The vast majority of professors in the humanities – and increasingly in other disciplines – are now chosen specifically for their dedication to dismantling western culture. The foxes are guarding the university henhouse.

The Woke War on Western Civilization is tragic. That our universities support that war is outright betrayal. Young Wokesters have the excuse of youth and ignorance. Professors and administrators have no such defense.

There was a time when modern artists, writers and musicians were going their own way but by and large they respected the greats of the past. That was the point of my Frank O’Hara / Patsy Southgate story of their reciting Sonnet 29 together from memory (or doing their best) out of their love for Shakespeare.

Shakespeare was valued for hundreds of years by “people unrelated to him”, all around the world actually. For example:

Shakespeare’s plays are performed more frequently in Germany than anywhere else in the world, not excluding his native England. The market for his work, both in English and in German translation, seems inexhaustible.” The German critic Ernst Osterkamp wrote: “Shakespeare’s importance to German literature cannot be compared with that of any other writer of the post-antiquity period. Neither Dante or Cervantes, neither Moliere or Ibsen have even approached his influence here. With the passage of time, Shakespeare has virtually become one of Germany’s national authors.”…

The patronage of Catherine made Shakespeare an eminently respectable author in Russia, but his plays were rarely performed until the 19th century, and instead he was widely read…

And then there’s this:

Shakespeare is more popular and better understood in emerging economies such as Brazil, India, China, Mexico and Turkey than he is in the UK, a new report for the British Council suggests.

A survey of 18,000 people in 15 countries reveals, for example, that 88% of surveyed Mexicans like Shakespeare, compared with only 59% of British people; 84% of Brazilians said they found him relevant to today’s world, compared with 57% in the UK; and 83% of Indians said they understood him, far more than the 58% of Britons.

Overall, Shakespeare’s popularity abroad stands at 65%, compared with 59% in the UK.

That was in 2016. Perhaps lower now?

Change the people, change the culture. It was unreasonable to expect the majority of people who are unrelated to Shakespeare to value him, no matter how magnificent his contributions to literature. Only the cultured will take an interest in such things. The majority look for ethnic heroes, not cultural treasures far removed from their lives.

The sadder aspect is that those who are genuine inheritors of his and other related cultural productions will increasingly become alienated from their own inheritance. They are being shamed for being alive.

I would also like to nominate Neo as Poet Laureate of the internet.

a
aardvark
and
as
at
….
As you can see, I’ve hardly started. Suggestions welcome.

I was able to follow the link, now that Neo retrieved it from the spam filter. Interesting project, that– I hope the woke crowd doesn’t vandalize the signs.

The Elon Musk toupee thread from May 11 resurfaced in my memory for some reason (possibly today’s mention of his mother), and that in turn reminded me of another Burma Shave roadside ad from my youth, this one containing a none-too-subtle hook for their product:

Within this vale
Of tears and sin,
Your head goes bald,
But not your chin.

Burma Shave

I posted a comment with a link to an organization in the Midwest that provides farmers with Burma shave type signs promoting the second amendment, but it looks like the spam filter doesn’t like the link. Likely due to the specific mention of a word that starts with “g” and rhymes with “fun.”

Regardless, I have seen their road signs in Interstates in the Midwest.

In Illinois, Missouri and Indiana I have seen burma shave type signs extolling the second amendment and gun rights in farmers’ fields that abut interstate highways.

I just did an internet search. Seems like this is the group responsible: https://www.gunssavelife.com/site-map/highway-sign-program/