Derb on Gottfried
I have never been a big promoter of the curmudgeonly premise that fellow Americans were too ignorant to appreciate authentic conservatism (maybe that’s because I’m one of the ignorant? the reader must judge). It seems to me that the premise stems from the frequent absurdity of our democracy—the premise assuming that it were somehow possible for a democracy not to be absurd, if only its voters knew more. Personally, I tend to doubt that nonabsurd democracy is even possible in the long term, and so am inclined to a more charitable view of my fellow voters. I tend against the premise.
John Derbyshire however quotes Prof. Paul Gottfried a beaut:
Gottried tells us that only three of 30 students in one of his Western Civ. classes had heard of Julius Caesar. None of the 30 had read a historical narrative “before having been forced to take my course.” But then: “I asked whether my students knew which group had been the most persecuted: women, gays, or blacks. A lively debate followed full of varied claims to victimhood.”
HJH
September 5th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Evidently I am pretty thick today because I have some real difficulty connecting your comment to the Derbyshire quote. You are just too subtle for me today, Howard.
September 8th, 2009 at 11:12 am
The feedback is appreciated, Doc. Evidently, my words were not a model of clarity this time. In any event, the main point of the post is the Derbyshire quote; you can safely ignore the rest.