Could it be that universities are finally wising up? Over at
Duke, the Group of 88 activist professors — who rattled the usual class warfare
sabers screaming for the heads of the lacrosse players — are now exposed as the
fools they are. And this time the public is aware of their influence on campus,
causing negative feedback from alumni that is rocking the stone edifices of Mr.
Duke’s University.
Now comes more hopeful news from the academic front at Duke,
the Focus and Gerst programs — funded by class of 1961 alumnus Gary Gerst —
that creates a return to traditional learning by bringing together
undergraduates in an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on a single
subject or subjects for the academic year. Since the arrival of radical English
department chair Stanley Fish in 1985, Duke’s academic reputation has suffered
from a core menu of politically correct, post-modern, multi-cultural nonsense.
The Gerst program is indeed a hopeful sign of a return to sanity in the liberal
arts at Duke.
There is more good news. Over at UNC, the new chairman of
the ubiquitous College of Arts & Sciences is a chemist rather than a
radical scholar. And at the University of Virginia, the faculty and
administration have refused to sign The American College & University
Presidents Climate Commitment pledge that calls for a two-year planning period
and a statement of “climate neutrality.” These developments at three well-known
schools may not be the end of the grip of radical scholars on academic policy,
but it could be the beginning of the end.
Will the new sanity slowly asserting itself on some campuses
have the same effect in the world of media and politics? After all, campus
radicalism has literally set the American and Western media agenda for 30 years,
informing the public that they are all racists, chauvinists, homophobes,
war-mongers and imperialists who are destroying the planet with their
capitalistic consumption. This anti-Americanism has been the backbeat of the
news for so long, most people have tuned it off, while others have been
mesmerized into joining the chorus. This then is the fissure in the political
arena, an echo from the old campus radicalism that carries on as the academic
source declines into disgrace.
These echoes are bouncing around more with resonance due to
the Democrat majority in the US Congress, where giving aid and comfort to the
enemy in Iraq dominates the agenda. The always reliable grave-goods of Vietnam
are bandied about: a timetable for withdrawal; the quagmire metaphor; cutting
off funds for our own troops; incessant interviews with the families of
soldiers overseas; how our allies hate us; the usual babble of pundits from
think tanks against anything the US does in the world. Yet anti-war rallies
draw few protestors as most Americans, while troubled over Iraq, know in their
bones we have to fight somewhere. No matter how you feel, the net-net is that
there has not been a terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.
Global Warming
Side by side with tired anti-war rhetoric, the activist
environmental wing — upset that we are
enjoying the best economy since the age of Pericles — enjoyed good timing with
Al Gore wining an Academy Award for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. Gore was
asked to testify in Congress, where man-made global warming adherents went
beyond compliments to downright celebrity worship for the former Veep and his
film, especially when Gore characterized the crusade against carbon dioxide in
the same category as fighting Nazis and Communists. Sounding like flag-wavers
at a Nuremburg rally, Congresspeople called Gore a prophet as they figuratively
lifted him on their shoulders, hoping he would run again for president. Gore,
covering all the ground, said his mission was to glorify God by saving the
planet — even if it kills us.
Judging from the foregoing, it will be some time before the
memo reaches Congress that all that campus propaganda they rely on is being
discredited slowly but surely. But as an esteemed friend once told me: “The
wheel of history moves slowly, but it moves,” so hope springs eternal that
sanity and patriotism will return. But it might be too late to save us from the
people who are hell-bent to save us and the planet. The man-made global warming
crowd is riding high as more scientists and bien pensants join the chorus.
Yet, an examination of these scientists begs the question.
They haven’t been right about anything ever, so why suddenly should we believe
them now?
Notes From La-la Land
Another nefarious pattern arising from righteous activism
born on campus and now part of our culture is the brazen and unchecked power of
district attorneys. Remember the gaggle of DAs from various states declaring
war on tobacco? This was followed by Ken Starr’s style in prosecuting Bill
Clinton and Eliot Spitzer’s metamorphosis into the self-appointed arbiter of
corporate America. Just recently Patrick Fitzgerald went after Scooter Libby
simply to help the Democrats fight the Bush administration and to advance his
own career. This trend influenced the antics of Mike Nifong. Perhaps his
outrageous behavior has brought the process to an ignominious conclusion, as
there is legislation in the NC General Assembly to control runaway DAs.
•••
Andy Rooney is a duplicitous old sod who uses his
grandfatherly demeanor to sell an agenda. I caught his monologue recently where
he disingenuously hid racist and unkind comments about the quality of Americans
joining the armed services by suggesting we bring back the draft to fight the
war in Iraq. Actually, he and his fellow travelers against US policy think
conscription would bring Americans into the streets to protest the war. He’s a
sneaky old dissembler.
•••
NPR takes the prize for regurgitating political propaganda
emanating from biased sources. The Hillary Clinton people sold them a story
with the premise that Bill Clinton’s shenanigans won’t hurt her campaign
because Bill’s sins don’t measure up to George Bush’s transgressions, such as
Abu Ghraib and the Walter Reed Hospital investigation. Really?
•••
The Metro Web site continues to amaze with nearly 900,000
hits a month. Check it out and read my “Between Issues” column available only
online. I discuss the proposed smoking ban in the most current posting. Go to
www.metronc.com.