stupidly phrased OP
I agree with rjung, but I’d also like to add that nearly any group that aims to achieve political power through manipulation of the masses is threatened by academia because they are smart enough not to buy into their demagogery and could potentially blow their cover.
To parahrase a certain other poster:
“That’s a december tactic, I hardly think it is fair to smear conservatives in general with his behaviour.”
There’s a great quote by David Skinner, assistant managing editor
of the nototriuosly Liberal Weekly Standard to this effect,
"…Coulterization of the American right. Conservatism as partisan sport–the opposite of principled, ideological debate–has become major entertainment and helped debase much right-aisle political debate into an undifferentiated noise of team-rooting. "
The case has been made that you’re actually discussing pop-cons
Ahhh. the neo-Cons
The gov. big business and the church in bed together again.
I’d suggest that it’s the other way around: academia hates The Real World, because their fancy social theories (like Communism)simply don’t work in The Real World.
Conservatives don’t hate academia. Heck, the most prominent libertarian blogger, Glenn Reynolds, is a professor of law. Thomas Sowell was an economics professor, Newt Gingrich was a history professor.
What conservatives have no patience for is academics who place theory above practicality and agitate for government to impose said theories. Conservatives also have no patience for speech codes, which are mainly supported by the leftist academia.
And you were wrong when you said it before, and you are wrong now.
Liberalism is about challenging the status quo only when the status quo does not agree with their ideas, and only challenging conservative beliefs. Name me a liberal professor who argues that the status quo of Roe v. Wade (for instance) ought to be challenged, or who is interested in exploring the new idea of school vouchers, or wants people to grow out of the idea that all the problems of blacks in America are caused by the white establishment.
Liberals are just as hide-bound and inflexible when it comes to their sacred cows as conservatives - or more so. The only academia liberals like is liberal academia, and there is an unfortunate amount of it.
Regards,
Shodan
On a related note–one reason conservatives,( and anybody with an open mind) dislikes academia, is that it was academic liberals who invented the sacred phrase “politically correct” .When McCarthy demanded that everyone be “politically correct” in the 1950’s, it was a disgusting concept , but now,it’s okay because a liberal suggests it.
What they really mean is that censorship is okay, as long as you only demean anything American, white or western. But if you support, say, the human shields in Iraq, or support blaming white society for the social problems in black ghettos, then it’s okay to be a McCarthyite
Who are “they”?
The context of seems to clearly imply conservatives. YMMV.
Err. No of. Should read as follows
scratches his head
All this back and forth of “conservatives hate academia!” “no! liberals hate true academia” “no! academia is a waste of time and effort perpetually out of step with reality” strikes me as pointless. The OP is nearly pure conjecture, citing only one particular section of one particular brand of conservatism which nowhere near all conservatives agree about. As usual this has, per regulation, broken down into a shouting war about who is actually evilererer and stole so-and-so’s toy.
While amusing, this hardly becomes a great debate and more The Great Whine which permeates every thread. The truth (only as I see it) is that there are liberal professors and conservative professors, ivory tower and hands-on people, those who profess and those who do. And neither side has a lock on any of those traits because first and foremost Professors are People! I know several who dine at McDonalds because they quite like the food and in fact can’t afford much better on a regular basis. I know several who had practical, hands-on experience in applying the theories they teach (hardly Communism) and then came to academia as a sort of retirement. Some of them are liberal, some not but they all seem to derive great respect from their students.
So how about we put down the respective partisan axes and actually converse in a civil fashion although I’d have no clue about what since the start of this thread is extremely divisive and ridiculous. No? Thats pretty much what I thought.
This discussion could be summarized"
Why do cows hate platypi?
(Well I’m not sure whether the plural of patapus is platypi or platypusses. But Platypusses sounds like a James Bond heroine. Or is that a James Joyce pun?)
Priam’s right: what a train wreck of a thread. Here’s one undisputedly liberal academician (and part-time IT professional) who hangs with some working-class people and with some conservative academicians, and I say all these generalizations are silly.
I think it makes no more sense to say “conservatives hate academia” than to say “liberals hate business” or that sort of thing. Yes, overall the academic world probably has a higher percentage of liberals than the corporate world, and vice versa for conservatives. And silly people on both sides may like to warp this into an “us versus them” worldview. But I think the vast majority of people on both sides recognize that it’s much more complex than that, and are aware of the crucial contributions made in both spheres.
As for “hatred” for academics expressed by the likes of Limbaugh and Coulter: see my above remark about silly people. I think it’s totally unfair to tar conservatives as a group with that brush. (The ones who proudly proclaim their general allegiance to the likes of Limbaugh and Coulter, of course, get whatever’s coming to them in the way of guilt by association. But IMO most conservatives just find them an embarrassment.)
I think if the OP is taken to mean “there’s a widespread meme of disdain for academics among conservatives” it’s probably true and you’d have very little trouble googling a truckload of cites to prove it. So you accusation of painting with too broad a brush doesn’t work, though I’ll concede that some conservatives don’t disparage academics – in fact, I believe the neocons infesting the White House at present were inspired by a REALLY woolly-headed academic.
**
Actually, one of my husband’s favorite sociology professors (a man highly respected in academic circles, I’m told) spent three years with the Hell’s Angels, doing a comprehensive study of the social structure of biker gangs.
My husband, who teaches sociology at our local college, also works in what is arguably the most “real” world there is: in a prison.
**
My husband has many friends in academia, and they vary widely over the political spectrum, conservatives, liberals and moderates. We have a hell of a lot of fun at gatherings because of the lenghty political debates. (Thankfully, because these are all very intelligent people, the debate never becomes heated, or insulting.)
Strangely enough, I don’t know a single person in academia which fits this description. Every single professor I have ever known has friends who come from all sorts of backgrounds. Some of them come from poor backgrounds themselves. I’ve been at parties with professors which were attended by “ivy league scholars” and auto mechanics.
After all, “these types” have families, and those relatives sometimes marry “little people.” They also have neighbors, and people they met while they were working their way through college.
The snobby, upper-class, liberal professor may be the stereotype, but it certainly isn’t the norm.
Then your claim that conservatives have a widespread disdain of academics is sort of shot to hell, n’est-ce pas? Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are A) hardly a representative sample and B) at least in the case of Coulter, she holds a law degree, and actions do speak louder than words. Do you think either person would tell their kids “don’t go to university”?
Many conservatives seems to practically worship Milton Friedman, an academic, and his acolytes. The Bush administration is rife with conservative academics. There are conservative think tanks at various schools. I studied under a number of conservative professors myself - my education had a fairly even mix of conservatives, moderates and liberals, actually. Aside from the rantings of a few talk show hosts does anyone have any evidence of this “conservatives hate academia” claim?
Same reason conservatives work to undermine public education in general:
An educated populace could not be relied on to support policies that benefit the wealthy few at the expense of the relatively impoverished masses.
The conservative’s worst fear is that the unwashed masses will actually vote in their own interests.
Fair enough.
Googling " academics bad say conservatives" gets 17,300 hits.
Googling " abortion good as population control say liberals" gets 21,900 hits.
Since liberals are for the ones pro-abortion rights, not conservatives, I guess it’s safe to conclude that all liberals are in favor of using abortion as a method of population control, right? What do you mean “no”? It got more hits!
Well, cows hate platypi(?) because they are jealous of the lack of nipples on a platypus, keeping them from being milked. And heck, they just lay eggs rather than lugging a calf around in them for months.
As a conservative who’s working on his masters in chemistry, I’m more afraid of getting a C from acadamia than I am hateful of anyone. 