Food for Thought
(http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/opinion/05krugman.html?hp)
A good Paul Krugman column. He raises an issue I have thought a lot about lately, as there are 12 states, including Tennessee, in which Republicans are trying to pass "academic balance" legislation based on the assumption that the majority status of liberals on college campuses is the result of direct discrimination. Um, yeah. Let's take a look at this: Republicans want to BALANCE things so that Dems and Repubs are represented in EQUAL numbers. Isn't this called affirmative action?? They also want to give (conservative) students broad rights to SUE colleges and professors for bias. Some of the bills even contain language that limit them to bias against conservatives. You mean, tie up the courts with FRIVOLOUS lawsuits?? It's amazing how the supposed "principles" of the Republican Party go out the fucking window when presented with a chance to bully and intimidate, also evidenced on the federal level by creepy, fish-faced Tom DeLay's recent indignant demand that the federal government put a choke hold on state courts. Laws to eliminate judicial constitutional review of legislation are just around the corner. Just read some right-wing websites. Those damn judges are going to pay for not allowing Mary Schindler to play Barbie for the cameras with her drooling, vegetative daughter for the next 30 years! And let's not forget the Justice Department's war against states who approve medical marijuana. Bye, bye, federalism! I'm so tired of hearing how the Republicans win elections because they have a consistent message that reflects the "values" of most Americans. Or even the utterly ridiculous notion, presented today by a condescending David Brooks in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/opinion/05brooks.html?hp), that they win because of rigourous intellectual debate within their own ranks. What???!!! I laughed really, really hard at this. I don't even have to comment on how prepostorous that is. They win because they appeal to the basest elements of human nature. They win because they make people feel deep down and with absolute conviction that it is OK to be greedy (anti-tax hysteria), judgemental (their entire social policy encompassing everything from welfare to gay marriage), and irrational (um, everything they believe). There is nothing "noble" about those values. A compassionate conservative is just someone who talks down to the less fortunate rather than completely ignoring them. To get back to the original point, a party that considers science a threat because it proves them wrong is trying to control what university professors can and can't say. Any professor who disagrees will be demonized. Some Republicans in the 1930s, post-Franco's coup, declared the "jury is still out on fascism." I guess the jury is still out, just like it is on global warming, right? People should be outraged. All right, I'm officially off the soap box--for now.
A good Paul Krugman column. He raises an issue I have thought a lot about lately, as there are 12 states, including Tennessee, in which Republicans are trying to pass "academic balance" legislation based on the assumption that the majority status of liberals on college campuses is the result of direct discrimination. Um, yeah. Let's take a look at this: Republicans want to BALANCE things so that Dems and Repubs are represented in EQUAL numbers. Isn't this called affirmative action?? They also want to give (conservative) students broad rights to SUE colleges and professors for bias. Some of the bills even contain language that limit them to bias against conservatives. You mean, tie up the courts with FRIVOLOUS lawsuits?? It's amazing how the supposed "principles" of the Republican Party go out the fucking window when presented with a chance to bully and intimidate, also evidenced on the federal level by creepy, fish-faced Tom DeLay's recent indignant demand that the federal government put a choke hold on state courts. Laws to eliminate judicial constitutional review of legislation are just around the corner. Just read some right-wing websites. Those damn judges are going to pay for not allowing Mary Schindler to play Barbie for the cameras with her drooling, vegetative daughter for the next 30 years! And let's not forget the Justice Department's war against states who approve medical marijuana. Bye, bye, federalism! I'm so tired of hearing how the Republicans win elections because they have a consistent message that reflects the "values" of most Americans. Or even the utterly ridiculous notion, presented today by a condescending David Brooks in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/opinion/05brooks.html?hp), that they win because of rigourous intellectual debate within their own ranks. What???!!! I laughed really, really hard at this. I don't even have to comment on how prepostorous that is. They win because they appeal to the basest elements of human nature. They win because they make people feel deep down and with absolute conviction that it is OK to be greedy (anti-tax hysteria), judgemental (their entire social policy encompassing everything from welfare to gay marriage), and irrational (um, everything they believe). There is nothing "noble" about those values. A compassionate conservative is just someone who talks down to the less fortunate rather than completely ignoring them. To get back to the original point, a party that considers science a threat because it proves them wrong is trying to control what university professors can and can't say. Any professor who disagrees will be demonized. Some Republicans in the 1930s, post-Franco's coup, declared the "jury is still out on fascism." I guess the jury is still out, just like it is on global warming, right? People should be outraged. All right, I'm officially off the soap box--for now.
posted by Veronica @ 10:05 AM
2 Comments:
At 10:34 AM,
Andrew said…
to solve this terrible, terrible problem, i've invented an idea: i think that part of the government education-money-pile should go to "party chairs" for every university in the country, public and private. party chairs will be appointed for life by the dominant federal party, and there will be one for every academic department. a party chair will have to approve any research, dissertation, publication, etc., on the basis of its relationship to party policy. so let it be written, so let it be done, et cetera et cetera.
At 2:47 PM,
The Egel Nest said…
This is very eloquently written..even more eloquent when you say fuck and shit in proper context and conviction...
Loving your blog...
Bradley
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