Remove All Doubt
Friday, December 10
 
"I've never been the answer to an argument before," alternate title, "F**k You, Jonathan Chait"
Jonathan Chait may well be a nice, thoughtful guy, but his LA Times editorial claiming that there is no bias against conservatives in academia is offensive bullsh*t on a stilts, and I prove it - not I can prove it - I prove it. Mr. Chait claims that the dearth of conservatives in academia is primarily due to two reasons:


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. * * *

Second, professors don't particularly want to be
Republicans. In recent years, and especially under George W. Bush, Republicans
have cultivated anti-intellectualism.


Mr. Chait, I'm a conservative, and former member of the Bush Administration. I've also left the the prestige of a White House job, the security of a career government job, and the financial opportunities of the private sector to suffer through the poverty and drudgery of years of graduate school for the chance to get an academic job. And anyone who says my claim of drudgery proves I don't value the life of the mind has never been in a PhD program. There are plenty of great moments, but there is plenty of drudgery too. Drudgery at $12,000 a year. And anyone who doesn't mind working 60 hours a week for $12,000 a year hasn't done it. I have made major sacrifices for the CHANCE to get an academic job, and I am made aware every day that my conservative views, well within the mainstream in normal society, are on the far right fringes of academia and are likely unacceptable to many of the people who will determine the path of my career. As an example, I'd guess about half of my classmates, who will one day fill academic positions, equate conservative views with evil views, and every class discussion of politics I've ever heard assumes that as a starting point. When was the last time Mr. Chait has been on a campus? And just as importantly, when was the last time he talked with a conservative? His argument is so full of unreasonable generalizations and so disconnected from the reality of campus life as it is, and conservatives as they are that it's just plain ignorant. So, for insulting the sacrifices I have made for the opportunity to "live the life of the mind" as a conservative, for minimizing the dozens of times I've had to bite my tongue at outlandish leftist insults of a President I respect, of dedicated and hardworking friends in government, and even of my own religious faith, and indeed, for now making those insults yourself, here is my message to you, Mr. Chait: F**k you. And the horse you rode in on.

Professor Bainbridge, once again proving he belongs on our Blogroll, brought this item to my attention, and has some choice, and rather more balanced, words of his own.

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