Way, way back in the twentieth century, I attended college in the rural countryside of Kansas. And have you ever watched the episode of The Waltons where John boy finally got to go to college? Well, watching him is practically like watching me show up for my first day. Because the halls of higher learning held that same mystique of hopeful anticipation for me, too.
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Higher learning ain’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Unfortunately for me, by the time I was in college, it was nothing like John boy’s experience. Universities had already become fertile ground for thought control. But thankfully it was happening more slowly at my college. Because, like I said, rural countryside of Kansas. And that’s a part of the country where generations have grown up with a Christian conservative worldview.
However…
As I attended classes like “Western Civilization” and “Sociology I & II, I noticed rhetoric I had never heard before. Maybe I was too naive because I was raised with a Christian conservative worldview. And even my high school had leaned heavily in that direction.
But it didn’t take me years of college to figure out the so-called “enlightenment” in the halls of higher learning was at least somewhat subtly Orwellian.
And that became glaringly apparent on one of my homework assignments.
The year I first attended college a measure was put to the voters, in Kansas, on whether or not motorcyclists would be required to wear helmets.
My journalism professor had given us an assignment to present a pro or con view on a controversial topic. So, I chose the motorcycle helmet issue on the ballot.
(Too bad I don’t still have that paper. But like I said…this all happened way, way back in the twentieth century. So, the ink would probably be completely faded from the papyrus anyway.)
So…
I took the somewhat controversial “no helmets” side of the debate. And I wrote about how it would end up being another small step toward total government control of every corner of our lives.
Thankfully there were still plenty of others, back then, who agreed with my position on the topic. But I was surprised at how “passionate” others could be in their opposing opinions. They actually seemed angry about it.
Fast forward to 2020, and what happened back in my college days seems so innocent, compared to what’s currently going on.
And nowadays people don’t just present “passionate” opinions. Somehow large groups of people have determined it’s perfectly fine to riot and loot and burn down businesses to “express their views.”
But here’s a key point.
We have voted our way into this mess.
And I predict we won’t vote our way out of it.
And I’ll leave it there for you to ponder.
Passion doesn’t make you right.
Learning doesn’t shed more light
When it’s learning based on lies
And rebellious alibis.
Stay tuned,
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