[MD] conspiracy theories

[Ham Priday]

Hi Laramie, Gav, and interested readers -- 


[Gav said]:
> All I'm willing to submit at this point is that we are
> currently facing a threat to civil liberties previously
> unimagined.  Anyone who really poses a threat to
> institutional dominance is in for a surprise.  Reason
> and rationality have become absolute outlaws.

[Laramie said]:
> Ham noted some time ago that almost NO ONE
> today holding a position of prominence in society
> is advocating individualism. That's a fact worth
> thinking about.

Thanks for the mention, Laramie.  Although I don't recall the specific
comment, I'll take credit for it.  And while I'm generally not a conspiracy
theorist, the Warren Commission report on JFK's assassination still seems
flawed to me, especially considering that Oswald never had an opportunity to
present his story for the record, and sharpshooters haven't been able to
duplicate the alleged "single-assassin" shot under identical conditions.

You make a valid point about the threat of "institutional dominance".
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the institutions of higher learning
where more than 80% of the History, English, Philosophy, and Social Studies
professors list themselves as progressive liberals.  (A conspiracy?)  This
intellectual environment produces teachers, journalists, sociologists,
business leaders, and politicians with a distinctly anti-individualist
perspective.  We see its affects starting in elementary school where
children are  systematically indoctrinated to the "humanistic" ideology of
multiculturalism.  According to this ideology, there is no "right" or
"wrong", and even the most heinous criminal acts are justifiable, depending
on one's "cultural background".  Instead of presenting the literary works of
our culture as an introduction to moral values, they are used to demonstrate
the relativity of truth and justice.  With everything from the Bible to the
U.S. Constitution open to such cynicism and questioning, how can this
generation's adults be expected to make decisions that will benefit the
future of their society?

Coincidently, I happen to be running a 1998 essay by Christina Hoff Sommers
on the Values Page (www.essentialism.net/balance.htm) this week.  Dr.
Sommers is a philosophy professor with first-hand experience of what she
calls the "moral illiteracy" of our nation's youth, as well as some
suggested cures for this malady.  I think you, Gav, and anyone else who
feels threatened by institutional dominance will be interested in what she
has to say.

Thanks for the opportunity,
-- Ham