The Anchoress

Way back in 2005, we were liking intrepid young filmmaker Evan Coyne Maloney, and looking forward to his witty and provocative video pieces at brain-terminal.

Now, Glenn Reynolds is linking to a great review of Maloney’s latest full-length documentary, one which will clearly need some help getting seen, as it dares to expose what Reynolds famously calls “the crushing of dissent” at American Universities.

I don’t want to give anything away, but I was struck by the scientist who said that her students were able to figure out her politics simply by noting what she did not say. Just by teaching her subject, without adding extraneous leftist political harangues, she had revealed herself to be a closet Republican. You won’t believe what happened when the faculty found out about her politics. But the full horror story is almost less disturbing than the reality of that single observation about silence. Particularly in some of the non-science disciplines, it really has gotten to the point where mere silence on matters political is enough to reveal you as the enemy.

A pal of mine, of whom I have written before, has told me much the same. A conservative who teaches Social Studies in a local school district, this woman works hard to keep her own political opinions outside of the classroom, but has been identified as a conservative simply by her silences. Fortunately, her winning personality has allowed her to escape the wrath of most (not all) of her co-workers:

Last week my best pal, who works within the public school system, encountered the same remark from a Social Studies teacher - “I shouldn’t like you; you’re a conservative. And yet, I do like you a lot.”

My pal was taken aback. “He ’shouldn’t’ like me because I’m a conservative? What sort of bigotry is that? No one would ever dream of saying, ‘I shouldn’t like you; you’re black, or I shouldn’t like you, you’re French’- what a sad way to live. Whatever happened to judging people on the content of their character, not on the externals of gender, race, or IDEOLOGY? ‘I like you even though you’re a conservative!‘” she fumed, “that’s like saying, ‘if the fascists ever come for you, I’ll hide you in my attic because you’re one of the good ones - you know, just like Archie Bunker occasionally liked a ‘good’ black person!”

Also, it is important to note that indoctrination does not begin on college. My sons both had minor dust ups in high school, wherein they resisted the politically correct data being programed into them. But they noted - as have other students - that as the older - unindoctrinated - teachers retire, the younger ones coming in seem to feel that teaching is all about passing on the PC nuggets - not about allowing kids to think for themselves. And as Ed Driscoll points out, they start early teaching students that America is to blame for all the worlds ills.

You can watch a trailer for Indoctrination U and sign up there to help the thing be seen. I hope it gets seen, because it’s important.

Related:
PC Kills Larry Summers
Fascism in the Education Schools
Not Everyone Wants or Needs to go to College
There are Different Truths
Buster and Generation Bliss
Future Journalist grills Anchoress
I’d consider home-schooling
The Unstoppable Allure In an Ironic Age