Today’s blacklisted American: Classic philosophy and literature banned at Howard University and across academia
Banned at Howard University.
They’re coming for you next: Though today’s victims of blacklisting are neither American nor even alive (some having passed away more than two thousand years ago), the decision last month by Howard University (in line with what many other colleges are doing) to dissolve its classics department and send to oblivion such thinkers as Socrates, Plato, Homer, Cato, and Cicero will do more harm than can be measured to Americans today and far into the future.
From the first link the announcement:
Howard University has decided to close the Department of Classics as part of its prioritization efforts and is currently negotiating with the faculty of Classics and with other units in the College as to how they might best reposition and repurpose our programs and personnel. These discussions have been cordial, and the faculty remains hopeful that the department can be kept intact at some level, with its faculty and programs still in place.
The cordiality of these classic scholars reminds me somehow of the Jewish leaders in the Warsaw Ghetto, who cordially worked with the Nazis in order to (paraphrasing the statement above) “keep their Jewish community intact at some level.”
The real goal of course is no different than that of the Nazis: to destroy and burn these books, to prevent any student not only from reading them but to guarantee they won’t even know the books exist. Get rid of the classics department and there no longer will a place for these books on the curriculum, and the powers in charge will steadily work to squeeze them out in favor of modern racist classics like “White Fragility” and “Heather has two mommies.”
That the scholars in Howard’s classics department can’t seem to recognize this suggests to me that either they are very stupid, or deep down agree with the agenda, and are quite willing themselves to help eliminate the teaching of the classics of Western Civilization.
The second link is an essay by Harvard professor Cornel West and classics expert Jeremy Tate, who note clearly the cost of such decisions:
Academia’s continual campaign to disregard or neglect the classics is a sign of spiritual decay, moral decline and a deep intellectual narrowness running amok in American culture. Those who commit this terrible act treat Western civilization as either irrelevant and not worthy of prioritization or as harmful and worthy only of condemnation.
Sadly, in our culture’s conception, the crimes of the West have become so central that it’s hard to keep track of the best of the West. We must be vigilant and draw the distinction between Western civilization and philosophy on the one hand, and Western crimes on the other. The crimes spring from certain philosophies and certain aspects of the civilization, not all of them.
The Western canon is, more than anything, a conversation among great thinkers over generations that grows richer the more we add our own voices and the excellence of voices from Africa, Asia, Latin America and everywhere else in the world. We should never cancel voices in this conversation, whether that voice is Homer or students at Howard University. [emphasis mine]
Our modern dominant leftist culture however no longer agrees with West and Tate about “never canceling voices.” No, this culture’s primary goal is to cancel and destroy everyone who disagrees with them or tries to challenge them. Power is all, and woe to anyone who wishes simply to live free and enjoy life as they see fit.
Stop sending your children to these schools. Organize your own, aimed at teaching the literature and wisdom that made our civilization possible. And most of all, tell these ignorant, bigoted, and close-minded academics they are fired. They don’t deserve the jobs they have, and would be better suited sweeping streets with a broom. (And I apologize to street sweepers for saying so. I don’t mean to insult them. They are probably better people than these academics.)
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Banned at Howard University.
They’re coming for you next: Though today’s victims of blacklisting are neither American nor even alive (some having passed away more than two thousand years ago), the decision last month by Howard University (in line with what many other colleges are doing) to dissolve its classics department and send to oblivion such thinkers as Socrates, Plato, Homer, Cato, and Cicero will do more harm than can be measured to Americans today and far into the future.
From the first link the announcement:
Howard University has decided to close the Department of Classics as part of its prioritization efforts and is currently negotiating with the faculty of Classics and with other units in the College as to how they might best reposition and repurpose our programs and personnel. These discussions have been cordial, and the faculty remains hopeful that the department can be kept intact at some level, with its faculty and programs still in place.
The cordiality of these classic scholars reminds me somehow of the Jewish leaders in the Warsaw Ghetto, who cordially worked with the Nazis in order to (paraphrasing the statement above) “keep their Jewish community intact at some level.”
The real goal of course is no different than that of the Nazis: to destroy and burn these books, to prevent any student not only from reading them but to guarantee they won’t even know the books exist. Get rid of the classics department and there no longer will a place for these books on the curriculum, and the powers in charge will steadily work to squeeze them out in favor of modern racist classics like “White Fragility” and “Heather has two mommies.”
That the scholars in Howard’s classics department can’t seem to recognize this suggests to me that either they are very stupid, or deep down agree with the agenda, and are quite willing themselves to help eliminate the teaching of the classics of Western Civilization.
The second link is an essay by Harvard professor Cornel West and classics expert Jeremy Tate, who note clearly the cost of such decisions:
Academia’s continual campaign to disregard or neglect the classics is a sign of spiritual decay, moral decline and a deep intellectual narrowness running amok in American culture. Those who commit this terrible act treat Western civilization as either irrelevant and not worthy of prioritization or as harmful and worthy only of condemnation.
Sadly, in our culture’s conception, the crimes of the West have become so central that it’s hard to keep track of the best of the West. We must be vigilant and draw the distinction between Western civilization and philosophy on the one hand, and Western crimes on the other. The crimes spring from certain philosophies and certain aspects of the civilization, not all of them.
The Western canon is, more than anything, a conversation among great thinkers over generations that grows richer the more we add our own voices and the excellence of voices from Africa, Asia, Latin America and everywhere else in the world. We should never cancel voices in this conversation, whether that voice is Homer or students at Howard University. [emphasis mine]
Our modern dominant leftist culture however no longer agrees with West and Tate about “never canceling voices.” No, this culture’s primary goal is to cancel and destroy everyone who disagrees with them or tries to challenge them. Power is all, and woe to anyone who wishes simply to live free and enjoy life as they see fit.
Stop sending your children to these schools. Organize your own, aimed at teaching the literature and wisdom that made our civilization possible. And most of all, tell these ignorant, bigoted, and close-minded academics they are fired. They don’t deserve the jobs they have, and would be better suited sweeping streets with a broom. (And I apologize to street sweepers for saying so. I don’t mean to insult them. They are probably better people than these academics.)
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Forget cordial-we are told civility is bunk-so they need to do the union trick of leaving about five boxes of tacks in the parking lot as they leave.
My own experience found those of the “classics” department were the very educators who created a so called liberal education that became a hot house of “Poli- Si” majors, socialists and Marxists who went on to infest our institutions today. This is really a case of the left eating the left.
Cornell West was one of the pioneers of today’s corrupt all and cancel anyone who pokes their heads up in opposition to the Progressives Sick Wet Dream……. May he be a good little Target ?
This is as bad as religious fundamentalists removing Paleontology from the curriculum because they do not believe in dinosaurs.
That the scholars in Howard’s classics department can’t seem to recognize this suggests to me that either they are very stupid, or deep down agree with the agenda, and are quite willing themselves to help eliminate the teaching of the classics of Western Civilization.
I suspect it’s neither. I suspect the operative notion is “No enemies to the left.”
This is as bad as religious fundamentalists removing Paleontology from the curriculum because they do not believe in dinosaurs.
If by “religious” you mean “Christian”, has this ever happened at any college or university in the Western world?
This is as bad as religious fundamentalists removing Paleontology from the curriculum because they do not believe in dinosaurs..
Actually worse … for the gods of the Church of Woke are a pantheon with a long history of error, selfishness, and mendacity.
Of course, that is usually the case when one sees their god in the mirror.
That, and its fundamentalist zeal, make the Church of Woke the poster child for theocracy. They are everything they decry Christianity as being, with no check-and-balance outside themselves to curb their attempts at controlling others.
(As for dinosaurs … even we Young Earth Creationists accept the evidence for those; what we question is the timing of their existence. And while YEC’s base their view on what their faith teaches about sin and death – and are willing to admit that basis in faith, if they are honest – their opponents base their view on a faith not seen as such: the assumption that physical processes are time invariant and never have been subject to Outside Intervention … which is reflected in their embrace of Climate Change Cultism, as well.)
Oops – meant to only italicize the quote from pzatchok.
If I was perfect, they couldn’t afford to pay me at my day job …
Hoppewave
Absurdistan The Music Video (2018)
https://youtu.be/x15LTalV1b0
4:33
“If measured by the standards of Natural Law and Justice, all politicians of all parties are guilty, whether directly or indirectly, of murder, homicide, trespass, invasion, expropriation, theft, fraud, and the fencing of stolen goods on a massive and ongoing scale…..they should all be hung, rot in jail, or be forced and busy making compensation.”
Wayne:
Yes, all empowered politicians ARE guilty of many actions and schemes that are on their face offensive and immoral. With a caveat.
Upon becoming empowered by the citizens, in the case of a Democracy or a Democratic Republic, Leadership and those that become elevated in real terms become a part of the Political Realm. And the Political Realm is about making existential decisions and choices regarding their position based in their subjective perspective and interpretation.
This is where the two conversations, the Political Realm and the Pedestrian Realm conversations are justified.
Where does Dr. Fauci get his authority to 1. be involved in funding gain of function lab work in China? Where did he get his authority to lie to the public? How many lives did he cost? Both immoral to the every day general public thinking and morality.
Where did Truman get his authority to drop two nuclear weapons on Japan and kill tens of thousands?
These justifications for actions by leadership are a function of Strategy Over Morality (S.O.M.) and the two conversations that are always underway between the Pedestrian Realm and the Political Realm.
And the Pedestrian Realm is always behind the curve.
Ask yourself: Why do none of these offenders of morality never suffer legal ramifications? Because they are doing their job and their job is a dirty one. Keeping in mind that this is not providing an excuse for any action that is taken by an empowered Political Realm actor, not at all. But this is what is and it has and always be this way.
If and when that changes and government becomes Moral and “Politically Correct”, that is when we go away. Government and Leadership is necessary, but they are both a necessary evil and in some cases when push comes to shove and BIG agendas are subjectively determined to be essential by leadership things blow up and people die.
Its a dirty business, so be carful who you choose to empower in government and the Political Realm. And still the job must be done and the country, the civilization must prevail and move into the future in some manner.
Cold and disturbing? Yes, without a doubt, but that is too bad that is what is.
And how is this potential evil counter balanced and at some level made, even forced to be transparent?
THE CONSTITUTION, and the political warfare that it structures every day. Every day.
“Academia’s continual campaign to disregard or neglect the classics is a sign of spiritual decay, moral decline and a deep intellectual narrowness running amok in American culture.”
There’s a growing coarseness and incivility in America. The sloppy way people dress for a quick trip to the grocery store, the way we drive, and especially the deadness in our facial expressions and eyes. Little things like not making eye contact and smiling as we pass strangers.
The swamp knows the power of the Church better than churches do. One word from the swamp and churches obediently shut down. I don’t think they are victims. Most are accomplices. Otherwise they’d be speaking out and imprisoned like Canadian pastor Artur Pawlowski.
The world sees us as $5.77 worth of chemicals. People are God’s noblest creatures.
Have those in leadership who have become Politically empowered gone too far over the line and in the incorrect direction?
Have the empowered in government and leadership operated too far outside of their charge to preserve the United States as formulated as is instructed by their oath to the Constitution?
Have those who have become empowered allied with foreign actors and have they acted in opposition to their sacred charge and oath to the Constitution?
Stay tuned on that. Its one thing if you act based in your best subjective interpretation of your sworn oath, and then it is another if you act knowingly in concert with “Others” to the detriment of your country and oath. “ALL ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC”.
“1,000 Lawyers and 10,000 Doctors Join Together and File Lawsuit to Prosecute the “2nd Nuremburg Tribunal” Against Corona Fraud Scandal”
“Thousands of attorneys and doctors have joined forces to sue the CDC, WHO and the Davos Group for crimes against humanity.”
This is currently in the air and growing and may in time be realized IMO.
James–
Thanks for bringing that up. (Artur Pawlowski)
Pastor Artur Pawlowski: ‘Get Out! You Nazis!’
https://youtu.be/ziWXH7T15zw
2:20
And what happens when “They” get too close to being revealed?
https://youtu.be/MdU-Nb-ErmM
There are no conspiracies, and there are no coincidences.
#27 REHERSAL, THEN THE EVENT? (ALWAYS BEHIND THE CURVE)
October 18, 2019: Event 201: A Global Pandemic Rehearsal:
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/about
“The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY. The exercise illustrated areas where public/private partnerships will be necessary during the response to a severe pandemic in order to diminish large-scale economic and societal consequences.”
You remember the World Economic Forum, lead by Klaus Shwab (He dresses the part perfectly if this were a Bond film:
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.DkYlfFE9UzFIBE2yNOWeCAAAAA?w=147&h=184&c=7&o=5&dpr=1.25&pid=1.7
World Economic Forum: “In the future you will own nothing, and you will be happy”.
https://youtu.be/aztvWxRKqDQ 59 sec.
And then it happened in the real world.
——–
September 11th, 2001: National Reconnaissance Office drill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_government_operations_and_exercises_on_September_11,_2001
”Aside from military exercises, a National Reconnaissance Office drill was being conducted on September 11, 2001. In a simulated event, a small aircraft would crash into one of the towers of the agency’s headquarters after experiencing a mechanical failure. The NRO is the branch of the Department of Defense in charge of spy satellites. According to its spokesman Art Haubold: “No actual plane was to be involved — to simulate the damage from the crash, some stairwells and exits were to be closed off, forcing employees to find other ways to evacuate the building.” He further explained: “It was just an incredible coincidence that this happened to involve an aircraft crashing into our facility, as soon as the real world events began, we canceled the exercise.” Most of the agency’s personnel were sent home after the attacks.”
And then it happened in the real world.
Prescience? Conspiracy? Coincidence? Have you ever batted one thousand?
Does anyone see a pattern here?
ALL ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. JGL 5/29/21
I should have explained myself better.
For years the left have been making fun of and deriding the evangelicals belief if the Bible, its timeline and their disbelief in evolution specifically.
But they are more than willing to edit out many of the great thinkers of mankind just because they espouse different views.
The left seems to not like the Judeo Christian beliefs either because of the “rules” or the fact that they reference slaves, white slaves. Now they want to edit out classic western philosophers for what? because they have different views than them or is it that they too reference widespread white slavery?
I guess knowing that there was wide spread white slavery all over the world doesn’t make black slavery in America special anymore.
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
“We must burn the books, Montag. All the books”.
https://youtu.be/ZaLJ10v4xUA
3:38
These are dead white folk. They produce no harm. I think it’s more to save money than anything else. They’ll probably rely on their History professor to give them a small portion of philosophy.
Pzat:
Its not about the Left making fun of the Christian Bible thumpers, this attack on Western civilization is much more core / fundamental.
This is the BLM / Marxist and the “Progressive” Lefts thought process, argument and justification on race in America and the world:
*Western civilization is founded in the morality and the logic of Christianity and the Bible.
*Western civilization is composed primarily of Caucasian / white human beings.
*The people who invaded North America were white Europeans and they were primarily Christians and or they used Christianity in the name of their Kings and Queens to justify the conquering of those indigenous / “red” skinned people that they found here. They stole their gold and their land under that white Christian authority. (Conquest is a female dog)
*The Founders were white Europeans and brought their Biblical morality and rules of justice and their concept of religious freedom (Their religious freedom) and law to North America.
*The slave trade that bought and brought black Africans to North America against their will and was abusive and criminal and the Founders of America were complicit and could not have built what they built without those black Africans.
*Throughout the time that America has existed the black man has grown up and existed within and under the thumb of that fraudulent and criminal social / legal structure that is the extension of Christianity and the Bible which undergirds all of Western civilization.
*In order for human existence in America and the world to be rectified of that criminality structured by Western civilization and everyone on planet earth be equal that system must be destroyed and a new system be formulated. (“Its only fair”)
That is the Lefts childish but logical argument to those who follow their thinking and philosophy. And that is what drives their entire argument of opposition in regards to America, its founding, its Constitution and its system of governance, justice and law. From the start it was fraudulent and corrupt and it must be destroyed in order for true freedom on earth to reign.
That is how they get to their very popular bumper sticker: “Defund the police” logic. I however ask: Then what?
And their only answer is Marxism, Socialism and Communism: “In the future you will own nothing, and you will be happy”. Master political manipulators pandering to the naive, uninformed and child minded.
And so I say, no thank you. And that is precisely why in the end, and this Marxist / Socialist condition is a cycle we are going to have to go through and beat through political warfare, the Constitution prevails in the end.
If not, then what? There is no reasonable answer to that question.
Sad because Howard used to be a cut above, a most rigorous institution when it had to be. After her kids were all in school my mother went to Bowie State College 50 years ago, and Bowie State had some professors from Howard. They were of a special no-nonsense don’t waste your time type. Life and knowledge were precious to them.
“their concept of religious freedom (Their religious freedom)”
As Nathaniel Hawthorn put it, his ancestors had come to New England “to worship as their conscience dictated and prevent others from doing the same”
“The slave trade that bought and brought black Africans to North America against their will”
What is interesting, and apparently unknown, certainly unmentioned, in the US, is that the North American slave trade was only a minor part of the whole picture.
“When faced with the numbers of the transatlantic slave trade, U.S. citizens are frequently surprised by the fact that less than 400,000 enslaved Africans were carried to North America out of the more than ten million people that were disembarked by slave ships in the Americas between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. (For estimates of the transatlantic slave trade, see http://www.slavevoyages.org). Of all major American regions of slave disembarkation, British North America (after 1776, the United States) was ahead only of the Danish Caribbean during the whole period of the transatlantic slave trade. At the other end was Portuguese America (after 1822, Brazil), which received almost five million enslaved Africans between 1501 and 1866.”
Approximate Numbers
British North America and US 305,000
British Empire 3,259,000
French Empire 1,381,000
Spanish Empire 1,062,000
Portuguese Empire and Brazil 5,848,000
Most slaves headed to the English speaking parts of the world ended up on the sugar plantations of the West Indies – that was where the money was, given humanity’s sweet tooth. And that trade was only half that of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Peru was particularly notorious, where – once the American Indians were worked to death – African slaves labored under horrific conditions in the silver mines of Potosi.
“Temperature and humidity differences between the depths of the mine and the surface meant pneumonia and respiratory infections were rife, with one mining boss noting: “If 20 healthy Indians enter on Monday, half may emerge crippled on Saturday.”
The mita imposed by Viceroy Toledo in Alto Peru caused demographic collapse, earning the hill in Potosí a Quechua name meaning “the mountain that eats men”
Note – The mita was a system of forced labor inherited from the Incas (so much for slavery being a white mans’ invention)
At what point the evil, rapacious Spaniard turned into the noble, suffering, oppressed Latino is unknown
Great Work !!! Three Cheers !!!
Col Beausabre !!!
pzatchok wrote: “I guess knowing that there was wide spread white slavery all over the world doesn’t make black slavery in America special anymore.”
Interestingly, slavery was legal in some form or other throughout the world until it was outright banned, entirely and in all forms, in Vermont in 1777. There was a roll-off for underage slaves to protect them from being left alone in the world, but slavery was first outlawed then and there.
Today is Memorial Day…..and you won’t believe what Nation magazine muckraker Chris Lehman wrote about vets. (from notthebee)
I know, some guys can wear it on their sleeve…and even I get tired of Lee Greenwood. But to say folks drafted and poisoned with Agent Orange weren’t victims? Cannon Hinnant resembles most hate crime victims than that drugged out piece of garbage Floyd. Go after gang bangers!
And PS:
Just to comment on the subject matter of this panel: The classics and the thinking contained there in are the germination point of the philosophy of Western civilization. And that being so everything that is taught in education today only further supports and continues the white mans dominance in America and the world. And so it also must be dismissed and recast.
And I ask again, with what?
The child minded in the “Progressive” “Politically correct” Left and now Democrat party have no answer to that question. Why is that?
Because there is no rational, informed competent answer to that question that promotes, respect, liberty and freedom.
All the Left has is what?
Teaching racism and retribution, hate and division. THATS IT.
The Democrat party does not exist if they are unable to promote such dark and negative turmoil in America specifically.
What the Democrats promotes is un and anti American, they promote living in history and not learning and evolving from the wisdom derived from history, and those classics and the wisdom that is contain within them.
What is wrong with them? They are desperate and at the same time over confident.
Col Beausabre:
Good stuff.
I especially enjoyed your last inconvenient factoid.
“At what point the evil, rapacious Spaniard turned into the noble, suffering, oppressed Latino is unknown.”
A buddy just sent this to me, it gives a perfect portrait of the Left and how they have been conditioned to think by their masters and automatically push. Again some of the best and most honest perspectives come from our friends in Australia.
This is a portion of an ABC radio interview between a female broadcaster and General Cosgrove who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military Headquarters…
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
So, General Cosgrove, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?
GENERALCOSGROVE:
We’re going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery and shooting.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Shooting! That’s a bit irresponsible, isn’t it?
GENERAL COSGROVE:
I don’t see why, they’ll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Don’t you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?
GENERAL COSGROVE:
I don’t see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
But you’re equipping them to become violent killers.
GENERAL COSGROVE:
Well, Ma’am, you’re equipped to be a prostitute, but you’re not one, are you?
Here is another “Progressive” word / term transformation to support the “Destroy Western civilization” mantra:
A convicted “Criminal”, convicted under the law and justice system based in Western civilization and Christian morality is now to be termed as a “Justice involved individual”.
When a significant number of your voting base are “Justice involved individuals” you have to do something to make them whole and viable for your purposes.
https://www.mrctv.org/blog/doj-using-term-justice-involved-individual-instead-criminal
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch:
“The future of our nation depends upon the future of our young people – including young people who have become involved with our justice system. By helping justice-involved youth find decent jobs and stable housing after they return home, these critical grants provide a foundation for a fresh start and offer a path towards productivity and purpose. In the months ahead, the Department of Justice will continue helping justice-involved youth enrich their lives and improve our country.”
This is a part of the Democrat party’s desperation.
Low standards is no standards.
The very sad thing of the racist left is that no matter what they call it. BLM ext… the end result is that they just want to teach the while people what its like to be a minority in a racist society.
Not acceptable.
This Leftist narrative and political agenda is childish and non productive and that is why it will die on the vine in time. The majority of the people in America see what they see.
Notice how the popularity of BLM has waned?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/black-lives-matter-poll-us-support-pew-research-centre-b470541.html
This is a cycle we must go through. What exactly comes out the other end I am not exactly certain, but there is only one way to go, forward.