Wet-nosed College Students and Critical Theory

By Al Benson Jr.

My comments in this article are not intended to be a blanket condemnation of all college students, but rather those college students that, thinking they are absolutely brilliant, really don’t know much of anything. I have run across several like this over the years, kids who think they have all the answers for everybody and that the world would be so much better off if it just absorbed the ageless wisdom they have to impart.

I recall talking to one student who told me seriously that he thought folks in this country should just listen to what students had to say about politics, the economy, and the world because the students are the ones that have the time to do all the research in these areas. This kid was one of many I knew that blindly swallowed the blather spewed by his leftist professors with no critical questioning or comment. And he was going to teach the rest of us how to live. I almost said to him “Junior, you’re not even dry behind the ears yet and you’re going to impart political wisdom to us older folks? Wait until you’ve lived  a few more decades and lets see how much political wisdom you have then.” But this seems to be the attitude of many (not all) young folks at this age level. They seem to “know it all” already, so one wonders why they even need college.

What led me to this line of thinking now was an article I just read on the San Antonio Express-News webpage about the student government at the University of Texas in Austin wanting to remove a statue of Jefferson Davis from the campus supposedly because Davis was a “racist.” The head of the NAACP for Texas, Gary Bledsoe, said “I think its offensive that you exalt Jefferson Davis but you don’t exalt Abraham Lincoln.” Another case of a leftist that just doesn’t know his history. Lincoln’s history of “racism” is apparently unknown to this man, or does he just hope it’s unknown to the rest of us? So he’d replace the “racist” Davis with the “racist” Lincoln and think he’d done something noble! What a farce!

However, the agenda of removing the Jefferson Davis statue at the University of Texas goes a little deeper than that. It seems that it just might be part of the Marxist Critical Theory program.

The students at the University of Texas recently elected, as the head of their student government, two sterling individuals named Xavier Rotnofsky and Rohit Mandalapu. I don’t know if the selection of these two worthies was a tribute to student diversity or what, but they ran what some have called a “humerous” campaign and I can see that, by some adolescent standards it might be considered so. This pair, as part of their platform, promised to “increase transparency in student government by mandating everyone in student government wear only cellophane so that they can be perfectly see-through.” Also they promised to “…reduce the hours that the PCL and FAC are open because less study time means more party time, baby!” They had a couple other farcial ideas to put forward, but sandwiched in amongst all this foolishness was “…we plan on taking down the Jefferson Davis statue…” One serious piece of cultural genocide hidden among all the foolishness!

Rotnofsky told a local radio station that “Jefferson Davis stood for some things that are pretty abominable today; Slavery, racism. They’re just not in line with the university’s core values.” And so, yet another attempt to remake history into what we think it ought to be rather than what it was. Unfortunately, these kids are not yet old enough to have any sense of history—and history is usually not what you would like it to be. You need to take it as it is rather than trying to make it into what you wish it was. But, then, in all honesty, slavery isn’t the real issue here. Cultural genocide is.

So we take a brief look at Rotnofsky’s running mate, Rohit Mandalapu. According to www.academia.edu  Mandalapu’s  research interests are “…Globalization, Transnationalism , Business, and Critical Theory.” So Mandalapu is into Marxist Critical Theory. Suppose that minor coincidence has anything to do with the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue, which has already been vandalized, from the university campus?

Awhile back, December 16, 2014 to be exact, I quoted from an article on http://www.discoverthenetworks.org  that dealt with Critical Theory. The article said, in part, “Critical Theory was essentially destructive criticism of the main elements of Western culture, including Christianity, capitalism, the family…morality, tradition…patriotism, nationalism, heredity, ethnocentrism,…Critical theorists recognized that traditional beliefs and existing social structure would have to be destroyed and then replaced with a ‘new thinking’ that would become as much a part of the elementary consciousness as the old one had been.” Stop and read that again and begin to grasp what is being said. They plan to replace everything with their “new thinking” so that nothing will remain of Christianity, Western culture, honor, patriotism,–nothing. This seems to be where Mandalapu, at least, is coming from. I watched a video of these two students on one of the sites I looked up while checking into this. Mandalapu seems, to me, to be much more the vocal of the two.

So it seems, unless the rest of the students at the University of Texas suddenly wake up, which hardly seems likely, that the Jefferson Davis statue on campus will become yet one more victim of the Marxist Critical Theory technique as it is being applied all across this country. Just remember—in order for Marxist Critical Theory to succeed, all that came previously, Christianity, Western civilization, Southern history and heritage—must all be destroyed so the “new thinking” can be implemented.  This is where we are at today in the South and across the country as well. And the shocking leftist condition of many, many of our college campuses is something that really needs to be researched and exposed. Exposure might be a good place to start—if anyone is even interested anymore.

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“Hating Whitey” in Arizona–More Marxist lies for college students

by Al Benson Jr.

It seems that the racialist attacks against white people, at all levels, by the politically correct “progressives” (Socialists) are intensifying almost to the point of mania, or maybe it’s to the point of phobia.

One thing the multicultural racialists are really working overtime at is trying to get young people who are white to feel guilty about their “whiteness.” There is obviously no fear of God in these people, or recognition of Him and His will either. Common sense ought to tell people that it is God who determines a person’s race and his place in the world. Trying to make him or her feel guilty about what God has created is not only a slap in the face at them, but at God as well.

In that context, I read an article on January 24th from http://www.bizpacreview.com by Tom Tillison. Mr. Tillison noted that: “In a sign that America’s institutions of higher learning may be lost forever to the radical left, college students in Arizona can now take a class on ‘hating whitey.’ In line with the extreme academic discipline called critical race theory, which is prevalent on campuses across America, Arizona State University is now offering a course on ‘the problem of whiteness…’ Critical race theory is a belief that relies heavily on the myth of institutional racism, the opinion that racism is inherent in America, brought on by white privilege and white supremacy.” And guess what? The course is being taught by a white man. The racialist guilt mongers must really have done a job on him. Kind of reminds me of those Southern folks that have been taught to feel guilty about being Southerners or because their ancestors dared to stand up to Yankee/Marxist tyranny, and so the only way they can atone for their ancestors’ “sins” is to grovel at the feet of “Honest Abe” and denounce anyone who would sully his memory with the truth. Same scam, perpetrated by the same Cultural Marxists.

I did an article for this blog spot back in December of 2014 called Critical Theory and Confederate Heritage in which I explained that Critical Theory was a Marxist program aimed at tearing down any aspect of Western society the Marxists had targeted for destruction. They do it though literature, through the media, and through the “educational” process as they are doing now in Arizona and other places.

Mr. Tillison observed in his article: “Leave it to a white academic elitist, beset with ‘white guilt’ no doubt, to corrupt the minds of young Americans with a theory driven by identity politics that has little basis in reality.” The question might be asked—what are the political motives of the ones teaching this class? It turns out that there seems to be one man teaching this class, although, for awhile, it seems that no one could find out who he was. According to Ed Montini, a columnist for http://www.azcentral.com on January 26th “It almost sounds as if the assistant professor who is teaching (and perhaps dreamed up) an Arizona State University class called ‘U.S Race Theory and the problems of whiteness’ is in hiding…Most of us in Arizona had no idea about this class. A total of 18 students signed up for it…” Someone at Fox News got wind of this and did a story on it, but I have not seen anyone else in the “news” media do all that much with it. But I can understand why they tried to keep it quiet. The course is based on “Critical Race Theory” which is but one branch of the Marxist Critical Theory agenda.

Lauren Clark, a campus correspondent who works at exposing liberal abuses and bias at colleges and universities for Campus Reform in Arizona noted the name of the Assistant English Professor who is teaching the class. He is Lee Bebout. Clark reported: “The course, first reported by the Pundit Press, is taught by Lee Bebout, an assistant professor of English at ASU. According to his faculty page, critical race theory is one of his research interests.” A junior economics major, James Malone, was quoted in Campus Reform and he said: “I think it shows the significant double standard of higher education institutions. They would never allow a class talking about the problem of ‘blackness.’ And if they did, there would be an uproar about it. But you can certainly harass people for their apparent whiteness.” Mr. Malone has hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly the way this game is played. And in many cases what it amounts to is nothing more than black racialism.

So what it amounts to is that this assistant English professor at Arizona State is an advocate of a Marxist theory, created by Marxist academics at the Frankfurt School, which I have also written about in the past. It is a theory that makes the public, as well as impressionable students, susceptible to Marxist dogma by attacking the family, your religious faith, your culture, and now your race. It is nothing more than Cultural Marxism applied to the race question and this professor is an advocate of it. What does that tell you about his education and the people that taught him? I’ve asked this question before—is this what people pay big bucks to these big schools for? So their kids can sign up to learn about Marxist Critical Theory? If I knew anyone in Arizona thinking about sending their kids to this school, I would exhort them long and loud to forget it. The Left has taken control of most of what passes for higher education in this country and it happened long, long ago. It is not a recent development When the communists that ran the Frankfurt School in Germany left that country where did they go to—Columbia University, and that was in the 1930s!

Somehow, we have, in America, got to get over the delusion that we can send our kids to schools dominated by Marxists and expect those schools to send us little Patrick Henry’s home. Folks, it ain’t gonna happen. All you will get back from such schools is good little “fellow travelers” who will, whether they even realize it or not, hew the Marxist line in just about everything they touch. We have got to ask the Lord for His guidance in where we educate our kids and hope and pray that He will overlook generations of willful ignorance and still be willing to help us.

“Critical Theory” and Confederate Heritage–Part Two

by Al Benson Jr.

Stop and analyze what has just been said in the first installment in light of your Confederate and Southern history, in light of your Southern culture, in light of the Christian faith most of us embrace, which truly recognizes the eternal truth that Jesus Christ IS the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man or woman gets to God the Father except through Him. All of this represents the “old” thinking and so it has to be done away with–and the Marxist Critical Theorists are working overtime at that, while most Christians slumber on–totally unaware.

Those people realize, and have for generations now, that you can’t do all this in one fell swoop–that shocks too many people. And so they work on it gradually–the classic Fabian approach–a street name changed in this town, or several street names, or a Confederate soldier’s statue removed from the town square because it supposedly represents “racism” or a Confederate monument desecrated, as was done awhile back in Selma, Alabama, with a concerted effort being made to ensure the monument would not be rebuilt. In this particular case in Selma, it didn’t work, thanks be to God, and a group of people there fought back against the (local) Marxists that were trying to destroy their culture. They went to court with solid evidence on their side and they won. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.

The end result, if people are unaware and allow this brand of Marxism to proceed, is that, eventually, every vestige of your old Christian and Southern culture will be totally removed from the town you live in. You can see the not-so-subtle beginnings of this now in Kennesaw, Georgia if you follow the news on the Internet.

If this is unresisted, your kids will walk down Malcolm X Boulevard or W.E.B. DuBois Avenue on their way to Karl Marx Middle School–if you are still naive enough to believe your kids can really get an education in these institutions we charitably refer to as public schools. Actually, what they really are is government schools. Any sign of your old real history and heritage will be gradually and totally removed and the “history” your kids will imbibe in their “social studies” classes at Karl Marx Middle School will carefully omit any mention of anything Christian or Confederate or Southern–except for the slavery issue. And this will be summarily dragged out from time to time to make sure you remain on your “stool of everlasting repentance.” “Teaching moments” in these schools will make sure your kids are ashamed of their “white privilege.” The slavery issue, like the public school, is one of the most sacred of sacred cows, and the Critical Theorists can use it most forcefully in the destruction of your Christian culture if you don’t learn the truth and resist.

And if you still think this is all just spontaneous and unrelated events from place to place, having no connection with anything else that is going on, then I have a bridge in Tucson, Arizona that reaches all the way across the desert to Phoenix–all made with gold bricks, that I’d love to sell you at bargain basement rates.

This is all Marxist Critical Theory, in living color, and its intent has always been, as now, the total destruction of our faith and culture. It is not happening by accident. It might be an interesting exercise sometime to check out various cities where such hooliganism is going on and notice the various “civil rights” groups involved in different places. How many Southern towns have these problems where the NAACP is “called in” or how many towns are threatened by the possible presence of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or by an appearance by Rev. Je$$e Jackson or “Rev” Al Sharpton? Folks, most of this stuff is orchestrated and done in such a way as to intimidate any potential opposition. And of course the prostitute press we foolishly continue to refer to as the “news” media plays right along with it. That’s what they’re paid for. These are the same people who refuse to see any problems with Comrade Obama’s “birth certificate” or his social security number from a state he never lived in. The favorite mantra of the “news” media is “nothing to see here, folks, just move along,” unless it happens to be a story about ‘white privilege’ and then it’s dealt with ad nauseam.

If we are going to protect our faith and our culture we have got to start to realize who our real enemies are–and it ain’t just some of the local black folks, who have been fed the same hogwash we have–most of them are pawns in the game, cannon fodder for the Marxists, who, in truth, care no more about black people than Lincoln did. The Marxists behind the people in the streets are some of those we need to start checking out and exposing, and then we need to start checking out the people behind them, because there are people behind them–the ones that pay for all the planned mayhem and culture destruction. We need to start checking out and exposing their political connections and what groups they belong to.

There are some organizations that try to do this, to their credit, but Southern Christians as a whole need to start educating themselves as to who these Marxists and their puppet masters are and what their real intent is. Helping local blacks that have, in some instances, been discriminated against has nothing to do with their real agenda. That’s all a convenient cover for their real program for the total destruction of Christian culture and Confederate heritage in the South–and once they have that accomplished here, then they will play the same game in other areas of the country. And it might be easier for them in other areas which have less Christian influence than there is in the South. We are somewhat of a stumbling block to those people. Once they shut us down it will get easier for them, so they hope.

Never forget–their primary aim is to destroy Christian culture and faith in America. We need to start realizing what their game is and, as the Lord enables, we need to expose and oppose what they do. “Contending for the faith once delivered to the saints” is still vitally important in our day.

Recently I read an informative article on the Accuracy in Academia web site, written by William Lind back in February of 2000. It was entitled The Origins of Political Correctness. For anyone wanting more background on Political Correctness and its originators it would be worth checking out.

“Critical Theory” and Confederate Heritage

by Al Benson Jr.

There are many who view, with continuing alarm, the blatant and relentless attacks on Confederate and Southern history, heritage and symbols. They can’t seem to fathom why this or that group seems to hate Confederate flags, symbols, and heritage so much. They are not “racists” or hate-mongers. All they want is to be able to enjoy their culture and history and they cant figure out why some groups are so opposed to letting them do that.

They fail to recognize that there is a coordinated rationale behind all these attacks on the South. It is not just a random “liberal” group here or there that happens to not approve of Confederate symbols locally–in fact there is nothing random about any of it. It is all part and parcel of what we know as Marxist Critical Theory.

It is a major part of what we refer to as Cultural Marxism–and a major part of the Cultural Marxist agenda is the planned cultural destruction of anything even remotely perceived as Christian, Confederate, or Southern.

An article I recently read on http://www.discoverthenetworks.org dealt with this. It noted that Political Correctness, also a major part of Cultural Marxism, is not something to be taken lightly. Many folks sniff at it and regard it as a minor annoyance. It is much more serious and insidious than that. The article observed that: “…Political Correctness is deadly serious in its aims, seeking to impose a uniformity of thought and behavior on all Americans. It is therefore totalitarian in nature. It’s roots lie in a version of Marxism, which sees culture, rather than the economy, as the site of class struggle.” These folks have taken Marxism to a new level and we need to be aware of that.

The article noted that Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci and Hungarian Marxist Georg Lukacs were the two that contributed most significantly to Cultural Marxism. Gramsci believed that a “new Communist man” had to be created and it had to be done via a changed culture, and only then would real political revolution be possible. And Lukacs felt that for this new culture to emerge, the old culture had to be destroyed. He said: “I saw the revolutionary destruction of society as the one and only solution to the cultural contradictions of the epoch…Such a worldwide overturning of values cannot take place without the annihilation of the old values and the creation of new ones by the revolutionaries.” Do you realize that the “old culture” they are working and planning to annihilate is ours? Maybe we should stop and reflect on that for a moment. Many Christians in America will shake their heads and say “well, that will never happen here.” I’m sure there were people in Germany and Russia before Hitler and Stalin who thought the same thing. In this country we now have Obama. You think he’s not tirelessly working to change the culture–to tear down what we have had in the past and to replace it with “Gay marriage, more illegal immigrants, the replacement of the rule of law with the concept of rule by Executive Decree? Mr. Obama is the living personification of Marxist “Critical Theory” in action.

The Discover the Networks article stated, quite plainly, that: “Critical Theory was essentially destructive criticism of the main elements of Western culture, including Christianity, capitalism, the family…morality, tradition, sexual restraint, loyalty, patriotism, nationalism, heredity, ethnocentrism,…Critical Theorists recognized that traditional beliefs and existing social structure would have to be destroyed and then replaced with a ‘new thinking’ that would become as much a part of the elementary consciousness as the old one had been.” Ever wonder why “your” public schools do what they do regarding your culture? Look no further than “Critical Theory.”

To be continued.

Abolitionism, Spiritualism, and Women’s Lib

by Al Benson Jr.

The radical Abolitionist Movement in the North (separate from the conservative abolitionist movement in the South) in the years from the 1830s through “reconstruction” at the end of the War of Northern Aggression, was the cause of many problems that we are still faced with today, two of which are the modern “Women’s Liberation Movement.” and the “Civil Rights Movement.”

Many in our day, without a correct understanding of the real intent of the Abolitionist Movement, have sought to draw a parallel between it and today’s Pro-Life Movement. This is something that should never be done. The contemporary Pro-Life Movement is able to stand on its own without resorting to the apostate underpinnings of 19th century radical abolitionism.  Radical abolitionism in the 1800s produced men of the stripe of abolitionist/terrorist John Brown. His solution to the slavery problem was to execute slave owners, or even potential slave owners during late night visits to their homes while their wives and children were forced to stand by and watch the executions. Should the present Pro-Life Movement ally itself with such a history? If it does so then it will be to its own hurt one day.

Although there were undoubtedly some Christian people in the Abolitionist Movement, by and large, it was an experiment in rank apostasy. Many of its adherents had become enamored of the strange doctrines of Spiritualism  that so permeated mid-19th century America.  Yet others had become devotees of Unitarianism–yet another form of apostasy from Christian truth.

In her book Radical Spirits author Ann Braude  observed that: “Every notably progressive family of the nineteenth century had its advocate of Spiritualism, some of them more than one…The ubiquitous  Beecher family contributed Charles Beecher  and Isabella Beecher to the ranks, while Harriet Beecher Stowe became a serious investigator…As already noted, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was an early convert and remained loyal to the movement until his death. The famous Grimke sisters,  Sarah and Angelina talked to spirits.” All of these people were abolitionists and all, according to Braude, were involved in Spiritualism. Every wonder why your history books forgot to mention any of this?

Braude’s book, on page 60, noted that: “Radical abolitionists, in turn, found in Spiritualism a religion of harmony with their individualist principles. Abolitionists’ interests in both  women’s rights and Spiritualism derived from their fierce loyalty to the principles of individualism. Radical abolitionists agreed with Romantics and Transcendentalists that the church, the clergy, and the Bible were so many enslavers of the human spirit. They also believed that individualist principles required constant agitation in order to effect the transformation of society.” Braude here has come out and admitted what many of us have been saying for years, that radical abolitionism was about much more than freeing slaves–it was about the transformation of our society. In other words, those people were the practitioners of the Marxist “Critical Theory” agenda in their day, even though that term had yet to be coined. They wanted no interference from the Christian Church as they sought to denigrate the Christian culture around them and replace it with their own. Their agenda was to remake American society in their own image–a not-so-subtle form of idolatry.  Is this really any different from what is going on today?

One of the leaders in the 19th century Women’s Lib Movement was Susan B. Anthony. They put a postage stamp out with her picture on it several years ago. Another author, Kathleen Berry, in her book Susan B. Anthony took a little different tack on Anthony’s worldview. She noted that: “In her autobiography, Elizabeth Cady Stanton described Susan’s spirituality as that of an agnostic. Susan never denied the existence of God, but her beliefs were secularized and lodged in the world around her. Her father, who had grown increasingly frustrated with the limited world view of the Quakers…turned to the Unitarian Church. Susan was also sympathetic to Unitarian beliefs.” So, however you take it, Spiritualist or Unitarian, Anthony’s beliefs were a radical departure from orthodox Christianity–and this was the foundation for Women’s Lib!

Braude, in Radical Spirits has identified Spiritualism as being present at the Women’s Rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. She has stated, quite plainly, that: “From this time on, Spiritualism and Women’s Rights intertwined repeatedly  as both became mass movements that challenged the existing norms of American life.  The two movements shared many leaders and activists.”

It is worth noting, coincidentally, that the Spiritualist Movement in this country began to make its inroads right around 1848, the same year that the socialist and communist revolts began in Europe. In fact, one of the female “Forty-Eighters,” Mathilda Franziska Anneke, wife of socialist agitator Fritz Anneke, once she came to America, became one of the leading lights in the Women’s Rights Movement.  Walter Kennedy and I, in our book Lincoln’s Marxists document quite a bit of this. Anneke worked closely with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton  and even lobbied in Washington in behalf of Women’s Rights.

This gives you a brief overview of the connections between the radical abolitionists, the Spiritualists, the Unitarians, and some of the Forty-Eighters, and the Women’s libbers. Just for a moment, stop and reflect on what these people have done to our once-Christian culture while the church-at-large has continued to slumber.

Writer Henry Makow Ph.D. noted, in an article published back in 2010 that: “The Women’s Liberation Movement was patterned on the Civil Rights Movement.  They are off-the-shelf Communist psycho-social operations. To be effective, they must appear to reflect a popular groundswell rather than an elite agenda from above.” Makow felt these movements might have rectified some genuine injustices, but then said “…their hidden purpose is to destabliize American society.” He’s right. Undoubtedly he is referring here to the contemporary version of the Women’s Rights Movement rathen than the 19th century one, but no matter how you look at it, it’s all of one fabric and it all has, as the main agenda, the destruction of Christian culture in this country. We need to begin to wake up and understand this.

From the Tower of Babel to “Critical Theory” It’s All the Same Game

by Al Benson Jr.

As we sit here amid the ruins of the sixth year of the reign of King Barack the First, it might serve us well if we remind ourselves that all of man’s activities, for good or ill, are ultimately religious in nature. Christian philosopher R. J. Rushdoony, when he was alive, reminded us of the truth posited by Cornelius Van Til that “Culture is religion externalized.” In other words, show me what your culture reflects and I will show you what your religion really is. That fact should give Christians and other patriotic people in our day some grave cause for concern.

As I have written in the past, and probably will again, I have observed, sometimes with alarm, at the growing vehemence  of the concerted attack upon all things Southern and Confederate in recent decades. It started noticeably with the birth of the so-called “Civil Rights Movement” and has been metastasizing at a remarkable rate ever since.  Southern flags and symbols have been roundly attacked in all parts of the South as well as various other parts of the country. I’d have expected a certain amount of this in the North because most folks there do not know or understand Southern history and their public school books were not about to enlighten them. But it has gone on in the South to an alarming rate and many folks down here couldn’t care less. When I first came South in the late 1950s and early 1960s such would not have happened to any extent. The attacks on Southern culture would not have been tolerated, now they are.

The leftist radicals, those minions of insidious Political Correctness, (Cultural Marxism) have been trying to wipe the slate clean regarding the memory of anything Southern or Confederate, with the exception of slavery (which was not only Southern but Northern as well). That’s the one thing they want to preserve the memory of so they can find creative new ways to cash in on it politically and financially, while having an excuse to do away with all the rest.

Many sincere folks have fought back against this rising tide with the “Heritage not Hate” campaigns regarding their flags and symbols. While we have to applaud their efforts, we also need to look more in depth at what is really going on. Why the war against Southern symbols, and why is it waged with such ferocity?  We must start to realize that this war is part of the Marxist “Critical Theory” agenda which basically aims at tearing down all of Western civilization and culture, but it’s main target is the Christian faith.

Years ago, in Frontpage Magazine there was an article by author Lowell Ponte, who noted that: “Symbols are key battlefields where the Culture War is being fought…The Confederate flag must disappear, as the Left openly says, because it is a ‘rebel’ flag, a symbol of people rising up against the authority of central government.”  Resistance to central government is heresy to the religion of Marxism. And Mr. Ponte continued: “This flag must be pulled down, the Left will soon demand, not only because it symbolizes a politically incorrect history that must, in Orwellian fashion, be re-written–but also because the Confederate flag is religious.” Now, we have finally cut to the chase!

Dr. Cecil Williamson, Pastor of Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Selma, Alabama, several years ago wrote: “The reasons they hate our Southern culture are the very reasons we should vigorously support and defend it. And it is simply this:  Southern culture–particularly antebellum Southern culture–was primarily Christian, primarily Western European, and primarily family-oriented. The South and our heritage are maligned today because the South is the only part of the country that has not wholeheartedly embraced the anti-Christian biases, the anti-Western-Civilization mentality, and the anti-family philosophy which have saturated our culture.” All of these things are part and parcel of the Marxist “Critical Theory” campaign to tear down both our faith and culture. Dr. Williamson noted how the South cleaved to the orthodox Christian faith in the early 1800s while the North went whoring after Unitarianism, Transcendentalism, Spiritualism, Feminism and other anti-Christian doctrines.

It is indeed too bad that Christian folk in the South cannot seem to realize that all the attacks on their symbols and heritage are really attacks on their Saviour  and their faith. Southern Christian culture and symbols need to be defended and people need to begin to realize that they are defending symbols of the Christian faith–the faith by which their culture has been widely influenced. I have noticed in the last few years that the Sons of Confederate Veterans have been trying to put up Confederate Battle Flags in some places in the South in prominent spots. Every time one of those flags goes up somewhere, the presence of that flag bears silent witness to what it really stands for, and folks, it ain’t slavery!

The Politically Correct, “Critical Theory” crowd cringes when they see more and more Confederate flags go up around the South, with more people being willing to fly them. Those adversaries of the Confederate Battle Flag and other Confederate symbols are really at war with Jesus Christ, and that is a war that, in the long run, they will not win. In that we can take comfort. 

More Home Schoolers Because of “Commie Core”

by Al Benson Jr.

Just this morning someone sent me an article from the Charlotte Observer in Charlotte, North Carolina, http://media.charlotteobserver.com  about the recent rise in home schooling in the state of North Carolina.

The article noted: “North Carolina’s home schools are growing at a record rate and are now estimated to have more students  than the state’s private schools. New figures from the state show there were 60,950 home schools in the 2013-14 school year, a 14.3 percent increase from the prior year and a 27 percent increase from two years ago. The state estimates there are 98,172 home-schoolers, marking the first time that North Carolina’s home school enrollment surpassed the number in private schools.”

Kevin McClain, president of North Carolinians For Home Education, which is a state-wide support group for home schoolers stated: “You can send your child to a private school–which is really expensive–or you can home-school. The economy means that, for many people, you home-school.” My wife and I can identify with that. When we could no longer afford to send our kids (now grown) to a Christian school, then we started to home school them. That was the only other option open to us. Sending them to the local government school was never an option because we knew the real history of the public school system, and no way were our kids going to be part of that. Thanks be to God, our six grandchildren are now being home schooled.

When home schooling first became legal in North Carolina way back in 1985 there were about 2,300 home schooled students in that state, so you can see how the movement has grown in the last twenty five-plus years. 

And the Charlotte Observer article observed that: “The recent growth spurt has coincided with the use of the Common Core standards in math and language arts in North Carolina’s public schools. While hailed by supporters in more than 40 states as providing a more rigorous education, critics have charged that Common Core is not appropriate for some students. ‘Common Core is a big factor that I hear people talk about’ said Beth Herbert, founder of Lighthouse Christian Homeschool Association, which has around 350 families, largely in the northern Wake County area. ‘They’re not happy with the work their kids are coming home with. They’ve decided to take their children home’.” In July the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation to create a commission that would recommend standards that would replace Common Core, or “Commie Core” as those who had studied this program now refer to it. All I can say is good for North Carolina!

Those who have studied the educational process now going on in this country, if such it can still be called, have come to realize that this whole Common Core program is nothing more than the educational arm of the Marxist Critical Theory agenda. On the 8th of August I did an article dealing with this for this blog spot. Go back and check it out.

It seems that the Critical Theory problems with Common Core have finally gotten some people to sit up and take notice of what is going on in public schools. This Marxist project won’t wake everybody up–there are some folks that will never wake up to what goes on in public schools–but more and more are beginning to see that these indoctrination centers we call schools have some real problems and that the result of those problems will be dumped on their kids if they leave them in those institutions.

Over the years I have advocated, for Southern folks, that they best thing they can do for their kids is to secede from the public school system. That would be one small step, but a major one, that people could start to take in the process of Cultural Secession. Lots of people today claim they have no confidence in the government anymore. If that is true, then why do they still have confidence in the government’s schools? The “educational” arm of the government is just as corrupt as the rest of it, and we are naive if we think any differently.

Critical Theory, Cultural Marxism, and Commie Core

by Al Benson Jr.

Recently I read an informative article on http://www.discoverthenetworks.org  which dealt with Cultural Marxism and how it manifests itself as Political Correctness. The article noted how people often poke fun at Political Correctness, and we see so very much of it in our day that we are often tempted to make light of it as though it were nothing more than a mere annoyance. The article noted, however, that “…Political Correctness is deadly serious in its aims, seeking to impose a uniformity of thought and behavior on all Americans. It is therefore totalitarian in nature.” It is rooted in kind of an “alternative” brand of Marxism that doesn’t dwell on the state of the economy as much as it does on the state of the culture. And although it doesn’t, that should concern us.

Among the biggest contributors to this new abomination, (not that the old brand of Marxism was any better), have been Antonio Gramsci and Georg Lukacs.  Gramsci’s “new Communist man had to be created via a changed culture,  and the culture had to be changed before political revolution was possible.” Lukacs believed that not only must the old culture be changed, it must be destroyed. Lukacs said: “I saw the revolutionary destruction of society as the one and only solution to the cultural contradictions of the epoch…Such a worldwide overturning of values cannot take place without the annihilation of the old values  and the creation of new ones by the revolutionaries.” It seems, in one sense, that these Marxist revolutionaries are little more than political busybodies. Who asked them to go about changing the culture?

The Frankfurt School, about which I have written previously,  was a group of mostly German Marxists who came to this country when Hitler took over in Germany. Their concept of totalitarianism didn’t agree with his. Interestingly enough, they were welcomed with open arms at Columbia University, where they began to work eagerly at the destruction of American culture, and particularly Christian culture. What does that tell you about Columbia University? The Frankfurt School is no longer officially in existence now, but those who have been bred and taught with that mindset and worldview are still laboring at the overthrow of American culture. They are close enough to their goal now that they can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The article from http://www.discoverthenetworks.org  that I’ve been quoting from has observed: “The Frankfurt School’s studies combined Marxist analysis with Freudian psychoanalysis to form the basis of what became known as ‘Critical Theory.’ Critical Theory was essentially destructive criticism of the main elements of Western culture, including Christianity, capitalism, authority, the family, patriarchy,…morality, tradition, sexual restraint, loyalty, patriotism, nationalism, heredity…” They didn’t specifically mention education, but if you understand the Marxist mindset you know that has to be a major part of it.

Part of the destruction of any culture is the destruction of standards of any kind and the truth by which those standards are revealed. I just read a post on the Freedom Outpost web site. It was posted on August 5th and the headline for it was: “Common Core Standards: 3×4=11 Is Ok As long as you can explain why.” The article stated: “Seriously, I could not believe that a grown woman was shoveling this stuff, but lo and behold, watch a Common Core promoter actually say that it’s fine that children think that 3×4=11. She just wants to know if they can reason and explain how they came to the answer! In other words, there are no right answers in Common Core. Apparently there will be no logic or reasoning in Common Core either. They just want you to be a dumb, useful idiot. If this is going on in math, what do you think would happen if, say a kid claimed that Bill Clinton was the first president of the United States?”

There was a video presentation with this post and the lady that was “shoveling” out this mathematical bovine fertilizer said: “But even under the new common core even if they said 3×4=11, if they were able to explain their reasoning and explain how they came up with their answer. Really in words and in oral explanation and they showed it in a picture but they got the final answer wrong. We’re more focused on the how and the why.” In other words, its perfectly okay for kids to come up with the wrong answer if they can just explain how they got that wrong answer. Interestingly enough, this “event” occurred in District 46, in Grayslake, Illinois on July 17th. Are you really surprised? The writer of this article states that this is the kind of nonsense you get when the feds get involved in education. On that point I can agree with him. But then he goes on to state that the states really need to put the feds in their place and to resume the powers the feds were not given in the Constitution. In principle he’s right, except, in all actuality, not even the state, let alone the feds, should be involved in education. That is a parental function–not a state function, not even a local government function. A major part of our problem in this country is that we don’t know our history well enough to grasp what governments at various levels should and should not be doing. And education is one of those things they shouldn’t be doing–at any level!

Awhile back, New York State Education Commisar (excuse me I should have said Commissioner) John King  gave a speech about education and “civil rights.” According to King, opposing Common Core is “racist.” Ah, there’s that old race card being played yet another time–if you didn’t vote for Obama you’re a racist; if you are opposed to illegal aliens swamping our Southern border, you must be a racist; if you are opposed to Common Core in education you must be a racist.  Opposition to Common Core has now become part of the “racist” guilt trip the system attempts to lay on common folks to shut them up–only it’s not working quite as well anymore. People are starting to wake up and refusing to shut up, and that’s good.

King went on to loftily note that “Common Core educational standards are an attempt to close the achievement gap between minority and low income students relative to their peers. He urges parents and educators not to back off from their commitment to Common Core.” This from an article in the Times Union  http://www.timesunion.com  And he’s right about Common Core–it will bridge the gap between minority and low income students and others by working to make sure they are all equally dumbed down, so no one, no matter how intelligent, knows much of anything. Can you honestly picture an educational system that doesn’t care whether the kids get the right answers in math or not as long as they can explain their wrong answer, doing anything to improve the educational standards for anyone? It’s all just more bovine fertilizer and it’s being shoved down people’s throats with an earth mover!

Back in October of 2013 there was an article on TNReport by the Tennessee Republican Assembly which called on legislators to oppose “Commie Core.” And that’s what the article called it. In part, the article said: “We are already seeing the negative effects of Common Core Federal Mandates in our schools, and now we will have thinly veiled socialist and communist agendas promoted with Tennessee tax dollars.” This according to Sharon Ford, President of the Tennessee Republican Assembly. She noted an expenditure of $700,000 in “Race to the top” money that was spent to send 18 elementary, junior high, and high school principals to Red China so they could learn how to teach “the Chinese way.” Ford, with some perception, said “China is neither as diverse or as open to creativity and free speech as the U.S. It is not a system we should replicate in Tennessee. And some people wonder why Common Core is called Commie Core.”

Common Core is part of the agenda to destroy educational standards and to force all students in the country to eventually become part of it, one way or another. It is, therefore, the Marxist Critical Theory program being used to destroy any remaining standards in American education.

Any school system anywhere in the country where people have finally figured out what Common Core is really all about and they want to opt out of it should be encouraged and supported if they make that effort. Otherwise the kids entrusted to their care become victims of the Marxist Critical Theory  technique where all real educational standards are eventually erased.  The Marxists, whether they call themselves that or not, have nothing less in mind than the total destruction of any remaining Christian culture we still possess and if they can accomplish that end while brainwashing our kids by removing and real educational standards, they will do so in a heart beat.