The Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

Submitted by Douglas Ball (Canada), Jan 7, 2003 at 16:57

Two thoughts skrike me about these two "dissenting" professors.

One, they occupy positions in institutions that are themselves shutting down dissenting opinion on all sorts of politically incorrect topics, racial quotas being one of them. Academics who want to be seen as "brave and fearless" when taking on the government, are themselves revealed to be feckless and spineless when it comes to speaking out on their institutions' racist policies. They become the proverbial "herd of independent minds."

Two, they seem to feel they must cast themselves as opposing something, anything. I guess they simply understand their positions in academia as oppositional only. In England, they confidently and loudly opposed war with Hitler on the eve of the Nazi invasion of Poland. Today, naturally, they crow opposition to Bush's cocked-gun-to-the-temple approach of negotiating with today's Hitler. I suspect that if Bush and the country turned pro-Iraq and wined and dined Hussein, our academics would vote solidly for war! They don't so much think as react.

Keep up the good work Mr Pipes. You're one of the few sane voices around.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".