Posted by David Bernstein: Why Summers Apologized: Why did Larry Summers issue such an abject and, frankly, embarrassing apology for the controversial remarks he made regarding women in the sciences? I don't think he really had to. My theory is that he thinks of himself as a man of the left, and was very uncomfortable with the praise and defense he was getting from the right, and the obloquy from those he considers his natural friends on the left.
A bit of evidence in support of my theory: [1]you can watch a video of President Summers welcoming the national Federalist Society student meeting to Harvard Law School. The student gave Summers a standing ovation. Summers looked extremely embarrassed, almost flummoxed, and stated: "Thank you very much, I think. Let me remind you, I am a Democrat. I am proud to be Democrat." If Summers puts his self-image as a "progressive" above his pursuit of truth in the face of political correctness, there's not much the rest of us can (or should) do to defend him. References 1. http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/fedsoc/symposium/symrecap.shtml _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://highsorcery.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
