Posted on 02/26/2005 8:56:58 PM PST by quidnunc
Talk about your p.c. Talk about elitism and stereotypical behavior. Talk about what has happened — as Tom Wolfe does inter alia in his I am Charlotte Simmons — to the spirit of open inquiry in the most thin-aired realms of the American academy. The case of Larry Summers vs. the Harvard harridans has got it all.
Six weeks ago Harvard's president Larry Summers — a former Secretary of the Treasury and not a conservative — gave a 7,000-word speech (president.harvard.edu/speeches/2005/ nber.html) wherein he proposed "some questions asked and some attempts at provocation." The spirit of inquiry. At Harvard. What better, more paradigmatic place?
In citing the dramatic discrepancies between men (greatly more) and women (precious few) at the highest reaches of mathematics and the hard sciences, Summers offered three possible explanations: "intrinsic aptitude," discrimination against women, and the cultural trade-offs between family and work that (Summers' words) "a much higher fraction of married men have been historically prepared to make [in favor of math and science careers] than of married women."
To measure by the stereotypically hysterical reaction, you might have thought Summers had urged deporting every woman on the planet to Antarctica. Nearly all the attention has focused on his "intrinsic aptitude" thesis. One woman stormed out declaring, "This kind of bias makes me physically ill" — adding that if she had remained in the room she "would've either blacked out or thrown up."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
I guess female hysteria lives on in the minds of feminist Nazis.
What a beautiful and poetic descriptive: the Harvard Harridans. That sums it up perfectly.
Where on EARTH did he get the idea one could ask QUESTIONS at a place of learning????
Its too bad that Summers almost immediately got on his knees and started groveling before the PC gods he blashphemed against.
My bet is that this woman is not a scientist or a mathmatician. The more rabid a feminist is (and this action is that of a feminist), the less likely she is to be a scientist. In fact, as far as I can tell, the whole culture of feminism is set up to discourage women from going into science and related fields--part of feminism is all about the emotions, all about emphasizing the negative stereotypic qualities of women, such as tendencies towards hysteria and so forth. Science and mathmatics tends to attract those who value rational thought over emotion--and, unfortunately, logical women are in the minority (I think we're only about 30% or so of women).
You'd be wrong. The woman was a biology professor.
The saddest thing about this whole thing is that now that Summers has an idea of what conservatives face, he'll probably quit or get fired. And the next Harvard administrator will be a thousand times worse, probably an outright dyke to 'make up' for Summers' 'sexism.' And Summers will NOT be a poster boy for the right--he'll continue to grovel until he ends up at some lesser institution like Oberlin or something.
How sad. Usually the over-emotional types stay away from science.
What the heck is it you've actually bought when you're done paying for four Harvard years?!!A diploma certifying you've been relieved of all common sense?!
<< Its too bad that Summers almost immediately got on his knees and started groveling before the PC gods he blashphemed against. >>
Cli'tonista.
What else to expect?
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