Ryszard Legutko Quote
"I am glad there is a move against the totalitarian policy of Middlebury college, and all my sympathy is with the former Vermont Governor Jim Douglas. His is a noble cause that deserves the support of all those who cherish not only freedom of thought and speech but also defend the institution of the university as a place where the life of the mind can thrive, uninhibited by ideological zealotry and free from cowardice and conformity. My experience at Middlebury College brought back to me unpleasant memories of communist Poland, the gruesome time when the "reactionary" professors were intimidated and prevented from speaking, bullied by the young communist zealots. But the most shocking similarity between the communist university and Middlebury College was the corruption of the language, an unmistakable trademark of a totalitarian tendency. For someone like myself who spent years fighting for the language that conveyed the truth, it was almost unbelievable to find myself in a world where the concepts meant their opposites. Diversity, equity, and inclusion ceased to mean what they always meant and now meant the opposite. They now mean rigidity, dogmatism, conformity, intimidation, control, arbitrariness, and censorship. In Orwell’s world, war was peace, freedom slavery, and ignorance strength. At Middlebury, diversity is monopoly, equity bias, and inclusion censorship."