I have a love-hate relationship with academia. I grew up in a family of academics and have been fortunate to study under phenomenal teachers, professors, and mentors both in Europe and the United States. For them, I have profound respect and gratitude.
Yet, I have encountered numerous intellectuals in the West who may be competent in their narrow field but are deeply ignorant of why America is a uniquely free and prosperous country and why Western civilization has created the most viable models of human flourishing. Not only do they fail to recognize indisputable historical facts, but they also espouse a blinding, visceral anti-American and anti-Western bias that defies any principles of good science and scholarship.
When I was a college student in Europe in the early 1990s, the university was an oasis of free thought. It was a sacred space for knowledge, highly conducive to a genuine exchange of ideas and respect for dissenting opinions. This was all the more remarkable in the wake of communism’s collapse in Eastern Europe. The intelligentsia of my youth was synonymous with pro-Western dissidents and free thinkers. This is still true in Eastern Europe to some extent, despite the recent proliferation of leftist NGOs that promote woke propaganda and sponsor various media outlets to amplify it.
Traditionally, intellectuals have been prone to eccentricity, contrarianism, and liberalism in the classical sense. This, however, is vastly different from what Western intellectuals have become today. Most of them have become irrationally dogmatic and intolerant in defending a false and pernicious narrative, whose goal is indiscriminate critique and destruction of traditional Western society. This results in a seeming paradox whereby the “smartest” people in a society are woefully devoid of common sense and wisdom. Suffice it to mention their inability to define basic terms such as “man” or “woman” and their blind submission to the cult of climate hysteria or transgenderism.
While “wokeness” is a relatively new phenomenon, its philosophical foundation is just a metamorphosis of decades-long anti-Western tendencies. The legendary economist and Nobel laureate F.A. Hayek discussed in detail the predominant leftist bias of intellectuals decades ago, in his 1949 essay “Intellectuals and Socialism.” Hayek’s brilliant analysis diagnoses the problem with remarkable precision and explains why intellectuals are disproportionately influential in shaping public opinion. Hayek remarked:
In all democratic countries, in the United States even more than elsewhere, a strong belief prevails that the influence of the intellectuals on politics is negligible…. Yet over somewhat longer periods they have probably never exercised so great an influence as they do today in those countries. This power they wield by shaping public opinion….
Socialism has never and nowhere been at first a working-class movement. It is by no means an obvious remedy for the obvious evil which the interests of that class will necessarily demand. It is a construction of theorists, deriving from certain tendencies of abstract thought with which for a long time only the intellectuals were familiar; and it required long efforts by the intellectuals before the working classes could be persuaded to adopt it as their program.
The term “intellectuals,” however, does not at once convey a true picture of the large class to which we refer, and the fact that we have no better name by which to describe what we have called the secondhand dealers in ideas is not the least of the reasons why their power is not understood….
Until one begins to list all the professions and activities which belong to the class, it is difficult to realize how numerous it is, how the scope for activities constantly increases in modern society, and how dependent on it we all have become. The class does not consist of only journalists, teachers, ministers, lecturers, publicists, radio commentators, writers of fiction, cartoonists, and artists all of whom may be masters of the technique of conveying ideas but are usually amateurs so far as the substance of what they convey is concerned.
The class also includes many professional men and technicians, such as scientists and doctors, who through their habitual intercourse with the printed word become carriers of new ideas outside their own fields and who, because of their expert knowledge of their own subjects, are listened with respect on most others.
There is little that the ordinary man of today learns about events or ideas except through the medium of this class; and outside our special fields of work we are in this respect almost all ordinary men, dependent for our information and instruction on those who make it their job to keep abreast of opinion. It is the intellectuals in this sense who decide what views and opinions are to reach us, which facts are important enough to be told to us, and in what form and from what angle they are to be presented.
Is there a cure for the overwhelming anti-Western bias of most American intellectuals and the harm it causes? First, we need to restore education to its former quality in the classical liberal arts tradition that examines the achievements of Western civilization and what makes America unique. American schools and colleges that teach traditional values have seen a welcome increase in enrollment over the past decade or so, but such programs need to proliferate more widely. Removing public funding from institutions that promote destructive anti-American studies and activities is another major step in the right direction.
The recent emergence and recognition of conservative, libertarian, and classically liberal media outlets and think tanks can also help neutralize the anti-American groupthink prevalent in legacy media and major cultural and educational institutions. Making traditional good values and proper education mainstream would eventually displace the anti-Western narrative and foster an intellectual class that would actually benefit our society and appreciate its blessings. In other words, we need a widespread American Renaissance.
Nora D. Clinton is a Research Scholar at the Legal Insurrection Foundation. She was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. She holds a PhD in Classics and has published extensively on ancient documents on stone. In 2020, she authored the popular memoir Quarantine Reflections Across Two Worlds. Nora is a co-founder of two partner charities dedicated to academic cooperation and American values. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and son.
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Comments
“I have encountered numerous intellectuals in the West who may be competent in their narrow field but are deeply ignorant…”
What’s the old saying about intellectuals? They learn more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
While we didn’t call it woke, its genesis can certainly be traced back to the early 80’s when I was in school. It’s was very chic to celebrate diversity, don’t you know.
“Expertise in one field does not carry over into other fields. But experts often think so. The narrower their field of knowledge the more likely they are to think so.” – Robert Heinlein
Remeber the old reductio ad absurdum saying about specialization, “Ph.D.s (and other higher degrees) know more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing at all.”
It all plays true with time. There is no bigger baby than a Principal Investigator on a grant being told that they can’t spend money on themselves or non grant related items. That infantilism extends to speaking, loudly, with empty, baseless “authority” when remarking about PRESIDENT Trump. Even playing devil’s advocate can’t break through their biases. Naturally, we conservatives stayed below the radar.
To wit: I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh for a couple of hours while I did research in a small, dark room with loud equipment, and a fellow grad student remarked about “how can you listen to that man? He is a (insert usual Dem fabrication here)!” My retort was “well, give me an example.” Her response was “well, I don’t listen to him.” My final remark was “I hope your research is not based on zero facts like that.” She was not amused. Needless to say, I played it even louder…
The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect
https://grokipedia.com/page/Gell-Mann_Amnesia_Effect
I think part of this comes from the loss and warping of history education in school. A public with no knowledge of history is easily spun up by the latest news story having no context for what it means. Excellent article ; a western renaissance is indeed needed.
“Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it;
Those who fail to learn history correctly — why they are simply doomed.”
Achem Dro’hm, “The Illusion of Historical Fact” — CY 4971
Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, season 1 episode 3 “To Loose the Fateful Lightning”
That quote (and the precise citation) is in my collection. I don’t know if you posted it here before and I got it from you, or if I posted it and you got it from me!
Great minds think alike.
Could be either way. I’ve been using that quote in appropriate circumstances for years, and like you I have a “collection”.
No generation since the advent of Western Enlightenment has ever been so dangerously ignorant, ill-educated to the point of substandard intelligence, as the last two. This was intentional.
I do some substitute “teaching” (read it: babysitting) at a local high school. The attitudes and opinions of the faculty is appalling and freely spouted in front of the children.
The previously written about closing of the Frankfurt School.
There’s a reason that revolutionary movements always target students to enlist as cannon fodder. They’re naive, idealistic, and easily conned.
Or, as Rush Limbaugh use to put it: “young skulls full of mush.”
The forebrain doesn’t finish developing until the mid twenties; it is responsible for telling you not to do stupid things.
If only Nixon had contested the 1960 election.
Good ideas about how to start restoration of Western values. Step one- defeat Democrats. Step two-educate conservatives about what we are trying to conserve. Many times, even now, I try to talk to conservatives who are seniors about what is going on now and they usually respond by saying ‘they just don’t understand’ what is happening and why and how. I ask have you thought about this idea or that reason and in less than half a minute they aren’t listening and will back up and repeat ‘I don’t understand….’ . Seems they don’t want to think and evaluate because they really just want ‘normal’ back. It’s not just the Democrat that doesn’t want to hear it or know it.
One telltale marker in this devolution has been the demise of debate as an intellectual discipline. Being able to articulately and competently articulate both sides of important issues really does facilitate overall comprehension, and the fastest way to unmask pseudo intellectuals is to ask them to now present the “con” argument to one of their cherished prejudices, and then watch the fireworks when they refuse.
Yes, this is fixable. It will take time, dedication, and vision.
First step: STOP FUNDING IT. Stop all federal student loans. Stop having the government throw money at children to get any degree whatsoever. Let the private sector handle student loans and let it work out how best to price a degree in electrical engineering vs a degree in 17th century lesbian poetry. The higher education sector will have a massive corrective adjustment as they shift to degrees that have a higher chance of paying back the loans.
If you want a degree in philosophy then your parents can fund your 4 year vacation. Or you can get it later in life once you have saved up enough money. It is no longer a US Government concern.
Philosophy and ethics – in the tradition of Western Civilization – used to be part of the “core curriculum”, the purpose of which was to make better people. But instruction in Western Civilization has been eliminated by the leftist fools. “Hey hey, ho ho, Western Civ has got to go.” Barbarians.
A degree in Philosophy used to be about the “love of wisdom”. It has been systematically destroyed by the leftist fools.
Short answer: Yes….
the “intellects” are many times the “first to go” to the gulags etc
so them siding with their natural enemies is old as the world
wasnt there just some superbowl ad that exposed that with the weak intellect jewish kid getting protection from the strong able bodied blk guy?
public schools have been doing this for decades as they saw their path to “teaching” was to placate the newest blk panthers of the day while ridiculing the victims
the ppor young innocent female in chiraq who was murdered by another dem was called out as
being in the wrong place
or she startled the criminal
it wont end until men with pro human pro capitalist traits take back over
then the intellects will know theyyy have the backing that is needed for civility
Me and my wife went to college in the mid 70s. We saw the education system problems with our sons in the 90s and early 2000s. The HS was taught wrong in most classes. Our sons graduated HS different years after we tutored them to get them properly taught though school. The choice after HS was college or Trade School and each picked a TS. They went to different Trade Schools, which cost us less then half a year of college. They make well over 6 figures, have houses, cars, and good bank accounts. My oldest son has a family.
My wife’s sister taught her two children that were born 10 years after ours via Homeschooling. They went to different colleges and learned different skills – Nursing and Electrical Engineering. The Homeschooling taught them well and they went through college each very good. Each got good jobs and both are living in apartments plus they have cars.
The major issues I see now with education is 1) math is taught wrong, 2) history is no longer taught fully and correctly, and 3)Civics is not taught.
Thank you Nora! This article is a keeper!
The institutions CAN be cured…. by purging the entirety of the anti western civilization oriented faculty/admin and board of.trustees. Otherwise the cycle continues b/c it perpetuates itself. A good.start would be alumni and donors raising hell and halting funds while Governors and State Legislatures get busy removing wishy washy board members and University administrators. The Feds can obviously assist by restructuring Federal Student aid/loans to prioritize 2 year trade/VoTech and real STEM undergrad programs. The only Federal funding to students outside that should be GI Bill. So if someone wants a degree in 16th century lesbian Latina literature they can pay for it themselves b/c they ain’t getting a Federal loan, Pell grant for it nor should any Federal grants flow to subsidize such a degree program. If some Veteran wants to burn up their GI Bill on it….well it isn’t A great choice but it is their choice of how to utilize the benefit they earned. Finally no more ‘credit’ for useless undergraduate degrees in Federal civil service nor loan repayment/forgiveness options for degrees outside of STEM.
“while Governors and State Legislatures get busy removing wishy washy board members and University administrators.”
But this will never happen without first removing the governors and legislators who will resist this with all their might because it reduces their power base. If you can’t teach children Stupid, nobody will grow up to vote Stupid.
Well there’s probably some tar and feathers somewhere. That might need to make a comeback as a more accurate ‘public sentiment poll’. I’d suggest we hold off on the Colombian neckties until we see if the old school methods work.
Is there a cure for the overwhelming anti-Western bias of most American “intellectuals” …..(quotation marks are mine)
Removing public funding from institutions that promote destructive anti-American studies and activities is another major step in the right direction.
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1. The cure is to go communist, they always kill the so called “intellectual” class who became so persuasive.
Can’t have the “intellects” find out the promised utopia is actually slavery, murder and elites TAKING way more than billionaires.
2. Good luck stopping the funding, the dems and their allies are always going to steal vast amounts of tax payer money through programs they can get passed when in power. And if that doesn’t work their billionaires are excited to try and bring the US down for their own potential profit.
the answer is yes.
Only way to fix is destroy it all and reconstitute with strict guidelines and rules. Afterwards hope the next generation entering nursery-12 can be taught relatively unbiasedly and to think for themselves and to do their own research.