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Conservatives need not apply? < "stupid people are generally conservative ">
Charleston.net ^ | Wednesday, February 11, 2004 | Editors

Posted on 02/11/2004 9:35:38 AM PST by Helms

Story last updated at 6:42 a.m. Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Conservatives need not apply?

Robert Brandon, chair of the Duke University Philosophy Department, gives this explanation of why faculties at U.S. universities usually lean to the political left: "We try to hire the best, smartest people available. If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire." Professor Brandon, expounding on the 21st century implications of that 19th century British philosopher's observation: "Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia. Players in the NBA tend to be taller than average. There is a good reason for this. Members of academia tend to be a bit smarter than average. There is a good reason for this too."

That scholarly perspective was reported in Tuesday's Duke Chronicle, the "independent daily" at the school. So were these statistics from a Duke Conservative Union study that cross-referenced the university's faculty list with North Carolina voter registration records: Of the faculty members and deans included in the survey, 128 are registered Democrats, 8 are registered Republicans and 28 are unaffiliated.

In political terms, that's a landslide.

In intellectual terms, Professor Brandon's smug thesis raises another question: If he's so bright, how could he be dim enough not only to believe such an absurd notion, but to hail it publicly?

Meanwhile, academics, like the rest of us, can be outstanding, mediocre or lousy at their jobs regardless of their political persuasions. Professors also aren't the only ones who advance interesting -- occasionally even persuasive -- theories on why conservatives are so rarely found on our nation's university faculties.

But no political party or ideology has a monopoly on intelligence -- or virtue. And that's a higher-education lesson to remember during this election year.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: academia; bias; college; education; university
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To: Helms
Half of the educrats out there don't know a damn thing. There's the 'theoretical' world, and then there's reality.
21 posted on 02/11/2004 9:54:33 AM PST by Dan from Michigan (Hey John F'n Kerry - "WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!!!!!")
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To: Old Professer
The political left, they deal in symbols rather than reality.The general difference between conservatives and liberals is that liberals like pretty pictures and conservatives like to build bridges that people can drive across. And conservatives are indeed conservative because if the bridge falls down then people die, where as the liberals figure, we can always build a nice memorial and make people forget it ever happened and was our fault. They're very good at making people forget it was their fault.

Tom Clancy

22 posted on 02/11/2004 9:54:39 AM PST by papertyger
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To: Helms
So how does he explain Algore?
23 posted on 02/11/2004 9:56:15 AM PST by CommandoFrank (Another Vietnam Vet against Kerry... and Kennedy, Dean, Clark, Edwards... and the list goes on.)
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To: Helms
Well.....Mr. Brandon....just how many of your "C" students became President of the United States???

(You ignorant blowhard).
24 posted on 02/11/2004 9:56:40 AM PST by smiley
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To: Helms
He might be a Conservative to judge by his definition and by the looks of him.
25 posted on 02/11/2004 9:57:06 AM PST by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: Helms; hellinahandcart; cyborg; NYC GOP Chick
Thank you for this. The picknose will be receiving a missive...
26 posted on 02/11/2004 9:57:47 AM PST by sauropod (I'm Happy, You're Happy, We're ALL Happy! I'm happier than a pig in excrement. Can't you just tell?)
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To: Helms
"If liberals were prevented from ever again calling Republicans dumb, they would be robbed of half their arguments"--Ann Coulter: "Slander" page 121

Right again, Annie!!
27 posted on 02/11/2004 9:58:15 AM PST by RandallFlagg (<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com" target="_blank">miserable failure)
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To: Helms
More than a few serial killers have had very high IQ's too.

If liberals are so smart, why don't they seek treatment for their mental illness and try to overcome being liberal?

Liberals are the functioning mentally ill.
28 posted on 02/11/2004 9:58:33 AM PST by whereasandsoforth (tagged for migratory purposes only)
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To: Helms
Stupid people that manage to control most of the government in this country in the form of elected and appointed officials? Then what does that make the folks out of power?
29 posted on 02/11/2004 9:58:40 AM PST by mabelkitty
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To: NativeNewYorker
Anyone who has read Mill, of course, realizes that to him, and in 19th century England generally, "liberal" meant being free market oriented as opposed to those of inherited wealth in the British aristocracy, who believed in status. The terms have almost, but not quite, been completely reversed today in America. A "liberal" in 19th century England today in America would be considered libertarian conservative. It is somewhat dishonest for a professor of philosophy at a leading university to use Mill's version of liberalism as if it were equivalent to the Statists who call themselves liberal in America today. Mill had no confidence in the mechamisms of the State nor in the kind of speech fascism that is attendant upon modern American "liberalism." The trashing at Duke today of what today are labeled "conservative" thinkers and speakers and students would be appalling to John Stuart Mill.
30 posted on 02/11/2004 9:58:58 AM PST by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them, or they like us?)
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To: Helms
The Latin word educare, means to grow or bring forth. Education involves open inquiry, patience, experimentation, honesty, and the ability to know you don't know.

The opposite of this process is indoctrination. Indoctrination is putting in - not drawing out. It is an imposing of information, not a search for truth, it empowers the teacher not the student.

- Bill Tara

31 posted on 02/11/2004 10:00:35 AM PST by skeeter
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To: Helms
Members of academia tend to be a bit smarter than average. There is a good reason for this too."

I wonder how many blacks are on the faculty of the Duke philosophy department, and if Mr. Brandon would care to make the same comments regarding their representation.

32 posted on 02/11/2004 10:01:22 AM PST by malakhi
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To: kevkrom
I've been hearing variations of this canard for over 10 years, that academics and journalists are liberal because they're "smarter" than everyone else. To me it only proves their own elitist biases -- assuming that anyone who disagrees with you is stupid is one of the most foolish mistakes you can make.

A M E N ! ! !

Here's another canard I've heard for years which seems appropriate to this discussion:

"Those who can do! Those who cannot teach!"

33 posted on 02/11/2004 10:02:00 AM PST by Bigun (IRSsucks@getridof it.com)
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To: Helms
Okay, everybody, let's take it from the top. Repeat after me:

"Intellectuals" only exist if you believe they do.

34 posted on 02/11/2004 10:02:35 AM PST by JoJo Gunn (Gut and raze the NEA! ©)
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To: malakhi
A quick search through the department faculty revealed one. But there are a few with no pictures, so I can't say for sure.
35 posted on 02/11/2004 10:03:42 AM PST by TheBigB (Anna Kournikova......Swimsuit Issue......http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1075182/posts)
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To: Helms; NYC GOP Chick; hellinahandcart; kitchen; rachel profiling; ned13; Hobsonphile; rmlew; ...
Heh. Pertinent information went to my e-mail list.
36 posted on 02/11/2004 10:03:47 AM PST by sauropod (I'm Happy, You're Happy, We're ALL Happy! I'm happier than a pig in excrement. Can't you just tell?)
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To: Owl_Eagle
http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern/
37 posted on 02/11/2004 10:04:48 AM PST by Helms (Liberals believe we are Crash Dummies on the hectic highway of the Cosmos)
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To: Helms
The best and brightest are typically in high demand in the business world.
38 posted on 02/11/2004 10:04:58 AM PST by CholeraJoe ("Talk tough and build Star Wars." Ronald Reagan)
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To: Helms
Of the faculty members and deans included in the survey, 128 are registered Democrats, 8 are registered Republicans and 28 are unaffiliated.

Maybe it's time to start a conservative university and not allow a single liberal RAT in any faculty position. Make sure the applications for professors and deans says:

DUMBOCRATS NEED NOT APPLY.

39 posted on 02/11/2004 10:05:24 AM PST by Arrowhead1952 (WARNING! Every name on every tombstone in the country equals one democrat vote.)
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To: Tallguy
In "philosophy" you can make an argument for or against anything.

There is no right answer.

40 posted on 02/11/2004 10:05:51 AM PST by sauropod (I'm Happy, You're Happy, We're ALL Happy! I'm happier than a pig in excrement. Can't you just tell?)
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