The World According to Nick
My take on Software, Technology, Politics, and anything else I feel like talking about.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Hypocrisy at It's Finest 

Paul Krugman at the NY Times tries to explain why recent studies have show that college professors are overwhelmingly liberal:

It's a fact, documented by two recent studies, that registered Republicans and self-proclaimed conservatives make up only a small minority of professors at elite universities. But what should we conclude from that?
...
One answer is self-selection - the same sort of self-selection that leads Republicans to outnumber Democrats four to one in the military. The sort of person who prefers an academic career to the private sector is likely to be somewhat more liberal than average, even in engineering.

But there's also, crucially, a values issue. In the 1970's, even Democrats like Daniel Patrick Moynihan conceded that the Republican Party was the "party of ideas." Today, even Republicans like Representative Chris Shays concede that it has become the "party of theocracy."

I find it amazing how people can not only argue in favor of Krugman's view with a straight face, but how people can bash him with a straight face. Is anyone else reminded of the debate not that long ago that took place when a certain Harvard professor made comments like this in regards to women in math and science? People like Krugman were all over him like a coat of paint. Others stood up saying that maybe he has some interesting ideas and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. They said that instead of arguing against his position because you don't like it... in a knee jerk response... maybe you should refute his actual points they.

And yet here we are again. We have a columnist who is speculating that maybe there is a reason other than bias for a certain demographic inconsistency... and we have people making knee jerk arguments about how awful the person making the argument is. I don't know... maybe there is something to this. I personally couldn't get out of college fast enough. I joked with people that I wanted to be like a bad president... 4 years and out. Then again that was learning... not teaching. I do enjoy teaching... I've certainly enjoyed teaching here at my current client when I get the chance.

The issue here is one of taking offense, because now he's talking about your demographic group instead of someone else's... and people hate to be stereotyped. But guess what... all these arguments revolve around stereotypes. I don't know whether what he's suggesting has any basis in fact... but I will grant him that it's an interesting point, and one that deserves to be investigated. Saying something you don't like doesn't make it wrong. It just makes it annoying.

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Name: Nick
Home: Wauwatosa, WI, United States

I'm a Software Consultant in the Milwaukee area. Among various geeky pursuits, I'm also an amateur triathlete, and enjoy rock climbing. I also like to think I'm a political pundit.


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