Chait, LA Times: Discrimination not the reason academia shuns Republicans

[DeepModem Mom]

Jonathan Chait:
Why Academia Shuns Republicans

....The main causes of the partisan disparity on campus have little to do with anything so nefarious as discrimination. First, Republicans don't particularly want to be professors. To go into academia — a highly competitive field that does not offer great riches — you have to believe that living the life of the mind is more valuable than making a Wall Street salary. On most issues that offer a choice between having more money in your pocket and having something else — a cleaner environment, universal health insurance, etc. — conservatives tend to prefer the money and liberals tend to prefer the something else. It's not so surprising that the same thinking would extend to career choices.

Second, professors don't particularly want to be Republicans. In recent years, and especially under George W. Bush, Republicans have cultivated anti-intellectualism. Remember how Bush in 2000 ridiculed Al Gore for using all them big numbers?

That's not just a campaign ploy. It's how Republicans govern these days. Last summer, my colleague Frank Foer wrote a cover story in the New Republic detailing the way the Bush administration had disdained the advice of experts. And not liberal experts, either. These were Republican-appointed wonks whose know-how on topics such as global warming, the national debt and occupying Iraq were systematically ignored. Bush prefers to follow his gut.

In the world of academia, that's about the nastiest thing you can say about somebody. Bush's supporters consider it a compliment. "Republicans, from Reagan to Bush, admire leaders who are straight-talking men of faith. The Republican leader doesn't have to be book smart," wrote conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks a week before the election. "Democrats, on the other hand, are more apt to emphasize … being knowledgeable and thoughtful. They value leaders who see complexities, who possess the virtues of the well-educated."...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-chait10dec10,0,1922702.column

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. This article says it all

There's been a climate of anti-intellectualism in this country for as long as I can remember. In school, I was teased because I was a woman who was smart-"Can't get a hubby being brainy" garbage. I've been criticized for pronouncing words correctly and using them in a correct manner-"putting on airs" and "who do you think you are" sort of comments. Personally, I've gotten pretty tired of it over the years. Do these people think we would have gotten to the moon, had livesaving vaccines, and other innovations if we'd all been dumb? Do people honestly like the dumb way we're being governed right now?

[NoSheep]

7. My niece treats me like I'm weird because I have a brain. She's 21.

Clueless. She says "you're always using big words...."
Like I should be embarrassed about it. Somebody, get me a new family puleeeeze!!!!!:o

[teryang]

2. Straight talking men of faith = frauds, liars, profiteers, war mongers

You know straight talking people like David Brooks, propagandist for the fascist regime.

[bryant69]

3. Wait a moment

David Brooks is a genius. I mean how else do you understand a guy who walks into Applebees looks around and somehow understands America and all Americans completely? Other social scientists do research and surveys and field work--not Mr. Brooks. All he has to do is think for a moment and he knows exactly how to describe everybody in America. Apparently we all come with convenient easy to use lables, and Mr. Brooks finally cracked the code that gave us "Security moms" and "Patio Men." I mean it's possible that all this is BS, the equivalent of that paper most of us wrote where we didn't actaully read the book, but tried to crib off our class mates reactions and the table of contents. But what are the odds of that?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Academia doesn't provide riches? You haven't met Jeb Bush's

regents.

[dryan]

5. I don't know....

if the author of this article has checked into what professors are making lately but here in Florida, some of them make over 1/4 of a million a year!

[NoSheep]

6. Yep. They're anti-intellectual. Profs tend to be thinkers, duh.

:eyes:

[Dixon Cox]

8. Great Article!

I can hear them now: "We don't need nun-a-dat' fancy book learnin'!"

Then again, sounds like some W would say too.

Thanks for the link.

[laheina]

9. Hello Dixon!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Dixon Cox]

11. Back to you!

:hi:

It's nice to be among those who share a common hatred against ignorance, fear, intolerance, and all other things B*sh. Thanks for the welcome, fellow Hornet!

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Dixon Cox!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Dixon Cox]

14. Hey Newyawker99, how YOU 'doin?

Greetings from one blue state'r to another!

Should we take this fraud racket lying down? Fuggedaboutit!

[mitchum]

10. While America has always been anti-intellectual, it has recently...

taken an even more disturbing turn. Many Americans have always looked askance at the liberal arts (all of that "useless" philosophy, literature, visual arts, etc...), but have had an abiding faith in science. But now the ever-growing ranks of the yahoos are rejecting science ( denial of global warning, creationism, embrace of the Rapture nonsense, etc...)

[wicket]

13. well said!

:kick:

[Cobalt Violet]

15. Republicans only want affirmative action for themselves in academia.

Ever notice that.

[jdots]

16. At an orientation meeting at my kids college

some dip shit dad asked why all the professors were liberals
uh huh. The neocons would hate for people to be smart enough to see through thier shit,they have done a very good job of dumbing down this country in the last few decades.