Go Back   Professional Soldiers ® > At Ease > The Soapbox

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-30-2012, 07:44   #16
Richard
Quiet Professional
 
Richard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kai View Post
The modern US variant...
Weeping electroencephalographically-challenged beejeezus on a tinfoil cross!

Richard
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)

“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
Richard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 09:42   #17
MR2
Quiet Professional
 
MR2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Location, Location
Posts: 3,997
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dozer523 View Post
The communist-socialist thing didn't work out, so now the President is a Nazi...?
Well, at least we have him bracketed.
Drop 1,000...Left 1,000...fire for effect.
I was going to chide you for taking the Nazi leap - but it looks like Kai took the bait and has doubled down.

This past April when I was traveling NZ I found the people to be remarkably pleasant socially, but quite a bit like a watermelon politically (Enviro Green on the outside, Commie Red on the inside). I have brick-wall type discussions with Kiwis on other (non-political) sites and they insist on throwing out the most far left taking points as gospel. I just don't know what it is about these Kiwis that insist on telling Americans how to run their country.

As far as Fascism goes - the Nazis do not own the topic. For me, Fascism is simply forcing people to do what you want them to do and the people voting for it (at least initially). It is a philosophy that has been in continuous throughout time and evidenced today in Communist China, the European Union, and anyone of the basic training facilities in the US Military.

Again, MOO

As an aside, I expected my Alcoa stock to dip until the mid-terms, but it seems to be ever edging higher. Need to send a note of thanks to Glenn Beck.
__________________
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time - Leo Tolstoy

It's Never Crowded Along the Extra Mile - Wayne Dyer


WOKE = Willfully Overlooking Known Evil
MR2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 10:16   #18
Badger52
Area Commander
 
Badger52's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Western WI
Posts: 6,817
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR2 View Post
As an aside, I expected my Alcoa stock to dip until the mid-terms, but it seems to be ever edging higher. Need to send a note of thanks to Glenn Beck.
Nice.
Baked potatoes all around!
__________________
"Civil Wars don't start when a few guys hunt down a specific bastard. Civil Wars start when many guys hunt down the nearest bastards."

The coin paid to enforce words on parchment is blood; tyrants will not be stopped with anything less dear. - QP Peregrino
Badger52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 15:23   #19
Kai
Asset
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 38
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR2 View Post
I was going to chide you for taking the Nazi leap - but it looks like Kai took the bait and has doubled down.
Sorry, couldn't resist. Philosophy is a passion of mine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MR2 View Post
This past April when I was traveling NZ I found the people to be remarkably pleasant socially, but quite a bit like a watermelon politically (Enviro Green on the outside, Commie Red on the inside). I have brick-wall type discussions with Kiwis on other (non-political) sites and they insist on throwing out the most far left taking points as gospel. I just don't know what it is about these Kiwis that insist on telling Americans how to run their country.
Yeah, those damn Kiwis. FWIW, I'm an American. Just happen to be living/working in NZ at the moment. Haven't seen too many Commie Red on the inside types here myself. There's a definite lean to the left on social issues (socialized medicine and welfare), but the Kiwis I've met have a very strong respect for property rights.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MR2 View Post
As far as Fascism goes - the Nazis do not own the topic. For me, Fascism is simply forcing people to do what you want them to do and the people voting for it (at least initially).
For me, it's not just force, but the mechanisms (social, political, economic, corporate, military) by which that force is applied, and the philosophy that motivates it.

There's a difference between a government that confiscates profitable mining and oil companies and runs them itself (Venezuela) vs. one that bails out a failed auto manufacturer with public money and hands ownership over to its partner unions (GM) -- and between propaganda from state-owned media (Pravda) vs. media that's heavily influenced by back-door government funding (GE).
__________________
The reward for good work is more work.

Last edited by Kai; 11-30-2012 at 15:50.
Kai is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 15:53   #20
Team Sergeant
Quiet Professional
 
Team Sergeant's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 20,929
96 percent of Ivy League professors' donations went to Obama

I'm trying to wrap my head around this...... I would like to have a sitdown chat with just ten of those professors....
TS



96 percent of Ivy League professors' donations went to Obama


Ivy League educators overwhelmingly supported President Obama with their campaign donations in the presidential election, reinforcing the suspicions of critics who say their bias also shows up in the classroom.

Some 96 percent of faculty and staffers at the eight universities who donated wrote their checks to Obama, and at Brown University, just one professor contributed to Mitt Romney's bid, according to a study by student political advocacy group Campus Reform. In all, the employees of the prestigious schools sent more than $1.2 million to President Obama and just $114,166 for Romney’s campaign -- a ratio of more than 10-to-1.

“These numbers represent more evidence that grand claims of diversity and tolerance on the American campus ring hollow," said Josiah Ryan, a spokesman for Campus Reform. "It is impossible to believe that professors did not protect their financial investment in President Obama through campaigning in the classroom.”

cont:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...contributions/
__________________
"The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy, but where they are."
Team Sergeant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 16:13   #21
Dozer523
BANNED USER
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,751
Quote:
Originally Posted by Team Sergeant View Post
I'm trying to wrap my head around this...... I would like to have a sitdown chat with just ten of those professors....
TS
[B]“These numbers represent more evidence that grand claims of diversity and tolerance on the American campus ring hollow," said Josiah Ryan, a spokesman for Campus Reform. "It is impossible to believe that professors did not protect their financial investment in President Obama through campaigning in the classroom.”
I doubt you nor they would find much to like in the conversation. For one thing, your questions would be pretty short and their answers way too long. (10:1 odds? Kinda sucks for them.)

Have to admire Fox for giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Dozer523 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 16:48   #22
Badger52
Area Commander
 
Badger52's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Western WI
Posts: 6,817
Quote:
Originally Posted by Team Sergeant View Post
96 percent of Ivy League professors' donations went to Obama...
Given what the high church of Academia does in this state, and some other research into both union and education-oriented organizations, I'd say their DOWN a couple percent from some of their peers.

Team Sergeant, this stat surprises me not in the slightest and is likely present in many states' university systems.
(During the recall their spending for the challenger to Gov. Walker - who'd already lost once but, hey, everyone can be a winner, right? - was 20:1.)

Anyone who thinks that doesn't ultimately translate into the classroom skewed in some fashion has, in my view, been living in the desert with that one old geezer between Sierra Vista and Tombstone they tell everyone to stay away from.

Organizations such as the NRA have nothing on these people in terms of the ability to raise money in order to either prevent upsetting their apple cart or perpetuate their self-image. There are, of course, exceptions. Apparently all 4% of them.
__________________
"Civil Wars don't start when a few guys hunt down a specific bastard. Civil Wars start when many guys hunt down the nearest bastards."

The coin paid to enforce words on parchment is blood; tyrants will not be stopped with anything less dear. - QP Peregrino
Badger52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 16:52   #23
PSM
Area Commander
 
PSM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Cochise Co., AZ
Posts: 6,175
Quote:
Originally Posted by Badger52 View Post
has, in my view, been living in the desert with that one old geezer between Sierra Vista and Tombstone they tell everyone to stay away from.
Hey! I resemble that remark!

Pat
__________________
"Hector Lives!"

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." -- Frederick Douglass

"The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen." -- Dennis Prager

"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it." --H.L. Mencken
PSM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 17:43   #24
Pericles
Guerrilla
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: CONUS TX when not OCONUS
Posts: 177
The irony of finding truth published in Pravda ....
__________________
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, you have not properly planned the operation.
Pericles is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 19:56   #25
Kai
Asset
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 38
Quote:
Originally Posted by Team Sergeant View Post
I'm trying to wrap my head around this...... I would like to have a sitdown chat with just ten of those professors....
TS
I know the feeling.

Modern academics are the intellectual parents of the modern Left -- so of course they support it (and they are organized enough to reject from their ranks those who don't agree).

Many are near opposites of people who have integrity, pride and self-esteem, who value honesty and productivity, who know in their hearts and minds that there is a concrete, real-world difference between right and wrong.

At their core, modern academics enshrine mediocrity (relativism). They believe that no opinion, statement or observation is more true than any other (subjectivism), and they believe in equal outcome, not equal opportunity (egalitarianism). They have pushed those beliefs onto their students, and from there into politics.
__________________
The reward for good work is more work.
Kai is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-30-2012, 20:11   #26
Sigaba
Area Commander
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Southern California
Posts: 4,476
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kai View Post
At their core, modern academics enshrine mediocrity (relativism). They believe that no opinion, statement or observation is more true than any other (subjectivism), and they believe in equal outcome, not equal opportunity (egalitarianism). They have pushed those beliefs onto their students, and from there into politics.
What is the basis of this POV?
Sigaba is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2012, 11:27   #27
Trapper John
Quiet Professional
 
Trapper John's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Posts: 3,834
Quote:
Originally Posted by Team Sergeant View Post
..... I have had conversations with Senators, Princes, Ambassadors and Grunts. My friends include physicians, lawyers, chefs, SF CSM's and SF officers.

TS
This reminds me of the line from Rudyard Kipling's "If" ...."If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch"...

{Salute}
__________________
Honor Above All Else
Trapper John is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2012, 12:21   #28
Trapper John
Quiet Professional
 
Trapper John's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Posts: 3,834
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kai View Post
I know the feeling.

Modern academics are the intellectual parents of the modern Left -- so of course they support it (and they are organized enough to reject from their ranks those who don't agree). For example see http://www.philly.com/philly/news/119475914.html?c=r as a case in point.

Many are near opposites of people who have integrity, pride and self-esteem, who value honesty and productivity, who know in their hearts and minds that there is a concrete, real-world difference between right and wrong. I have spent the bulk of my career interacting with academics in both public and private institutions of higher education. To a person these are individuals of great integrity, pride and self-esteem, who value honesty and productivity, who know in their hearts and minds that there is a concrete, real world difference between right and wrong.

At their core, modern academics enshrine mediocrity (relativism). They believe that no opinion, statement or observation is more true than any other (subjectivism), and they believe in equal outcome, not equal opportunity (egalitarianism). They have pushed those beliefs onto their students, and from there into politics. IMO the political philosophy of academics stems more from what I call the "silo problem" than some intrinsic philosophy that embraces mediocrity, subjectivism,or egalitarianism. The "silo problem" is the result of building institutions and the attraction of like minded "believers" to the exclusion of "non-believers". In academia this breeds a form of intellectual incest and promotion of ideas that may not reflect ground truth. Because those in the "silo" only have the viewpoint of other inhabitants of the "silo" the ideas are reinforced within the "silo community".
Just my humble opinion.
__________________
Honor Above All Else
Trapper John is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2012, 12:57   #29
TrapLine
Guerrilla
 
TrapLine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: MN's Iron Range
Posts: 450
I do not work in academia; but I do take the time to speak at several colleges/universities on both subjects of course work and career seeking. I have noticed what many here have already pointed out regarding the left's grip on post secondary education. In my experience, the environment has gone from strictly left leaning to an echo chamber without a dissenting voice. It becomes more difficult each year to participate, but I feel it is the right thing to do. I can convey my point of view without concern of rejection from the educators I deal with which I doubt they hear much of from within. Eventually, I may not get invited back to the classroom or the advisory boards I sit on.

I am likely not as intelligent or as educated as those I participate with; forcing me to lean more on common sense and toil. Maybe there is value in that for the students, maybe not. I could be all wrong.
__________________
It is what you learn after you know it all that counts.
TrapLine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2012, 14:25   #30
MR2
Quiet Professional
 
MR2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Location, Location
Posts: 3,997
I believe that Trapper's "silo effect" effectively describes 'stacked thinking' not only in academia, but also the former profession once known as journalism, the military, politicians, Hollywierd, and the so-called 'elites' on both Left coasts.

I believe it effects ideas and thinking on both sides of the aisle...
__________________
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time - Leo Tolstoy

It's Never Crowded Along the Extra Mile - Wayne Dyer


WOKE = Willfully Overlooking Known Evil
MR2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:56.



Copyright 2004-2022 by Professional Soldiers ®
Site Designed, Maintained, & Hosted by Hilliker Technologies