no to the ramsay centre pollution of minds...

submission

Samuel Blanch, Research Scholar in the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, is hoping to revive the offer from The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilization.

His article "Why the Ramsay Centre Doesn't Fit in the Modern University” more or less indicate that present Universities are not fit nor set-up to deal with such a proposal (in which cash has strings attached to sing the glory of Western Civilisation). By the end Samuel advocates the creation of some other institution equipped to deal with such "teaching” or chanted introspection as mooted by the Ramsay Centre. Well, may be the Notre Dame or the Catholic Universities could deal with the influx of cash and the slanted teachings.

But then this would defeat the purpose of the Ramsay Centre which on a discreet scale is designed to destroy the value and concept of secularity. Here goes Samuel:

Sociologists have long thought that the most interesting thing about secularity is neither the political doctrine of secularism, nor the over-stated decline of religious belief. Rather, it is what Charles Taylor has called the changing conditions of belief — the way that the moving boundaries of religion also transform our basic assumptions about the constitution of the world and our place in it.

Moreover, this transformation is reflected in the material decisions we make about institutions — including, and perhaps especially, in our decisions about universities. And it is this transformation, amounting today to an increasingly profound disconnection between materiality, human action,and human ends or purposes, which makes the Ramsay Centre's approach almost unthinkable in the modern university.

Read more:
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/08/10/4882234.htm

Correct. Modern Universities should reject holus bolus the submission by the Ramsay Centre. It is not fit for critical assessment as it contains its own self-praise — and further more, Western Civilisation is already studied in many details from art to wars and its resultant, in sociology, arts degrees and others such as political degrees.
Here is Samuel again:

The secular condition in which we live is not about the death of religion. It is about religion's emigration into the private subjectivities of modern people and far clear of peoples' wallets and workplaces. As Max Weber already understood, this secular age is about the shifting ground and displacement of religion, the unintended consequences of people's theological reflections and everyday decision-making. It might have been for initially theological reasons that the artisan took care to account for his daily earnings in his ledger. But from there, it was not long before this process of accounting was no longer justified theologically: balancing the books became its own end, distinct in principle from both his faith and his moral self. Of course, the artisan may have remained "religious": in his own heart offering prayers, and offering his body and time to God, at least on a Sunday morning. So it is that, in the secular condition, religion delineated and circumscribed. Religion moves into the heart and the mind, into carefully marked spaces and times.

We can also put this theologically. Martin Luther states in his Large Catechism that "a god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress." We might say that where we direct our attention, whether towards mammon, the nation, or Yahweh, there resides our god.

————————————————

That is a lot of bull. Secularity is (or should be) specifically designed to separate the state and the religious institutions.

And there are good reasons for this. Secularity is (or should be) for the purpose of creating a new thinking about humanity, first by separating the religious hubris and its multi-faceted deceitful aspects. Trying to “put this theologically” is bullshit. Martin Luther had one major goal which was to “clean up” Christianity from its hubris, but he was still clinging to the hubris of Christ which had been invented under Constantine from various hearsay stories. Luther's goal became confused under the influence of several factors. He hated the Jews and he hated the Muslims — and their own religious hubris. He also saw the role of women as subservient. He wanted to created a more ascetic religious belief which was as false as that of the Catholic Church, except his institution rejected the bells and whistles, the gold and the exuberance.

His views led to the revolutions of peasants and that of some opportunistic "noblemen”, who saw the new thinking as a way to access freedom from the somewhat draconian impositions of both the Empire and of the Church — that kept them in poverty by submission, rather than poverty by choice under the reformed thinking. They were jumping from the saucepan into the stove. Hundred years of war did not go down well.

Secularity when it is fully developed should reach the human condition though its evolution in nature. No god. No idea of god. Secularity, atheism and sciences are not religions. They are understandings. Religions do not uderstand anything.

The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilization was thus subterraneanly set up to undermine the evolution of secularity, by hanging to precepts inherited from religious beliefs — hence the support, leading to its demise, by Tony Abbott, the only Santamaria-follower left in Australia. Amen.

Gus Leonisky
Your local rebel

By Gus Leonisky at 12 Aug 2018 - 9:03am
Gus Leonisky's blog
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crooked

By Gus Leonisky at 12 Aug 2018 - 9:38am
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rotten tomatoes...

An educational program with a heavily biased agenda and lack of critical thinking hascome under heavy criticism, writes Ross Jones.

IN AN EFFORT to present as themselves as erudite and knowledgeable, it is common for libertarians to write and speak in preposterously flowery language.

Hyperbole and indignation are stock.

To reinforce their verbal merde, your basic libertarian will also name-drop obscure alleged intellectuals. The more obscure the better.

The libertarian’s objective is twofold — to confound the reader/listener, while at the same time asserting a bullying superiority.

As an example, let's start with a recent piece in the Sydney Morning Herald by one of Australia’s leading libertarian punces (personal opinion), ex-NSW Art Gallery director Edmund Capon.

In this Fairfax piece dated 14 September 2018, Ed wrote:

‘My experience is as ordinary and predictable as many millions of others; nothing has undermined those instincts that were instilled in me in my typical and classical education, but life and experience and, indeed, my tolerance perhaps above all, has been alerted and refined by the experience of learning of parallel cultures and their attendant values.’

Got it? Any idea what he is talking about?

--------------------------

Gus: I believe Edmund was erudite in the Chinese art, culture and values, and did not like upstarts painting dissenting artistic opinion to his cultured ones. I would not stretch at mentioning Capon's tolerance... He seemed to have a narrow spectrum on the value of works of art — and before the Banksy something with a balloon went to stratospheric value at an auction, my bet is that he would have thrown it into the rubbish bin.

-------------------------

Here is a preceding paragraph for some context:

‘Critics of the Ramsay Centre proposal seem quite oblivious to the fact that those great “Western” institutions of higher learning in Europe, America and, indeed, Australia have over the centuries opened and enlightened the hearts and minds of millions of students from around the world to the undisputed betterment of humankind.’

What?

--------------------------------

Gus: Exactly...

As I mention in The shit-pumping philosopher explains why shit-pumping is important... Western civilisation in Australia started with convicts, thieves, redcoats, world wars, financial crisis and extended in the USA with the atom bomb and trump...

And the Western civilisation brought you MaDonald's, Coke and prolongation of your person in concentration camps for Alzeihmer patients to the benefit of health funds, under the umbrella of compassion.

---------------------------

Melleuish then had a go at clarification:

‘If one is looking for the birthplace of Western civilisation, as well as Europe, the best location is the Carolingian Empire under Charlemagne.’

That’s great. Love to be there at the birth of Western civilisation.

Nothing like being a peasant in the way of the Carolingian war machine, as Wikipedia explains:

'Charlemagne's reign was one of near-constant warfare, personally leading many of his campaigns. He seized the Lombard Kingdom in 774, led a failed campaign into Spain in 778, extended his domain into Bavaria in 788, ordered his son Pepin to campaign against the Avars in 795 and conquered Saxon territories in wars and rebellions fought from 772 to 804.'

As your basic Western crofter used to say in 775, “FMD, not that prick Charlemagne again!”

The thing is, the Ramsay mob are mere parvenus when it comes to dark-state workings, although, bless them, they are desperately trying to come up with their own heinous fear campaign.

They are no more than Australian copycats caught in a cultural cringe. Mere #metooists.

-------------------------------

And this caper was followed by the middle dark ages... See: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34667

Immediately followed by the Renaissance and the Baroque... See: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34711

------------------------------

Happily, The Ramsay Centre’s push to infiltrate Australian universities has met and continues to meet strong resistance.

This from the Sydney Morning Herald:

'A staff-led campaign opposing the University of Sydney’s consideration of a Western civilisation degree funded by the conservative Ramsay Centre is continuing to escalate, with a department formally expressing its opposition to the proposal.'

But these Ramsay/IPA people are dogged and they have plenty of bucks, some of which came from Gina Rinehart, who is like both Koch Bros rolled into one.

Thanks to Australia’s ridiculous disclosure laws, we have no idea just how much dark money is behind the libertarian conspiracy, but you can bet it is heaps — enough to keep the tenacious ideological bludgers going for years.

---------------------

The University of Wollongong

The University of Wollongong (UOW) is set to become the first institution to deliver the controversial Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation degree.

The Ramsay Centre will provide about 150 scholarships for the new course, to be funded by a bequest by the late health pioneer, Paul Ramsay.

The partnership is worth more than $50 million over eight years.

The centre was knocked back earlier this year by the Australian National University, which said the conditions attached affected its academic autonomy.

But UOW Vice Chancellor Paul Wellings said he was not concerned.

"We've looked into a whole range of issues to do with the autonomy of the university and our governance processes to make sure that we don't fall into the same traps that ANU and possible others thought they were falling into," Mr Wellings said.

The state secretary of the NSW National Tertiary Education Union, Michael Thompson, said while he would be speaking with some UOW staff today, some University of Sydney staff had already expressed their concerns about academic independence.

"There are current talks with Sydney University and the University of Queensland about more centres," he said.

"Many of the staff at Sydney University have ongoing concerns about the academic integrity of the proposal.

"They are concerned the Ramsay Centre would have control over the course, including the hiring and firing of staff," Mr Thompson said.

The Australian National University turned down the degree because The Ramsay Centre wanted to conduct "health checks" on the material being taught, where representatives would sit in on classes.

Existing staff not required to teach new subjects

In an internal statement to staff seen by the ABC, executive dean of the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts Theo Farrell acknowledged concerns around the "partnership negotiations" between the Ramsay Centre and other universities.

"It was suggested in some quarters that the Ramsay Centre would make demands that would require the partner university to compromise on academic values or judgement," the email said.

"This has not been our experience."

Professor Farrell said the centre had only stipulated two requirements regarding the degree, that it be a "great books" course at its core, and the teaching include small classes to "facilitate discussion in depth".

Academics were also informed they would not be required to teach new subjects being created for the new degree, which would be staffed by new hires.

The UOW plans to create a new School of Liberal Arts for the degree with academics specifically recruited to teach it from 2020.

In a statement, the university said the curriculum would "focus on a detailed examination of the classic intellectual and artistic masterpieces of the Western tradition that demand and repay careful philosophical attention".

It would encourage "critical reflection" and include overseas trips for students to experience, "exemplars of Western culture, art and architecture".

Ramsay Centre CEO Simon Haines said students would be left room to take an outside major or double degree.

"We have always said that the success of the degree would depend on the quality of the teaching and UOW attaches great importance to teaching standards and quality," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-17/ramsay-centre-degree-to-go-ahead-at-wollongong/

Read from top.

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reinventing the past...

In this new age of political correctness, it’s not just modern actors, artists and performers who need to watch their words — even classic writers and world-famous pieces of art have found themselves in the PC firing line.

Every other week, it seems like there’s a new case of something “racist” or “culturally insensitive” being banished from view in this fight against anything that could conceivably be “offensive” to the eyes or ears of one group or another.

With more and more old literary classics, theatre plays and works of art being ‘reexamined’ over their ‘problematic’ themes and words, it’s almost like the West’s is in a fight against its own cultural history.

https://www.rt.com/news/455007-political-correctness-art-west-culture/

Read from top.

By Gus Leonisky at 29 Mar 2019 - 3:54pm
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picking up the old pieces...

by Patrick J. Buchanan

As the Democratic Party quarrels over reparations for slavery, a new and related issue has arisen, raised by the president of Mexico.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has written Pope Francis I and King Felipe VI to demand their apologies for the Spanish conquest of Mexico that began 500 years ago with the “invasion” of Hernando Cortez.

Arriving on the Gulf Coast in 1519, Cortes marched in two years to what is today’s Mexico City to impose Spanish rule, the Spanish language and culture, and the Catholic faith upon the indigenous peoples.

“One culture, one civilization was imposed upon another,” wrote President Lopez Obrador: “There were massacres and oppression. The so-called conquest was waged with the sword and the cross. They built their churches on top of the temples.”

He demanded that the king and the pope ask for “forgiveness for the abuses inflicted on the indigenous peoples of Mexico.”

...

Before recent decades, most Americans were taught to believe the West stood above all other civilizations, and America was its supreme manifestation. And much of the world seemed to agree.

As for the assertion that all civilizations and cultures are equal, that is an ideological statement. But where is the historic, scientific or empirical evidence to support that proposition? How many people really believe that?

Spain’s Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said it was “weird to receive now this request for an apology for events that occurred 500 years ago.”

He wondered if Spain should seek an apology from France for the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and crimes committed by the armies of Napoleon, or if France could demand an apology from Italy for the invasion of Gaul by Julius Caesar?

https://buchanan.org/blog/must-the-west-beg-the-world-for-forgiveness-13...

Read from top where much has been said about this...

By Gus Leonisky at 2 Apr 2019 - 8:58pm
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trying to sell the "ramsey centre" at the ABC...

Andrew Gleeson is a retired academic philosopher who lives in Adelaide. He is the author of A Frightening Love: Recasting the Problem of Evil.

We are told by the blurb that "A Frightening Love" radically rethinks God and evil. It rejects theodicy [god allowing evil] and its impersonal conception of reason and morality. Faith survives evil through a miraculous love that resists philosophical rationalization. Authors criticised include Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, Marilyn McCord Adams, Peter van Inwagen, John Haldane, William Hasker.

I must say here that Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, Marilyn McCord Adams, Peter van Inwagen, John Haldane, William Hasker have expressed various theory of god which don't make sense because the concept of god itself does not make any sense, especially in our natural setting of evolution. We already have explored a couple of these dudes on this site — and shot their version of god down in flame... So good for Gleeson to "criticise" his religious mates, but he becomes inept by proposing yet another version of god's purpose... Silly...

So the ABC religious/ethics section propose a thesis by Andrew Gleeson as to why we should accept the "Ramsey" Centre for Western Civilisation degree in Australian Universities. Here is some of it:

The Ramsey [sic] Centre for Western Civilisation appears to be making progress in its plan to establish degrees in Western Civilisation at three Australian Universities. Just last week, it was reported that the University of Queensland’s academic board approved a plan for courses to begin next year, subject to final approval by the university’s vice-chancellor. At the same time, the National Tertiary Education Union is reported to have dropped legal action against courses at the University of Wollongong, also scheduled for a 2020 start.

Scornful critics will, of course, not abandon their attempts to scuttle the project. They have succeeded in convincing many people ― even some of the program’s advocates ― that it is little more than a conservative project aimed at glorifying straight white European male supremacy.

But nothing could be further from the truth. A perusal of the Indicative Curriculum reveals a cunning left-wing plot to subvert the established order of capitalism. Consider this selection from the curriculum’s texts.

The initial year of study includes Aeschylus’s Oresteia. The first play of this trilogy, Agamemnon, is one of the earliest works to strike a feminist blow against patriarchy, describing Queen Clytemnestra’s murder of her husband Agamemnon to usurp his throne. Students also study Plato ― that well-known champion of homoerotic love ― whose most famous dialogue, The Republic, describes an ideal state devoted to justice and ruled by a caste of progressive intellectuals.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/ramsay-centre-western-civilisation-and-i...

So we lefties (we're not, but we fit the bill), we, the atheists (we are and proud of it) are ratbags for trying to stop this elegant study of Western civilisation which according to Andrew Glesson bathes in controversies by including "Nietzsche and Freud ― scourges of Christianity both ― black radicals like W.E.B. Du Bois, and even Marx and Foucault!" (Exclamation mark included).

Alleluyah... So unless I am mistaken, these guys, including Shakespeare and Chaucer are already studied in most curriculum of philosophy in universities... So what's the point of the "Ramsey" Centre? Good question. The crux of the matter is that the Ramsay Centre wants to promote conservative ideals (with Christianity attached as the core of the Western civilisation) against the evil of liberalism and possibly against the values of scientific rigour by getting lost in theognominies. As this stage one has to look at the line up of who is running this outfit which could have some links to the IPA, the Sydney Institute and other conservative political parties such as the "Liberal" party which in Australia is a misnomer considering it is a rabid CONservative party.

The chairman of the Centre is of course... John W Howard. This former Prime Minister is famous for lying and going to war on a whim. Then a couple of conservative women are followed by ... Greg Sheridan. Sheridan is a conservative writer for Uncle Rupe. Then there is an article by ... Rod Dreher. Rod is not a bad bloke but he can't see that his godly views are simplistically erroneous as shown many times on this site. Eulogising Les Murray as the best cheese poet in Australia is also a pass-time of Rod and of the Ramsay Centre. We have clearly demonstrated on this site as well, that Les was not a bad writer but his religious conservative views stank. And the list of "Grievances" continues with views that are not "open" but steered towards an exclusive CONservative approach. This is not "philosophy" as such and I believe the Ramsay centre does not claim to it. This is why it is called "Bachelor of Art in Western Civilisation"...

I have no idea why the ABC — a public entity in peril due to successive CONservative government shenanigans — gives such a platform to its enemies — the CONservatives who want to privatise the joint...

Serious academics should reject the Ramsay Centre sponsorship of a specific set of courses. The Universities should be, and are serious enough to, able to use the Ramsay cash for their own existing purposes from scientific, engineering and present arts degrees, without the burden of being dictated by an old fart like John Howard who should be in prison for having lied to go to war illegally against Saddam. This Ramsay bizo is a conservative project aimed at glorifying white European male supremacy, using some mighty deceptive delusions.

Read from top.

By Gus Leonisky at 9 Jul 2019 - 10:22pm
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she was honoured to be named chancellor...

Former deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has been announced as the first female chancellor of the Australian National University, months after leaving federal politics.

Ms Bishop will replace another former foreign minister, Gareth Evans, who has been chancellor of the university since 2010.

The former federal MP for the WA seat of Curtin will commence the role in 2020.

Ms Bishop left a long parliamentary career earlier this year, months after unsuccessfully contesting the Liberal leadership against Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.

She served as Foreign Minister between 2013 and 2018, and was deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018.

In a pre-recorded message released today, Ms Bishop said she was honoured to be named chancellor.

"It is a great honour to rake up the role of chancellor of [the] Australian National University," she said.

The role of chancellor oversees the university's council and high level operations, as well as conferring degrees.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-01/julie-bishop-announced-as-next-ch...

We can only hope she wont let the Ramsay Centre through the front door (or any other doors) of the ANU... We shall see.

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