I have just experienced - I use that word advisedly - one of the most impressive, inspirational, hopeful, exhilirating, joyful ( I will have to ask that you please excuse my enthusisam) videos I have ever seen, of a brief talk by a scholar who has been called one of the greatest historians of our time, Niall Fergson, on the occasion of a reception welcoming the Founding Class of the recently founded University of Austin of Texas. The title has a great potential of “scaring off” many who would benefit greatly from its lessons and I can say that because as much as I have long admired this scholar I let this item languish for some time since learning about it in a post at Powerline a week ago — the title is After The Treason of the Intellectuals it is accessible at the foot of this post. I should also note that while it is all the things I outlined above it is at the same time extremely troubling and chilling in its message about the current state of the institutions of higher learning with their apparently incurable infestation of left-wing, “woke” indoctrination along withh the speaker’s opinion as to the only remaining remedy for that disease.
To set the stage, here is what the Powerline post had to say about the presentation:
Niall Ferguson must be one of the three most prominent historians writing in English today. He is the author of 16 books. Late last year he wrote the timely and trenchant essay “Treason of the Intellectuals.”
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This is the talk Ferguson gave at the University of Austin’s Founding Class of 2028 reception. It is in part a description of the state of higher education and in part a motivational talk for incoming students. He speaks from notes in front of a fiery backdrop that seems to serve as a metaphor — he calls it “a simulated apocalyptic landscape” –for the spirit of his remarks. The nascent University of Austin bids to join Hillsdale College as one of our essential educational institutions.
I mentioned that the talk is also very troubling and that results from the speaker’s masterful summary of the statistics proving that many colleges and universities today are mere “reducation camps” in the manner of the Chinese Communist Party or the Gulag Archipelago. While painful to hear, these are actual statistics and, as President John Adams said, “facts are stubborn things.” He concludes that the pendulum has gone so far over to the left that the only answer left is a new founding of institutions of higher learning, like the University of Austin (UATX).
I can assure you it will be a very wise, if unsettling, investment of an hour of your time.
There are pockets of bright, shining hope in the midst of the dark hours in which we are now living and this new university, and Dr. Ferguson’s inspirational talk describing hopes for its success, are definitely in that category.
God Bless America!
Thanks, Steve-so glad you liked it. He is a powerful speaker isn’t he? Hope springs eternal!
Watch the video, and was very impressed. He confirmed my thoughts using moslov law and Peters theory and other great philosophers. I haven't read all them(except the first two) but I learned about them through Mark Levin a d how our founding fathers used their philosophies to create our Constitution and Bill of Rights.