Why Republicans shun ivy towers

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/2/04 | Steven Lubet

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Further evidence that conservatives are heartless, greedy, shallow, and oblivious to reality.

Funny, I don't feel heartless, greedy or shallow. I guess that's because I'm oblivious to reality.

[discostu]

Ivy gives me a rash.

[Xenalyte]

I avoid ivy towers because ivy is just creepy, like well-mannered kudzu.

Ivory towers, on the other hand, I kinda like.

[prion]

Is it okay if I just read that one sentence and pass on the rest? That'll do me, really.

[atomicpossum]

Liberals gravitate to academia because when they're forced out into the real world they see their pointy-headed theories of how the world works die quick, painful deaths.

[Dan from Michigan]

I don't support ivory towers since most of them really don't know anything outside their EXTREMELY narrow discipline. Few exceptions.

[truthseeker2]

Conservatives are not afraid to fail. They use failure as a learning tool. It builds their character.

Liberals are constantly afraid of failure. It's a negative. They must always be right.

[calex59]

I always kinda thought it was ivory towers not ivy, but what do I know being a thoughtless, heartless, unfeeling conservative. Not to mention I don't have an IQ higher than 2. /Sarcasm off

[Darkwolf377]

So academics, journalists, social workers and the arts DON'T emphasize competition and victory? Tell that to a preening academic trying to make himself look so wonderful in the eyes of naive students, a journalist trying to scoop a scandal involving someone not of his ideological bent, social workers who exercise their Messiah complexes when they're not writing grant proposals, and artist trying to live off dad's cash while remaining perpetual children.

This idiot needs to open his eyes a little more when he's sipping white wine with his buds. And he's a moron if he thinks that Marxist "victory at the expense of others" crap is gonna sneak by anyoine.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I like to step on the little people.

[dennisw]

This is garbage. Liberal faculty honchos hire only their own. They make sure of this in certain departments such as English and history. There would be a lot more conservatives in our universities if the hiring process was not politically correct.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Is it okay if I just read that one sentence and pass on the rest? That'll do me, really.

Sure. I believe it's the best one, anyway. If you read further you would likely be disappointed.

[RWRbestbyfar]

Here's some fun trivia that you'll never forget:

Where did the term "ivy league" come from? All those colleges covered in ivy, right?

WRONG!

Here's where it came from: Some of the first colleges established in the U.S. decided to band together. It was Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth. They were known as the league of 4, since there were 4 schools.

But egghead college types don't use regular numbers. They used Roman numerals - four is, you guessed it, IV. Thus, the "I V" league.

You heard it here.

[marty60]

Boy this guy must have taken a double dose of his meds. This is stupid at best.

[cripplecreek]

I went to Digilinks yesterday and was pleasantly suprised that they replaced all the computer geeks with middle aged adults. Not only that, I also noticed the employee parking full of Bush/Cheny bumperstickers. AND they didn't talk to me like I'm a moron for not knowing what they were talking about.

[freespirited]

Conservatives may bemoan the social forces behind this phenomenon, but there is nothing sinister about it.

Au contraire. I believe it is illegal to refuse to hire people because of their political affiliation. I suspect that would rise to the definition of sinister for a professor of law.

[Humvee]

The first thing that strikes me is that liberals are dependent on conservatives for their survival. The old saw - Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach, or whine or are "helpers". Without a productive element to society there would be no surplus for the liberals to live off.

[Tribune7]

Actually, conservatives avoid jobs in journalism & academics & arts because they are likely to face discrimination here and success in these fields is based almost solely on subjective criteria.

[Gingersnap]

"Further evidence that conservatives are heartless, greedy, shallow, and oblivious to reality."

My husband is in higher education and I have a front row seat to the circus called academia. A more vicious, backstabbing, gossip-ridden group of posers you would be hard put to find.

They really do eat their young.