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Dennis heads into lion's den
Prager plays AVC devil's advocate
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press January 25, 2002.
By DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor
LANCASTER - Imagine Daniel heading into the lion's den, but instead
of a vulnerable little child, he's armed for bear.
Wait a minute; that's too tame an image. If we were being politically
incorrect, Daniel would take out the lion with a submachine gun,
and the lion would be an endangered species.
That description is probably too scary, and it's offensive to many,
so it ought to be censored. Right? Fear of scary stuff and offensive
stuff is what is eroding freedom in America today, according to
conservative author and talk show host Dennis Prager.
Daniel armed for bear is something like Prager arriving on a college
campus to challenge whether academic freedom is really free.
"
I come here as a critic of the academy," Prager announced
Thursday, arriving to deliver a freewheeling critique of the predominant
American university-mindset to a packed room of critics and fans.
The university experience for many offers a well of knowledge and
a drought of wisdom, Prager said during Thursday's talk at Antelope
Valley College.
Shakespeare, the Bible, Plato and Tennessee Williams offer insight
into the human condition, and wisdom, too. Too many tenured professors
offer up multiculturalism, fads and leftist dogma, said Prager,
who taught at Brooklyn College and was an International Fellow
at Columbia University.
Why would University of Washington student senators vote down a
resolution to support the war on terrorism? Prager raised the question
after hearing from a student senator that the vote against such
a resolution passed 2-1 because the Washington students didn't
want to potentially offend Muslim students.
Fear of offending is a tenet of political correctness, Prager said.
Political correctness shifts the category away from weighing the
larger question of moral virtue such as, "Is it just to wage
war on people who murdered thousands of innocent people?"
Diversity in the world of the American university is seen as racial
differentiation as opposed to a diversity of opinions, Prager asserted.
Opinions shaped and formed in most American universities are predominantly
leftist, and liberal leftists dominate the promotion and tenure
process, he said.
"
This is easily empirically verifiable," Prager said.
He cited a survey of the political beliefs of academics at the
University of Colorado, and among hundreds of professors, perhaps
two were Republicans. Actors and actresses are sought to give commencement
speeches, but a conservative thinker such as William Bennett receives
few invitations to major universities because his moral stance
raises the hackles of liberal faculty.
"
A Republican political science professor is an oxymoron. You cannot
think of as odd a species as that," Prager said.
Prager, 53, is animated, avuncular, amiable and lighthearted. He
recently traveled to Antarctica because he wanted to lecture on
all seven continents, and finding few people, he discoursed to
a flock of penguins. Dry as a campus liberal's delectable white
wine, he's more provocative than antagonistic.
Horton Scioneaux, a local educator, wanted to know why the radio
airwaves are swelled with "obnoxious conservative talk show
hosts." At the same time he noted there are few liberal talk
hosts.
Prager asked Scioneaux if by the forming of his question he supposed
that "conservative and obnoxious is redundant?"
Prager added liberals on the radio sink in the ratings by the weight
of their arguments.
"
I'd love to have liberal talk show hosts. They are a boon to conservative
thinking," Prager said.
Prager was a fellow at Columbia University's School of International
Affairs where he did graduate work at the Middle East and Russian
Institutes. He taught Russian and Jewish history at Brooklyn College.
At Columbia University, he said there was no shortage of scholars
who made serious study of Marxism, and believed Marxism works.
"
I revere learning," he said. "I taught college. I'm not
happy about what's happening in the university. The trouble is
there's no consequence paid for having a stupid idea."
He continued, "If you have a bad idea and you're raising a
child, the children will suffer. If you're a plumber and you have
a bad idea about fixing a toilet ... the toilet will erupt, and
you will not be brought back for more work.
"
In the university, a bad idea gets you tenure."
Traveling to Iron Curtain countries, Prager said he learned, "Nobody
who lived in a Marxist society believed in Marxism. No one. Only
people who teach in Western universities believed in it."
Prager paused, a thought passing across his rapid-fire radar bounce
of ideas.
"
It's as if Enron were given tenure," he said. "They'd
say, `We did everything wrong ... but we've got tenure!"
American universities could help freedom flourish by broadening
the diversity of ideas encouraged for debate and study, Prager
said.
Aside from his nationally syndicated radio show, Prager has been
a frequent guest on such television shows as "Larry King Live," "Politically
Incorrect" and "The O'Reilly Factor."
America is a less free country than when he was a child in the
1950s, Prager said.
The country is less free because of a mountain of regulation and
restrictive sanction that choke the discussion of ideas, and finally,
the liberty to be offensive to others.
If people of color and gay people have achieved more freedom and
dignity, freedom is more restricted now, for example, for an employer
who would rather hire a single person, or a married person. Or,
freedom is restricted for a landlord who doesn't want to rent to
a promiscuous tenant.
"
They bought the building; they own the building. Why can't they
say, in this building, there's only post-marital sex." A pause. "That's
PMS. So, if you're married, and the subject comes up?"
"
There is less freedom today. There are more rules and governance
on how you behave, and how you speak."
When Disney acquired ABC it put out a manual of behavior with a
list that got longer and longer, finally including rules against
making any remarks that might offend anyone from "the Vietnam
era," or staring at fellow employees.
Finally, in employment interviewing a question such as "How
are you?" may break the rule of law "because it may reflect
a disability."
If Prager ponders political affiliation, he said he thinks less
of Republicans and Democrats than the stupid and the dangerous
parties.
"
I'm a member of the stupid party," Prager said, his tone light
as ether in the airwaves. "I vote Republican because they
do less. If you do less in government, you're going to cause less
harm, and you've got my vote." |
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