Defending Orthodoxy (Was Hitler born a hundred years too late?)

It’s a characteristic of revolutions that the ones that succeed try to prevent the next one. Once the Russian revolution took over, liquidation of its opponents was the number one goals. Ditto China, Cuba and all the petty dictatorships that cover the globe. The same can also be said about the classroom. The long march through the institutions by the Left has made non-conformist thought a cause for either dismissal or never being hired in the first place.

The Editors of the Virginian Pilot have just printed a message that scientific orthodoxy must be preserved lest our precious snowflakes get an inkling that any of the science being taught in our schools is anything but “settled.” Human inquiry into alternative theories of existence is strictly verboten. And they misstate the Supreme Court to back up their case.

A new law purports to protect teachers who explore the scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolution, global warming and cloning, among other controversial topics. But the need for the law is questionable; if there's evidence of a teacher being disciplined for teaching such things, supporters can't find it.

Strangely enough, the editorial then goes on to self-refute by citing two Supreme Court cases that deal with this issue. And if the law is useless, there should be no objection to it, should there?  The next paragraph is really delicious, citing unidentified “scientists” and “civil libertarians” for the enforcement of orthodoxy.

Instead, scientists and civil libertarians see a different motive: An effort to undermine basic science at odds with politics or religious beliefs and make it more difficult for administrators and local school boards to deal with teachers who stray from established science and the state’s curriculum.

Yes, Virginia, there really are a large and growing band of so-called civil libertarians who are anything but libertarian when it comes to heterodoxy in thought; just as there are prominent ethicists who advocate the killing of unwanted babies and old people. It seems that Hitler was just born a hundred years too late.

And here’s the quote that gives it away: "It hardly needs to be said, but the science in support of natural selection as an explanation for the evolution of species has long been settled." The Global Warming Hoax™ is famous for using the phrase “the science is settled” to make people believe that scientists who disagreed with the Warmers were not real scientists at all but cranks and nuts. Science is never settled, that’s why it’s called science rather than religion.

But it’s interesting to see the smelly little orthodoxies being defended by those who were probably out protesting “The Man” and demanding free speech a few decades ago. There is no one who is going to defend the revolution more vigorously than the revolutionary who has become the establishment. They know who easily the establishment can be toppled once the idea is allowed to spread that it can.