Victor Davis Hanson: The New Dark Age Mind

Contact Your Elected Officials
Victor Davis Hanson: The Blade Of Perseus Header

Video: On the Classicist Podcast from the Hoover Institute, Victor Davis Hanson looks at the intellectual pathologies bred by Western affluence.

Building the New Dark-Age Mind

Americaโ€™s descent into the Dark Ages will not end well. It never has in the past.

History is not static and it does not progress linearly.  There was more free speech and unimpeded expression in 5th-century Athens than in Western Europe between 1934-45, or in Eastern Europe during 1946-1989. An American could speak his mind more freely in 1970 than now. Many in the United States had naively believed that the Enlightenment, the U.S. Constitution, and over two centuries of American customs and traditions had guaranteed that Americans could always take for granted free speech and unfettered inquiry.

That is an ahistorical assumption. The wish to silence, censor, and impede thought is just as strong a human emotion as the desire for free expression โ€” especially when censorship is cloaked in rhetoric about fairness, equality, justice, and all the other euphemisms for not allowing the free promulgation of ideas.

George Orwell devoted his later years to warning us that while the fascist method of destroying free expression was easily identified (albeit only with difficulty combatted), the leftwing totalitarian impulse to squelch unpopular speech was far harder to resist โ€” couched as it was in sloganeering about the โ€œpeopleโ€ and โ€œsocial justice.โ€ It is easy to object to the speech codes of a self-interested, corrupt dictator in sunglasses and epaulettes, but difficult to fight censorship that allegedly helps the poor, minorities, and the helpless.

We canย all but write off todayโ€™s universityย [1]ย as a place of free expression. In the age of Obama, zealots in the university have clamped down on any thought deemed reactionary. โ€œTrigger warningโ€ is a euphemism for trying either to censure literature or to denigrate it. โ€œSafe spaceโ€ is another term for the segregation of campus areas by race, class, or ideology. โ€œHate speechโ€ has become a pejorative for uncomfortable truth.

Read Full Article on VictorHanson.com

Victor Davis Hanson
Victor Davis Hansonhttp://victorhanson.com/
Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services.

How The Big Beautiful Bill Will Keep Louisiana’s Energy Industry Strong

Renewable or not, our federal govt should not be rigging the deck against any energy sources, especially nuclear power that is both clean and consistent.

On Declaring War, Congress De Facto Amended the Constitution

Congress has de facto amended the Constitution by 55 years of refusing to debate matters of war and peace.

AOC โ€“ Acting On Cue

It is easy to dislike Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), also known as Sandy Cortez, because she is fraudulent and not to smart.

LGBTQโ„ข Propaganda Roundup: Tampon Tim Walz Fails the Test

LGBTQโ„ข Propaganda Roundup: Nip/tucking the latest social engineering fisted...

AI is Now an Existential Threat

We now see evidence that artificial intelligence is an existential threat to our future. It is coming to take American jobs!

FBI Says Itโ€™s Uncovered โ€˜Largest Health Care Fraudโ€™ in American History

FBI and DOJ said $15 billion in losses was reported in โ€œlargest health care fraudโ€ investigation in U.S. history. Officials charged more than 300 people.

Trump Admin Finds Harvard Violated Civil Rights Over Alleged Anti-Semitism

A second investigation by the Dept of Health and Human Services is the latest action in a long dispute between Trump and Americaโ€™s oldest university, Harvard.

Oklahoma Ends Recommendation to Add Fluoride to Water

The Oklahoma State Department of Health has removed its recommendation that fluoride be added to public water systems.

โ€˜I wanted to do something to fight backโ€™: This iPhone app alerts users to nearby ICE sightings

Joshua Aaron's app, ICEBlock, is designed to let users alert people nearby to sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in area.

Canada-US Trade Talks Will End Until โ€˜Certain Taxesโ€™ Are Dropped, Trump Stresses

Trade discussions between Canada and the United States will end โ€œuntil such time as they drop certain taxes,โ€ U.S. President Trump said in an interview.

Trump Says US to Send Tariff Letters to Trade Partners Before July 9 Deadline

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will soon send letters to trading partners detailing the tariffs to be imposed on their exports to the United States.

Trump Says He Found a Buyer for TikTok

President Trump said he found a buyer for the Chinese-owned short video application TikTok, and that he will reveal the group in roughly two weeks.

Termination of โ€˜Wasteful Contractsโ€™ Saves US Government $470 Million Last Week: DOGE

Over the past seven days, various government agencies have terminated 312 โ€œwasteful contractsโ€ with a ceiling value of $2.8 billion, the DOGE said.
spot_img

Related Articles