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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: 5, Disagree) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday September 27 2017, @05:51PM (3 children)
So basically your entire post boils down to "Don't fuck with the worst of us, it'll go badly for you. Don't use our methods against us. We're bigger assholes than you." Lovely. I really like how people like you just utterly spill your guts unintentionally when you say things like this. Just come out and say you want to be a big man in your new right-wing utopia already. We get it.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 27 2017, @10:43PM
It really is eye opening. I tend to give people too much benefit of the doubt, it really REALLY helps me to see the unfiltered bullshit people believe in. "Why yes, there are evil fuckers who would throw you into a concentration camp if they could." I wonder how much is from their persecution complex, maybe in the 1830's VLM would be regarded as a sophisticated intellectual with quite the liberal sensibility.
I couldn't even read his rant, but apparently they are learning from us liberals and trying to coopt "dog whistle" like we did with snowflake. Little late to the game, typical beta.
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Thursday September 28 2017, @01:34AM (1 child)
So what exactly is your point, holocaust denial, or some kind of moral argument against "beware of dog" signs?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday September 28 2017, @04:10AM
My point, VLM, is that you have repeatedly on this site, and more blatantly as time goes on, shown yourself to be an ally and fellow-traveler of fascists. You essentially just said "hey lefties, don't try to out-Nazi us, we do it better 'cause we're the originals."
And you're right about that, in a way: very few liberals I've ever met are anything like the staring, wild-eyed, twitching genocidal fanatics all too many right-wingers I've seen turn out to be. You've just added yourself to that list. Go (back?) to whatever Hell you want, just leave us decent humans alone.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...