"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:e9HSd.16228$4D6.7303@attbi_s51...
You know, Peter, I can't decide which is worse: Having a person in
academic authority like Churchill teaching this kind of tripe to our
youth, or having a relatively intelligent member of our society like you
exercising moral relativism (on such a grand scale!) in defense of an
indefensible position.



"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the
military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of
misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or
democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert
and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge
industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and
goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

---- President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican), 1961.



You give our youth way too little credit. They can read President
Eisenhower, they can read Ward Churchill, they can listen to President
Bush, and they will do their own research to reach closer to the truth.
If it is indeed tripe, if the position is indefensible... it won't take
that long for it to be abandoned by the students. Try to suppress an
idea, no matter how obnoxious, and it raises their suspicion that you have
something to hide.

You may brainwash a few to one ideology, and you may brainwash a few to
another, but the vast majority will make up their own mind quite well.

The term "Academic authority" may be applicable to a 10-year-old, but I
doubt very much that your average University student holds ANY prof as
being "authority", especially in political and social disciplines.




I know this adds nothing to the discussion, but I just have to say great
post!

Michael