Kathianne
05-30-2015, 11:20 AM
Dont' know if Tyr's a fan of Poe or not, but I like the juxtaposition of works used:
http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2015/05/28/the-relevance-of-the-hosue-of-usher-to-the-way-we-live-now/?singlepage=true
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The relevance of the House of Usher to the Way We Live Now.
by Roger Kimball (http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/author/rogerkimball/)
May 28, 2015
Towards the beginning of Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre romance “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the unnamed narrator describes his first sight of that gloomy old pile. Among other eldritch features, he noticed “a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn” below the house.
Careful observers will have noted analogous fissures in what, for lack of a better term, I will call the “progressive consensus.” “Progressive” is not quite right, because there is no progress—if by progress you mean movement from a given point to something better. But “progressive” is preferable to that other favored verbal specimen of evasiveness, “liberal.” As the word’s etymology suggests, “liberal” has to do with liberty, with freedom, and there is no mainstream ideology in modern Western democracies that is more inimical to freedom than “liberalism.” If you doubt that, try starting a business or uttering a “non-progressive” sentiment on college, running a bakery (http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/04/13/christian-who-asked-gay-rights-bakery-to-bake-anti-gay-marriage-cake-may-face-legal-action/), hobby shop (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/01/is-hobby-lobby-really-banning-birth-control-and-preventing-its-workers-from-being-able-to-make-their-own-health-care-decisions/), or jeweler’s (http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/22/canadian-jeweler-threatened-for-opposing-gay-marriage-after-providing-service-to-gay-weddings/).
It is a curiosity of our times that many words now signify more or less the opposite of what they originally meant. This is not, of course, an entirely new development. “Sanctimonious” once meant “holy.” Now it means “pretending to be holy, while actually being venal.” Just so, “liberal” once meant “on the side of freedom.” Now it generally means “pretending to be on the side of freedom while actually working to enforce conformity and intolerance.” Again, a quick look at life on almost any college campus today will illustrate the truth of this assertion.
The interesting, the hopeful, development is that House-of-Usher-like fissures seem to be penetrating the adamantine carapace of that “liberal” consensus. You can infer that partly from the increasingly surreal quality of what goes on under the aegis of so-called progressive ideology. The level of hysteria is a good index of the extent of their desperation. Consider this bulletin, just sent to me this morning by a friend, from the Board of Bryn Mawr college outlining their new “inclusive” guidelines for undergraduate admission:
After months [Months!] of study and consultation, the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College voted at its Feb. 7 meeting to accept the recommendation of its board working group charged with reviewing the College’s mission with regard to transgender, non-binary [!] and gender nonconforming applicants.
Specifically, the board-accepted recommendation . . . more clearly articulates the eligible undergraduate applicant pool. In addition to those applicants who were assigned female at birth, the applicant pool will be inclusive of transwomen and of intersex individuals who live and identify as women at the time of application. Intersex individuals who do not identify as male are also eligible for admission [Whew!]. Those assigned female at birth who have taken medical or legal steps to identify as male are not eligible for admission [Too bad!].
In cases where an applicant’s gender identity is not clearly reflected in their application materials, the College may request additional information, which could include verifiable legal or medical steps taken to affirm gender. In evaluating such additional information, the College fully intends to be as flexible and inclusive as possible [Who would doubt it?].
You might think I am making this up. I wondered at first whether it came from The Onion. But no, the link to the Bryn Mawr (http://news.brynmawr.edu/2015/02/09/in-affirming-mission-bryn-mawr-board-sets-inclusive-guidelines-for-undergraduate-admission/) site seems legit. I submit that the correct word for this new policy not “inclusive” but “insane”—“sad” and “pathetic,” too, no doubt, especially for the creatures it is intended to cater to, but definitely “insane.” Any parents who were thinking of sending their delicately brought up progeny—especially the ones that were “assigned female at birth,” or, in ordinary language are girls—any parents, I say who were contemplating Bryn Mawr will want to ponder carefully the implications of this extraordinary directive.
...
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For anyone who wishes to read the Poe essay:
http://www.eduvs.ch/planta/carmenemery/rokdownloads/The_Fall_of_the_House_of_Usher.pdf
http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2015/05/28/the-relevance-of-the-hosue-of-usher-to-the-way-we-live-now/?singlepage=true
<tbody>
The relevance of the House of Usher to the Way We Live Now.
by Roger Kimball (http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/author/rogerkimball/)
May 28, 2015
Towards the beginning of Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre romance “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the unnamed narrator describes his first sight of that gloomy old pile. Among other eldritch features, he noticed “a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn” below the house.
Careful observers will have noted analogous fissures in what, for lack of a better term, I will call the “progressive consensus.” “Progressive” is not quite right, because there is no progress—if by progress you mean movement from a given point to something better. But “progressive” is preferable to that other favored verbal specimen of evasiveness, “liberal.” As the word’s etymology suggests, “liberal” has to do with liberty, with freedom, and there is no mainstream ideology in modern Western democracies that is more inimical to freedom than “liberalism.” If you doubt that, try starting a business or uttering a “non-progressive” sentiment on college, running a bakery (http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/04/13/christian-who-asked-gay-rights-bakery-to-bake-anti-gay-marriage-cake-may-face-legal-action/), hobby shop (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/01/is-hobby-lobby-really-banning-birth-control-and-preventing-its-workers-from-being-able-to-make-their-own-health-care-decisions/), or jeweler’s (http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/22/canadian-jeweler-threatened-for-opposing-gay-marriage-after-providing-service-to-gay-weddings/).
It is a curiosity of our times that many words now signify more or less the opposite of what they originally meant. This is not, of course, an entirely new development. “Sanctimonious” once meant “holy.” Now it means “pretending to be holy, while actually being venal.” Just so, “liberal” once meant “on the side of freedom.” Now it generally means “pretending to be on the side of freedom while actually working to enforce conformity and intolerance.” Again, a quick look at life on almost any college campus today will illustrate the truth of this assertion.
The interesting, the hopeful, development is that House-of-Usher-like fissures seem to be penetrating the adamantine carapace of that “liberal” consensus. You can infer that partly from the increasingly surreal quality of what goes on under the aegis of so-called progressive ideology. The level of hysteria is a good index of the extent of their desperation. Consider this bulletin, just sent to me this morning by a friend, from the Board of Bryn Mawr college outlining their new “inclusive” guidelines for undergraduate admission:
After months [Months!] of study and consultation, the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College voted at its Feb. 7 meeting to accept the recommendation of its board working group charged with reviewing the College’s mission with regard to transgender, non-binary [!] and gender nonconforming applicants.
Specifically, the board-accepted recommendation . . . more clearly articulates the eligible undergraduate applicant pool. In addition to those applicants who were assigned female at birth, the applicant pool will be inclusive of transwomen and of intersex individuals who live and identify as women at the time of application. Intersex individuals who do not identify as male are also eligible for admission [Whew!]. Those assigned female at birth who have taken medical or legal steps to identify as male are not eligible for admission [Too bad!].
In cases where an applicant’s gender identity is not clearly reflected in their application materials, the College may request additional information, which could include verifiable legal or medical steps taken to affirm gender. In evaluating such additional information, the College fully intends to be as flexible and inclusive as possible [Who would doubt it?].
You might think I am making this up. I wondered at first whether it came from The Onion. But no, the link to the Bryn Mawr (http://news.brynmawr.edu/2015/02/09/in-affirming-mission-bryn-mawr-board-sets-inclusive-guidelines-for-undergraduate-admission/) site seems legit. I submit that the correct word for this new policy not “inclusive” but “insane”—“sad” and “pathetic,” too, no doubt, especially for the creatures it is intended to cater to, but definitely “insane.” Any parents who were thinking of sending their delicately brought up progeny—especially the ones that were “assigned female at birth,” or, in ordinary language are girls—any parents, I say who were contemplating Bryn Mawr will want to ponder carefully the implications of this extraordinary directive.
...
</tbody>
For anyone who wishes to read the Poe essay:
http://www.eduvs.ch/planta/carmenemery/rokdownloads/The_Fall_of_the_House_of_Usher.pdf