A cat has its kittens in the oven
Biscuits come out of the oven
Kittens are biscuits
The analysis works beautifully as long as you accept the premises. And since ovens are used for baking, let's turn to some baked wind on the Star Tribune op/ed page, offered by one David M. Perlman:
Conservatives decry the liberal bias in the universities. It is true that most college professors are liberals, but I don't think it has anything to do with bias. It is because college professors are intelligent people, and intelligent people tend to be liberal.And kittens are biscuits. But Perlman also has been reading his Thomas Frank:
I have had many conversations with colleagues about why so many people vote against their own best interests, and the only conclusion that is ever reached is that those people are swayed by emotional arguments, not by intelligent thought.I for one am heartened that Perlman is around to tell me what my own best interests are. Take on the intelligent man's burden, Mr. Perlman! Mighty sporting of him. Perhaps some day I can have him over for a nice plate of biscuits.
13 comments:
Another liberal who believes he and the rest of his ilk are much smarter than any other person could hope to be. What an idiot.
If you need some flour for those biscuits, let me know. I have a little extra in my doomsday bunker.
It reminds me of Sobran's comment that he'd rather be governed by the first 100 names in the Cambridge, Massachusetts phone book than by 100 members of Harvard's faculty. I could accept the Strib's premiss--smart people tend to be liberal--fully and still come to the conclusion that liberalism is a mess because it all too often exalts cunning but ignores wisdom.
And we can get a valid syllogism out of that one.
A lot of ink has been spilled on why the academy leans left, and I don't want to re-hash too much of it.
However, there are many dimensions to what we call "intelligence", and I do think it is fair to say that academia selects for a particular kind of "intelligence": specifically one that is probing, inductive, drawn to novelty, and less concerned with conventional wisdom, rather than the sort of deductive, linear thinking-type "intelligence" better suited to more institutionalized professions such as medicine, engineering, or law (all of which have very specific hierarchies, methods, and requirements for professional certification.)
I think those broad categories are also tied up in temperaments, particularly how one is generally disposed to respond to authority, precedent, and (especially) tradition.
If you take those into account, the leftward tilt of the academy isn't terribly surprising. Nor is it something that is easily altered, unless one were to alter the fundamental nature of what the academy is there for in the first place.
However, there are many dimensions to what we call "intelligence"
Yep. The problem with this guy is that he's taking an intellectual shortcut.
Less concerned with conventional wisdom? Is there any group MORE locked into conventional wisdom than academia and it's un-free speech codes?
Less concerned with conventional wisdom? Is there any group MORE locked into conventional wisdom than academia and it's un-free speech codes?
Heh. One of the continuing sources of amusement to me is watching the ol' Facebook feed when my old college adviser dishes the latest liberal conventional wisdom on Facebook. He always gets the same people repeatedly clapping like harp seals every time he does it.
By all means...don't let the thoughts of an actual academic disrupt your dearly held prejudices regarding the profession.
By all means...don't let the thoughts of an actual academic disrupt your dearly held prejudices regarding the profession.
I know a lot of academics. I know some who are very open minded politically. In my experience, they tend to be in the sciences, especially the applied sciences. You used the example of engineering and you are 100% correct about that.
As an English major at the liberal arts college I attended, one which tends to produce a lot of college professors, I was aware of only one openly conservative professor. That was true when I matriculated in 1981 and haven't seen any indication that things have changed. I know of at least a dozen people that I went to college with who are now professors and they are all uniformly leftist in the politics. I don't think direct observation, over a period of 30 years, is the same thing as prejudice, but your mileage may vary.
Sorry ... don't misunderstand me. I agree the academy leans hard to the left. That's empirically true. As do I (mostly). I was taking issue with the notion of academics being locked into conventional wisdom.
I was taking issue with the notion of academics being locked into conventional wisdom.
Well, maybe it isn't conventional wisdom, but when a belief is (a) nearly universal and (b) rarely challenged, it certainly would appear to the outsider to be conventional wisdom, at least operationally.
And it's a problem, because I find that a lot of people on the Left, including several academics I know, are at the point where they don't even bother to consider alternative viewpoints on political matters. If academe is to be a place where open inquiry is encouraged, this is a disastrous development.
Brian, replace "conventional wisdom" with "political correctness" and you'll get what NW, Mr. D, and I are talking about. Yes, it's not the conventional wisdom that plays well in small town red states, but it is nonetheless a conventional wisdom that is defended every bit as aggressively (and a good bit less charitably) as those of us in red state small towns defend our conventional wisdom.
If you doubt this, take a look at the legal activities of groups such as FIRE. To put it mildly, the academy could use a good dose of barbara, celerent, darii, and ferio.
Most University Money comes from the government. Democratic administrations tend to increase government spending this increased spending leads to more money for the universities, and an enhanced lifestyle for those within the Universities. Because Democrats provide the butter for their bread, most university employees tend to vote for Democrats. Simple example of protecting one's passionate self-interest.
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