Niall Ferguson is a noted historian and social commentator. In this interview, he discusses and compares the modern-day university with the German universities of the late Weimar Republic and how German universities acted as a recruiting ground for Hitler and the Nazis. He points out that just as the German universities of that time stifled free speech and drove out those who dared to question the direction of the universities, so too today many universities have become merely reflecting pools for those who espouse antisemitism and strict adherence to DEI which is the exact opposite of individual freedom and opportunity.
In the university world today, Jews who were once at the top of the academic food-chain in Germany are now, along with whites and Asians, at the bottom and viewed as the oppressors in much of the West. Antisemitism has a long history of being used by the Left such as when the Soviet Union used it to win over various Arab states.
In the end, unlike many talking heads, Ferguson offers solutions to undo the damage done by the Left at universities; these include but are not limited to excluding government participation in the administration, funding, rules for scholarship and the mountain of reports demanded by the government in return for funding. Money always comes with strings and there is no indication that those strings have done anything except hinder independent thought at the university level.
It is a pleasure to hear such clarity of thought on the subject and a welcome change from the bloviating that we hear every day on the various “news” outlets.
“The Treason of the Intellectuals,” with Niall Ferguson | Uncommon Knowledge (youtube.com)
