Trump Signs EO Against Campus Anti-Semitism

I’m in a slight rush this morning.  But something overlooked last week amidst the UK election and US shampeachment news is that President Trump signed an executive order directing and empowering the Department of Education to go after anti-semitism on college campuses.

I was very glad to see this.  It is much needed.  Two examples:

Harassment of Jewish and pro-Israel students has been going on for a long time. At Temple University in August 2014, SJP members called Daniel Vessal, a Camera on Campus fellow and a member of the Jewish fraternity AEPi, “kike” and “baby killer,” and punched him in the face. Vessal explained that he tried to engage SJP members in dialogue, but “people at the table were calling me a ‘baby killer’…And then this kid just rocks me in the face as hard as he can. My glasses flew off. After a two-second blur I had no clue what had happened. I couldn’t believe the kid actually hit me. When the police came over and were filing the report the kids at the table were screaming ‘You Zionist pig, you racist, that’s what you get.’” Police did not arrest the attacker.

In May 2016, Eliana Kopley, a sophomore at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), was trying to enter a screening of an Israeli documentary about the IDF called “Beneath the Helmet” when she was accosted by an angry mob screaming “Long live the Intifada!” and “F**k Israel!” The protesters prevented her from entering the building where the film was being shown and even chased her into a nearby building, where they pounded on the doors and windows while continuing to scream their slogans. Police ultimately escorted Kopley into the screening. The UCI chapter of the SJP was thrilled with this thuggery and praised the mob.

It will take more than an EO to bring justice, free speech, and sanity even back to U. S. campuses.  But Trump’s EO is an appreciated step in the right direction.

On Millennial Ignorance of Totalitarianism

I will not go over the details of a recent poll revealing ignorance about the Holocaust among Millennials.  By now most of my above average readers are well aware of the poll, and it is readily available.

I will point out that this ignorance is surely one reason for the revival of totalitarianism amongst Millennials.  That those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it is a partial truth and something of a cliché, but there is truth to it.  Knowledge of past evil can make current evil less likely. When we are tempted to do evil, it helps to have a learned reminder not to be like past evildoers.

To be more specific, when a young man is tempted to put on an arm band and raise his arm against Constitutional rights and to viciously attack and slander opponents and attempt to disarm and silence them, it helps for his education to whisper in his ear, “Hey bud, that would be acting a bit too much like a Nazi, don’tcha think?”  When youth are instead ignorant of the basics of historic totalitarianism, we are more likely to get . . .  well, to get David Hogg.

And given the bias towards the Left in public and secondary education, ignorance of Communism and its atrocities must surely be even greater, likely much greater.  So the little Communists running amuck are blissfully unaware that they are acting a bit too much like the 20^th Century Communists who murdered tens upon tens of millions.  I see how some of the youth act and am reminded of the Cultural Revolution.  Meanwhile most of them have no idea what the Cultural Revolution was, thanks to their failed education. . . .  Or maybe their education was intended to create Leftists with little memory of Leftist atrocities and little respect for democratic values.

So, yes, I have little doubt that ignorance of 20^th Century totalitarianism is assisting a revival of totalitarianism in the 21^st. Poor education and ignorance has consequences.

The Current State of American Catholic Universities

No, this won’t be a long essay.  Anne Hendershott has already written one for us, and it is excellent, the best overview of Catholic higher education today in the United States I’ve come across.  It includes some interesting if distressing history as well.

(History often is distressing, is it not?  I wonder what that says about us who have a compulsion to study it.)

Yes, I do use the word “Catholic” loosely.  I can be creative in choosing words to describe, say, Georgetown, but “Catholic” is rarely one of them.  “Jesuit” maybe.

As Hendershott writes, there are rays of hope; there are exceptional genuinely Catholic universities out there.  But the larger ones have invariably taken the “Catholic” and the “education” for that matter out of Catholic higher education.

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Personal Note:

Speaking of higher education, I have completed my Patristics course.  So I may torment you more often for a couple months or so.

Tenured Stupidity

I’ve mentioned I’ve pretty much decided not to go for a Masters or a PhD.  Among my reasons are life is short – and at my age, life is that much shorter.  But an additional reason is that degrees from even prestigious universities are becoming more and more worthless.  Take one Dr. Joyce E. Chaplin of Harvard – please.  She recently tweeted this:

The USA, created by int'l community in Treaty of Paris in 1783, betrays int'l community by withdrawing from ‪#parisclimateagreement today

This from someone who is not only tenured at Harvard, but who, as mentioned on her twitter profile, chairs American Studies at Harvard and is the James Duncan Phillips Professor of History.  How impressive!

Now I thought we declared our independence in 1776, then we fought for it.  I thought that was how the U.S.A. was created.  But I am just a bumpkin with a Bachelors from Duke.  I don’t teach History at Haaavard.

Her tweet is just one instance that indicates that the quality of higher education in the West is on a downward spiral.  The value of degrees awarded by Harvard etc. are spiraling downward as well.  So why become an academic drudge and sacrifice a few years of my remaining life to chase more degrees?  I know some have no choice if they are to pursue their chosen careers.  I do have a choice and have made it.

The brilliant and bawdy Ace of Spades blog has more on Dr. Chaplin’s tweet.  Enjoy.

NOTE:

Apologies for the formatting and that I could not embed the tweet.  I’ve mentioned this blog is an experiment.  Maybe I should take this experiment off Blogspot.

Greetings

Greetings.  This new blog is something of an experiment.  I’ve run another blog for well over ten years now – yes, back when blogs were cool.  But I eventually found some of my posts on history and current events were not the best fit over there.  So I decided to start this blog where I will focus on history and often also on its application to the creation and writing of history today. 

Warning: I will get political at times.  History and politics can hardly be separated.  Even more dangerous, I will get religious, too. In fact, if you are one of those snowflakes, not just this blog, but the study of history as a whole is really not for you.  Unpleasant, politically incorrect things and lots and lots of religion happened in the past, and that may offend you.  If so, I’m sorry.  I really am.

As for my odd blog name, I choose it in part to be honest about something right up front.  I don’t have a PhD or even a Masters.  Unfortunately, my interest in history deepened at an age where I am close to historic myself!  Because of that, I find it not practical to go for a degree although I have certainly considered it.  I’m something of an old school independent scholar although I do have a bachelors from a prestigious university long ago and have engaged in formal graduate studies more recently.  A hundred years or more ago, a man’s studies could be recognized based on the quality of what he produced even if he did not have lots of embossed pieces of paper to back it up.  Today, it’s the opposite at times.  Today, if you are tenured or a fellow someplace, you can say the most idiotic things, and the chattering classes will listen and nod their heads with respect.  I am not so respectful myself.

Having said all that, I freely confess I am a student of history with much to learn.  I would say the quantity of my studies so far exceed that of a Masters degree holder, but probably fall short of being doctorate worthy for now.  The quality of my studies might be better.  And I do notice some things that few seem to notice (or want to notice) even if they have a showy collection of degrees.  So I hope you will find this blog worth your time.

My format may vary at times.  Sometimes I will opine at length.  At other times, I will simply bring something to your attention.  I will not blog every day, or post for the sake of posting.  I have no desire to waste your time or mine.  One of the advantages of getting old is one realizes the time is short and to be used wisely.  Also, one remembers more history.  So I hope to be of assistance in this area.

Thanks for visiting.  Do come back.