Has Cultural Marxism become the new Godwin's Law?
Well hardly, since the theory of Cultural Marxism has its foundations in early 20th century anti-socialist thinking, but there is an argument that it is becoming the go-to response for conservatives on a range of social justice issues - especially those promulgated by progressives.
Godwin's Law, you might recall, suggests that the longer an on-line discussion goes, the more likely it is to be compared to Nazism or Hitler, regardless of the topic.
Similarly, Cultural Marxism suggests that socially progressive ideas are used as an insidious tool to undermine western culture.
It is low hanging intellectual fruit for conservatives and elicits an inherently visceral response from their constituents who equally apply limited intellectual rigour to the arguments.
Our latest example of playing the Cultural Marxism card comes from South Australian ultra-conservative Senator Cory Bernardi (http://gu.com/p/4hxg4/sbl) in his response to the Safe Schools Coalition - an initiative designed to prevent discrimination and bullying against, in particular, LGBTIQ children in Australian Schools. There is evidence that over 80% of children identifying as LGBTIQ have experienced either verbal or physical bullying while at school and the Safe Schools Program provides information and strategies for both students and educators to combat this.
That sexuality and criminality were separated decades ago and that discrimination and bullying should even be a point for discussion in 21st century Australian educational institutions is an argument for another place. That Bernardi, Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie and Tasmanian MP Andrew Nikolic have played the Cultural Marxism card on this issue is just astonishing.
As Jason Wilson points out in his February 24 op-ed in The Guardian (berating ABC journalist Chris Uhlmann for the same intellectual torpidity but in another context - http://gu.com/p/4hvf6/sbl), Cultural Marxism is a sham.
A fallacious belief, often repeated and rarely challenged - a shibboleth - is beneath what we expect from our politicians and commentators.
That the dissemination of this shibboleth, by the likes of Bernardi and his cohorts, will result in an entirely unnecessary and undoubtedly costly review into a demonstrably positive and helpful program to prevent discrimination and bullying is deserving of our contempt.
Well hardly, since the theory of Cultural Marxism has its foundations in early 20th century anti-socialist thinking, but there is an argument that it is becoming the go-to response for conservatives on a range of social justice issues - especially those promulgated by progressives.
Godwin's Law, you might recall, suggests that the longer an on-line discussion goes, the more likely it is to be compared to Nazism or Hitler, regardless of the topic.
Similarly, Cultural Marxism suggests that socially progressive ideas are used as an insidious tool to undermine western culture.
It is low hanging intellectual fruit for conservatives and elicits an inherently visceral response from their constituents who equally apply limited intellectual rigour to the arguments.
Our latest example of playing the Cultural Marxism card comes from South Australian ultra-conservative Senator Cory Bernardi (http://gu.com/p/4hxg4/sbl) in his response to the Safe Schools Coalition - an initiative designed to prevent discrimination and bullying against, in particular, LGBTIQ children in Australian Schools. There is evidence that over 80% of children identifying as LGBTIQ have experienced either verbal or physical bullying while at school and the Safe Schools Program provides information and strategies for both students and educators to combat this.
That sexuality and criminality were separated decades ago and that discrimination and bullying should even be a point for discussion in 21st century Australian educational institutions is an argument for another place. That Bernardi, Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie and Tasmanian MP Andrew Nikolic have played the Cultural Marxism card on this issue is just astonishing.
As Jason Wilson points out in his February 24 op-ed in The Guardian (berating ABC journalist Chris Uhlmann for the same intellectual torpidity but in another context - http://gu.com/p/4hvf6/sbl), Cultural Marxism is a sham.
A fallacious belief, often repeated and rarely challenged - a shibboleth - is beneath what we expect from our politicians and commentators.
That the dissemination of this shibboleth, by the likes of Bernardi and his cohorts, will result in an entirely unnecessary and undoubtedly costly review into a demonstrably positive and helpful program to prevent discrimination and bullying is deserving of our contempt.
No comments:
Post a Comment