Fynder "The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority was meant to show how the nazis controlled the German people, as 1984 and Brave New World were warnings, Abbott has read them as a collective instruction manual. The left should not underestimate were Abbott is coming from or the evil that props him up, in his war against the ABC."

Lol! I also hear he sells poison milk to school children

Funder et al.,

I have boundless admiration for your courage - in the face of an imminent knock on the door, you continue to expose the evils of this fascist regime which terrorises our society, and is right now dragging tens of thousands of innocent people off to ghastly concentration camps out in the remote parts of Australia, out of sight and out of mind: I've heard there's one between Ivanhoe and Wilcannia which specialises in the most terrible tortures. God knows how many others there are, beside that one - and the one out from Thargomindah of course, which is notorious for its brutality.

Rest assured that when they come for you, and you are 'disappeared', we will remember you :)

Joe

Aristocrat,

It is the rigid, systemic political correctness that limits, as it is intended to do.

<More problematic, particularly in the social sciences, is a growing sense that there are some views that just cannot be expressed.

On the one hand, the pseudo-radical, broadly left-wing consensus that pervades universities means that castigating neoliberalism, the influence of the popular media, and the desire to consume, will automatically garner the support of the peers who will review your work for publication and you for promotion.

On the other hand, not paying lip-service to the importance of feminism, the welfare state, and protecting the environment, is more likely to see your work rejected. New academics are often recruited because their research fits into the existing departmental culture. Students are taught the values of their lecturers.>

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/teaching_students_not_to_think/14479#.VfC_aRGqpBc

I would say that teaching students not to think but to accept the prevailing PC without question goes all of the way through the State education system.

It is also why leftist 'Progressives', the self-described 'Wolves in Sheep's Clothing' aka International Socialists, hate private schools and seek to close them down. It isn't that the private schools teach 'conservatism' or some are 'religious', it is that the totalitarian socialists despise independent, critical thought and students being encouraged to be industrious and work to support themselves and contribute to society.

This great man saw it coming. His lecture Winning the Cultural War delivered in 1999 to a graduating class at Harvard is recognised as an example of great American rhetoric. His solution was civil disobedience.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/charltonhestonculturalwar.htm

Aristocrat: "Defunding" the Humanities and Social Sciences because they don't say what you want to say is a reactionary and perhaps even totalitarian solution. Though it bothers me also - that in today's humanities and social sciences radical political economy is neglected - and the 'radical' politics you're so opposed to often just comprise identity politics which offer little alternative to capitalism - or even neo-liberalism more narrowly.

But really - given the slant in the monopoly mass media towards the Right-consensus how is it you cannot tolerate opposing opinions and want to shut them down even when you're pretty much getting your way in public policy?

I'd also remind you that Hayek, Mises etc are now considered 'mainstream' in Economics courses whereas going back a few decades they were considered extreme. The Greens are called 'extreme' for supporting policies once proposed by Liberal Party 'Wets'. Honestly - the virtual policy consensus is neo-liberalism! You get your way in terms of austerity, attacks on welfare, attacks on labour, attacks on redistribution and the public sector. But you cannot tolerate criticism!

Finally - Economics course often deal with ASSUMPTIONS rather than realities. :-P But if you want to fight through civil disobedience that's your right I think. So long as you concede that Left forces ALSO have that right to resist through civil disobedience.

Tristan Ewins "'Defunding' the Humanities and Social Sciences' because they don't say what you want to say is a reactionary and perhaps even totalitarian solution."

It is. Having experienced the authoritarian personalities that make up the teaching and administrative staff in the Humanities and Social Sciences Departments, I came to the conclusion there is zero chance of students being exposed to alternative perspectives.

"Though it bothers me also - that in today's humanities and social sciences radical political economy is neglected - and the 'radical' politics you're so opposed to often just comprise identity politics which offer little alternative to capitalism - or even neo-liberalism more narrowly."

Marxist economics is still taught in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Neo-liberalism is only ever mentioned for critique or ridicule.

"But really - given the slant in the monopoly mass media towards the Right-consensus how is it you cannot tolerate opposing opinions and want to shut them down even when you're pretty much getting your way in public policy?"

There is no monopoly. As stated before, the left have The Guardian and Farifax. You can add to that all the social media sites and thousands of blogs that proliferate the internet.

I don't tolerate left-wing domination of the Humanities and Social Sciences because these departments are meant to teach students how to think, not what to think. It's not critical thinking when students repeat Marxist and Foucauldian slogans.

Good post, onthe beach.
It's all true. I only keep myself employed in the academe by keeping my mouth shut.