The unholy alliance of academic elites and government bureaucrats threatens free speech everywhere

While browsing today, I ran across an opinion article by Nicholas Giordano, a political-science professor who is commenting on something I generally agree with. The notion that a certain 'social group' or 'elite techno-class' of people are, in effect, laboring to secure information 'control' for the establishment... presumably on behalf of the government.

The article itself is a worthy read in my opinion, even if you don;t agree with the premise...

The unholy alliance of academic elites and government bureaucrats threatens free speech everywhere

President Dwight Eisenhower's warning about the relationship between government funding and higher education was prescient, and it is being ignored today.

He foresaw the domination of the "nation’s scholars" and worried that government grant funding could lead to an unholy alignment of our academic elite with the government. This concern has become a reality: throughout the country, professors on college campuses have been recruited to develop tools for monitoring and restricting discourse, betraying the values of free speech.

I have often wondered at the relatively new phenomenon of university graduates (especially in the Humanities) sharing a peculiar kind of homogenized opinion about certain social issues... and I recall, when I was much younger, the running gag about half the students going off to college and coming home expressing their support for communist ideals. I was a trope, a kind of meme (before memes were a thing) that college kids were often so 'absorbent' that they picked up whatever mindset was sent there way...

If there were anything to that trope.. it seems to be manifesting now in spades.

University leadership have forgone the 'education' portion of their presumed mandate, and gone straight into indoctrination. And the leaders in government and industry all seem to be marching along without so much as a glance left or right.

For example, the University of Wisconsin has been awarded a $5 million grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a system that can detect and "strategically correct" what the government perceives as misinformation relating to COVID, elections, and vaccines. This new grant adds to the previous $7.5 million grant awarded by the NSF to ten universities to develop anti-misinformation tools as part of the "Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems" initiative.

I have to question whether any analytically-oriented student with a backbone can survive unscathed at today's universities... since the "tools" being developed are mostly 'offensive' (confront and belittle) than 'defensive (explain and inform.)' Being swarmed by students acclaiming the latest mental-fad can't be pleasant... especially the way their 'arguments' take form. ... And this is where our teachers come from.

This government initiative is reminiscent of the 2003 Total Information Awareness (TIA) program through which the U.S. government provided over $100 million in grants to universities such as Carnegie Mellon University and MIT to develop a program aimed to mine every American’s digital footprint.

Is anyone out there who remembers a certain Facebook ancestor developed and fielded by the government? Does anyone recall that vague 'data' about us all which we were assured was 'safe' and 'confidential?' "I've got nothing to hide" became the passphrase to oblivion.

The government has a history of spreading misinformation, such as the Gulf of Tonkin, WMDs in Iraq, and Bountygate. Higher education should be more skeptical, particularly after recent incidents like the CDC's Chief of Digital Media, Carol Crawford pushed Twitter to censor "unapproved opinions," some of which were correct. And, the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration were slandered in a coordinated attack by government officials, including Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins.

I have to give Prof. Giordano a C+ on that little excerpt about "misinformation".... the list is far too abbreviated. The travesty of purposeful misdirection and malicious lies is far too frequent ... and we are the cause. They can't let us know the truth... it weakens them. It's our fault... they lie because we are the enemy apparently. There is something about these Elites that forces them to lie... it is a matter of necessity to them. Let's not pretend that they would ever acknowledge their lies... it won't happen... they had to ... if you have to lie it's not a lie, right?

The effort to control speech and influence the media threatens the foundations of liberty. In the past, many professors would have been appalled if government officials censored particular viewpoints. Unfortunately, today an increasing number of professors seem to condone such censorship. Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith and University of Arizona Law Professor Andrew Keane Woods argue in The Atlantic that China has the right approach when it comes to internet surveillance, speech controls, and censorship. They suggest that America should adopt a more authoritarian approach similar to communist China.

What we have here is a a tale of people who somehow have convinced themselves that "audiences" of "citizens" must be lied to, must be muzzled, must not be allowed to know the facts... ever. The plans of the Elites are too important to compromise with dissent, and to righteous to question... "We should be like China." says the uber Elite... Americans are too obsessed with truth and fact.... screw em.

I'm going to stop quoting from the article... please read it.

Suffice to say I am particularly disappointed in what Universities have become... but not too surprised since they always seemed, within their own sub-culture, overly concerned with 'status and prestige.' It sort of went hand-in-hand with politicians, and media celebrity membership.

Just another post to add to my collection of "...and this is whence we came." There were no harbingers that got much serious air-time... but that makes sense, doesn't it?

Of course indoctrination works. And of course it works through education. And the sky is blue.

If indoctrination didn't work, why would there be so many private Christian schools? Or any other religious schools. All the way from K-12 to higher education. Billions of dollars are being poured into private religious education.

That's because indoctrination works.

originally posted by: Mahogany
Of course indoctrination works. And of course it works through education. And the sky is blue.

If indoctrination didn't work, why would there be so many private Christian schools? Or any other religious schools. All the way from K-12 to higher education. Billions of dollars are being poured into private religious education.

That's because indoctrination works.

How Many " Morality " Schools are there Around the World Today ? Fewer than say 60 some Years Ago ? Most People of All Beliefs Today seem to not Let their " Inner " Moral Sense Influence their Lives Anymore . If they Did , Heaven on Earth Might be Achieved for Some ......

a reply to: Maxmars
I appreciate the premise of the article. I see this very differently than your 1st respondent, it has nothing to do with garden variety indoctrination, it’s far more insidious, using public funds to fund efforts to be used in limiting Constitutionally derived rights, by a Constitutionally derived government.

“ Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund projects that undermine core American principles such as free speech and thought. Universities should be prohibited from collaborating with the government to develop tools for monitoring and regulating speech. ”

originally posted by: Mahogany
Of course indoctrination works. And of course it works through education. And the sky is blue.

If indoctrination didn't work, why would there be so many private Christian schools? Or any other religious schools. All the way from K-12 to higher education. Billions of dollars are being poured into private religious education.

That's because indoctrination works.

If you read the article, it is not concerning indoctrination at all. It’s about a government elected and funded by the people funding efforts within public institutions that will limit constitutional rights of the people that elected them.

Government needs to be completely free of academia and the corporate world. No entanglements. These relationships always turn in to Gordian knots that grow thicker with time at public expense. No way should taxpayers be funding academia or college level education.
War powers acts have been the primary tools used to strip our rights and force more taxes from us. Even when the military isn't involved it's still a "war" on poverty, drugs, terrorism, global warming, covid, now creeping in to disinformation police, the racial justice snitches and doxers as if government needs assistance being terrorists from the citizenry.
Most people don't even know what's in the Constitution any more. If we don't get back to it as our basis of law and legal "glue" as a country it's over.

I think for us that grew up and are over the age of 40 are still able to think for themselves and are too hard to be brainwashed into a zombie state of mind.

The goal now for them evil bastards are too pollute the minds of the innocent that right means wrong and wrong means right.

When I was in the elementary school system in the 50's we were actually told that yes would mean no and no would mean yes.

Sad world we live in today.

Although former President Trump was an enlightenment to mankind, he was being destroyed because of it. Whether we like or don't like him, his message was spot on. The worlds power elite have screwed over us long enough. That may have been his true message of a man and his family that gotten the raw end of the deal just to be happy in life.

I truly believe we are being programmed this days that being happy and thinking for oneself is evil. But I'm not going to fall for all that crap.

a reply to: Mahogany

I'm not sure how to consider your comment. Is it a mocking "Duh!" Or is your comment somehow about religious schooling? I'm trying to point out that I'm not necessarily taking your comment in a negative way.

I do apologize if I went overboard in my mini-rant about university schooling. I can go on tiresomely. It is just my way of coping, I suppose.

You know, you kind of echoed my ill-timed rant with that thing about religious schooling as indoctrination. Frankly, of all the people I've known who went to religious elementary and high schools, most turned-out very non-religious. I'm not sure that kind of indoctrination is as effective as you might think, even if it is offensive to you in nature. Oddly, most of those non-religious alumni of religious schools still remain committed to sending their kids to a religious school... something about discipline and respect... but I can't speak for them.

Anyway, thanks for the comment. If you feel like answering, maybe you might consider adding what you think about how our higher education seems systemically inclined to amplify the efforts of ideologues who think citizens should not be told more or differently than the elites want said... that China has it right.

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: Maxmars

“ Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund projects that undermine core American principles such as free speech and thought. Universities should be prohibited from collaborating with the government to develop tools for monitoring and regulating speech. ”

I find it a little confusing when people who have decades of education, well-regarded and presented, come to think that there is any way that this informational doctrine being pushed is somehow expressive of freedom (as in liberty) and that of all people, government should have such power.

Look at any nation... examine the government... there you will always find fear. I really don't like the idea of being led by the fearful.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

But it seems that the problem was one of PR... we for generations have been conditioned to regard University Schooling as not only establishing oneself as superior to those who lack it, but also as denoting 'competence.'

It's taken a number of generations to demonstrate the folly of that position. Universities, meanwhile profited basely, both in monetary terms as well as social standing-wise.

And they taught their graduates that they actually were better, more competent, and more sophisticated. Where do our leaders all seem to hail from ... not just universities... but elite universities... the "we're special" crowd. It's their dogma. They simply 'know better.' The most common reason? "Degree from an exalted school."

Somehow the fact that they are keen to make policies that don't really affect them is not surprising.

originally posted by: musicismagic

The committees and councils on high have all deliberated, consulted with think-tanks, and got guidance from globalists to ensure this 'project' to silence the citizens forges on.

It starts with 'secrets' (the ultimate weaknesses,) and moves into communications throttling and muzzling, and finally evolves into compelled speech and criminal punishment for dissent. All these things lead me to infer something ugly and unpleasant... I feel this is the linchpin of a strategy... "Since we can't easily control what you think, we'll control what you know by lies and deceit."

a reply to: Maxmars

The future is definitely going to suck for our kids and grandkids (I'm in my 50s). Freedom of speech may be a biggie but that will likely be the least of their worries.

originally posted by: tamusan
a reply to: Maxmars

The future is definitely going to suck for our kids and grandkids (I'm in my 50s). Freedom of speech may be a biggie but that will likely be the least of their worries.

Everything begins with speech, even revolutions. Without it we're no better than slaves as our opinions won't matter. Welcome to modern Democracy.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

I see many people becoming less than slaves in a future where machines are doing much of the work.