Quote:
|
Name one. What's an example of a significant cultural institution under the control of the hard left?
|
Universities. Legacy media. Most govt agencies.
None are overtly controlled by it, but it influences and polices them all. Or at least it used to.
Quote:
The existence and discussion of ideas with which you disagree is not evidence that the country's institutions are under the control of the hard left.
We wound up with discussions about gender and race because of the lived experiences of many, many people. The term woke comes out of black culture, not the academy. At the risk of stating the obvious, many people think American culture and society tend to systematically disadvantage people who are not white men. These views get discussed because they are material to ordinary people's lives, not because a cabal of leftists highjacked some institutions. I think the same is true of gender issues. I know many people, family and friends, whose children identify as something other than their gender at birth. These children haven't been reading academic papers on intersectionality. The causal relationship runs the other way: Academics are trying to understand things that are happening in the world.
|
You have it backwards. The loons at the top have been running these nonsense theories about race and gender since the time of Marcuse and Foucault. It filters from the top down, not the other way around.
Quote:
|
There is not a single educational institution in this country of which I am aware where the dominant view is that October 7 was Israeli's fault, and the number of people who say such things is quite small, but they receive attention out of proportion to their number because agitating people is good for engagement, which makes money for media companies and platforms.
|
Look, their Presidents testified in front of Congress and they said what they said. Which was nuts. Argue with that record and get back to me.
Quote:
|
I agree with you that federal workers and college professors tend to support Democrats. With what Trump and Musk are trying to do to both of them, are you surprised? But that's a different subject from whether the hard left (as opposed to Democrats generally) controls major institutions.
|
They were all in for Ds before Musk and Trump. The Ds are at least now admitting out loud what we all knew before: Govt work is a trade - security for lower pay. Okay. That's fine. But if you've ever run any organization, you know, if you offer that kind of thing to people, roughly 40% will abuse it. Most people have to be incentivized to work. Some see opportunity. Others, you have to use fear. Giving someone security incentivizes these things: CYA behavior, laziness, and "staying in one's lane." These are anathema to innovation and effectiveness. And yes, even govt employees should be expected to innovate.
Personally, I'd pay govt workers on par with the private sector, and make them fireable just like the private sector. (The increased pay for good people would make up for the lost multiplier of giving loads of salaries to mediocre people.) I'd want better people. I'd never even think about hiring a person who just wanted guaranteed safety. Who would? Govt should not be a catch-all for folks who can't handle the stress of being subject to termination every day. There is no "safe space" in life, and nor should there be one.
