In Defense of Scott Simon And America IV: Anti-Americanism Is Not About Politics, It’s About Survival
In Defense of Scott Simon And America IV: Anti-Americanism Is Not About Politics, It’s About Survival
By
Ken Eliasberg
The reader may wonder why I have lighted on this subject with such intensity and tenacity. Simple, we have no more pressing issue than this one — the pernicious effect of our left-wing professors on the continued viability of America. In other words, we are not talking about mere political differences; we are talking about fundamental differences that go to the very heart of who we, as Americans, are. These differences bear on our great country’s survival, and the public needs to know what’s happening in our schools.Why? Because the future of your children and grandchildren depend on it.
Permit me to elaborate — Arnold J. Toynbee, a noted British historian, postulated that great civilizations are not murdered; they commit suicide. That is, before being overrun by barbarians (or any other external force), they have experienced such cultural decay that they are too decadent to offer any resistance to such outside influences. It’s almost like a body whose immune system has suffered such damage as to make it vulnerable to diseases that would normally not be fatal to a healthy body. Although Toynbee’s findings are not without their critics, they make sense to me. That is, cultural rot gives rise to decadence — e.g. the bread and circuses attendant the collapse of the Roman Empire — and decadence, in and of itself, is a form of cultural suicide. As a consequence, the final collapse of the society in question is somewhat anticlimactic. And we have been moving in that direction since the ‘60s. In Wikepedia’s treatment of Toynbee, they observe that “[C]ivilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despostic minority.” Sound at all familiar? Take a good look at our society today.
And, if you think that I am being a bit extreme, you just haven’t been paying attention to what’s been happening over the last 4 or 5 decades!
One cannot overestimate the fundamental importance to a society of its youth; it not only assures the society’s future, it secures its present. Hitler recognized this eternal verity and conscripted Germany’s youth to further his plan of a thousand-year Third Reich. The Hitler youth movement was built around a zealous, if misguided, super patriotism; he impressed upon these youngsters his vision of an omnipotent Germany. Our Academic left-wing Mafia has taken the exact opposite approach, impressing upon our youth the very questionable worth of their country — a sort of reverse patriotism, if you will. Indeed, to our social studies academics, any expression of patriotism is tantamount to jingoism. It seems that in a secular environment, God and country are hostile forces. The Godfather of this left-wing Mafia is Howard Zinn, whose book A People’s History of the United States is sort of the American history bible, employed more than any other text at both high school and college levels. In it Zinn magnifies every one of America’s sins, while downplaying our many virtues, contributions, and successes. Thus, America savaged the native Indians, utilized slavery to operate its Southern industries, interned the Japanese-Americans, etc., etc. And these regrettable actions are, in Zinn’s eyes, if not the entire American story, they obscure all others. The financial equivalent of Zinn’s characterization of our great country would be to go to your C.PA for a net worth statement and have him compile such using only your liabilities, i.e. a balance sheet that totally disregards your assets, no matter how valuable they might be. Phyllis Schlafly in a 1/5/09 column in the Washington Times entitled The radicalization of education, observes: “Howard Zinn, author of the exteme anti-American ‘People’s History of the United States,’ urges educators to prioritize ‘social justice’ education over political neutrality [the real role of an educator]. In a 1998 interview, he said ‘quiet revolution’ to move us toward ‘democratic socialism’ was his goal in writing ‘People’s History.’” At www.DiscoverTheNetwork.org, the authors make this observation: ”Professor Zinn announces the overtly political agenda of A People’s History in an explanatory coda to the 1995 edition; ‘I wanted my writing of history to be part of social struggle. I wanted to be a part of history and not just a recorder and teacher of history. So that kind of attitudetowards history, history itself as a political act, has always informed my writing and teaching.”
In these quotes you see the seeds of both our problem and, if unchecked, our eventual destruction. Zinn has abandoned the role of “scholar” in favor of that of political activist. Which might be okay if our kids are going to school for a left-wing indoctrination instead of an education, but I’m afraid most of us do not send our kids to school to be indoctrinated in the ways of any political viewpoint — and certainly not one that advocates the overthrow of our government, with the consequent destruction of our way of life.
While I have discussed Zinn (and his fellow America-hater, Noam Chomsky) before (see my columns dated 12/21/06 through 1/31/07) I think a brief word or two here might be a helpful reminder of just how pernicious our left-wing Academy has become. In two columns at townhall.com, on 9/12/09 and 9/19/09 entitled What the left thinks, Dennis Prager, a conservative columnist, conducted an interview with Zinn. Prager’s intent here was not to engage the professor in a debate; rather it was to gain nsight into and expose Zinn’s views to the public. Some of Zinn’s responses to Prager’s questions are both interesting and revealing. The essence of their conversation is revealed in the following question and answer:
“Dennis Prager: I think a good part of your view is summarized when you say, ‘If people knew history, they would scoff at that’- - the idea that the United States is a force for the betterment of humanity. I believe that we are the country that has done more good for humanity than any other in history. What would you say