Ping
Great article! Really sums everything up nicely.
Bump.
Good article.
"If you disapprove of affirmative action, forget pursuing a degree in African-American studies. If you think that the nuclear family proves the best unit of social well-being, stay away from women's studies."
Few have made note of the fact, that the sheer numbers of far-lefties on campus is greatly enhanced by the existance of these new "disciplines". And sadly, industry seems to encourage people who pursue degrees in these areas by offering them extremely high-paying positions in order to appear as properly PC.
"Yet while the lack of conservative minds on college campuses is increasingly indisputable, the question remains: Why?"
An older person very familiar with Academia told me a few years ago that in the pre-60s era, colleges and universities were populated largely with conservative professors and in an attempt to live up to the goal of exposing all kinds of ideas in the educational arena, the decision was made to correct that imbalance. So, they began to fill openings with liberals. No one envisioned that the left was of an ilk to get the foot in the door, then to aggressively let their friends know immediately of any teacher openings as they came up and to push aggressively for those people to get the positions. Before long, they were a majority in academia and once a majority was reached they used their well known energy and aggression to root out the conservatives, once again creating a one-tract midset which would censor out ideas other than their own. Sheer reasoning would tell anyone with honest thinking that ideas which cannot stand exposure to debate should not prevail. This is what I was told. Knowing what we know about the left, it makes all kinds of sense.
But that's the problem for the Left. If they open it up for honest debate, they will get they equivalent of John O'Neil of the Swiftvets laying out a calm case filled with facts, opposed by Lawrence O'Donnell foaming at the mouth shouting "Lies! Lies! Lies! Lies!"
Such a scenario will seriously impact the Left's attempts at brainwashing. The Left cannot debate on the basis of facts. And they know it.
Interesting article that seems to boil down to one conclusion: Liberalism is a mental disease caused by inbreeding. Liberals only talk to each other and don't explore any conservative thought with any sort of open mind. They have convinced themselves that they are the world's leading thinkers and that we conservatives are just off our rockers to believe otherwise.
Actually, that explains a lot.
Good article. I believe, though, things are changing. Harvey Mansfield was just elected to the board of the American Political Science Association; a conservative student of Leo Strauss. Strauss's other students are doing great work elsewhere: Thomas West, University of Dallas; Harry Jaffa, Claremont McKenna College; Thomas Pangle, University of Toronto etc. Other conservatives have great books out too; Henry Edmaondson, Georgia State; Lucas Morel, Washington and Lee. Buck up, things are changing, the left is dying.
Fortunately most of the students I knew ignored their leftist splutterings. But they do still affect many negatively. It seems to me that the academics with the least amount of analytical reasoning ability and common sense tend towards the liberal arts. In short most of the wackos get into sociology and other mostly useless avenues of study. Which as most readers on this forum know is pretty old news.
As with organic systems, this isolation will cause their decline and fall.
And from the looks of some of the tenured "freaks" on campus, that fall is fast approaching. All but the most naive young students see them for what they are and ignore their nonsense.
conference announcements rarely appeal to your work I submitted a perfect paper to a national conference that had to do with artworks that reflected one's childhood. Silly me. How did I know that they were probably expecting papers on child abuse, emotional trauma etc.? I sent along my happy childscapes of love and family closeness. I don't even think they read my cover letter. I never even got the courtesy of a polite rejection letter (along the lines of "there were so many excellent papers submitted...blah, blah." Of course, only a few papers are accepted at conferences like this, so maybe there were other reasons for my rejection. As noted elsewhere in the article, we conservatives develop thick skins.)
When a Duke University philosophy professor implied last February that conservatives tend toward stupidity, he confirmed the public opinion of academics as a self-regarding elite...Professors cannot conceive that any person trained in critical thinking could listen to George W. Bush speak and still vote Republican
Now I understand why they think all of us are stupid, including those of much greater intelligence than I: George Bush and John Ashcroft and Clarence Thomas etc. It's not because conservative arguments don't make rational sense, it's that they've rarely been exposed to them...they've rarely stretched their own brain outside their cocoon. Same thing with the two German postdocs who saw Thanksgiving as 'American Genocide Day.' Says a great deal about how Europe thinks too, n'est-ce pas?
Now I'm trying to think of whom to send this to at my university. I know a far-left philosopher. Can he open his mind to these ideas? We'll see. Thank goodness I have tenure.
I think this explains a lot (like, for example, DU).
Stanley Fish long-ago destroyed the English Department at Duke University. For that alone, he should be studied as an example of arrogant Know-Nothingness and a prime example of deconstruction and PC nihilism can destroy sound literary analysis and make great literature devoid of its greatness. In time, I think this will happen. For now, Duke is a wasteland for intellectual diversity.
makes me glad I got out of Academe when I did...about 10 years ago...sounds like it's a lot worse now.