If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then it is true that peace, that is, politics, is the continuation of war by other means.
Boris Shaposhnikov, Red Army Chief of Staff
Here we do not discuss that little red man with his sleigh full of gifts, but little red men of an altogether less benevolent type. What follows are my ongoing discussions with Jimmy from Brooklyn, Alex Benesch, and Nevin Gussack.
Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes in the New Year.
Why Americans do not understand communism: A conversation with Jimmy from Brooklin.
Education, Subversion, and the War of the Moles
The Legacy of Henry Kissinger, Parts I & II
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35 responses to “Twas the Week Before Christmas: Three Conversations Touching on Communism”
All 3 are great discussions once again. Keep up the great work to inform America. Merry Christmas
In general, the men of lower intelligence won out. Afraid of their own shortcomings and of the intelligence of their opponents, so that they would not lose out in reasoned argument or be taken by surprise by their quick-witted opponents, they boldly moved into action. Their enemies, on the contrary, contemptuous and confident in their ability to anticipate, thought there was no need to take by action what they could win by their brains.
Thucydides
May “the little green men” and their not-elf fellow travelers be pelted with coal and worse. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year of more direly needed strategic and historical analysis and insight.
i can’t comprehend the young generations even coming close to being able to think critically enough to understand the basics of intelligence history. you’d be creating nihilistic machiavellian pupils who misapply every lesson of power. then again, isn’t that what they’re doing now?
incidentally though, this is a first class video hypothesizing reasons why the western education system is getting dumb in the process of turning totalitarian.
https://youtu.be/2qkadx_x02U
Thank you, Tom. This video is good. He is right about aristocracy and the way you train good leaders. We are anti-aristocratic today. The word aristocracy means “rule by the best.” We no longer believe there are better and worse people. We believe everyone is “equal,” which is absurd and obviously untrue. Yet nobody dares say the truth. Our elite education should be for the training of aristocrats, as it was in other successful civilizations (and with our civilization when it was successful). But, through the advent of mass society and so-called “democracy,” we are training people to be egalitarian ideologues and socialist “managers.” This is disastrous. And the disasters are only now beginning.
“Aristocracy” = “Rule by the best” can be misleading, as “aristocracy” has the idea of inherited titles and privilege while “rule by the best” has positive connotations, drawn from the public at large. This country was founded on anti-aristocracy in the sense of inherited titles and privilege, but the education system was designed to bring everyone to the best of his ability. In other words, the common farmer was to be given as far as possible an aristocratic education. Such an education would allow the best of each generation to rise to the top, like cream on milk (in the old days before homogenization) and for the rest to recognize quality.
It’s been a while since I last looked at education, but it was John Dewey and those around him who had a major influence in destroying that education system. They introduced methods that they knew did not work, that contributed to the dumbing down of education. I remember when at 14 I felt cheated by the education I had been given, that had held me back, in spite of the fact that I had as yet undiagnosed dyslexia. But I had been taught reading by a method that predated Dewey.
John Dewey was funded by Rockefeller. That family has generations of evil. That’s the type of family that represented “aristocracy” when this country was founded, that has made the term “aristocracy” to be a pejorative.
As for quality of education, the average eighth grade graduate B.D. (Before Dewey) had a better grasp on critical thinking than an average college graduate today. Just look at the types of questions they were expected to answer on their tests.
I am an anti-aristocrat in that I want every individual to be given the best education possible. More importantly, I want them to be taught wisdom, something that Dewey opposed. Wisdom ≠ raw smarts. Some of the most foolish things I have read were written and said by people who were / are very smart. Foolish people are easily led by dictators. And communists.
Every individual is not educable. Aristocracy does mean “rule by the best,” which is an ideal embraced by the ancients who believed intelligence was an inherited trait. And intelligence as an inherited trait is still accepted as true by many scientists and ordinary people today. The aristocracy of Europe in the Middle Ages was a military aristocracy. It was not a cast system of strict inheritance. Many became barons by their deeds on the field. Many aristocratic houses sank into poverty from lethargy. It is untrue that this system was a cast system based strictly on inheritance. As time went by this system atrophied as the warrior aristocrats married into the new money to maintain themselves.
https://crisismagazine.com/podcast/classical-education-the-recovery-of-culture-guest-jeremy-tate
A happy and holy Christmas to all.
“Every individual is not educable.” I have to disagree. Every individual is educable, but the best education for each individual varies by individual’s ability.
What Dewey and his ilk did was to replace the American one room schoolhouse, where students could learn individually, with the Prussian regimented system where children were to conform to their age group. The result of that is to drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator.
But what I find as a more important factor is a person’s religion, or philosophy if you prefer to call it that. Even highly intelligent people with the wrong philosophies / religions will find that their presuppositions get in the way of understanding. This is where the difference between smarts and wisdom come into play. A wise person of average abilities can outperform a genius who is a fool.
The definitions I take for wisdom vs. foolishness, I take from the Bible. Every traitor mentioned in your discussion with Alex fits the Biblical definition of a fool. It is their foolishness that makes them open to recruitment by the KGB. That includes those “of the right” who think they oppose communism.
“The aristocracy of Europe in the Middle Ages was a military aristocracy.” Banastre Tarleton was an aristocrat, yet he is credited by modern historians as the one most responsible for losing the American southern colonies for the crown during the Revolutionary War. His crowning glory was the Battle of Cowpens. His treatment of American colonists led up to that battle. He was put in charge of the British forces because he was an aristocrat. Lord Cornwallis was so infuriated at the results of that battle, that he made a series of tactical and strategic mistakes that led to his defeat at Yorktown. The American Revolutionary War was where American yeoman warriors defeated British aristocracy.
Jeff, when you refer to “aristocracy”, do you really refer to “warrior spirit” that includes loyalty to one’s people?
A little historical memory—when I was in Germany, college students went to demonstrations “Ami go home” referring to the U.S. military. But after the demonstration, they returned to their rooms and tuned their radios to AFN.
I notice there is an ongoing huge trend of “mask-off” in the global social media currently.
We have pro-Russia, pro-Chinese people outrightly admitting to support communism and promote socialism. Even their opponents in the West are also saying their Western version of socialism is superior to the authoritarian socialism in thet East. Basically, Yuri Bezemov’s prediction of normalization has come into fruition as socialism/communism is becoming normalized not demonized.
Even the controlled opponents of Kremlin/Beijin in the West now consider Russia as a communist country!
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1737903026394804442?s=20
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lloyd-austin-russia-soviet-union
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-12-23/the-soviet-union-may-have-imploded-30-years-ago-but-it-s-not-dead
Excuse one of the sources come from a pro-Russian guy but it is interesting that the people in the US don’t buy into the Gorbachev’s non-communist opera anymore.
Gradually the Kremlin will reorient itself, but the Russian people must be like the frog in the proverbial pot.
Hi Jeff,
I’ve been following the blog although it’s been awhile since I’ve commented. Just finished listening to you and Jimmy. I learn something valuable each time, but I think that Jimmy is wrong about Bill O’Reilly.
Of the people that I listen to: Tucker, Beck, Steve Deace, Mark Levin, and Bill O’Reilly, O’Reilly is the most staunchly anti-Communist and has his head straight on Ukraine. He regularly defends Ukraine and says things like the aid we provide them is the cheapest money we will ever spend in our own nation and Europe’s defense. He is clear that Putin and Xi wants to expand their geopolitical control. He often says that if Russia gets any part of Ukraine, we will be spending hundreds of millions of more dollars plus mobilizing our troops because Russia won’t be satisfied with staying in Ukraine. So O’Reilly gets it. I wish Jimmy would just listen to Bill O’Reilly.
Beck and Deace have gone off the rails along with Tucker. They will admit Putin is a bad guy, but they can’t see why the Ukrainians won’t negotiate a peace treaty. Who is getting to these giants in the talk show field? Who do they listen to?
Tucker is a lost cause on this issue as you have discussed.
As far as presidential candidates, Ramaswamy and Kennedy have downright dangerous ideas in their foreign policies on Ukraine and China. I am not sure where DeSantis and Trump stand, but I think their “twitchy eye” could make any dictator cautious.
I would agree that these commentators and their listeners all need more education about the specifics of the World Communist movement. If we spent as much time learning about the WCM as we do about the damage caused by the Covid shot, we would understand the root cause of much of our societal decay. I loved Jimmy’s point about this.
What do you think of G Edward Griffin lumping all the authoritarian/communist/globalist regimes under the label “Collectivism” as a way of identifying the enemy? He argues it makes it more palatable than just saying communists. Would you agree or disagree?
Jimmy got me thinking about this since he emphasizes it’s the World Communist Movement that we need to articulate to the folks. I’ve used the term Collectivism as catch all for all of these awful regimes, but maybe that’s not as helpful as Griffin thinks.
Also, what do you think of Jimmy’s idea of having a meeting organized like CPAC that informs the folks on the World Communist Movement or as I say “collectivism?” We use these terms: Marxism, Cultural Marxism, DEI, Globalism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, Communism, Fascism. They are all woven from the same cloth, but the threads are each distinct.
Finally, Jimmy could use some coaching. He needs to take a breath every now and then and allow more dialogue back and forth. It is painful to hear him interrupt you and say, “Wait, wait, wait, this is important.” I believe him, but his manner can be a bit off-putting at times.
I apologize for taking so long on the transcript. It is coming…
Tomorrow, I will listen to you and Alex on education. Can’t wait. Thanks for your great efforts, Jeff, in educating us. You are an excellent writer and teacher with a vast knowledge of the literature. That is so rare these days…Would love to know how you track your notes and how you organize so much information that it always seems right at your fingertips or straight from memory.
Nice to hear from you, Lady from Liberty Garage. I think Jimmy is frustrated by the conservative media, because he knows it is the communist movement leading the way — and people like Bill O’Reilly either do not understand the specifics or are afraid to talk about the problem in the way that Jimmy, myself, or Trevor and Cliff do. Those of us who have spoken about communism for many years have found Americans more and more drawn to very different ideas and theories about who our enemies are. Often the CIA or Pentagon are listed as the heart of the problem, without any explanation regarding communist infiltration of our institutions. Broadcasters have had their shows canceled for talking as I do about communism. Why? Successful infiltration means this kind of narrative is only acceptable to the infiltrators if muddied. I do not know what O’Reilly’s position is lately, but I never heard him refer to Putin as a closet communist, or that the Soviet collapse was equivocal. All the time he was at Fox he never discussed Golitsyn or the threat from a United Russia and China. If he is doing that now, I am glad. But I was perplexed he did not do it years ago. I knew where all this was headed from my reading and meeting defectors; and so did Jimmy. So I understand Jimmy’s frustration with mainstream pundits and journalists. Big business, of course, wanted to trade with China. They did not want anyone scaring people away from such dealings. And this explains part of it. Then there is the journalist’s lack of detailed knowledge. But now the chickens are coming home to roost. China is trying to destroy our economy and mobilize for war. Russia is at war. How did we get into this terrible situation? Very simply, none of our great mainstream voices sounded a real warning over the course of three decades. So we have been disarmed. We let this happen, and Bill O’Reilly did not see it coming. To get people to see the truth, you have to be specific, and you need to be ahead of the curve. You have to talk about the Old Communist Bloc and communist infiltration of the schools as a way into all our institutions. You have to talk about Lenin and Gramsci and communist subversion. Because, few were willing to say communism has been threatening us the whole time. We just all closed our eyes to it. The communists, of course, do not like anticommunists who understand their plans and talk publicly, and so anticommunism has been excluded from the mainstream media. We are lumped in with the conspiracy theorists. Only, we are not promoting a conspiracy theory. We are just pointing out the obvious. Using a vague term like “collectivist” is fine, of course, but it is imprecise. It shows a kind of confusion. All societies are collectives, to some extent. The family is a collective. Furthermore, the enemy who threatens us today is not fascist or National Socialist or collectivist — but something more complicated and misunderstood. Our main enemy is communism, and those affiliated with, or manipulated by, actual Marxist-Leninist organizations. There are many cranky fanatics out there who could be called “collectivists, but only the communist movement, with its leftist and liberal dupes, seriously threatens to destroy or transform our society. I have come to prefer a precise description of our enemy, pointing out what our enemy calls himself — his own conscious idea of what he is doing. You cannot fight effectively against something you only have a vague idea of. In the case of G. Edward Griffin, he adheres to certain conspiracy theories that further confuse the picture. It is frustrating for me to listen to him sometimes, because he regards capitalism as the core of the communist conspiracy. That is what the John Birch Society taught people for many years, and it has paved the way for Russia to win over many conservatives today. At least, that is my view of his work. I have watched how ineffective Birchism has proved to be, and how it leaves people open to the derailment that is conspiracy mongering (Alex Jones style).
I watched a little bit of the Steve Deace Show during Covid and before the invasion of Ukraine. It does not totally surprise me that he has jumped on the anti-Ukraine bandwagon. He was good on domestic issues and on Covid, although he was mostly repeating points that other anti-lockdown/vaccine people were making, but overall the whole show struck me as rather unserious. Steve and his regulars always went from discussing serious topics to talking at length about pop-culture and college football; he often came off as self-important and very much in love with the sound of his own voice, he and the others were constantly patting themselves on the back for every clever quip they made. In other words, Steve appears to have the kind of shallow, self-important personality that is easily recruited by Russia’s influence operations on the right. Like other conservative media leaders who claim to be diligent, well-informed and independent, he goes along with whatever happens to be the popular opinion on the MAGA right, after waiting a while to be sure of what the popular opinion on particular topic actually is. It just never ceases to amaze me how this Q-influenced perception that Trump approves of Putin and vice versa has snowballed into the real thing, with the appearance of growing pro-Russia sentiment on the right swaying political and leaders and everyone below them in a never-ending vicious cycle.
Excellent and thoughtful discussions, as always.
Merry Christmas to everyone here!
I forgot to mention the funniest part. During the whole year of 2021 the intro to Steve’s show was the anthem of the Soviet Union, it was meant to be a parody of the Democratic Party acting like a bunch of Communist totalitarians. This is a shining example of how clueless the whole American right is about Communism, ie. the global movement led by Russia and China, of which Western leftists, liberals and now conservatives are the chief dupes.
Interesting, Laura, because the more I watch and read today’s bloggers and podcasters, the more sure I am that context is everything — and their context is off kilter.
The Common Core national standards for education, and specifically RTTT, Race to the Top, 2009, was what thrust me into a political activist role as a parent of 2 elementary school-aged children at that time. Our local school in rural Missouri was like every other in that the feds promised money, but with lots of strings attached. (The local school boards are “allowed” to have some minor control but ultimately Big Brother calls the shots). The education lobby is strong here in Missouri and I spent many hours and days learning this firsthand. I also began researching our education system and how it has changed even since I was back in elementary and high school.
I think this is the first problem in America is that parents simply think that the schools are teaching curriculum just as when they were in school. Second, with 2 parents working full time nowadays, the schools have become “babysitter”. Today, in the U.S., it is a system that molds kids into good little “world citizens” teaching them that “Green” is the responsible way to go and that one doesn’t need to learn to read and write in cursive or that memorizing multiplication tables is a waste of time. History? Well, those men who wore powdered wigs were racist slave owners and we can’t be bothered with anything they have written about in forming our young country and government (sarcasm). The government can provide everything you need…like 3 meals a day, courtesy school breakfast, lunch, and dinner (because parents are too busy working and simply don’t have time to). Third, most do not know the truth of our own political leaders who meddle and rub elbows and sell us out with this country’s enemies (Russia, China) who are hell-bent on destroying our way of life.
Anyway, years ago, I read an insightful book by Charlotte Thomson Isrbyt and learned that I was wrong about the man elected President in 1980 (when I was just starting high school) who I thought was a “conservative” and had our country’s best interest in mind regarding education. 1979-80 saw a candidate Ronald Reagan campaign to end the Dept of Education. Hmmm, when elected he appointed TH Bell as Secretary of Education…the same man who had previously lobbied FOR the creation of a DoE. Reagan would go on to sign education agreements ‘85, ‘88-91 with the Soviets. Leningrad, summer of 1989, “Soviet and American educators examining classroom theory and practice in critical thinking about social and political issues and worked on recommendations and resources for improving the ways we teach about each other’s country…”
This, after his hardline stance against the Communists in other areas? Critical thinking? Ahh, the latest thing that’s wrong with today’s students…sounds familiar even today. So during this time, the 80’s, our public schools went from “teaching-the most traditional and conservative role of schools-to workforce training-perceived as liberal and progressive”. And now 40-some years later it is even worse.
Our story is a successful one. We pulled our kids out of that local school and began homeschooling, incorporated Christian education, and later, both kids went to a Christian boarding academy for high school. They can read and write cursive, they know how to do math without drawing a chalk board full of stick men to come to an approximation of the answer, and they know American history and our founding fathers who were responsible for creating our unique system of government.
You did the right thing pulling your kids out of public schools.
Thanks, we sure believe we did the right thing. I took a lot of flack from family initially to homeschool…mother and sister both retired from teaching in the public school system. I was actually the one who taught them what Common Core curriculum was and wasn’t…they thought it was a great thing early on with standardized testing…until I provided information on all the data collection that was going on, courtesy Google and other Big Tech entities.
In your conversation with Jimmy what stands out to me is the word confusing. Everything has appeared to be the same but is very different and people are confused by that so they cling to the sameness of things and refuse to see the different and what that means. I was discussing JFK Jr. with someone and she was saying how confusing it is that he can spend his career defending children’s health but then be pro abortion as a Catholic. She has asked him the question but he wont address it. And, there are many conservative Christians who are now supporting him because of Trumps warp speed jab and so how are they reconciling that. People have been so propagandized and mislead that it has led to a perpetual state of confusion. I so appreciate your precise wording and and explaining the specifics of a topic.
It is amazing that Kennedy is so confused, so propagandized, that much of what he says is dangerously misguided. All our politicians and journalists have misguided notions of one kind or another which our enemy has promoted in various disinformation campaigns. Our media is thoroughly contaminated today. Fox News is more and more against the people who are being invaded and destroyed by Russia, for example. Hannity seems to be the only holdout, though he was the worst for trumpeting Reagan’s alleged victory in the Cold War. There is a reason certain people are promoted and others are not.
I was raised in a progressive liberal school district back in the 70’s and early 80’s and now looking back it isn’t hard to see why this country is in the state that we are in. I raised my kids in a small conservative town and when they were in junior high and high school the district stopped teaching history and only taught a current events class. One of the teachers had gone to China on a teacher exchange program.
Oh oh.
That teacher became the curriculum director for the school district.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT0Rx1hUaew
Great interview of Ron Desantis by Jordan Peterson
Mr. Peterson also interviewed Vivek R. earlier this year.
Nobody could or would stop Kissinger for many decades and now his protégés live on carrying out his objectives. It is absolutely absurd that he was allowed to direct and influence this country. My optimism for this country wavers and right now I am not optimistic. As always, an educational discussion. I look forward to next week’s discussion with Nevin.
Has anyone watched the movie that was produced by the Obama’s? Leave the World Behind. A very strange movie.
I have not seen it. Maybe you could describe it for us.
Now I have listened to Alex and Jimmy. Great discussions, if somewhat despairing. So many traitors and liars….
Jimmy constantly refers to the Russian and Communist brilliant strategy. I
understand that the only solution is better education for Americans and all freedom-loving people. But how do we do this?
What is the brilliant counter strategy?
The truth is the only counter-strategy and antidote for all this. And the truth, in this case, takes perseverance to see; that is, it was a lot of homework. The truth also requires something more as well. We have to be willing to give up the things we seem to cherish most: our illusions.
Quote: Green on Research The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment is a quote by British writer Celia Green (1935 -) from her book “The Decline and Fall of Science” (Hamilton Ltd., 1976).
What does that mean in practice?
You have found out that the American capacity for astonishment already full, as a tea cup being filled every hour.
Television, et. al.
True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one’s self; but the point is not only to get out – you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.
Henry James
Television series, et. al.
Searching for astonishment in all the wrong places, as a personal self-serving policy.
Off-topic, but of interest: https://redstate.com/streiff/2023/12/23/red-sea-security-coalition-melts-down-as-member-nations-refuse-to-accept-us-leadership-n2167876
This has been going on for over 2,500 years. Serve Satan or else…this is his world. (Read Daniel 3). We can only overcome Satan by being willing to die, doing what God says and not fearing man. We are in this mess because godly leaders compromise with evil, don’t trust God and fear man over God. This is a sin that has always destroyed nations.
Thank you jeff,
amazing video info!
Merry Christmas brother!