the IDIOT

it’s puzzling to me how many people recognize the state for what it is (a useless mob of power-hungry jackasses), yet give formal education a pass when it has many of the same traits, and abundant ties between.

steven yates posted a speech by university of alabama historian forrest mcdonald at his blog yesterday. unfortunately, it’s a PDF file. my uncharacteristically irritated response:

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steven, because you recommended it, i downloaded and read “the speech”. i thought it was dreadful. this guy is so far down inside academia that he can’t see straight. his four suggestions were:

 - Open your mind and keep it open.

 - Strive eagerly to resurrect the English language.

 - Think nonscientifically when dealing with nonscientific things.

 - Live with gratitude and joy in the very fact of one’s existence, and in the existence of one’s fellow human beings.

the unsound, pointless, and contradictory footings offered for those four suggestions mix well with the fabrication that is the modern university. it’s likely those kids are already destroyed before hearing his speech. i ask mr. mcdonald, “what is your responsibility for the sickness you declaim?” today, by swimming through the internet with gusto, anybody not predisposed to sloth and conformity can give himself a far better education than any university could dream of. an eager, unfettered study of mises.org alone would blow away most university curricula. but then what could one wave in the face of dullards? knowledge? no, one must have a badge! many of the people opposed to guilds for lawyers and other trades think nothing of accumulating the equivalent with a sheepskin. the hypocritical, destructive force of guilds is even more rampant in academia.

just what is this man mcdonald doing associating with a place where he assumes, “You, of course, are engaged in a[n] adversarial relationship with books–you attack them as enemies with a view toward plundering them of information to be used as weapons in the war for grades–and you have little time for a leisurely perusal of good literature.” if such a thing is even being allowed, let alone encouraged, where he works, he should have done something to halt it, or removed himself from that diseased place. that speech, far from being a correcting force, is just the usual hoax masquerading as opposition.

the “attainment” of “a degree” (usually called “my degree” for reasons i don’t understand, but which may be telling) long ago eclipsed the love of knowledge for most. rare is the man who can succumb to the rigid brute academia while also getting a robust education.

“education” is mostly a placid wasteland wherein the subject lies prostrate with open billfold and a white flag that proclaims, “tell me what to do.” he does what he’s told, plays what games give extra points, and throws the resulting piece of paper at anybody who might be favorably impressed or intimidated. the “tell me what to do” exercise is then repeated throughout life. i have seen the resulting carnage. active, incisive knowledge and thought don’t usually exist in or beyond the moat of imitative putdowns and buzzwords that form the passwords of most college victims. knowing the pronunciation in vogue for some foreign philosopher’s name, and emitting a conspiratorial, “ahhh, yes!” often scores more points than a moderate understanding of his ideas. worse, as you and i discussed in auburn (ala the ‘zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’ guy), most college “philosophy” is merely philosophology. rarely will you find a graduate who can do more than spit out the touchstones of his major curriculum. when you do, he likely would have been better on his own.

formal education is a myth with a foundation as decrepit and vacuous as the state. that my money has been stolen from me and thrown into that dual abyss is enough to permanently remove mcdonald’s fourth suggestion from my list of accomplishments. i hold him as liable as anybody, and spit on his speech. he is not a symptom; he and the rambling horde of brother and sister academic poseurs are the problem.

what is modern “higher education”? the collection of baubles as passports. what is anybody telling you when he throws up a “degree” on his office wall? “behold that piece of paper which proves i have worth; never mind that i’m as dull a thud as a 10 year old christmas fruitcake. i got my ticket punched, and there’s nothing you can do to change it.”

what does it mean when a man pastes a title before or after his name? he is trying to convince you of his worth without displaying any — to assure you that somebody somewhere set up an arbitrary hurdle which he has cleared. of the insecure affectations of the world, that surely is among the most pathetic. there is no clearer advertisement of the only truth contained in such displays: “i did what i was told. i felt that it was necessary to have proof of my knowledge — probably so i wouldn’t ever have to provide it directly again. here is my shield. i give up. grant me passage, for i have proved myself worthy once in my life.”

blehhhh! they’re all chickenshits. there is no honorable reason for organized education other than to get laid, and that is better done in a basket-weaving class. the problem of education is not “liberals” and other fools. the problem of education is the very structure that almost everybody accepts: helplessness. its similarity to, and reliance upon, the state, is not coincidence.

the healthiest future would embrace these goals: death to formal education. death to the state. they will never die, but taking them nearer death is the only solution.

[argument continued here.]

Tags: guild rapists

Posted 20040721 21:04 under government dumb. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are closed.