Why are liberals so condescending? [Washington Post article]

[Vic]

My problem was this:

That sounds to me like someone saying "this person should not be allowed to think this way and be a professor" which is bullshit. If that isn't what he was saying then I apologize but it sure is what it sounds like.

People are entitled to their opinions.

Yep, just like Tab is entitled to his own opinion that the professor's opinions are whack. Is what I'm saying here too confusing for you or something?

 

[Deudalus]

Based on what you said above - Fixed.

Lately I've just been not voting. In the last presidential election I opted to not vote.

As everyone is figuring out right now global warming, cap and trade, health care, and all of these other issues don't mean shit unless you have a vibrant economy. That is why in all the polls global warming is coming in last as far as issues of importance.

If you ask the wealthy hollywood elite what their main issue is it is probably global warming but it is because they can afford for it to be.

If you ask a mom and pop what their main issue is these days its probably can I keep my job and my house.

 

[Deudalus]

Yep, just like Tab is entitled to his own opinion that the professor's opinions are whack. Is what I'm saying here too confusing for you or something?

If what he is saying is that the opinions are crazy then that is fine.

If he is saying that professor should not be allowed to have these views and still be a professor then than is not fine.

Is what I'm saying here too confusing for you or something?

 

[woolfe9999]

My problem was this:



That sounds to me like someone saying "this person should not be allowed to think this way and be a professor" which is bullshit. If that isn't what he was saying then I apologize but it sure is what it sounds like.

People are entitled to their opinions.

I think when someone is using their credentials as an academic, they have should adhere to a heightened standard of objectivity and solid argument construction. That doesn't mean perfect objectivity, because that sort of thing is not realistic. It does mean at least some reasonable attempt at balance. It also means that even where the author's viewpoint leans strongly to one side, the author needs to provide solid support for his or her arguments.

Unfortunately, this article is written more in the style of bloggers or pundits. It makes certain points - for example, about the way liberals view conservatives - and while the supericial observation is correct, the author does very little to explain why those liberals are wrong in their views about conservatives. If we are going to get to the truth of the matter, it is obvious that there is at least a grain of truth in the attacks levelled by each side against the other. How much is truth and how much fiction is a legitimate topic of inquiry. Whole books could be written on the subject. However, this author treats the falsity of liberal attitudes toward conservatives as virtually an assumed premise, while making only a passing stab at refuting any of them. That style of writing is nothing more than preaching to a certain ideological choir. Sure, conservatives will read the piece and nod their heads, because to a conservative the author doesn't need to do any more than the bare minimum to prove his point. But for anyone with a real interest in exploring the subject, the article is a useless screed written by someone with more interest in espousing his viewpoint than illuminating the subject.

I have no problem with academics having a political viewpoint. If you fired everyone with a political viewpoint, there would be no one left to teach. But academics, at least in my view, have a higher obligation toward the truth. Unfortunately, there are too many academics, a large number of them liberal, who cross over into pundit/blogger mode and then cloak biased nonsense in a veneer of their academic credentials. I'm not wild about biased political commentary even when it comes from pundits and bloggers, but I'm even less wild about it when it comes from academics.

- wolf