Denying academic freedom humankind's enemies seek control of others’ thoughts to achieve selfish ends ─ David Hoffman

INGRAINING IGNORANCE: Associated Press-obtained emails via FOIA show former Indiana governor turned university president Mitch Daniels “requested that historian and anti-war activist Howard Zinn’s writings be banned from classrooms and asked for a ‘cleanup’ of college courses.” Daniels also “talked about cutting funding for a program run by a local university professor who was one of his sharpest critics.” INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — though the former governor had “pledged to promote academic freedom” when he assumed the university presidency in January, the emails show that as governor Daniels had “attempted to eliminate what he considered liberal ‘propaganda’ at Indiana’s public universities.”

Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

In a biographical sketch of Daniels is the citation of the July 2013 Associated Press-obtained emails in which Daniels asks for assurances that the textbook The People’s History of the United States by historian Howard Zinn “‘is not in use anywhere in Indiana.’”

Ban ideas “we” don’t like

“Daniels wrote in 2010, ‘This crap should not be accepted for any credit by the state.’ His e-mails were addressed to his education adviser Scott Jenkins and a top fundraiser and state school board member David Shane. “Part of Shane’s input was that a statewide review ‘would force to daylight a lot of excrement.’

“Daniels and his aides came to agreement and the governor wrote to them: ‘Go for it. Disqualify propaganda ....’”

Defund “our” critics

“In a separate and unrelated round of emails composed in 2009, Indiana Education officials shared concerns with Daniels about the lobbying resources and activities of the Indiana Urban Schools Association. Daniels asked that the administration ‘examine cutting them out, at least of the [funding] surge we are planning for the next couple yrs.’

More accurately DEVOLUTION of intellectual freedom

“The executive director of IUSA is Charles Little (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis professor of education) who had criticized (Daniels). It wasn’t immediately clear if the audit went through. Daniels said he had never heard of Charles Little.”

Politician turned “Educator” (?)

Manipulator, mind control agent

Mitchell Elias (Mitch) Daniels, Jr. (b. April 7, 1949, in Monongahela, Pennsylvania) is a U.S. politician who became president of Purdue University after holding the Indiana office of governor for two terms (2005-2013). During the George W. Bush administration, he was Director of the Office of Management and Budget (January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2003) He academic credentials were taken at Princeton University; Indiana University- Indianapolis, and Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)

 

U

niversity of Illinois Professor Cary Nelson told the Associated press, “‘It is astonishing and shocking that such a person is now the head of a major research university, making decisions about the curriculum, that one painfully suspects embodies the same ignorance and racism these comments embody.’” Nelson is also president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which investigates cases of censorship from university officials. Continuing his reaction, Nelson said:

Academies, through the unique system of tenure, once enshrined freedom of opinion and inquiry (but) now frequently are home to the narrowest sort of closed-mindedness and the worst repression of dissident ideas.

I

n his July 22 article “Boycott Purdue,” PRAVDA.Ru editor David Hoffman makes the case even stronger and more poignantly when contextualizes ignorance and its consequences.

Worse than “stupidity,” which when viewed positively not pejoratively can provide an essential uniqueness and diversity in the world, Hoffman says, “Ignorance is damaging in all its forms. Ignorance is the development of faulty perceptions or opinions that evolve through the use of incomplete and/or inaccurate information or knowledge that, in turn, emanates from the inability, failure, or refusal to examine all sides of an issue. 

One type of ignorance is self-inflicted and internal ─

…making a person incapable of empathizing with any interests or opinions other than one’s own

…making one loath to read, watch, or listen to anything that deviates from one’s own preconceptions. 

…spawning racism, prejudice, intolerance, and injustice

Another type of ignorance, he says, “is imposed externally by corrupt, unethical, self-serving individuals who believe their ambitions, lusts, and greed can only be satisfied by keeping others ignorant.

 This is normally accomplished through a combination of censorship and control over a state or nation’s educational system.

Enemy of freedom, humankind

Mitch “Daniels-the man who worshiped at the altar of privatization while serving as governor; the man who helped make the corporate voice the only politically effective voice in Indiana; the man who lowered the incomes of thousands of Indiana workers; the man who sought to quash academic freedom; the man who denounced college courses as ‘propaganda,’ yet had no compunction about using propaganda himself; the man who attempted to abuse the authority of his office to silence critics-continues to feed at the taxpayer trough as president of Purdue University,” Hoffman writes.

 

“

The greatest gift a human being possesses is the ability to think but thinking is not enough,” Hoffman says. “Human beings must also have access to the information (denied by enemies, the ilk of Mitch Daniels) that permits them to make fully informed decisions.  And this means having access to all learned points of view.

“Therefore enemies of academic freedom are the greatest enemies of humankind, because they seek to control others’ thoughts to achieve their own selfish ends.”

   

Whispered promise, potential

A legacy Americans cannot afford to continue squandering is whispered in words attributed to America’s fourth president (1809-1817) James Madison:

The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

Sources and notes

“AP Exclusive: Daniels looked to censor opponents” (Tom LoBianco), July 16, 2013, http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-exclusive-daniels-looked-censor-opponents

“Boycott Purdue” (David Hoffman), July 22, 2013, http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/22-07-2013/125207-boycott_purdue-0/

David R. Hoffman, Legal Editor of Pravda.Ru

Copyright © 1999-2013, «PRAVDA.Ru». When reproducing our materials in whole or in part, hyperlink to PRAVDA.Ru should be made. The opinions and views of the authors do not always coincide with the point of view of PRAVDA.Ru's editors.

Daniels bio, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Daniels

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Ignorance receptive to hate and lies

James Madison 1833 Britannica reprint

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” [Fourth U.S. President James Madison, term: 1809-1817]

The Center for American Progress Action Fund unveils USA’s deepening dark side

Excerpt, editing, comment by 

Carolyn Bennett

The report, intentional or not, is illustrative of what happens when Americans over long periods embrace a “comfortable” status quo and refuse to engage or join other Americans who in the past continuing into the present have been targeted violently and have taken the brunt of a dark U.S. pattern of bigotry, delusional supremacy, irrational paranoia, fear-mongering and rabid propaganda, mob-raising and violence.

Deliberate ignorance willingly believes lies

The Center for American Progress recounts in its report: “On July 22, a man planted a bomb in an Oslo government building that killed eight people. A few hours after the explosion, he shot and killed 68 people, mostly teenagers, at a Labor Party youth camp on Norway’s Utoya Island.

“By midday, [media] pundits were speculating as to who had perpetrated the greatest massacre in Norwegian history since World War II. Numerous mainstream media outlets (The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic among others) speculated about an Al Qaeda connection and a ‘jihadist' motivation behind the attacks.

“By the next morning, it had become clear that the [mass killer] was a 32-year-old, white, blond-haired and blue-eyed Norwegian named Anders Breivik. He was not a Muslim but a self-described Christian conservative.”

Anders Breivik, according to his attorney, “claimed responsibility for his self-described ‘gruesome but necessary’ actions. On July 26, Breivik told the court that violence was ‘necessary’ to save Europe from Marxism and ‘Muslimization.’

“In his [Breivik’s] 1,500-page manifesto meticulously detailing his attack methods and aims to inspire others to extremist violence — Breivik vows ‘brutal and breathtaking operations which will result in casualties’ to fight the alleged ‘ongoing Islamic Colonization of Europe.’

“Breivik’s manifesto contains numerous footnotes and in-text citations to American [U.S.] bloggers and pundits, quoting them as experts on Islam’s ‘war against the West.’…

“A small group of anti-Muslim organizations and individuals in the United States — obscure to most Americans — wields great influence in shaping the national and international political debate,” says the Center for American Progress. “Their names are heralded within communities that are actively organizing against Islam and targeting Muslims in the United States.”

The Center’s Action Fund has conducted an in-depth study that sheds light on “a small, tightly networked group of misinformation experts guiding an [anti-Muslim] effort that reaches millions of Americans through effective advocates, media partners, and grassroots organizing.”  Beginning primarily “with five key people and their organizations, [they are] … sustained by funding from a clutch of key foundations,” the Center says, and this group “spreads hate and misinformation.”

CAP’s

Fast Facts on the Islamophobia Network

funders

More than $40 million flowed from seven foundations over 10 years — The foundations funding the misinformation experts:

1.     Donors Capital Fund

2.     Richard Mellon Scaife Foundation

3.     Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation

4.     Newton and Rochelle Becker

5.     Foundation and Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust

6.     Russell Berrie Foundation, Anchorage Charitable Fund and William

7.     Rosenwald Family Fund

8.     Fairbrook Foundation

misinformation experts

Five experts generate the false facts and materials used by political leaders, grassroots groups, and the media:

1.     Frank Gaffney at the Center for Security Policy

2.     David Yerushalmi at the Society of Americans for National Existence

3.     Daniel Pipes at the Middle East Forum

4.     Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch and Stop Islamization of America

5.     Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism

These experts travel the country and work with or testify before state legislatures calling for a ban on the nonexistent threat of Sharia law in America and proclaiming that the vast majority of  mosques in our country harbor Islamist terrorists or sympathizers.

David Yerushalmi’s ‘model legislation’ banning Sharia law has been cut and pasted into bills [legislative measures] in South Carolina, Texas, and Alaska. His video on how to draft an anti-Sharia bill and his online tools have been picked up nationwide.

reach and impact

“This movement is moving nationwide in more than 23 states — made possible by a combination of new, single-minded Islamophobia groups, exemplified by Brigitte Gabriel’s ACT! For America, Pam Geller’s Stop Islamization of America, David Horowitz’s Freedom Center, and existing groups such as the American Family Association and the Eagle Forum.

“Misinformation experts are broadcast and cited around the country and the world. U.S. politicians such as Representatives Peter King (R-New York), Allen West (R-Florida), and Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) repeat anti-Muslim attacks giving credence to incorrect facts.

“In September 2010, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 49 percent of Americans held an unfavorable view of Islam, an increase from 39 percent in October of 2002.”

This report is fine as far as it goes. However, if we are to progress beyond the “is,” we must sense a critical connectedness, a historical perspective, a much broader context of life as it is lived and experienced.

What seems new or what studies tell us is “new” — we Americans often feign “shock” instead of admitting our culpability — is not new.

Our education deficiencies, our ease in fawning Right, Left or Center, our deliberate ignorance are the real enemies.

Fourth U.S. President Madison, again —

The Federalist, co-written by James Madison,
helped secure passage of the U.S. Constitution.
AP Britannica reprint

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.”

“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.”

Sources and notes

“Fear, Inc. — The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America” (Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and Faiz Shakir), August 2011, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/08/pdf/islamophobia.pdf

Britannica notes on the Madisons and The Federalist

James Madison, husband of Dolley (b. March 16, 1751, Port Conway, Virginia, d. June 28, 1836, Montpelier, Virginia

Madison was the fourth president of the United States (1809–17) and one of the Founding Fathers of his country. At the Constitutional Convention (1787), he influenced the planning and ratification of the U.S. Constitution and collaborated with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in the publication of the Federalist papers.

As a member of the new House of Representatives, he sponsored the first 10 amendments to the Constitution (the Bill of Rights). He was secretary of state under the third president, Thomas Jefferson, when the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France. The War of 1812 was fought during Madison’s presidency.

Federalist Papers (The Federalist): a series of 85 essays on the proposed new Constitution of the United States and on the nature of republican government (published between 1787 and 1788) by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in an effort to persuade New York state voters to support ratification.

Seventy-seven of the essays first appeared serially in New York newspapers. They were reprinted in most other states and were published in book form as The Federalist on May 28, 1788. The remaining eight papers appeared in New York newspapers between June 14 and August 16.

“The authors of the Federalist papers presented a masterly defense of the new federal system and of the major departments in the proposed central government. They also argued that the existing government under the Articles of Confederation, the country’s first constitution, was defective and that the proposed Constitution would remedy its weaknesses without endangering the liberties of the people.” 

Dolley Madison née  Dolley Payne also called (1790–93)  Dolley Todd  (Dolley also spelled  Dolly) b. May 20, 1768, Guilford county, North Carolina, d. July 12, 1849, Washington, D.C.

Dolley (Dolly) Madison was raised in the plain style of her Quaker family and was renowned for her charm, warmth, and ingenuity. Her popularity as manager of the White House made that task a responsibility of every first lady who followed.

American first lady (1809–17) was partner of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States.

Photo captions

James Madison, detail of an oil painting by Asher B. Durand, 1833; in the collection of The New-York Historical Society Britannica.

The Federalist, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, helped secure passage of the U.S. Constitution. AP in Britannica

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