This is my rant about the complete ignorance I have tolerated so far at school this year. This rant doesn't warrant a response, its purpose is for me to blow some steam off but if you'd like to add on feel free.
I have an International Law & Human Rights class as well as an International Relations class. I am so surprised that these people, are so clueless; or perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised.. When we discuss issues occurring in the world, I am always the one (the only one) saying it is the fault of the State in general, and that it is best we do not get involved. I also state (no pun intended, well maybe a little) that inflation permits all these wars to be carried out and if somebody wishes to fight for a cause they feel is just they can feel free to buy a rifle and a plane ticket and go fight for it.
This usually elicits some idiot trying to tell me I don't care about genocide and I think it's ok, to which I reply that I find it abhorrent but I feel people shouldn't be sent to kill and be killed to stop it, that this should not be stopped by coercion but rather by voluntarism. I usually cite the Lincoln Brigade of the Spanish Civil War where many people voluntarily went over to fight the Fascists on the side of the Communists (McCains vs. Obamas). No matter what, though, people just can not seem to accept that there is something inherently atrocious and wrong with war, and that sending people to kill others and potentially die themselves is a terrible thing.
The other day we ended up discussing the bailout and I explained the business cycle and how inflation caused our current dilemma. I believe I was the only person out of thirty who was opposed to the bailout. I heard a range of morons attempt to refute what I had said, and yet every time it was not a refutation but something entirely irrelevant. One girl even said that the central bank didn't cause this problem and the bailout needed more money! I asked her if she thought artificially suppressed rates caused bad investments and poor lending practices which do not reflect true market conditions, to which she could not come up with a response. I went on to speak more about the manipulation of interest rates, how wealth only comes through productivity, how the government is insolvent, and gave the class a brief history lesson on the Great Depression and what prolonged it. After this the professor asked if anybody had a response after I had spoken almost 5 minutes straight, to which there was complete silence. After all this, how had I not convinced them?
My English professor is a typical Democrat cheerleader, a feminist who believes that Hillary Clinton can do no wrong. It's a writing course and she gave us an economics paper to read by Ken Galbraith (I think) who was an economic adviser to Kennedy I think, could be wrong. Regardless, after reading the text and hearing about how the public sector needed to save us from poverty, and to create jobs, etc. among other things I realized he sounded like a typical Keynesian. He also said the economy needs "more money". She asked us what we thought about the paper, and I made my feelings known about what a dolt this guy was, and I respectfully explained "points" he made in his paper and why they were wrong. We discussed the bailout as well, and again I explained the business cycle, etc. you get the idea by now. This woman told me she disagreed with everything I said and I was not "educated enough" to know the problems and their solutions with regards to the economy. She said she would believe this man over me because he was a "president's economic adviser".
This same lady told me I didn't know the U.S. Constitution and I couldn't possibly know what the Founders intended because I was not a lawyer. She claimed Obama understood the Constitution better than me because he was a lawyer! I told her to read the Federalist papers to see what they "intended". I kept asking her why my, or rather the Austrian School economics were incorrect, and what she disagreed with, and she just kept saying I was just wrong. The class actually began to tell her that what I was saying was making sense and she should let me talk. One girl even told her she was not teaching properly and she flipped out saying "When you get a Ph.D from Stanford you can have an opinion!" After class everybody was discussing how she was similar to Hitler.
I've noticed there is substantial hostility towards any libertarian or anarchist ideology in my school not only from the teachers but also from my peers. It seems to be very hard to convince people, even with the facts laid out in front of them. I din't really have a question to ask about this, I just needed to get that out because it is so frustrating going there during the week and hearing people discuss the election as if there is any difference between the two major party imbeciles.
In liberty,
Chris
Chris: I've noticed there is substantial hostility towards any libertarian or anarchist ideology in my school not only from the teachers but also from my peers. It seems to be very hard to convince people, even with the facts laid out in front of them. I din't really have a question to ask about this, I just needed to get that out because it is so frustrating going there during the week and hearing people discuss the election as if there is any difference between the two major party imbeciles.
I find that the same thing is true.
There is a school forum. I lay out the facts, and I repeatedly get a no, no, you must be wrong.
Schools are labour camps.
Good job. Keep on keepin on.
Out of curiosity, where do you live that everyone supports the bailout, because it seems to be unpopular nearly everywhere.
bigwig: Good job. Keep on keepin on. Out of curiosity, where do you live that everyone supports the bailout, because it seems to be unpopular nearly everywhere.
I live in New Jersey but go to school in New York City which is basically overrun by Obama cheerleaders that I honestly believe don't realize how idiotic they sound sometimes.
I know how you feel. My professor for South Asian History last spring had this nasty habit of diverging from the history of South Asia and going into socialist and feminist rants, which was ironic seeing as how he is an old man. As I was still new to the ideas of the Austrian School and libertarianism I felt the best approach was to throw little bits and pieces of information out there in the form of questions, which could serve as a trail of bread crumbs to the curious. If I had known more at the time I might have been more aggressive but I felt it wouldn't do any good for the cause to publicly place myself in a position I couldn't adequately defend yet. Needless to say, it's very frustrating position to be in.
It seems to me that formal education is a socialist indoctrination center by its very nature. Teachers in general, seem to think they know everything and that if everyone would just follow the dictates of their "plans" everything would be better. It's such a common human foible I'm actually beginning to find it endearing: "People should be free to do what I tell them". It's very easy for smart people to fall into that trap. Additionally, there is a certain rigidity built into the system at a fundamental level. As I understand it, our modern system of education was derived from a system set up to train and indoctrinate people into the priesthood. I'm not quite sure what a good alternative might be but it always seemed to me that there has got to be a better way of doing this.
I'm thinking that one day I'll run for school board of whatever town I live in and if elected push to have Austrian School ideas included in the economics curriculum. Perhaps it's a pipe dream but, every little be helps.
eliotn: I lay out the facts, and I repeatedly get a no, no, you must be wrong.
I lay out the facts, and I repeatedly get a no, no, you must be wrong.
You must be wrong, because if you aren't wrong, it means they are. And that's just plain unacceptable.
Pro Christo et Libertate integre!
Academics do not like being proven wrong--or even have their teachings questioned--in front of their students (as in the case of the Stanford Ph.D. holding English professor) because they paid a lot of money to get into a status-implied position and feel that they are somehow infalliable.
I made that exact statement to one of my Ivy League-degree holding professors while pursuing my BA's. I told him that if he wanted to be considered infalliable by people he should have joined the seminary, become a Catholic priest, and then worked his way to become the pope. Instead he chose to become a professor, and a very narrow-minded one at that.
As a sort-of-comical side note, I ended up with an A in the class.
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." -James Madison
I had an economics teacher last year who stated that his favourite economist was Galbraith and also openly stated that he considered himself a "liberal". Often times he would imply than non-liberals had no heart. I liked the guy personally, but the agenda that he pushed was pretty damn obvious. The most unfortunate thing is that he was an economics teacher, so he had no excuse to be a socialist.
I still wish that I had found the Ludwig von Mises Institute before I graduated, though. Then again, I can't say that I paid a lot of attention to him because I had pretty intense senioritis, especially second semester when I had Macroeconomics AP with him. :]
eliotn: I find that the same thing is true. There is a school forum. I lay out the facts, and I repeatedly get a no, no, you must be wrong.
In my experience, this is mostly true; however, for every 20 people who refuse to conceed that you might have a point, there will be at least one who remains silent, but thinks to himself: "Hmm... that guy seems to be making sense. Maybe I should look into some of the things he mentions."
So keep it up. We need everyone we can get.
You can't take the sky from me.
bigwig: Good job. Keep on keepin on.
Ditto, now go get laid!
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