thanks (to Kim _He shall remain Nameless) for the heading.
James D. Miller says
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=022206G
...snip...
Multicultural feminists hold that any statistical under-representation of women must be due to white male oppression.....to suggest otherwise would be analogous to the King of Saudi Arabia suggesting that Mohamed wasn't a prophet.....
...freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry often cause hurt feelings..
...social science and humanities departments .... lack intellectual diversity...
what would happen if the Danish government apologized for the cartoons, fired the editor of the paper that printed them,
and gave $50 million to the radical Islamic protestors who have demanded the heads of the cartoons' creators.
Islamic radicals across the world would become empowered and freedom of speech in Western civilization would be at risk...
BUT THEN YOU HAVE
http://www.dailypepper.com/mt/archives/000834.html
HERE WE HAVE SOMEONE THAT CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENIUS AND GREAT.
Just because you know a PhD does not make you any different then if you were the friend of Einstein or Hawkins.
They, not you, are the genius and your brain (and mine also) is like that of a mouse beside theirs.
Z'all the scrap • ø Ø Þ One Day we will find out what to write here
UPDATE-2:nothing PC
UPDATE-3:for the lazy man
UPDATE-4:Mars Venus
º Cilacap, Indonesia º
1 comment:
FULL DISCLOSURE
Was Posted by pepper at
http://www.dailypepper.com/mt/archives/000834.html
February 22, 2006
Good Riddance, Lawrence Summers
I don't understand why Lawrence Summers didn't get the boot from Harvard immediately after his statement that women and science don't mix, but he's finally leaving. Of course, it's going to take Harvard years to clean up the mess.
Alan Dershowitz has a different point of view in the Boston Globe. His title says it all: . So, it's a victory for the politically correct now? Instead of a victory for the women who bust their butt to get to college in the first place, only to be told they can't do math? Summers' statement about women wasn't empty words, spoken to his buddies in a Turkish spa. It was public, it was out in the open, and what he said could influence funding decisions - not just at Harvard, but at other schools - related to getting more women in science and hiring more female professors.
Dershowitz blames Summers' firing (Summers is now a victim, you see, as if he'll never be able to get a job again) on the "hard left": "Summers committed the cardinal sin against the academic hard left: He expressed politically incorrect views regarding gender, race, religion, sexual preference, and the military."
In that sentence alone, I hear the knee-jerk reaction to any defense of civil rights, the old days, when feminists who stood up for themselves were called "strident," when minorities who demanded a fair shake were asking for "special treatment."
Dershowitz stays mad at those "radical academics": "Instead they introduce motions of no confidence and demand resignations of those who offend their sensibilities (while insisting on complete freedom of speech for those with whom they agree -- free speech for me but not for thee!)."
Perhaps there was some of that hypocrisy going on at Harvard. Academia can be a snippy, backbiting place (personal experience on this one) - but Summers and Dershowitz are glossing over the fact that words have power. A few words that women aren't good at science might give those with latent prejudices against female scientists an out when it comes to hiring decisions that may diversify their departments.
Now Gawker also has a "Harvard Correspondent" who praises Summers for his straight-talking and ability to irritate snotty Harvard types. That's all well and good that he irritated snotty Harvard types, but he irritated many hard-working female doctors and scientists as well.
I'd like to see him say that to my best friend, who has a PhD in chemistry and knows quantum physics. And then I'd like to see Summers run as fast as his sorry legs can carry him.
I sense that much of this backlash against political correctness is actually pity for Summers. His story appears to have a tragic arc - a bright man felled by hubris, a few little words that provoked a firestorm. But he won't have a tragic end. He'll go on to be a consultant. Or a president at another school. Summers will get plenty of second and third acts. Don't cry for him, Argentina.
Full Disclosure: I majored in English. By choice. My AP scores exempted me from math and science. And my job requires computer science skills. Lawrence Summers can kiss my ass.
Was Posted by pepper at
http://www.dailypepper.com/mt/archives/000834.html
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