Posted on 02/21/2015 7:53:07 AM PST by Kaslin
Wisconsin Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker never graduated from college, and according to such critics as Howard Dean, his insufficient education renders him ineligible for the office of the presidency.
I have multiple degrees, including a doctorate degree. For the last 16 years, I have taught philosophy at an array of colleges and universities from Texas to New Jersey: four-year and two-year, research-oriented and teaching-oriented, public and private, big and small.
Consequently I can assure you, the mere possession of a college degree most definitely does not certify that its holder is “educated.”
Though there are exceptions, the painful truth of the matter is that the contemporary academic world has ceased supplying students with an education into the traditions of Western civilization. Instead, it provides them with training in an ideology -- namely the prevailing leftist ideology known as “political correctness.”
Between “training” and an “education” there is a world of difference.
Those who are trained in an ideology will master all of the stock phrases, clichés, and conventionalities of that ideology, but they will master nothing else. For example, you can bet the bank that it will be axiomatic to many—most—college students that “racism,” “sexism,” “homophobia,” “imperialism,” “colonialism,” and “classism” are unmitigated evils. For this reason, it’s an equally sure bet that these same students couldn’t even begin to formulate an argument for any of these beliefs—or probably for any others.
Training in an ideology is training in propositions that are treated as either self-evident or as following from self-evident propositions. The ideology is dogma.
However, because an ideology is an abstraction of reality—a Readers’ Digest version of it—it is, at best, a distortion or caricature of the real world.
The ideology that reigns on today’s campus is a gross distortion of “the real world” of Western civilization.
Unlike their counterparts from yesteryear, the image of Western civilization that’s promoted in many liberal arts and humanities departments throughout the country has all of the depth of a puddle. The west has been reduced to an uninterrupted exercise of villainy begetting villainy, its unprecedented theological, philosophical, and literary achievements summarily dismissed as the function of “white male privilege.”
The evils which human beings the planet over have been guilty of are presented as being unique to the west—when the west is unique only insofar as it has gone to great lengths to stamp out these evils.
Yet while the politically correct ideology that’s being forced upon contemporary students is at once false and socially destructive, the point here is that, content notwithstanding, college students should not be trained in any ideology. To replace education with training in an ideology is to insure that students’ minds languish in a poverty of imagination -- a state of affairs that at once results from and contributes to their alienation from their own civilization.
In short, training in an ideology denies students precisely those resources that they need in order to think.
But it also denies them the ability to genuinely, reasonably, feel.
When the great 20th century philosopher Hannah Arendt witnessed the trials of Nazi war criminals in Israel, she noted a curious phenomenon that she called “the banality of evil”: most of the defendants, though responsible for wicked deeds, weren’t particularly wicked themselves. However, they distinguished themselves by “a curious, but quite authentic inability to think.” That is, they had their clichés, stock phrases, and conventional, standardized codes of expression and conduct, but the defendants were either wholly incapable of, or unwilling to think beyond their script.
What’s true of the Nazis is no less true of anyone else—or at least of those who have nothing more than training in an ideology.
As Democratic opponents pounce on Scott Walker for his lack of a college education, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf has said that a “lack of opportunity for jobs” is among “the root causes” that account for the rise of extremist groups like the Islamic State. In reply to the fury of incredulous responses that her remarks invited, Harf commented that hers “might be too nuanced of an argument.”
This is exactly the problem: her argument is not nuanced. It’s too simple. It’s formulaic. Harf hasn’t made an argument at all. She wouldn’t think to make one, and may not even know how to do so.
This is because for all of her college degrees Harf, like her boss Barack Obama, sorely lacks an education.
She does have training in an ideology.
The ghost of Saul Alinsky lurks behind the Progressive Poison spewed by Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the rest of their ilk.
The Dumbos clearly see themselves as "deconstructionists"----savagely committed to tearing down America's traditions. Every maniacal official govt act is dedicated to chipping away at the bulwark of American freedoms.
==================================================
Obama cunningly hired self-absorbed punks like Marie--all of them squatting in govt---imbedded in the Civil Service system with top security clearance.
They are clearly disturbed and dysfunctional---self-absorbed---obsessed with self-serving agendas. Devoid of concepts of right and wrong---they smugly engage in religious cleansing and kicking religionists to the curb.
Their motto: "Everything For Us--Nothing For You."
That same generation inculcated with moral relativity and situation ethics has segued into The Entitlement Generation---better known as "Pay Me--I'm a Victim.
The Obamas, The Clintons, the De Blasios, and the rest of the Progressive savages, are ruthless predators w/ no empathy for others and no remorse. They are anti-social psychopaths who recognize no moral boundaries--aggressively going after what they want, irregardless of the consequences to others.
These are the faces of the new fascism.....the mask of vaunted liberal " tolerance and compassion" slips....what we are witnessing is pure evil.
Progressive "political correctness" has been forced on us---they have bludgeoned many of their own supporters into a frightening silence. The silence of some on the left is telling....even they know where we're headed.
=========================================
Progressives' fatal flaw is that they are emotionally disturbed---w/ an obsessive need to "feel good" about themselves. Obama obsessively whines about "helping those who are under-served," those who feel "left out" of the process, etc....forcing we the people to foot the bills for his pathetic emotional needs
Obama's Progressive "vision" has several major flaws:
<><> failing to see that people are not intellectually equal---some are vastly smarter than others. Let's see the Ferguson punks run a Fortune 500 company (snort).
<><> failing to see the existence of evil---Obama equates today's in-your-face Islamic barbarism w/ far-off events that his diseased mind regurgitates from a 1000 years ago.
<><> cavalierly dismissing America's exceptionalism---Obama has managed to extinguish a beacon that lit the entire world.
<><> failing to grow-up---the fact is he's no longer a campus radical itching for a confrontation in the dean's office.
This...this TWIT(damn, almost misspelled that one!) is one of those airhead thirty somethings infesting Washington and responsible for crap like obozocare. It will take multiple decades to get those protected by the idiotic Civil Service regs OUT OF GOVERNMENT.
And reliable sources in the State Department Human Resources Office report that Marie's full last name is, in fact, HARFWIT but Hillary suggested she shorten it lest it diminish her credibility as the department's spokesperson.
And this just in: It's reported that Marie is moving over to the Labor Department to run the just created Jobs for Jihadis Program!
Are we screwed or what?
“However, because an ideology is an abstraction of reality—a Readers’ Digest version of it—it is, at best, a distortion or caricature of the real world”
Plato’s cave. Good read. Thanks for the post.
EXCELLENT post, Liz! you pulled it all together nicely. Thank you.
Harf & Psaki should have joined the Peace Corp or the Maryknolls.
That IS the money quote.
Have heard it for years coming from the mouths of liberals: a sterile and deranged, twisted version of the world, a caricature as he said.
A fixed dreamscape of static characters, victimizers and victims, defined by crude stereotypes.
They always position themselves as deep thinkers, but they are simply herd animals good at rote regurgitation of approved shibboleths.
Same age as Britney Spears, but unlike Britney, has actually never created a thing in the private sector. Britney literally deserves more respect from us.
One does not get an ‘education’. One gets an indoctrination.
Jack Kerwick: [snip] I have multiple degrees, including a doctorate degree. For the last 16 years, I have taught philosophy at an array of colleges and universities from Texas to New Jersey: four-year and two-year, research-oriented and teaching-oriented, public and private, big and small. Consequently I can assure you, the mere possession of a college degree most definitely does not certify that its holder is "educated." Though there are exceptions, the painful truth of the matter is that the contemporary academic world has ceased supplying students with an education into the traditions of Western civilization. Instead, it provides them with training in an ideology -- namely the prevailing leftist ideology known as "political correctness." [/snip]
Progressive Ideology = Waters World/Jay Walkers
and yet the DUmpRATS fawn over that mutt down in VZ for being a bus driver before getting hand selected by chavez to be the next King RAT... go figure
” They always position themselves as deep thinkers, but they are simply herd animals good at rote regurgitation of approved shibboleths.”
Easy to F them up in a debate. Just change the argument to case of objective reality. Watch em fumble and squirm : )
It is really not true that Scott Walker does not have an education. What he lacks is a degree from a university. Still, he did attend college for many years before dropping out to get a job.
He learned more outside of college than anything those liberal professors could teach him.
I also believe that with a Baptist preacher for his father Scott knows a lot about the history of Western civilization and the USA.
Maybe Marie Harf could take some lessons from Scott’s Dad.
Considering the state of higher education in the US, who of any of us needs a college education. Follow obama’s lead and create your own diploma.
The release of his Marquette college records might also be a good way to put heavy pressure on Obama to release his Occidental and Columbia undergraduate records.
If he is only a few credits short of a Bachelors you’d think Marquette would give credit for life experience and give him his degree.
******
Shy 34 credits: I read a copy of an article here at Free Republic that said Walker needed at least 34 credits to graduate. This would be two semesters if he took 17 credits a semester.
I think that Walker should release his Marquette records if he wants to run for president.
One side effect of the release of his Marquette records: It may put tremendous pressure on Obama to finally release his Occidental and Columbia college records.
Myself, I believe that Obama's Occidental records will show that he enrolled as a foreign student from Indonesia.
I believe that he chose Occidental over the other numerous colleges in California because Occidental offered him the best deal if he enrolled as a foreign student.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.