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posted by martyb on Wednesday September 27 2017, @10:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the No-Way! dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 27 2017, @05:17PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 27 2017, @05:17PM (#573895)

    I have no idea how to actually fix it short of revolution

    How about an amiable split of the USA, or at least a non-warring split. Let's admit Lincoln made a mistake and should have let the South go. We don't get along.

    Why keep fighting the Culture Wars over and over like Groundhog Day? It's true the Culture Wars tend to wax and wane over decades, based on historical trends, but the waxing periods are nasty.

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  • (Score: 3, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday September 27 2017, @07:47PM (2 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday September 27 2017, @07:47PM (#573985) Homepage Journal

    It's not the south that hates you. It's everyone outside the largest dozen or so cities.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 27 2017, @09:47PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 27 2017, @09:47PM (#574055)

      It is amusing seeing you try so hard to get everyone to believe the sky is orange. You're a hate filled turd monger.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @12:48AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @12:48AM (#574124)

        Hillary lost. Ha ha ha.

        Obviously, you are wrong and TMB is right.

  • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Thursday September 28 2017, @01:32AM (2 children)

    by crafoo (6639) on Thursday September 28 2017, @01:32AM (#574151)

    What you call culture wars I call people 1000 miles removed from my environment telling me how it should be governed. Not on a macro scale, but down into the details such as what kind of paper or plastics I can use. Or deciding on hunting and wildlife issues having no experience of either - never leaving their city, and not knowing real issues of day to day life in remote rural areas. I don't pretend to know whether or not a motorcycle should be splitting lanes on Long Island. Why do they think they know whats best in terms of water rights and policy in my area?

    Lincoln did make a mistake. A strong, centralized federal government was and is a mistake.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 28 2017, @04:54AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 28 2017, @04:54AM (#574217) Journal
      What are you talking about? Someone needs to protect us from incandescent light bulbs and toilets that flush. \sarc
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @09:13AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @09:13AM (#574294)

      After the revolution we tried a weaker federal government and it collapsed. Remember your history.