Are There Any Reasonable Liberals Left in Academia?

Stephen J. Douglass on Jan 10 18:58:50

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Some Relevant Personal History

I, myself, was once a well-trained, university indoctrinated Liberal. I rolled my eyes when the one Conservative kid in our Humanities class tried to make a counterpoint to our Alinsky-ite professors' leftwing assertions, and so did the professors but in good-natured way. It was all very civil back then. Because the leftist suit was never a natural fit for the freedom loving young man that I was, it didn't take long for my political philosophy to become libertarian. There wasn't much of a price to pay back then, either. In fact, I kept up with my Alinsky-ite (yes, literally) professors over the years following college and we became adult friends. I was known somewhat jokingly as "one of the ones that got away." To their credit, they always enjoyed bantering with someone of a different mindset and philosophy. They were reasonable.

Lord of the Flies

It's a very different story today, and you have to think those same old professors are now wondering to themselves what they've wrought: a generation of nihilists who are themselves professors. There are some academics who, though admitted Progressives, never fell under the Post-Modernist spell. While Jordan Peterson is probably the first and most recognizable high-level university professor to run afoul of university administrators and campus mobs, to date the most egregious example is that of Bret Weinstein and his wife, Heather Heying. If you haven't heard of them, the couple were distinguished evolutionary biology professors at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington who refused to participate in a controversial "Day of Absence" for white people (which originally, and ironically, was a social justice perk for students of color given the option to skip a day of classes.) The couple were eventually run, not just off campus, but out of town for their own safety as bat wielding mobs were threatening. Some of the video taken of the SJW student revolt is absolutely Golding-esque, but the most thorough and watchable treatment is a 3-part documentary by Australian filmmaker, Mike Nayna, found here on youtube.

The Darkhorse Podcast

The answer to the question asked in this post's headline is "yes, there are some reasonable Liberals." The ones bold enough to stand up and tell the truth should be celebrated and supported. Since Weinstein and Heying began speaking out about the dangers of the Post-Modernist Left and it's infiltration of academia, others have found courage to step forward, too, not only in academia but also in journalism. Dependable Liberals like Matt Taibbi, Glen Greenwald, Lee Fang, and even Bari Weiss are now speaking out vociferously about the Orwellian Newspeak disseminated by the mainstream multimedia outlets. This discussion between Taibbi and Weinstein on Weinstein's Darkhorse Podcast is notable in that you get to see something exceedingly rare - two devout anti-Trump, progressives lamenting that their movement has been taken over by dangerous Marxists. Weinstein even says "There's a clear pattern here. You don't think it's serious until it comes for you at which point it's too late," and then draws parallels to the Russian revolution - a stunning admission. Equally amazing is this discussion below between Bret and Heather regarding indoctrination, not just in higher education, but also at the very lowest grade levels.

Bret and Heather

Support Weinstein and Heying

Every conservative should take the time to watch this podcast simply because Weinstein and Heying are absolutely fascinating and they have first hand experience and expertise in the immediate problems of our time including the pandemic as Bret's area of biological study is, believe it or not, bats, and he knows an enormous amount about epidemiology and virology because of that. Another reason for conservatives to pay attention to these two is so they can identify reasonable, rational liberals and support them. They are definitely out there. All wild mushroom hunters tell the same story. It's nearly impossible to find a wild edible mushroom, but when you finally do discover one, you start seeing them everywhere.