As George Orwell said, "some ideas are so stupid that only
intellectuals believe them." Many stupid ideas originate with academics on
college campuses. If they remained there and didn't infect the rest of society,
they might be a source of entertainment, much in the way a circus is. Let's
look at a few stupid ideas peddled by intellectuals.
During
the Cold War, academic leftists made a moral equivalency between communist
totalitarianism and democracy. Worse is the fact that they exempted communist
leaders from the type of harsh criticism directed toward Adolf Hitler, even
though communist crimes against humanity made Hitler's slaughter of 11 million
noncombatants appear almost amateurish. According to Professor R.J. Rummel's
research in "Death by Government," from 1917 until its collapse, the
Soviet Union murdered or caused the death of 61 million people, mostly its own
citizens. From 1949 to 1976, Communist China's Mao Zedong regime was
responsible for the death of as many as 78 million of its own citizens.
On
college campuses, the same sort of equivalency is made between capitalism and
communism, but if one looks at the real world, there's a stark difference. Just
ask yourself: In which societies is the average citizen richer — societies
toward the capitalist end of the economic spectrum or those toward the
communist end? In which societies do ordinary citizens have their human rights
protected the most — those toward the capitalist end or those toward the
communist end? Finally, which societies do people around the world flee from —
capitalist or communist? And where do they flee to — capitalist or communist
societies?
More
recent nonsense taught on college campuses, under the name of multiculturalism,
is that one culture is as good as another. Identity worship, diversity and
multiculturalism are currency and cause for celebration at just about any
college. If one is black, brown, yellow or white, the prevailing thought is
that he should take pride and celebrate that fact even though he had nothing to
do with it. The multiculturalist and diversity crowd seems to suggest that race
or sex is an achievement. That's just plain nonsense. In my book, race or sex
might be an achievement, worthy of considerable celebration, if a person were
born a white male and through his effort and diligence became a black female.
Then
there's white privilege. Colleges have courses and seminars on
"whiteness." One college even has a course titled "Abolition of
Whiteness." According to academic intellectuals, whites enjoy advantages
that nonwhites do not. They earn higher income and reside in better housing,
and their children go to better schools and achieve more. Based upon those
socio-economic statistics, Japanese-Americans have more white privilege than
white people. And, on a personal note, my daughter has experienced more white
privilege than probably 95 percent of white Americans. She's attended private
schools, had ballet and music lessons, traveled the world, and lived in
upper-income communities. Leftists should get rid of the concept of white
privilege and just call it achievement.
Then
there's the issue of campus rape and sexual assault. Before addressing that,
let me ask you a question. Do I have a right to place my wallet on the roof of
my car, go into my house, have lunch, take a nap and return to my car and find
my wallet just where I placed it? I think I have every right to do so, but the
real question is whether it would be a wise decision. Some college women get
stoned, use foul language and dance suggestively. I think they have a right to
behave that way and not be raped or sexually assaulted. But just as in the
example of my placing my wallet on the roof of my car, I'd ask whether it is
wise behavior.
Many
of our problems, both at our institutions of higher learning and in the nation
at large, stem from the fact that we've lost our moral compasses and there's
not a lot of interest in reclaiming them. As a matter of fact, most people
don't see our major problems as having anything to do with morality.
Walter
E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.
