I'm extremely reluctant to enter into a debate about politics on this
listserv, but I have to say that I'm quite surprised by the quite defensive
reaction to what I thought was a quite obvious observation. Incidentally, I
don't necessarily share the view that universities are "too liberal" - but I do
agree with critics that there in many academic departments, there is often an
insufficient appreciation of alternative viewpoints, at times verging on
groupthink. I was merely reacting to what I saw as a (fairly clear-cut) shade
of liberal groupthink on this listserv (in the interests of full disclosure, I
am not a political conservative by any means, but my politics are probably
closest to that of a moderate to conservative Democrat in the U.S., which puts
me decidedly at the conservative end of the spectrum in my department).
Re: the U.S. healthcare debate, I don't see how any reasonable person could
argue with the claim that the issues here are exceedingly complicated and murky
- hence the basis for my reaction to several TIPSTERs highly confident
messages, none of which seemed to acknowledge that there were any reasonable
counterarguments. The U.S. federal debt and deficit are utterly staggering,
and we are in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the 1920s.
Although the most recent U.S. OMB projection is that our healthcare plan will
save money in the long-term, plenty of extremely smart economists who are far
more knowledgeable than any of us say that the plan will be a financial
disaster that will bankrupt us in the long-term. I've followed the financial
debates back and forth, and frankly have no clue as to who is right. There are
plenty of compelling arguments on both sides. Jim Clark is of course correct
that almost all Americans want our health care system improved, but that's not
the issue here - the issue is whether it should be done by substantial
incremental changes (e.g., insurance industry reform, allowing people to buy
insurance across state lines) or by a gigantic overhaul and government takeover
that is a massive financial roll of the dice. Again, I think that plenty of
reasonable people can support this plan; but I don't see how any reasonable
person can't acknowledge that it's huge financial risk too (and yes, there are
certainly risk both ways).
What routinely surprises me about many of my academic friends is not their
liberalism (I once was extremely liberal myself), but by their apparent lack of
awareness of thoughtful arguments on the other side. I read the New York Times
and watch MSNBC quite regularly, but I also listen to and read thoughtful
conservatives. It's an interesting and at times confusing exercise, but I can
assure you that there are plenty of extremely bright and fairminded
conservative thinkers out,there, like Charles Krauthammer, Thomas Sowell, and
even Dennis Prager and Bill Bennett (both of whom I often disagree with, but
are worth listening too) who have plenty to bring to the table (interestingly,
fellow skeptic Michael Shermer also listens regularly to these folks).
American conservatism is a lot more than Fox News, Sean Hannity, and Rush
Limbaugh, although the loudest and often shallowest voices understandably tend
to get the most attention.
So my plea is merely to recognize that the political.economic issues here
-as they so often are - are a heck of a lot more complicated than we might
think, and that we should calibrate our confidence levels accordingly.
I've now used up my quota of messages for the day, so will look forward to
seeing the debates continue. All the best...
...Scott
________________________________________
From: Jim Clark [[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 11:22 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: RE: [tips] How to lie with statistics.... a current example
Hi
Like Stephen I am surprised by this comment. In the recent Gallop poll, only
8% of respondents agreed that "The system doesn't need changing." So there
does appear to be some universality among even Americans to the belief that
something was/is wrong with the American system. And the USA is renowned for
being the one developed country without some scheme to ensure universal health
coverage of its citizens. What exactly is it then that we should have
self-doubt about with respect to our political / economic views? Lest you
think this is not related to university teaching, remember that universities
are under fire for being "too liberal" in their political / economic views. So
it is important to try and understand ourselves whether those "liberal" views
are rational or ideological.
Take care
Jim
James M. Clark
Professor of Psychology
204-786-9757
204-774-4134 Fax
[email protected]
Department of Psychology
University of Winnipeg
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3B 2E9
CANADA
>>> "Lilienfeld, Scott O" <[email protected]> 24-Mar-10 8:58 AM >>>
I must confess that at some level I envy the supreme confidence and utter
absence of any smidgeon of self-doubt in the political/economic views of my
fellow TIPSTER friends. ...Scott
________________________________________
From: [email protected] [[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 9:32 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] How to lie with statistics.... a current example
>> Jim Dougan <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
> As many of you know I have a blog in which I periodically rant on
> political topics.
> Take a look if you like:
>
> http://hippieprofessor.com/2010/03/23/what-the-american-people-really-want/
Beauty, eh?
As a spokesperson for my people, I can say we look on with
considerable bewilderment at the great debate just concluded
(for the moment, anyway) by our neighbour to the south.
Health care for all, what could be so bad? But you surely do
have a bizarre system of government down there.
Stephen
--------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
Bishop's University
e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca
2600 College St.
Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7
Canada
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