KCFleming said...: Actually, communists have rid campuses of parents.

Also gone are dissenting professors, and students who disagree.

Or, in Madison, when they are white hetero males. Sorry, "insufficiently diverse".

The fight's been over for decades; nothin' left now but the shoutin'..; 4/26/11, 6:34 AM
KCFleming said...: For exqample:

"Kansas City (UMKC) sponsored two college courses: Introduction to Labor Studies and Labor Politics and Society, to be taught simultaneously through a video conference between to two campuses.

The Professors are Judy Ancel, Director of Labor Studies at UMKC and Don Giljum, business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers at Ameren UE in St. Louis. (Bonus: he is a member of the Communist Party.)

In the class, the Professors not only advocate the occasional need for violence and industrial sabotage, they outline specific tactics that can be used.

“Violence is necessary… it’s to be used when it’s appropriate… I believe in violent overthrow of bourgeois”"

Video; 4/26/11, 7:14 AM
Scott M said...: Kids, don't ever fall victim to that old bullshit line about how professors like to see people show courage in their convictions. What professors want is to hear how brilliant and insightful they are.

This was the overarching experience I had with my poli sci profs. Especially, unfortunately, the younger ones.; 4/26/11, 7:22 AM
Scott M said...: Fat lot of good a Magnum Cum has done me.

I think I saw this movie title on the pay-per-view grid I have my kids locked out of.; 4/26/11, 7:33 AM
Sofa King said...: Don Giljum, business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers at Ameren UE in St. Louis. (Bonus: he is a member of the Communist Party.)

You know, I was just thinking the other day that perhaps the tragic downfall of unions in America has something to do with their near-total capture by communists and Marxists. How can a communist competently represent the interests of workers in a capitalist workplace?; 4/26/11, 8:38 AM
KCFleming said...: @Sofa King
"How can a communist competently represent the interests of workers in a capitalist workplace?"

They can't.

"Texas has added 165,000 jobs during the last three years while California has lost 1.2 million. California's jobless rate is 12% compared to 8% in Texas.

Fujitsu Frontech, announced that it is abandoning California. "It's the 70th business to leave this year," says California business relocation expert Joe Vranich. "That's an average of 4.7 per week, up from 3.9 a week last year." The Lone Star State was the top destination, with 14 of the 70 moving there..."
WSJ 4/22/11; 4/26/11, 9:00 AM
Econophile said...: I can't imagine a blog being more replete with nonsensical, toxic smug than that one...; 4/26/11, 9:06 AM
Known Unknown said...: I loved my lefty college professors. I could easily pander to their prejudices to get the grade I was after. All it took was a few minutes perusing the crap taped to their office doors. Write the blue book to reflect said crap - easy A.

I once wrote an essay excoriating the racial and gender bias evident in the film Top Gun for the Professor of "Reading Texts" class. He used to have us read Noam Choamsky on the subject of the hegemony of Disney comics

I got an A. It was the easiest class I took at Carnegie Mellon.; 4/26/11, 9:11 AM
William said...: As Commies go, he certainly looks respectable and bourgeoise.....It is said that one should not take financial advice from a man wearing a polyester leisure suit and a fake Rolex. Likewise, the revolution will not come to us through the agency of a man wearing over the calf black socks....Look at this man. Everything he touches turns to boredom and ennui. If one wished to discredit the romanticism of revolution, you couldn't ask for a better spokesman. Ward Churchill with all that faux Apache paraphenilia is the way for a Marxist professor to dress....It is good to see that Marxist fashion accessories, if not Marxist thought, has evolved over time.; 4/26/11, 9:32 AM
Known Unknown said...: To follow up, most of the class did the same as I. They saw through his vapid and convenient brand of socialism.

I hope the kids who experience these indoctrinaires are as 'smart' as we were.; 4/26/11, 10:23 AM
stlgretchen said...: I've seen the comments about the communist labor leader and professor teaching a labor class through the University of Missouri.

Here is the latest on the OTHER professor based in Kansas City and the reason she opposes RTW. Interestingly enough, she doesn't mention anything about her sabotaging tactics as she did in her class video previously referenced:

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/25/2826143/right-to-work-legislation-in-missouri.html

She says: "Tell the backers of SB 1 to stop offering deceptive nonsolutions and start working to enact policies to create good jobs — the only basis for a prosperous economy."

....and I would add, if THAT doesn't work, use the violence. This is what MO students are learning in the public university system.; 4/26/11, 10:50 AM
vbspurs said...: Karl wrote:

I loved my lefty college professors. I could easily pander to their prejudices to get the grade I was after. All it took was a few minutes perusing the crap taped to their office doors. Write the blue book to reflect said crap - easy A.

The few conservative profs I had (never self-identifying in an obvious manner) were a much tougher nut to crack.

Curiously, Karl, this was something claimed in reverse by one of Professor's Althouse's law school students, during the "Shankman" debacle: that he had sniffed her out as a conservative, and therefore gave her an answer he thought a conservative was looking for, which he claimed got him a good grade. With his left-leaning law profs, he had to actually think.

Since my experience is like yours, and I too was able to get excellent grades by pandering to my Lefty profs, I conclude that it has nothing to do with the professors.

It's we who are cynics, and successful ones at that.

Cheers,
Victoria; 4/26/11, 10:57 AM
mariner said...: traditionalguy,
I wonder if The Donald's experiences have destined him to be the man to deal with this by telling us the simple truths about Obama that will bring him down.

I seriously doubt it. I believe Trump is a Dem stalking horse; I don't know yet whether Obama's or Hillary's.; 4/26/11, 5:18 PM
Revenant said...: "Kids, don't ever fall victim to that old bullshit line about how professors like to see people show courage in their convictions."

Likewise, don't fall victim to that bullshit line that no professor, anywhere, likes to see people show courage in their conviction.

Eh, I'm sure they exist, but there aren't enough to matter. The point is moot, because the student has no way of knowing whether he is being taught by one of those rare shining lights of the educational world until after he gets that term paper back. By which point it is too late.

If you parrot back what you've been told -- no matter how idiotic it may seem -- you can easily get an A. If you present a strong argument for a position opposed to the professor's you MIGHT get an A, or you might get an F, or anywhere in between. So only a fool would do something other than parrot back what he was taught.

You've got your whole life to learn, and odds are you'll learn a hell of a lot more your first few years out of college than you ever did during it. College is about getting a diploma and making contacts and friends for later in life. Professors have the power to interfere with those goals if you mess with them -- so don't.; 4/26/11, 6:40 PM
reader_iam said...: Scott M:

You took poli-sci courses? Why? And when did you stop (assuming you did)? And why did you stop? If you didn't, why not?; 4/26/11, 8:57 PM
Karl said...: vbspurs. Ugh...I've been branded with the cynic label for a long time.
Comes up on my peer reviews a lot. Apparently keeping it real is not well understood.

At the place that pays me money, cynicism is right up there with racism, misonigisim, and tobacco use. In other words, not good.

Last year, I was able to get the cynical label replaced with "wry sense of humor".
This was after I met with my resource critter to do a deep dive on the meaning of "cynicism".; 4/26/11, 11:56 PM