T1B

Just watched David Horowitz again today on C-SPAN.

It was of his speech regarding his book, "Dangerous Professors," and Q&A that follows, at Duke University on March 7. C-Span's got it on their Web site, I'm sure, if anyone is interested in watching it.

Amazon link to the book

I've seen it before and watched it again, mostly because I'm a geek, a political junkie and am sick of watching commercials during mindless TV shows when I'm in my Saturday, lawn-is-done, lazy-ass sofa mode, which happens only periodically in the RadioFan household.

At any rate, I think he's got some very good points about the culture of some university departments.

Probably the best part of his talk though is the Q&A. He had some people in the audience so flustered, they couldn't even ask him questions without huffing and puffing, literally.

I have no doubt that there are certain individuals teaching in universities who have a political agenda coming from the far Left. I saw it when I lived in Lawrence.

That being said, however, I don't think the problem of the "revolutionary" or "radical" Left in certain departments is as pervasive as Horowitz seems to believe.

Part of it may be that I finished school in '89, and that I attended OU, a fairly conservative public university to start with. Anita Hill, who was a law prof at OU when she testified in the Thomas hearings, was after my time there. But I do know the dean of the law school at OU at the time, David Swank, was crucified publically and damn near lost his job for defending her right to say what she thought and not firing or reassigning her, especially when she was called before Congress and took an oath to tell the truth.

Since I've left OU, David Boren, the former (moderate) Democratic senator, has become president, and he runs that campus like a corporation -- from the top down. Faculty peer committees? Bwah! Nothing happens at OU these days without the Boren administration's OK.

I guess living in Oklahoma with TU, ORU, OU and even OSU all being conservative to draconianally conservative universities in this area, I don't see Horowitz's warning call about all this "power" that faculty have, at least not around here. Sure, there's faculty/administration fights about the typical bullshit -- merit pay, health benefits -- that kind of thing, but not about only hiring people with certain views.

Anyway, I disagree with some of Horowitz's political and historical views "the far Left in this country, is responsible for the deaths of 2.5 million vietnamese" for example. That's a simplistic statement, and it's far, far more complicated than that, but I digress.

But I do enjoy hearing his arguments, as he is very well-spoken. And I agree with some of them (our current war, against Islamic extremists for example, and his argument that pulling out of Iraq now is the wrong thing to do.) Plus, his ability to make college students melt is hilarious, not to mention the big burly dude in a suit, who would occasionally appear in the C-Span picture behind him, arms folded, just standing there, looking like some kind of Number 1 for Boss Lucioni or something.

Hey, RadioFan, I'm from Lawton and go to Cameron. I have never felt a professor was trying to sway me one way or another and my friends at other schools throughout Oklahoma say the same thing. I just don't see it, but we do live in the Bible Belt.

At the two colleges/universities I attended (SUNY/Geneseo & U of Rochester), the presence and degree of political bias definitely depended on the department.

The bio and chem departments were politically apathetic at both places, while the education departments at both were seething cauldrons of ultra-leftist dogmatism, with professors concerned far more with issues of "teaching students to transgress against the white, male, heterosexist, non-differently-abled Christian hegemony" than actual educational strategies, curriculum issues, lesson planning, etc. The absolute idiocy, half-truths, and outright lies spewed from some of my education professors was maddening to me (e.g., the validity of Afrocentric science, women's "ways of knowing," how western science is "phallocentric," how rural poverty isn't bad because it's "like Huck Finn, with fishing and all that...").

Now that I think about it, I've never seen nor heard of either place having a right-leaning department...hadn't really thought about it 'til now...

It's the same in universities out here. Politics is very department -biased.
However, universities themselves also tend to lean one way or the other in general, too.

Radio, you are aware that that dunderhead had Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen on his 'terror watch' list?

Dr_Phibes wrote:Radio, you are aware that that dunderhead had Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen on his 'terror watch' list?

Thunderdome was a known Al Queda training ground.

Tell me you knew.

I think that college, and school in general, is supposed to be a period in which you learn to learn, learn to think.

Yes, you might encounter a bad teacher - which you learn something very valuable from.

You might encounter a political leaning that you aren't comfortable with - so, you develop the critical reasoning skills to oppose it.

Learning doesn't happen in controlled environments. There is so much whining about "liberal" professors...all balderdash. You don't have to swallow all you're being presented with whole, nor will you. You learn to consider the views of others, and as a result your own views are shaped.

I honestly believe people have become so ignorant that they've rolled up a Limbaugh-esque use of the word "liberal" into their understanding of "Liberal Arts".

Spent any time on university campuses, mvscal? What exactly qualifies you for this pronouncement?

mvscal wrote:

PSUFAN wrote:I honestly believe people have become so ignorant that they've rolled up a Limbaugh-esque use of the word "liberal" into their understanding of "Liberal Arts".

There is nothing in the least bit inaccurate about that. Liberal Arts depts. are overwhelmingly politically liberal. Only an idiot would attempt to dispute that basic fact of life.

Only an idiot would resort to such a gross oversimplification.

mvscal wrote:I have a Bachelor of Arts degree, dumbfuck.

And this qualifies you to ascertain the political viewpoints of L.A. departments nationwide?

Spare us, nitwit. Hannity and folks like him ghostwrite your tripe.

You've totally misunderstood the point...not that anyone should be surprised. An education is more about "being taught" things. Whatever the political inclinations of your teachers, you are really there to learn to reason critically.

BSmack wrote:

mvscal wrote:

PSUFAN wrote:I honestly believe people have become so ignorant that they've rolled up a Limbaugh-esque use of the word "liberal" into their understanding of "Liberal Arts".

There is nothing in the least bit inaccurate about that. Liberal Arts depts. are overwhelmingly politically liberal. Only an idiot would attempt to dispute that basic fact of life.

Only an idiot would resort to such a gross oversimplification.

C'mon, BSmack, the liberals are EVERYWHERE! Universities, the media, Hollywood! If it wasn't for Rush and Bush and the mvscal's on the foront line, we would be living in a world where gay folks were having sex in the child adoption offices, the UN would be allowed to replace all our military bases with hospitals for African babies with AIDS, and soccer would replace football as our national sport.

I think mvscal's point is pretty will illustrated by the fact that there are no universities in the US (that I know of) who have a Conservative Arts department. There's an obvious bias working here.

Mikey wrote:I think mvscal's point is pretty will illustrated by the fact that there are no universities in the US (that I know of) who have a Conservative Arts department. There's an obvious bias working here.

Yes there is. They call it "pottery"

some times glass blowing goes on, too.

Diogenes wrote: As far as Horowitz, one of the best things about him is the fact that he has actually done the leftist radical thing and gotten mugged by reality. He knows of what he speaks first hand, from the Dark Side.That and the way leftist tools (the ones who know, that is) melt down at the mention of his name.

Howowitz is a self-congratulating attention and media whore whose only real talent is an ability to stick his finger into the politcal wind and set his rhetorical sail to go along with it, easily convincing morons like you that he's 100% sincere. Pathetic, really.

Mikey wrote:

Diogenes wrote: As far as Horowitz, one of the best things about him is the fact that he has actually done the leftist radical thing and gotten mugged by reality. He knows of what he speaks first hand, from the Dark Side.That and the way leftist tools (the ones who know, that is) melt down at the mention of his name.

Howowitz is a self-congratulating attention and media whore whose only real talent is an ability to stick his finger into the politcal wind and set his rhetorical sail to go along with it, easily convincing morons like you that he's 100% sincere. Pathetic, really.

You certainly are...

Diogenes wrote:

Mikey wrote:

Diogenes wrote: As far as Horowitz, one of the best things about him is the fact that he has actually done the leftist radical thing and gotten mugged by reality. He knows of what he speaks first hand, from the Dark Side.That and the way leftist tools (the ones who know, that is) melt down at the mention of his name.

Howowitz is a self-congratulating attention and media whore whose only real talent is an ability to stick his finger into the politcal wind and set his rhetorical sail to go along with it, easily convincing morons like you that he's 100% sincere. Pathetic, really.

You certainly are...

Oooohhhhh the irony.