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which aren't exactly hotbeds for rightist extremists

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And as for non-extremist conservatives... while they may GO to college, they aren't exactly made to feel welcome. Especially not the social conservative, Fundie ones. Unsuprising. Being a social liberal conservative(in other words, non-Christian and in favor of guarantees of equal rights and access to all people), I had a different experience.

Just a few days ago, someone printed a "Letter to the Editor" on using religion to help one heal over the tragedy of Sept. 11. The next day, someone had written a venomous response replying how our newspaper was printing 'propaganda' and it was so horrible that they printed the letter to the editor, and that the Spectrum should have immediately found an alternative view to counter the 'propaganda.' The letter clearly stated that the fact the letter advocating religion as a way of healing "was an opinion piece is irrelevant," and that an alternative view should have been provided.

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It's really not fun to have my beliefs and ideals assaulted on a daily basis.

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Then you know how I feel everytime I see "God Bless America" on a billboard, bumper-sticker, or what-not. And, trust me, they've been EVERYWHERE for the past month.

Not to mention driving past churches which have billboards saying "Jesus Will Save You", "God Bless America" (even more), and "Church Saves Your Soul."

And then there's those damn "not a sermon, just a though" Church ads on the radio, and on the news when the anchors advertise for masses to grieve for the events of September 11th.

And on top of that, the Towson Towerlight's "Letters to the Editor" section is full of "let's bomb the shit out of the Arabs!" op-eds. Three weeks ago, some students assaulted other students protesting for peace. The next issue of The Towerlight was full of letters blasting the protestors.

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As a conservative, I have to deal with leftist ideas on a daily basis. Several of my professors, especially in history, actually tried to apply Karl Marx's theories in class. While I couldn't stomach one class, I had to get through another because it was required.

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So, you know what, you don't like you beliefs being challenged? That's what the U.S. is about.

Which he wasn't... I mean, I think 99% of the people on this planet would disagree with Marx today, but at the time of his writing his opinion was rather well-recieved by a good chunk of the population. Marx wasn't by any means stupid. Just most of us have a severe difference of opinion when it comes to his conclusions about society.

[ October 18, 2001: Message edited by: The_Tom ]

When I was working on my history degree, I noticed people that disagreed vehemently with various professor's point of view about Marx. I remember talking with a friend about one professor's assertion that Marx was a historian. My firend was quite upset about that idea. While I understood where he as coming from I could also understand where the point of view of the professor.

Social historians tend to think that Marx's historical economic dialectic playes a large role in culture and the development of society in the post agricultural revolution stages and during the industrial revolution. Many see the same "conflict of opposing forces" even now.

Social motivation adds new and different textual ways to "read" hisotry. Whatever you think about Marx or his economic theory, he is very important in the development of professional history and the challenging of the narritive.

One thing that I don't think students get about history is the "theory" behind it all. Marx presented an idea, a theory if you will, and historians have expanded on it, meshed it with other theory and come up with what many think is a important way to explain past events and social motivations.

My idea was that Marx was an advocate more so than a historian. He had a valid point to make about the historical economic dialectic, but moved far beyond objectivity while relating of his ideas.

Remember though that no historian can be truly objective. I tend to think it wrong to demand of a professor what you are not willing to give of yourself. Most people I ran into that had problems with what professors were talking about, walked into the classroom as an ideolog, put up a intellectual wall and refused to really listen or think.

However, understanding theory, take deconstruction for example, is not easy to make sence of or to put into perspective if one wants a pure narrative historical point of view.

Honestly, when one gets to university, historians think that your ready to digest more complex historical thought, and can seem to be and can actually be rather arrogant about how they present history.

The point is, that if one wants to be an educated person, one must read and understand points of view that one does not agree with.

And if you your a professional social historian who ignores Marx, postmodern thought, or theory in general, then you are a pretty poor historian. And yet, if you are a professional historian who can't sit down one on one with a student and talk with them about Marx, postmodern ideas or theory, then you are a pretty poor historian.

And it's the student has to engage the teacher on some intellectual and literate level. Read Marx, postmodern thought or other theory and then go talk about them.

University is about personal challenge and growth and the does not come about by singularly seeking the like minded. Avoiding ideas that you don't agree with only gets one so far in this world. Finding ideas that you don't agree with, ones that challenge you and motivate you to honest introspection can help you grow the most.

[ October 19, 2001: Message edited by: Jay the Obscure ]