Winston's Diary

I think I've said before that while I agree with David Horowitz's criticisms of the academy, I'm quite apprehensive about the methods by which Horowitz thinks these problems can be solved. Recent legislation in Florida and Tennessee, which opens the door to students suing their professors for "oppressing" them with leftist ideology (or right wing ideology, too, though nobody worries much about that) frightens the hell out of me, and is going to have the sole effect of making me even more reluctant to deal with matters of any substance in my classroom, for fear of opening myself to a lawsuit.

When the left started taking over colleges and universities in the late 1960s, the promise was that we'd end up with universities that were more open-minded and willing to deal with ideas that some found offensive and dangerous. We know where that went. Why this push, instigated by many on the far right and by a group of neo-cons who are fighting a battle decades old (and preventing us from moving forward), should produce a different set of results, escapes me.

So, to mix pop icons, I reproduce here the wisdom of Mr. Peter Townsend, whose words seem particularly apt:

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the foe, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they'd all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-by
And the party on the left
Is now the party on the right
And their beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss