Thomas Zimmer: Had Packer cared to engage with their arguments at all, he might have found that the student rebels of the 1960s had developed a much more plausible understanding of how universities functioned within society – and why progressive change might originate from here. 6/

New piece: America’s Elites Fear the Ghost of 1968 Mainstream elites are adopting a reactionary tale about the “leftist” indoctrination of America’s youth that verges on the conspiratorial and is destined to give the Right a major boost. Some key points: 🧵1/

America’s Elites Fear the Ghost of 1968thomaszimmer.substack.com Mainstream elites are adopting a reactionary tale about the “leftist” indoctrination of America’s youth that verges on the conspiratorial and is destined to give the Right a major boost

I wrote about what George Packer gets so wrong about the university, critical theory, and the legacy of the 1960s student protests – and what to make of the fact that he is propagating the conspiratorial idea that leftwing radicals have successfully indoctrinated generations of kids. 2/

George Packer’s grand accusation of a direct line of leftwing indoctrination from 1968 to today doesn’t hold up to the least bit of scrutiny - but it provides a window into the elite anxieties that are driving so much of mainstream politics in America. 3/

Packer claims the postwar “liberal” university was devoted to the “disinterested pursuit of truth” before it was “trashed” by leftwing radicals who turned it into an indoctrination chamber brainwashing kids into a bunch of restless extremists. What brutally ahistorical nonsense! 4/

So, the student rebels became professors who indoctrinated students, who then became professors who indoctrinated me (I was born in 1982), and then I became a professor who is indoctrinating students? Huh. What evidence does Packer present? None. None whatsoever. 5/

Had Packer cared to engage with their arguments at all, he might have found that the student rebels of the 1960s had developed a much more plausible understanding of how universities functioned within society – and why progressive change might originate from here. 6/

Aside from Herbert Marcuse, Packer’s bogeyman theory is “decolonization.” He is not engaging with the vast and diverse body of thought that comes under this label. Packer is just using “decolonization” as a master-signifier for everything that is “woke” leftwing extremism. 7/

The story George Packer presents in The Atlantic is very much in line with what Christopher Rufo has been propagating. A straight line of evil ideas from the “cultural Marxism” of Critical Theory (Marcuse!) to the protests of 2020 – in Packer’s telling: to Columbia 2024. 8/

Rufo and Packer both present Dutschke’s “march through the institutions” as if they had found the smoking gun that proved a vast conspiracy – as if the fact that a West-German student leader in the 60s made a grand proclamation was evidence enough of a leftist takeover of America. 9/

Packer may not openly side with the “counter-revolution” Rufo desires. But leading centrists and self-regarding center-liberals have also been adamant that order needs to be restored – by all means! - and don’t seem to mind forming an alliance with rightwing bloodhounds. 10/

This crackdown on college protests and the support it is receiving from mainstream elites is about Israel and Gaza – but not just about Israel and Gaza. It is also fueled by a pervasive sense that things have gone too far, that these “woke” radicals urgently need to be reined in. 11/

If rightwing extremism rises, Packer knows who is to blame: Those unruly students! “The right always knows how to exploit the excesses of the left,” Packer warns. Has it ever occurred to him that he is doing a tremendous job at helping the Right succeed? More here:

America’s Elites Fear the Ghost of 1968thomaszimmer.substack.com Mainstream elites are adopting a reactionary tale about the “leftist” indoctrination of America’s youth that verges on the conspiratorial and is destined to give the Right a major boost

One of my students wrote an essay about liberal bias at universities, using this kind of argument. When I asked if he had seen evidence of this bias in the classroom he said “oh no- I’m a math major!” And I realized all of the ideas came from this type of propaganda.

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