George Rebane

To control a modern society, gain control of its connectivity.

The upcoming Paris conference on preventable global warming (PGW) would be laughable if it didn’t serve as a cover for some pretty draconian public policy plans.  I was reminded of this by yesterday morning’s emails and some contributions to The Union’s op-ed pages.  We can assume that what we read here in the foothills is a fair sampling of what appears in local newspapers nationwide.  To all this may be added a thoughtful and relevant essay in the 24oct15 WSJ – ‘The Myth of Basic Science’.

This propaganda blitz is part and parcel of the Left’s ongoing effort to silence opposing voices.  On the country’s campuses the liberal war on speech has reached unbelievable heights of censorship.  It is hard to believe that these pogroms on free thought and speech are actively pursued in America.  And the proscription on freedom of expression in what used to be the home of exploring new and contending ideas is condoned by the very students who used to pursue higher education to open their minds – “A recent survey reported college students, by a margin of 51% to 36%, favor speech codes.”

By ‘speech codes’ they mean explicit rules on what can and cannot be said on campuses.  Exclusive Williams College is the latest to invite and then disinvite a speaker that might stretch students’ minds.  There “Suzanne Venker joins a long and distinguished list of people—including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, George Will, and Charles Murray.”  Ms Venker was originally scheduled to speak in the school’s new ‘Uncomfortable Learning’ speaker series.  Apparently the students decided they didn’t want to get that uncomfortable and forced the administration to cancel the invite.  Across the land these are now the little darlins that have been thoroughly indoctrinated by our unionized progressive public schools.  We are reaping what we have sown.  (more here)

Meanwhile the same line of opposition goes on in the PGW debate that somehow refuses to be silenced no matter how much the local leftwing loonies call for dousing any and all opposition in the local media.  These folks declare their deep and abiding ignorance of anything scientific by the ongoing drumbeat of ferociously flawed citings of consensus science which they claim justifies the termination of debate on scientific issues.  Now those who understand even a smidgeon of what science is about would never make a claim that our understanding of any part of this universe is complete or that debate over scientific issues – yes, even evolution – is over and should therefore be proscribed in the Galeleonian manner or worse (cf. prosecution under RICO laws).

And the summa of socialist reasoning argues that inhibiting publication of opposing ideas is not censorship, it is simply the practice of prudent discretion in published content.  We recently learned through our Designated Reader the call for such “disgression”(sic) from one of our bright liberal bulbs palpitating on another progressive blog.  Yet the denials that the Left opposes free speech continue unabated.  That folks is the liberal mind in full bloom.  Go figger.