Posted by
The Long War on Saturday, December 09, 2006 8:18:01 PM
J.R. Dunn has a new article out today at American Thinker entitled Seeds of Intellectual Destruction. He traces the path of leftist intellectual rot back to two individuals, C. Wright Mills and William Appleman Williams, whose work in fifties influenced radical leftists throughout the '60's. Their work was based in good part upon theories developed by Antonio Gramsci which grew from his studies of Hegelian historicism as embodied in the works of Marx. Wikipedia has a good biographical sketch of Gramsci that is written from a very sympathetic point of view. Careful reading of the sketch reveals that he was the son of a thief, he acquired his taste for the unlawful appropriation of other peoples property with his mother's milk. If one desires to examine the seeds of leftist intellectual rot, an understanding of the concept of historical inevitability as outlined by Hegel and further developed by Marx is a good place to start. This Wikipedia article gives a decent overview of the concept with the pertinent links to Marx's incorporation of a variant of Hegelian thought to arrive at the concept of "historical inevitability". Marx also borrowed Hegel's quaint habit of never actually discussing the practical manner in which his theory might actually be put into practice. Gramsci chose one way, Lenin and Stalin slightly different 'other paths'.
Mills and Williams gained their positions of fame (notoriety is probably more accurate) through implementation of the Gramscian method by those responsible for their gaining positions as faculty. That same method had been employed throughout the '30's and '40's in the same manner throughout mass media. What we see today is actually the third (and hopefully last) generation of leftist influence peddlers.
I agree with J. R. Dunn's conclusion that it will be a long, long war but I would note that what we are seeing regarding hegemonism and the left is more akin to zombieism than anything else. Fifty years ago Nasser's Pan-Arabism was deeply involved in seeking aid from the left (as personified in the USSR), today the pathetic remnants of an intellectually bankrupt and moribund left are seeking an alliance with the last gasp of a dying death/slavery cult in the same area. In another fifty years those of you remaining may be breathing air unbefouled by the stench of either.