The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Shocked! Shocked!

Posted on | February 8, 2011 | 20 Comments

A psychology professor discovers only three conservatives in an audience of a thousand of his academic peers, a fact that surprises no one who knows anything about academia, and particularly not Professor William Jacobson.

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Category: Legal Insurrection

Comments

  • http://thatmrgguy.wordpress.com/ Mike

    And why should you be shocked. Academia has been a bastion of Progressive and Leftist thinking since the 20′ or 30′s of the last century. That’s where Fabianism/Socialism/Communism got it’s foothold into American culture and has slowly been simmering lo these many years. They now think that the time is right for them to come out of the closet in all their self professed glory.

  • Joe

    Sad. But then again, out of designated Republicans in the House and Senate, how many of them are conservatives?

  • Anonymous

    Aye, there’s the rub.

  • http://thatmrgguy.wordpress.com/ Mike

    In practice, not many.

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  • The Wondering Jew

    I’ve corresponded a bit with Haidt in the past. He’s a good guy working in some tough territory. If only other academics had his integrity, their work might be a lot better. Then again, if they had his integrity, they’d probably stop being liberals.

  • Theotherunmccain

    The next thing you guys would be complaining about would be how unchristian and disproportional the set of evolutionary biologists is to laymen.

    As to the current example in question, maybe there is a good reason why people who consider themselves ‘politically conservative’ fail to excel in rational pursuits like science and therefore disproportionately represented in the highest academic circles.

  • Anonymous

    At least you’re consistent.
    “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
    ATTRIBUTION: Essays. First Series. Self-Reliance.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    I thought you got banned…. just can’t respect the No Trespassing sign, can you?

  • http://thatmrgguy.wordpress.com/ Mike

    “The other” is a perfect example of our current education system. If not for the Bell Curve grading system, “The other” couldn’t have made the grade.

  • Theotherunmccain

    OK, SDN, so I’m not perfect .

    Yes, I too am flawed.

    That’s why we have Jesus.

    To forgive us our trespasses and give us this day our daily leads.

    And I just hope he leadeth me not into temptation ANY more.

    Lord, hear our prayer!!

  • Theotherunmccain

    …and Walt Whitman wrote “I am large, I contain multitudes.”

  • Theotherunmccain

    What does that tell about an average liberal who consistently makes better grades than your average conservative?

    I’m a stupid liberal with sub par academic intelligence (among my group) who barely made my grade, while you are a smart conservative with fair intelligence (among your group) who also barely made your grade?

    The irony.

  • Anonymous

    I can’t speak to how large you are but I’m certain you’ve no actual multitudes in you, self medication is not the answer…….trust me.

  • Theotherunmccain

    And the use for self medication says that everything is not well within oneself and ones world. So lets smoke up and make it better, even if it short term. Not better or worse than having a drink or two every day. Its all a shift of head space. As is sniffing glue, gas, and other aerosol cans of whatever. All short term. All justifiable by the user for one reason or another. The reason they use, is between themselves and their minds, big or small.

    ***

    In the end, it’s not about what anyone says or does, but the degree to which we can tolerate what anyone says or does.

    Put that way, it’s clear where the onus lies in each of us.

  • Anonymous

    The truly astonishing thing is the complete intolerant closed-minded attitude reflected by the majority of the comments at the NYT article.

    This reveals the fundamental problem with American politics as currently configured: you have one bloc (let’s call them “the left”) who simply reject out of hand any possibility that the arguments of another bloc (let’s label them “the right”) may have any merit whatsoever.

    And then bloc “the left” frets about a “lack of civility” of the ensuing discussion.

    This bloc, coincidentally, comprises the majority of psychologists.

    I think I’ve got that picture pretty much correct, yes?

  • Anonymous

    And, since Jaocbson is not a tenured professor, but a part-time instructor at a law school, one could surmise that means none.

    Still, on a blog representative of the Far Right/Tea Party cadre, where the owner denies the existence of global warming, evolution, peak oil, and a host of other peer-reviewed findings, where the strategy of academic rebuttals is “kill the messenger,” and where certain regular commenters think that citing credentials expertise actually HARMS one’s argument, it’s unsurprising that disciplines which require the scientific method would not have a lot of ‘conservatives.” Except for engineering…..lots of cons can be found at engineering disciplines.

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