Posted by David Bernstein:
An Example of a Certain Academic Mindset::
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_05_11-2008_05_17.shtml#1210602688
Guest-blogger Kathy G. at Crooked Timber, protesting Washington
University's plan to award an honorary degree to Phyllis Schlafly,
manages to express a certain academic mindset(all emphases added):
Nor do I believe that conservatives should never receive honorary
degrees. There are conservative scholars who do work that is
respected within academia�many economists, for example�and they
would not be inappropriate candidates for such an honor. Nor would
I have a problem with conservative pundits, so long as they�re sane
and genuinely distinguished (which these days admittedly narrows
the field to practically zero), such as the late William F.
Buckley. I�ll even grudgingly accept the reality that conservative
Republican elder statesmen are regularly awarded these things.
Though even here there are limits�while personally I wouldn�t
protest the awarding of a degree to George H.W. Bush, even though I
find him pretty hateful, far-right lunatics like Cheney, Dubya, and
Jesse Helms should be entirely out of bounds.... as much as
conservatives may whine and scream to the contrary, liberalism and
conservatism are not moral equivalents. Because, on the one side
you have the thinkers and activists who have advanced freedom,
social justice, and human rights, and on the other, you have those
who have attempted to thwart all those things.
Not that this mindset is limited to academics, of course, but it's
sufficiently prevalent there that it's little wonder that bright young
conservatives will think twice before going into the academy and
potentially putting their career fates into the hands of those who
think that they are presumptively "hateful," "lunatics," who are not
"sane" and are attempting to thwart all that is good and just.
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