Academic leftism and the Civil War

I recently visited an anti-Confederate blog's comment thread and made a few comments, among them the notion that American colleges and universities are not the zones of free thought and inquiry they once were, but now are centers that teach students what to think.

I posted a link to the website, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, The FIRE.org, which monitors restrictions of free speech on college campuses. One blogger is a professor at Arizona State University, and because ASU has a FIRE "green light" rating -- a good record on free speech -- he says I contradicted my own claim.

Not really. Some of you have encountered this idea from me: "If you want to understand ALL the reasons Mississippi seceded from the union, you have to NOT STOP reading after you encounter the word "slavery." The document goes on to list the ways Mississippi had been victimized, with slavery as the excuse, and since they are included in the secession declarations, they are reasons why the state seceded. If not, why were they included? If they were, that makes them as important in the decision to secede as slavery was."

It's the same situation now. You can't stop reading after the "green light" comment; you must read on to get the whole picture.

But first, you have to know what "green light" means. Here is FIRE's note about it:

"Green Light: If FIRE is unable to find a policy that seriously imperils speech, a college or university receives a 'green light.' A green light does not indicate that a school actively supports free expression. It simply means that FIRE is not currently aware of any serious threats to students’ free speech rights in the policies on that campus."

Further, as FIRE notes, ASU's "green light" was recently earned. An Arizona State Press editorial from June 2011 (that's this year, folks) notes: "FIRE used to have ASU as one of the worst schools in terms of free speech, but a change in a university policy in January took away viewpoint restrictions in advertising and posting."

In January. As recently as seven months ago, this university, where the anti-Confederate blogger is employed, was one of the worst in terms of free speech.

Visit here and read more about it: http://thefire.org/spotlight/schools/46

While you're there, read about ASU's recent history of segregated classrooms ("...Native Americans only...") and the university's denial of same, despite proof.

Everybody knows, and studies confirm, that educators are overwhelmingly leftist politically (two thirds to three quarters, depending on the study).

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/arts/18liberal.html

There are many reasons given for this, but the bottom line is that our college and university students, as well as elementary and high school students, are taught by those with a leftist political and cultural bias. And there is no doubt in my mind -- is there in yours? -- that the leftist bias influences what and how they teach to their students.

More about the ivory towers of academia in future posts.

For now, just suffice it to say that some anecdotal evidence can be found in comment threads that follow news articles about the "civil war" and related events of today. The mindless, all-emotion, no-cognition comments screeching that the war was over slavery, and Confederates were traitors made, presumably, by people educated in the USA, testify to the leftist bias they've been taught -- because history offers plenty of primary evidence to the contrary. Students, in my opinion, are just not allowed to be exposed to it.

More about that in future posts, too. So stay tuned.