Neither the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence mentions the name of Jesus or Christ. So to say this nation was founded on any Christian principles is simply a fallacy. I hope they include Frederick Douglass' writings in this American Classical Writing review, particularly his three autobiographies.
Hey Charlie -- thanks for commenting here! I imagine that Frederick Douglass will continue to make the cut, not only because Douglass is now fairly canonical, and the classical education / Western Civ advocates recognize the need for a certain amount of non-white texts . . . but also because Douglass is a favorite useful African American figure among conservatives such as school choice advocates. I have collected some examples of the way Douglass is rolled out as a posthumous spokesperson in the service of one cause or another. Everyone has a quotation or episode from one of the autobiographies that can be twisted to fit an argument.
And don't ever forget what the great American historian and statesman Donald Trump taught us a few years ago: “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”
I could not sigh more deeply. Were you unfortunate enough to have a class with this regressionist while at Emory? It's incredible how hard this stripe of white men are working to turn back time as they feel their own mortality approaching. This is their biological clock. I see it now in contemporaries that I assumed were brighter or more interesting, based on my interaction with them while we were all in our youth. This continues to be a disappointing development that is not new for middle aged men, just new to me in terms of my peers; I'm old, apparently. First and foremost, I worry about the "faith" element of this movement, because it carries much more weight and farther reach than academics alone. They have yet to crack the system in academics, but have made unbelievable strides in faith organizations. Both have elements of authoritarianism baked in, but in the churches, that expectation has more staying power and is rooted in "because I say so, and I represent the boss." So, the opiate of the masses seems to be holding and creeping its way into classrooms again and again. I step down from the soapbox for now, but don't get me started on the old white men's backup system of white women. Nope.
I didn’t take one of MB’s classes at Emory, but he was there at the time. I do remember briefly meeting him a couple of times. The arrogance was on display, the dismissive posture. I’m sure he had his adherents, but I also heard what a jerk he was from more than one other grad student. He has not taken this apparent right turn at that time, though, and this was long before he wrote The Dumbest Generation.
I’ll talk about this a little more in the book, but I had already emailed him a question about one of the white nationalist websites I’m looking at before he popped up on the New College board of trustees here in Florida. His response to the question I had for him is also a load of far right boilerplate I’ll get into.
Neither the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence mentions the name of Jesus or Christ. So to say this nation was founded on any Christian principles is simply a fallacy. I hope they include Frederick Douglass' writings in this American Classical Writing review, particularly his three autobiographies.
Hey Charlie -- thanks for commenting here! I imagine that Frederick Douglass will continue to make the cut, not only because Douglass is now fairly canonical, and the classical education / Western Civ advocates recognize the need for a certain amount of non-white texts . . . but also because Douglass is a favorite useful African American figure among conservatives such as school choice advocates. I have collected some examples of the way Douglass is rolled out as a posthumous spokesperson in the service of one cause or another. Everyone has a quotation or episode from one of the autobiographies that can be twisted to fit an argument.
And don't ever forget what the great American historian and statesman Donald Trump taught us a few years ago: “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”
I could not sigh more deeply. Were you unfortunate enough to have a class with this regressionist while at Emory? It's incredible how hard this stripe of white men are working to turn back time as they feel their own mortality approaching. This is their biological clock. I see it now in contemporaries that I assumed were brighter or more interesting, based on my interaction with them while we were all in our youth. This continues to be a disappointing development that is not new for middle aged men, just new to me in terms of my peers; I'm old, apparently. First and foremost, I worry about the "faith" element of this movement, because it carries much more weight and farther reach than academics alone. They have yet to crack the system in academics, but have made unbelievable strides in faith organizations. Both have elements of authoritarianism baked in, but in the churches, that expectation has more staying power and is rooted in "because I say so, and I represent the boss." So, the opiate of the masses seems to be holding and creeping its way into classrooms again and again. I step down from the soapbox for now, but don't get me started on the old white men's backup system of white women. Nope.
Hillary! Yes to all of this.
I didn’t take one of MB’s classes at Emory, but he was there at the time. I do remember briefly meeting him a couple of times. The arrogance was on display, the dismissive posture. I’m sure he had his adherents, but I also heard what a jerk he was from more than one other grad student. He has not taken this apparent right turn at that time, though, and this was long before he wrote The Dumbest Generation.
I’ll talk about this a little more in the book, but I had already emailed him a question about one of the white nationalist websites I’m looking at before he popped up on the New College board of trustees here in Florida. His response to the question I had for him is also a load of far right boilerplate I’ll get into.
It's got to be hard to keep the top of your head from popping right off! Keep on truckin' though; it needs to be said!
head top popped off a good while back, so none of this can do much more damage!