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What was it that one learned through a great books curriculum? Certainly not "conservatism" in any contemporary American sense of the term. We were not taught to become American patriots, or religious pietists, or to worship what Rudyard Kipling called "the Gods of the Market Place." We were not instructed in the evils of Marxism, or the glories of capitalism, or even the superiority of Western civilization.
As I think about it, I'm not sure we were taught anything at all. What we did was read books that raised serious questions about the human condition, and which invited us to attempt to ask serious questions of our own. Education, in this sense, wasn't a "teaching" with any fixed lesson. It was an exercise in interrogation.
To listen and understand; to question and disagree; to treat no proposition as sacred and no objection as impious; to be willing to entertain unpopular ideas and cultivate the habits of an open mind — this is what I was encouraged to do by my teachers at the University of Chicago.
It's what used to be called a liberal education.
The University of Chicago showed us something else: that every great idea is really just a spectacular disagreement with some other great idea.
Bret Stephens's speech warrants a full read. It makes valuable points that we all need to hear, even on SN.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:04AM (2 children)
I never visit Breitbart or any of those sites, but I don't need to. I can see exactly what their latest talking points and strategies are just by reading Jmo's posts. It's fascinating, in a perverse sort of way. Translation:
The alt-right realise that installing Trump was a mistake. At the very least, his usefulness has now come to an end. He's too unpredictable, too toxic, and worst of all he's apparently prepared to work with Democrats ("Chuck & Nancy" on DACA). The fact that he ousted Bannon was the last straw for the alt-right, now they are manuevering against him. Bannon's two-sided speech the other day (in which he equates Trump to Julius Caesar - after Caesar was murdered by his friends) is the beginning, but it shows us the direction the Alt-Right is headed.
In Jmo's post we see the beginnings of a rebellion against the Republican party. First they need to rewrite history, in order to create the appropriate narrative: Notice how this plan to "destroy conservatism and the republican party" is presented as some obvious, long-established objective when in fact we only heard the first of it just now. The Alt-Right was quite happy using the Republicans until Bannon got kicked. Now suddenly they have been the enemy all along, just like Eurasia vs Eastasia.
Next on the agenda will be working to destroy Trump - minor disagreements at first, then sly, subtle insinuations (with, of course, a strong subtext of "I never liked him anyway") until eventually they are crying for impeachment alongside the Dems. Watch for it, you'll see it here from Jmo first, I guarantee. The plan from there? I don't know. Maybe it's just to get Pence in. More likely they have someone else in mind. Bannon himself? *shudder*
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday September 28 2017, @04:10PM
No, we want to destroy Conservatism and seize the Republican Party. If you haven't heard the refrain that Conservatives have failed to conserve anything before it means you are in the Prog echo chamber. Hell, *I* have been saying it *HERE* since before Trump was nominated.
I abandoned Conservatism after reading Kirk's The Conservative Mind and realizing that the modern Conservatives are not failing because they suck, because they are sellouts, because they let the media bully them, none of that. They are doing exactly what they set out to do, gently slow the Left's journey to the Sunny Uplands of History. They do this because it was what every major Conservative thinker from Burke forward hold to be proper. The problem is the base wants them to do stuff that isn't Conservative and they keep promising it with no intent to do it because they don't believe in it.
Not at all. But we have to keep the pressure on him exactly like any other politician. Not only to actually remind him we expect results, but to create an environment where movement Right is more possible by making Trump appear moderate. Kinda like why the Left stays active even when they have Clinton or Obama in the Oval Office. We aren't Conservative so we read your books too. Tactics aren't tied to one Party, we can use Alinsky almost as well as the Left. What we really need is to create the impression Trump is the good cop, the moderate offering a sensible compromise, the one holding back the ravening mob of crazies out here in the Base.
Ah, but did he? Or did he redeploy him to the front right as primary season started? It is now apparent to all that the Republican Party has no more intention of implementing the Trump agenda than the Democrats do, so a primary war against them is going to be required. The current ones can't be bullied enough, not until a large number of them are replaced, enough to terrify the remainder into going along to keep their jobs. They do not believe Trump or his movement can threaten them, we must find out if they are correct.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by crafoo on Thursday September 28 2017, @05:12PM
I don't consider Trump a mistake, but then again I'm not sure who this alt-right boogeyman is you talk about. He's isn't a globalist and he's held that part up after the election. He's trying to get control of illegal immigration. TPP is dead. Non-staffing some useless organizations. All in all much better than anyone that ran against him. A pleasant surprise even.