Liberty University VP cites Hitler and Stalin in plea for conservatives to 'control Education'
By: David Badash
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Helfenbein is also the executive director of Liberty University's Standing for Freedom Center, the former Falkirk Center that was renamed after the disgraced Jerry Falwell Jr. resigned as the university's president. He allegedly is also part of the highly-secretive right-wing Council for National Policy, which has been described as a "pluto-theocracy" by journalist Anne Nelson.
Helfenbein appeared on-camera in an interview at a gala hosted by religious right activist Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition.
"Parents and kids in elementary school are not questioning whether or not they're a male or a female," the interviewer said to Helfenbein. "We need to take that away. It's really brainwashing a generation to (a) deny a maker, and deny their gender," he added.
"Yeah, wholly agree with that," Helfenbein responded. "Basically, this is an evangelistic movement on the left, and that's what's happening. It's indoctrination. I mean, they are proselytizing to the next generation. What we're discovering as parents and conservatives is, 'Wait a second: education really is evangelism.' So if you do not control education, you cannot control the future. And Stalin knew that. Mao knew that. Hitler knew that. We have to get that back for conservative values."
Helfenbein's remarks appear to echo the Hitler quote an Indiana Moms for Liberty chapter had printed in their newsletter. According to NBC News it read: "He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future."
After trying to explain the quote, and amid outrage, the Moms for Liberty chapter apologized.
Several versions of the video including Helfenbein's remarks have gone viral on social media, garnering millions of views.
Helfenbein, on his Twitter account, did not apologize, but suggested his remarks were taken out of context. He posted a longer version of the viral clip, and tweeted: "In a thinly veiled effort to spin and smear, a leftist political group cut out the question entirely for this response."
He also tweeted, "It's clear that education in many pockets of America has been weaponized against students and parents to advance Marxist, gender & deconstructionist ideologies. Yet they will spin lies that conservatives are somehow to blame for desiring real education."
Response to Helfenbein's remarks has been critical.
"Kind of scary that senior university official believes Stalin, Hitler and Mao offer good examples for how US should structure education of America's kids," tweeted former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer. "Leads one to wonder how much Mr. Helfenbein understands about Stalin, Hitler and Mao."
Producer and frequent political commentator Jeremy Newberger responded to Helfenbein's tweet, saying, "Even with the question included you are suggesting emulating Hitler. SMH."
A message to Helfenbein via Liberty University's Standing for Freedom Center did not receive an immediate response.
Watch the version of the video Helfenbein posted below or at this link.
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Video at link.
Several times some on the right have said things like this.
the original christo-fascists...
Tough to know if these crackpots are just stupid or just shameless.
I go with shameless.
I go with stupidly shameless.
Fascism knows no bounds.
Oh these idiots doubled down on it before they apologized. They absolutely know what they are doing.
And they keep doing it...
What Einstein said about insanity applies here.
"So if you do not control education, you cannot control the future. And Stalin knew that. Mao knew that. Hitler knew that. We have to get that back for conservative values."
-- Ryan Helfenbein, senior vice president of university communications at Liberty University
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"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
-- Maya Angelou
Knew some Hell's Angels once. They didn't have to search for a code like I did.
Stalin, Mao, and Hitler. Their examples, guiding lights, heroes. And they’re proud of it.
This is ridiculous. Just because Helfenbein states an actual fact used by less than stellar people doesn't mean Helfenbein holds to those people's ideologies. And it is an undeniable fact that if one controls the indoctrination of children then one has tremendous influence over the future. All we need do to see this is to look at the extent to which Marxist ideology has already influenced and shaped the thinking children in our current system. You guys are castigating this guy for what the Left has been doing for years and from the same villains you castigate this guy for pointing to.
Check your biases, people.
Check yours with your marxist bullshit.
True, but surely you agree that if one is trying to make a point, one should not corroborate the point with the likes of a few of the worst mass murderers in recent history.
Correct. Indoctrination is an extremely powerful tool.
'Marxist' is basically a meaningless adjective. That word (along with socialism) is so overloaded that it now simply means 'something I do not like'.
Actually, no. I don't agree. I would make the point precisely because of that. That is, such a tactic is the sort of thing such people pursue. That, in my opinion, is the sort of thing currently going on in much of the public education system right now and because it is the tactic of such people, needs to be exposed. Including Helfenbein, if he is in favor of such a tactic. Hard to say what his intentions are in that area without more context than what this article provides.
I don't think it should be so easily dismissed. While details may differ (for instance, the struggle is no longer economic but, rather, cultural) the methods seem to be the same employed by classical Marxist of the "change from within" school. When intellectual Marxist were chased out of Germany in the 30's they came to America and became entrenched in higher education. We are now feeling the effects of that like never before. We even have open Marxists in congress.
LGTBQ, racism, feminism and all the rest are all products of critical theory, which at it's core has Marxism as its base. It is not based on anything real but, rather, class struggle, which is always about the balance of power. It really doesn't matter whether there is actual racism or whatever. You simply claim that there is and make the struggle about that to achieve one's ultimate purpose. If racism becomes "solved" some new "injustice" will be invented and used as a vehicle to steer society towards the desired end.
This explains why such a tiny fraction of the population, like the LGTBQ community can have such an outsized effect on society. Such a tiny minority could not possibly have such an effect by themselves. There is power behind them, directing and funding the campaign, but not for the sake of the LGTBQ community. They are simply a tool useful for achieving a purpose. That purpose would be to destroy Western values, as those values have been remarkably resistant to Marxism, even among the poorest of the West.
Of course, some are likely to say this is all nonsense. Of course it is. Why, it's perfectly obvious that men can have babies, that women are now complaining that there are no good men available, there are as many genders as one can imagine, math is racist, white people are responsible for all the bad in the world, it's perfectly reasonable to supply drug addicts with needles and safe spaces to indulge their addiction and so on. Western values have been keeping these truths from everyone and it's high time we were rid of them. Just look at the success story that is San Francisco, after all.
The United States, for all its sins, has been the bastion of Western values and has done more good in the world than any other nation in history. We also did some pretty sketch stuff, but for the most part, freedom was maintained. Now all of that is going to go away. Thanks, Marxists.
I plan on having a lot of fun with thumpers when they make their move...
The term "Cultural Marxism" was first coined and used on the old white supremist website Stormfront to oppose acceptance of racial diversity.
What's wrong with acceptance? Diversity is known to strengthen communities and increase productivity in businesses.
Yes. the balance of power has moved away from the old straight white male patriarchy and some people don't like it.
It is NOT an outsized effect on society. It is all about supporting "a tiny fraction of the population" for the same rights to lead their lives as does everyone else. These people are our neighbors, our co-workers and our family members. They are people who have been, marginalized for much too long. For fuck's sake we have a Supreme Court judge saying the rights they've so recently achieved should be taken away!
This is the most ignorant part of your post. The perfection of one's life is not always about procreation. I would find anyone who's sole goal in life was only to have children sad and lonely.
The internet was created to share information between distant points almost instantaneously, but we use it to complain about everything even when they aren't true.
Gender identity AND sexual identity can be fluid. These don't effect you, or I so why fuss about it?
Math is a language in and of itself to describe how the laws of nature work. Like any language it can be abused. Mostly this hyperbole
More martyred hyperbole. The people in charge in Europe and the US were white and historically used their power to oppress those that threatened their power. Teaching that as part of history shouldn't make white people feel bad. It should inspire them to be better neighbors and leaders.
How was freedom maintained when one couldn't openly love and marry whom they wanted? How was it freedom to only work and live in certain places? How was if freedom to be beaten, often just for the entertainment of those doing the beating? How was if freedom to be taken from one's family and raised in boarding schools to erase your culture? How is it freedom to be detained, questioned and possibly shot because of your skin color? This isn't freedom. It's control and it doesn't take a fucking Marxist to know it's wrong.
You have a point that you want people to accept and you then intentionally use Hitler, Mao and Stalin as your corroboration? You reject the notion that these horrific mass murderers will cause a negative emotional reaction to your point resulting (in most cases) in its dismissal?
If Marx (and Marxism — an economic theory based on class disparity and democracy) had never existed, we would still have cultural differences, pressures and struggles. As I noted, this is nothing more than using Marxism as a general purpose pejorative. It is emotional. Further, it is an example of the effect I described above. Marxism in the USA is generally viewed as negative ... anything 'Marxist' is ipso facto bad. The label connotes to 'something I do not like'. So if one wants a negative emotional reaction simply affix the label 'Marxism'. Similarly, if one affixes Hitler, Mao and Stalin to an idea, the idea will be emotionally deemed as bad.
Do you think that the former USSR —what it actually did; not its propaganda— was an example of Marxism (that which was promoted by Marx and Engels)? If so, what are the defining characteristics of Marxism as you envision it?
You have a notion that there are 'Marxists' everywhere. What percentage of the USA are 'Marxists' and what, specifically, are the Western values you think they are out to destroy?
A number of the items in Drakk's post were examples of things he holds as ridiculous (e.g. Math is racist). You might have read him wrong on those points.
what are the odds ?
Yeah? Almost all of his post is hyperbole and tortured logic.
Maybe, but I'm not sure I have.
Math is simply a tool. Without context I would probably have to assume he's talking about something along the lines of math word problems in textbooks where historically they often refer to a person like, "Jack has 2 marbles and John has 4 marbles..." and sometime show an illustration of two white boys. Some progressive liberals have gotten their textbooks to more reflect their intercity students to be more like, "Jose has 2 marbles and Jackson has 4 marbles..." and show an illustration of one hispanic boy and one black boy. The teachers have said this better engages their students as they feel more included.
Now we know everything these days has to be a political struggle. So rather than giving due praise to schools on working for better results from under preforming children it's - Math is racist and white children feel bad. It's ridiculous is what it is.
I am pretty sure Drakk was using 'Math is racist' as an example of something that is ridiculous.
... as if religious bullshit isn't enough.
He and I both think it's ridiculous, but for different reasons. He feels it's perfectly okay to whitewash the world because to him it was all running fine. It was for straight white men and those who supported that system.
Most of the country feels differently and are actively pushing back. Inclusivity isn't a participation trophy. It's fulfillment. It's family and community. It's the very ideal our country was founded on - "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
The core difference between a conservative and a progressive ideology. Conservatives resist change (seeing it mostly as negative) while progressives seek change (pursuing a more positive state).
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Resisting change is one thing. Butchering language and torturing logic to hide one's head in the sand, or worse actively working to, oppress minority groups is still wrong. I seriously don't consider myself Progressive. Actually I feel I'm moderately conservative, but when an action shows positive results - i.e. diversity in business, or inclusivity in classrooms, logically one needs to revise any their opinions unless they are, in fact, racist/bigoted/misogynistic.
Am I wrong?
What, specifically, is incorrect in my statement? I offered a classical, fundamental, definitional difference.
Next, do you not comprehend independence from political parties? Are you not aware that ideology is not the same as party affiliation?
Do you understand that people can have a world view and NOT follow the lead of a particular political party?
No you are not wrong.
My point also was that people routinely butcher language (misuse words). The focus was on the misuse of terms like 'Marxist' merely to trigger negative emotions.
I get what you are saying. I totally understand your points. I'm not arguing with you or anything.
LOL! It's a pet peeve of mine obviously.
Yes - Used on purpose for those negative reasons. This goes back to the actual point of the article of quoting horrific people to make a point and where, as I said, the term "Cultural Marxism" was first used on white supremist website. Those same people who often praised and quoted Hitler.
The argument that is used against CRT. Sadly none of the proponents of banning CRT ever through how racism/exclusion/harassment/lack of adequate school/medical affected brown, red, black, and yellow skin colored kids. That of course is the premise of CRT so let's not make any white kids feel bad (which is BS) kids have a brain and can well understand CRT.
Bravo!!!!
The augmentative use of the term 'CRT' goes straight to TiG's post on the use of twisting language like using 'Marxism' and for the same reasons. It's original use doesn't mean what conservative populists want it to mean.
That was actually the funniest thing I have heard in a while. Thanks.
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Liberty U saying youth are being indoctrinated, OMG the irony of that statement when Liberty U job is to indoctrinate the youth.
Funny how people can be entirely blind to the effects of their own ideology. 'Indoctrination is bad ... unless it is religious indoctrination ... well, actually, unless it is religious indoctrination in the religion we believe.'
They know exactly what they are doing. I think they are blind in the amount of support they think they have.
... that will be a hilarious reality check.
It's pretty easy to see if they left their bubble to do more than post hate comments on social media feeds.