Friends, when you're awkwardly found guilty of mishandling secret documents yourself, after you've lambasted your predecessor for doing the same thing, there's really only one course of action to follow: remind voters that you own a Corvette, and are therefore entitled to do whatever, to whomever, you want. Indeed, Joe Biden has acted throughout his life as though he's entitled to power, privilege, and public acclaim, and anyone who dares even to question his primacy is a white supremacist, Nazi, MAGA scumbag. Will that sort of brainless bravado work in this case? It might, if the Dem leadership and the mainstream media play along. Will they? That depends largely on whether they regard Biden as a strong potential candidate in 2024. They're clearly on the fence.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/latest-biden-troubles-reelection
In other news, for a variety of reasons, only some of them revolving around wokeness, enrollment in colleges and universities is way down. The only hope for many institutions of higher learning, in fact, is a giant federal bailout -- or, I should say, a second bailout, because a big one already washed over higher ed during the recent pandemic. Could some colleges and universities boost their appeal to potential students by being less hostile to their conservative and/or Christian worldview? I guess so. A degree of nuttiness has always been a liability for any institution dominated by intellectuals, however, so my opinion would be that it is not wokeness and intolerance, per se, that are the main drivers of declining enrollment, but rather the perception that tertiary degrees are increasingly too costly, and convey too few benefits in the job market, to justify the time, effort, and expense required to obtain them. I can't say I disagree with this logic, either, even though my livelihood depends on a whole lot of poorly prepared high school students choosing to pursue useless degrees which, in any case, few of them will ever complete. Bottom line: a college degree costs more than ever before, and it signals less than ever before, in terms of one's wisdom and abilities. If more and more young people are finding better things to do with themselves, I say more power to them!
https://nypost.com/2023/01/16/how-the-wokeness-it-pushes-could-destroy-higher-ed/
Finally, Red China is on the ropes politicially, economically, and medically, but it also has demographic headaches that will only accumulate with time. This is good news for those who, like me, loathe the Chicoms, but it's bad news for those who, like me, want to avoid WWIII. That's because a struggling China is a dangerous China! Beware.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: Sinceso many colleges and universities are far left reeducation camps now, they are a prime resource for the incipient dictators in turning out well trained worker ants. So I would expect of the hopeful totalitarians measures like NY did in reducing SUNY undergrad tuition to, in the main, nothing. Of course I see no such NY governmental enthusiasm for mandating an end to blatant and vicious leftist bias in SUNY. I would guess that Florida's state colleges and/or universities are not marxist shams; if they were or are I'd expect Ron DeSantis to go after them and set an example of how states can, if they have the will, defund state institutions which arrogantly teach and enable contempt for the taxpayers who finance them. Montana should do that with their counterintuitively left "University" in lala land Missoula. The increasingly obvious impracticality of liberal arts degrees for so many may also reduce the number of willing cadre available to antiintellectual campus indoctrinators. Of course then, leftists might consider mandating "university" educations in politically correct institutions which manifest complete hostility to the universe of ideas!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: I learned alot from the Post article . So wokeness is backfiring at the box office! Good!Those movie people aren't stupid and they still want to make money. I was amazed that Top Gun II was even made but no more. And if its far too much encountered and obsequiously obeyed wokeness is working to the detriment of the american academy, then many more "goods".These cynical, ungrateful misfits, the very dross of the baby boom generation ,need to be hit right in the pocketbook. Its the only thing which can stop their savaging of our culture and all it values (which they do, no thanks forthcoming, at the expense of taxpayers, some of whom insolently doubt that our nation deserves punishment and fundamental transformation). That the painfully characteristic inanity of the current woke onslaught on advancement by merit and accomplishment appears to be creating much backlash is encouraging. If multitudes stop seeking college educations because they now know them to be impractical, then many academic leftists may lose their jobs. Of course some of them can find positions as compliance commissars in heretofore "free" enterprise.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddyfrom Jack:Speaking of wokeness, I heard some very interesting commentary on Fox that Putin considers himself a world leader in an existential struggle against the wokeness onslaught which so discredits the west. I think that the Russian national character is one of conservatism and restraint in personal conduct and that could lend some plausibility to that view. Wokeness is arbitrary and incidental and though it savagely resists any opposition, still enables the "anything goes" mien which is the shameful heritage of the tragically naive boomers (far too many of us that is).
ReplyDeleteJack, although higher ed may be in general decline, I would guess that our elite will remain infatuated with it, and no one will ascend to the commanding heights unless they possess a degree from a top-flight school. Now, the fate of the big, flagship state universities will be interesting to watch. As you say, Republican politicians often have some leverage over them -- not that they have used it very often.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point, Jack, that, while higher ed may be struggling, HR departments and "diversity" bureaucrats are enjoying the best of times!
It's interesting that Putin so often condemns wokeness, and homosexuality in particular. Are these ideas fundamental to his worldview...or just convenient excuses for his territorial aggression? With a guy like Putin, we may never know what lies at the core. Does Putin even know???