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Why professors are liberal: They're intelligent
San Diego Union ^ | December 3, 2004 | Various

Posted on 12/03/2004 12:55:13 PM PST by Ramonan

In his column, "Campuses remain Democratic havens," George Will certainly tries hard to explain why faculty members at our prominent universities are overwhelmingly liberal. But as is often the case with Will, he fails to mention the obvious. These people are liberal because they are intelligent, thoughtful and well-educated. They know something of labor and social history and realize that for most people a return to conditions of the early 20th century would not be in their interest. Finally, they are unpersuaded by slogans like "compassionate conservative" and "ownership society," which are primarily a cover for the transfer of society's wealth into the pockets of the rich.

THOMAS ALDEN Borrego Springs

Demonstrating once again that you can be articulate, educated, powerful and connected yet still have no clue to what is actually going on, Will bemoans the lack of "conservative" thought on college campuses. The first thing that comes to my mind is thank God. If most professors' ideological rudders represented those of the current Republican Party, institutions of higher learning would be teaching creationism as the explanation of man's existence on Earth, ignoring more than a century of anthropological discoveries because they conflicted with biblical teachings. Government studies would renounce labor unions as pseudocommunist fronts, since businesses always do what is best for workers. Law schools would concern themselves primarily with property law, since only owners of property have rights.

CLIFF HANNA San Diego

(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Philosophy; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: academia; bias; clueless; college; education; elites; faculty; georgewill; liberalism; msm; university
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To: Ramonan

talk about a transfer of wealth, just what was "the great society" but a 5 trillion dollar scam?


201 posted on 12/03/2004 7:40:03 PM PST by ken21 (against the democrat plantation.)
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To: tallhappy

This bears repeating:

One of the biggest errors in conventional wisdom is to think academics are particularly intelligent.

One of the biggest errors in conventional wisdom is to think academics are particularly intelligent.

One of the biggest errors in conventional wisdom is to think academics are particularly intelligent.

One of the biggest errors in conventional wisdom is to think academics are particularly intelligent.

Some of the most ignorant, poorly raised, limited people I have known have been well educated. Think Nazi Think Stalin. The intellegenzia supported them...


202 posted on 12/03/2004 7:49:43 PM PST by mlmr (Rubbing it in Leftist faces since 1994)
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To: Ramonan

If you consider depravity, and Marxism, intelligent then liberal professors certainly fill the bill.


203 posted on 12/03/2004 7:55:04 PM PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: Borges
You have to prove your arguments with citations from the text or your argument holds no water with a good Proffesor.

Your argument would have held a lot more water had you not misspelled the word "professor". As it is, you make my case for me.

204 posted on 12/03/2004 8:35:16 PM PST by massadvj
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To: massadvj

Touche. I misspelled a lot of words in my message because I sped through it due to other reasons. It really doesn't prove your point that the Humanities don't require rigor and precision. And in my experience, people with that background tend to be more readily adaptable to a task at hand as opposed to those who's training is rigidly prescribed in one technical field.


205 posted on 12/03/2004 8:50:04 PM PST by Borges
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To: Ksnavely

He's also obviously never read an FR crevo thread.


206 posted on 12/05/2004 4:17:00 PM PST by RightWingAtheist (Marxism-the creationism of the left)
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To: Ramonan

           Why are so many university professors liberal?

 These people are liberal because they are intelligent, thoughtful and well-educated.

           This is the advice I would give the author of the above quote: Hitler and Chairman Mao were able to cultivate your kind of mental regurgitation and create your type of blind pseudo intellectual. My friend, do not assume that just because a person is “well-educated” that he is intelligent. You will find just the opposite. More so-called “well-educated” people lack the ability to think for themselves.

          You want to be a liberal, right? Well then listen to what the former president of the National Organization for Woman [NOW] had to say about liberal speak:

 1. Murdering your children isn’t murder if you’re a woman – it’s postpartum depression.

 2. Sex addiction, compulsion and promiscuity aren’t problems if you’re gay – they’re part of an “alternate lifestyle.”

 3. Murdering a police office isn’t murder if you’re black – it’s a “heroic” act.

 4. Vandalizing, degrading or mocking the symbols of a religion is only a hate crime if the object is Islam or Judaism. If the target is Christianity, it’s “art.”

 5. Murdering 3,000 American civilians isn’t terrorism if the murderers are Muslims – it’s the Freedom Fighter’s heroic last act against an oppressor.

Moral relativity results in confusion, contradiction, and chaos.  How about your showing us poor, uneducated, easily led conservatives how to reconcile your liberal positions? Take murder. If someone murders a pregnant woman, it is a double murder, but if the mother kills her baby, it is not. Your professors will demonstrate their intelligence and caring by explaining to us ignorant, heartless conservatives that it is better to abort an unwanted child than cause him to suffer a life of poverty, sickness, or abuse. On the other hand, these same caring intellectuals opposed the liberation of millions in Iraq, many of whom were victims of rape, torture, and mass murders.

You are probably a socialist. I know you probably do not realize it, because your bright professors would not describe their political ideology in those terms, but socialists they are. Has not that form of government failed in every instance in the past century?  Perhaps this will be news to you but your liberal professors want to redistribute the wealth. They desire high taxes on individuals with high incomes so that they can create welfare plans for those who either are unemployed, or are employed in low paying jobs. Sounds like a great incentive program does it not? Your professors believe that capitalism is evil. They say it enslaves labor. They probably did not teach you anything about how communist corruption, did they?

          Have those “intelligent, thoughtful, and well-educated” professors taught you that homosexual sex is primarily responsible for the HIV pandemic? I doubt it because your professor’s malignant narcissism prevents them from having an open and honest discussion on that subject. Any one who suggests that of all sexual acts anal intercourse has the highest risk of transmitting the virus. If you were to raise that issue - and if you want a good grade, I recommend against it - your professor is likely to say that there is no proof to suggest that HIV is more prevalent among homosexuals. There is never enough proof to convince a liberal professor that he is wrong. On the other hand, he might reply that heterosexuals also have anal intercourse, which is not a denial, just moral relativism.

          I thought you might benefit from the following article that I found on the Internet:

 NAMBLA: Coming to a campus near you!

Mike S. Adams

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/ma20030929.shtml

 Dear Director of Diversity:

 I am writing today to apologize for recent derogatory statements I have made about the Office of Campus Diversity, and about the diversity movement in general. For example, I was very critical of the previous chancellor for his refusal to respond to my request to promote books that criticize the gay rights movement on the Office of Campus Diversity website. I thought it would promote diversity if we posted them next to all the references to books that support the gay rights movement from a religious perspective.

 Recently, I also noticed that the university's Women's Center website provides a link to a gay website that is loaded with religious writings and advertisements for gay churches. One of the writings is called "Christ on a Rainbow." It is located just below another called "Love that is binding: The musings of a deep throated Pollyanna." One of the advertisements for a local gay church reads, "Whatever you believe, we embrace you!" All this, despite the center's refusal to provide a link to a crisis pregnancy center because it is, in the director's words, "overtly religious."

 I must confess that for a long time, I considered your office, the Women's Center, and the diversity task force to be dominated by mendacious hypocrites. But now, I realize that this has all been a big misunderstanding. When the administration began to promote diversity, I thought that this included ideas predicated upon the existence of moral absolutes. That is why, for example, I thought that the campus diversity movement would be willing to work with groups who espouse the view that abortion is murder and that murder is simply objectively wrong.

 I now realize that this movement really seeks to promote moral relativism. In fact, all of the speakers, organizations, programs, and readings your office promotes are geared towards abolishing the notion of absolute truth and any accompanying form of moral judgment.

 While I accept full responsibility for the misunderstanding, I think it would be wise to consider renaming your office. Perhaps you could call it "The Office of Moral Relativism" and call yourself the "Director of Relativism." You may also want to ask the "Diversity Task Force" to change its name to the "Relativism Task Force."

 Now that I have finally come to a better understanding of your mission, I plan to make some more realistic recommendations to the new Office of Moral Relativism. In fact, I'd like to start with one today.

 Recently, I visited the website of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). I must confess that, at first, I didn't believe that such an organization could be easily located on the Internet. But the more I read about their purpose, the more I realized that they share the principle concerns and ultimate goals of both your office and our university.

 For example, NAMBLA is geared towards:

 1. Building understanding and support for man/boy relationships;

 2. Educating the general public on the benevolent nature of man/boy love;

 3. Cooperating with lesbian, gay, feminist, and other liberation movements; and

 4. Supporting the liberation of persons of all ages from sexual prejudice and oppression.

 In other words, NAMBLA doesn't claim that sex with children is the only legitimate sexual orientation or alternative lifestyle. It merely helps people to be understanding and supportive of those who have sex with children and, of course, to free them from unfair prejudice and persecution at the hands of an oppressive and judgmental criminal justice system.

 Furthermore, NAMBLA's membership is open to everyone sympathetic to man/boy love and personal freedom. In fact, so strong is their dedication to personal freedom that they would eliminate age-of-consent laws altogether. Grown men who are attracted to 23 year olds, 13 year olds, and even 3 year olds could enjoy full equality and personal autonomy in a society embracing the policies of their organization.

 On a recent trip to the Project B-Glad portion of the university website, I was pleased to see that our university already promotes books encouraging homosexuality among children. We should expand our recommended reading list by drawing upon some of NAMBLA's recommended readings. Some of their readings also deal with ageism and prison rape. I will, therefore, encourage the Gerontology and Criminal Justice Programs to consider incorporating some of these readings into their curriculum. Perhaps an entire course on man/boy love relationships would be an appropriate elective for the Gerontology program.

 While some of these goals may take time, I think that we should immediately provide a link to NAMBLA's website on the university's home page. We should also invite a member of their organization to speak at the university. And maybe we could provide faculty and staff with bumper stickers, which read, "Pedophobia is a Social Disease." Could you imagine any more effective way to assist the university in carrying out its mission of eliminating moral judgment and promoting understanding and tolerance? Neither can I.

 Hopefully, my suggestions will help our students understand that there really are no moral absolutes. Except, of course, for moral relativism.

 Mike S. Adams (adams_mike@hotmail.com) is an associate professor of social satire at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is frequently chastised by his colleagues for believing some things (such as having sex with children) are simply wrong regardless of one's cultural perspective. Some people who aren't Swift enough to understand satire also occasionally chastise him.

 

207 posted on 12/05/2004 7:41:04 PM PST by watchdog_writer (God blessed America for the next FOUR YEARS!)
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To: Ramonan

Any person whose life goal is to be a college professor and through tenure "not get fired," has no vision or even real ambition.


208 posted on 12/05/2004 7:44:20 PM PST by Tax Government (Boycott and defeat the Legacy Media. Become a monthly contributor to FR.)
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To: Brad Cloven

The old saying, I think, is this:

Those who Can, Do,
Those who Can't, Teach,
Those who Can't Teach, Teach Teachers!


209 posted on 12/05/2004 7:45:41 PM PST by Theodore R.
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To: Tax Government

Tenure does not necessarily protect one from being dismissed from a college (or other) teaching job. It merely affirms one's right to hire a lawyer to participate in a dismissal hearing. Without tenure, there is no right even to a lawyer or a hearing.


210 posted on 12/05/2004 7:47:20 PM PST by Theodore R.
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To: Ramonan

Actually, it's very simple...

Most college professors have never been outside of the academic world, so it's easy to assume that the "theoretical world" they inhabit is the "real world."

Let's not forget that Michael Dell and the guy who started Federal Express were both told by their professors that they'd be failures.

Mark


211 posted on 12/05/2004 7:58:46 PM PST by MarkL (Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. But it rocks absolutely, too!)
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To: Ramonan

Actually, it's very simple...

Most college professors have never been outside of the academic world, so it's easy to assume that the "theoretical world" they inhabit is the "real world."

Let's not forget that Michael Dell and the guy who started Federal Express were both told by their professors that they'd be failures.

This is also why socialism is so popular in academia! Just because it doesn't work in the real world shouldn't keep it from being supported!

Mark


212 posted on 12/05/2004 7:59:42 PM PST by MarkL (Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. But it rocks absolutely, too!)
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Comment #213 Removed by Moderator

To: Ramonan
Oh lovely, yet another "enlightened" condescendng rant about the backwards, knuckle-dragging, redneck denizens of the red states.
214 posted on 12/05/2004 8:33:42 PM PST by sweetliberty (Just because we CAN do something, doesn't mean we should.)
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To: DennisR
You are absolutely right about liberal professors. When I attended college the difference between my "mean, stupid, unsophisticated" engineering profs. and my "enlightened, intelligent" liberal arts profs. was night and day. God help us if we ever need a lib-arts prof to design something useful and necessary (besides a wicker basket). You also mentioned that a lib-arts prof. was "kind enough" to correct your use of a word (I believe it was transpired). What an idiot! One of the things that I found most disturbing about my college experience was correcting a couple English comp. teachers when they wrongfully tried to correct me. The rules ARE written down. Anyone can read them. I never gave them an inch. They had to show me in writing any grammatical rules that I had broken. When I explained the grammatical rules that I had followed in these situations, they usually dropped the issue rather than verify it (which I encouraged them to do).

In case that moronic liberal teacher left you with any doubts, believe me, transpired is generally synonymous with occurred or happened; but don't take my word for it - look it up.
215 posted on 12/06/2004 3:22:20 PM PST by superskunk (They are idiots, aren't they!)
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Comment #216 Removed by Moderator

To: thornman; alessandrofiaschi; Admin Moderator

We've got Troll action! Must be a slow night at DU. Call the kitties.


217 posted on 12/29/2004 10:20:28 PM PST by superskunk (Quinn's Law: Liberalism always produces the exact opposite of it's stated intent.)
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To: thornman

When you mention statistics, it's usually a good idea to actually quote them and include sources.

Also, we do not share your socialistic "world view" here. I know what extreme liberalism is. I have a few of them in my family.

Also, you mentioned having a Masters Degree. Since you're in a sharing mood tonight, please tell us what your discipline is. We would love to know.


218 posted on 12/29/2004 10:25:55 PM PST by superskunk (Quinn's Law: Liberalism always produces the exact opposite of it's stated intent.)
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To: thornman
Healthy Forests (aka No Tree Left Behind)

I also WORKED my way through college as a tree trimmer. "No Tree Left Behind" is my personal policy. Never saw a tree that I didn't enjoy cutting down. I get a rush just thinking about it.
219 posted on 12/29/2004 10:35:37 PM PST by superskunk (Quinn's Law: Liberalism always produces the exact opposite of it's stated intent.)
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To: MeekOneGOP
Makes me proud NOT to be a Republican!

This ain't your average TROLL. I think we have Joseph Stalin himself!
220 posted on 12/29/2004 10:40:59 PM PST by superskunk (Quinn's Law: Liberalism always produces the exact opposite of it's stated intent.)
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