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What a load of uncorroborated rubbish. > Whether you agree with leftist thinking or not, academia is heavily politically biased to the left Reality is heavily

by orf 9y ago

What a load of uncorroborated rubbish. > Whether you agree with leftist thinking or not, academia is heavily politically biased to the left Reality is heavily biased to the left, or at least certainly the USA's version of the left (which is really more centralist). It should tell you something when institutions inhabited by some of the most intelligent people on the planet, producing some of the most ground breaking scientific work in the history of mankind all lean a certain way. And hint: the way they lean doesn't espouse that God created the world and climate change is a fallacy. Funny that, isn't it.

simula67 9y ago
> Reality is heavily biased to the left, or at least certainly the USA's version of the left (which is really more centralist). From what I can see, it is not. > It should tell you something when institutions inhabited by some of the most intelligent people on the planet, producing some of the most ground breaking scientific work in the history of mankind all lean a certain way. It tells me that OPs assessment is correct. Universities in the USA have become left wing indoctrination centers > climate change is a fallacy The left has it's own problems with science : http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/07/15/are-republicans-or-democrats-more-anti-s http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/07/15/are-republicans-or-dem...
- orf 9y ago
  > From what I can see, it is not. Ok, cool, doesn't change reality though does it. > Universities in the USA have become left wing indoctrination centers Strange how places where you meet people from diverse backgrounds, cultures and countries while expanding your knowledge makes people more tolerant isn't it. > The left has it's own problems with science... "Reason.com: Free Minds and Free Markets" hahaha ok. Trickle down economics Right wing Christianity Guns make people safer, who needs mental healthcare funding when you have them Trump Climate change isn't real! These oil companies assured me. Transgender people can go to hell Bootstraps not included. Hey look at these brown people, not the blatent wage theft, tax doging and gorging we are doing! Hardcore gerrymandering (admittedly not entirely partisan) The southern strategy. Give me a break. Feel free to argue that any of those are liberal issues by the way, I have a feeling you won't.
- digitaltrees 9y ago
  Economic reality does. Want to compare the predictions of Paul Krugman, Joesph Stigltz, Ben Bernacke to Aurther Laffer, Larry Kudlow etc? How about all the warnings that Gov Browns tax increase in California would decimate the economy while Gov Brownbacks tax cut in Kansas would trigger unimaginable growth. What really happened. Facts please. As far as universities. The left accepts the scientific method. The right says that goes against god. University aren’t indoctrinating anyone. People are self selecting where they want to be.
indubitable 9y ago
You should be careful of such logic. For instance, eugenics and forced sterilization was a cornerstone of academic thought for some time in the US [1]. "The Immigration Restriction League was the first American entity associated officially with eugenics. Founded in 1894 by three recent Harvard University graduates, the League sought to bar what it considered inferior races from entering America and diluting what it saw as the superior American racial stock (upper class Northerners of Anglo-Saxon heritage)... Membership in the League included: A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard, William DeWitt Hyde, president of Bowdoin College, James T. Young, director of Wharton School and David Starr Jordan, president of Stanford University.[42]" This went on for decades and really only came to an end once Hitler, who was heavily influenced by US "progress" on this front, took things to an extreme. Quite ironic in a way that he is arguably the very reason that his vision for the future did not become the present we live in today. One need only look to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' statement (in the 8-1 majority opinion of Buck v Bell): "We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Appealing to emotion and authority instead of logic and rationale is a great way for a group to turn into a mob. Do not forget, nearly all evil in this world has been done in the name of some greater good. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States
- orf 9y ago
  > the League sought to bar what it considered inferior races from entering America and diluting what it saw as the superior American racial stock Sounds like a lot of the alt-right rhetoric going around right now. Go read a bunch of /r/the_donald comments if anyone doesn't believe me. Sure, it's a bit of a wavey argument to make and you shouldn't blindly appeal to authority. However all of your examples seem to be based in a time when universities where decidedly un-liberal and certainly not "left wing indoctrination centers"
digitaltrees 9y ago
I agree. If the facts fit with a liberal theory of reality, that’s not liberal bias. For example, after the financial crisis left wing economic theory made predictions: low interest rates would not lead to inflation; Government spending would not crowd out private investment but would work by stimulating demand. Etc. Meanwhile right wing economic theory predicted hyperinflation which never came. Said that the biggest problem was government debt and deficits. Said that we had a structural imbalance of workers and job requirements so we would have perpetual long term unemployment. None of that happened. So, if two theories make predictions and one set comes true, it doesn’t matter if it was liberal or conservative; it was just an accurate theory of reality. Now we are told that corporate tax cuts will increase investment, increase GDP and lead to wage growth. Well that prediction was made under Bush; didn’t happen. It was made in Kansas; didn’t happen. So maybe the facts have a liberal bias. I’ll make a prediction. Corporations will issue dividends about 1/3 of which will go to foreign stock holders. They will not increase wages with the excess cash. Any wage growth will be tied to reaching full employment. Corporations will not significantly increase capital investment in the US because the dollar will get stronger, the internal rate of return will be lower so their money will be better spent internationally. Let’s see what happens.

by orf 9y ago

simula67 9y ago

> Reality is heavily biased to the left, or at least certainly the USA's version of the left (which is really more centralist). From what I can see, it is not. > It should tell you something when institutions inhabited by some of the most intelligent people on the planet, producing some of the most ground breaking scientific work in the history of mankind all lean a certain way. It tells me that OPs assessment is correct. Universities in the USA have become left wing indoctrination centers > climate change is a fallacy The left has it's own problems with science : http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/07/15/are-republicans-or-democrats-more-anti-s http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/07/15/are-republicans-or-dem...

orf 9y ago
> From what I can see, it is not. Ok, cool, doesn't change reality though does it. > Universities in the USA have become left wing indoctrination centers Strange how places where you meet people from diverse backgrounds, cultures and countries while expanding your knowledge makes people more tolerant isn't it. > The left has it's own problems with science... "Reason.com: Free Minds and Free Markets" hahaha ok. Trickle down economics Right wing Christianity Guns make people safer, who needs mental healthcare funding when you have them Trump Climate change isn't real! These oil companies assured me. Transgender people can go to hell Bootstraps not included. Hey look at these brown people, not the blatent wage theft, tax doging and gorging we are doing! Hardcore gerrymandering (admittedly not entirely partisan) The southern strategy. Give me a break. Feel free to argue that any of those are liberal issues by the way, I have a feeling you won't.
digitaltrees 9y ago
Economic reality does. Want to compare the predictions of Paul Krugman, Joesph Stigltz, Ben Bernacke to Aurther Laffer, Larry Kudlow etc? How about all the warnings that Gov Browns tax increase in California would decimate the economy while Gov Brownbacks tax cut in Kansas would trigger unimaginable growth. What really happened. Facts please. As far as universities. The left accepts the scientific method. The right says that goes against god. University aren’t indoctrinating anyone. People are self selecting where they want to be.

indubitable 9y ago

You should be careful of such logic. For instance, eugenics and forced sterilization was a cornerstone of academic thought for some time in the US [1]. "The Immigration Restriction League was the first American entity associated officially with eugenics. Founded in 1894 by three recent Harvard University graduates, the League sought to bar what it considered inferior races from entering America and diluting what it saw as the superior American racial stock (upper class Northerners of Anglo-Saxon heritage)... Membership in the League included: A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard, William DeWitt Hyde, president of Bowdoin College, James T. Young, director of Wharton School and David Starr Jordan, president of Stanford University.[42]" This went on for decades and really only came to an end once Hitler, who was heavily influenced by US "progress" on this front, took things to an extreme. Quite ironic in a way that he is arguably the very reason that his vision for the future did not become the present we live in today. One need only look to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' statement (in the 8-1 majority opinion of Buck v Bell): "We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Appealing to emotion and authority instead of logic and rationale is a great way for a group to turn into a mob. Do not forget, nearly all evil in this world has been done in the name of some greater good. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States

orf 9y ago
> the League sought to bar what it considered inferior races from entering America and diluting what it saw as the superior American racial stock Sounds like a lot of the alt-right rhetoric going around right now. Go read a bunch of /r/the_donald comments if anyone doesn't believe me. Sure, it's a bit of a wavey argument to make and you shouldn't blindly appeal to authority. However all of your examples seem to be based in a time when universities where decidedly un-liberal and certainly not "left wing indoctrination centers"

digitaltrees 9y ago

I agree. If the facts fit with a liberal theory of reality, that’s not liberal bias. For example, after the financial crisis left wing economic theory made predictions: low interest rates would not lead to inflation; Government spending would not crowd out private investment but would work by stimulating demand. Etc. Meanwhile right wing economic theory predicted hyperinflation which never came. Said that the biggest problem was government debt and deficits. Said that we had a structural imbalance of workers and job requirements so we would have perpetual long term unemployment. None of that happened. So, if two theories make predictions and one set comes true, it doesn’t matter if it was liberal or conservative; it was just an accurate theory of reality. Now we are told that corporate tax cuts will increase investment, increase GDP and lead to wage growth. Well that prediction was made under Bush; didn’t happen. It was made in Kansas; didn’t happen. So maybe the facts have a liberal bias. I’ll make a prediction. Corporations will issue dividends about 1/3 of which will go to foreign stock holders. They will not increase wages with the excess cash. Any wage growth will be tied to reaching full employment. Corporations will not significantly increase capital investment in the US because the dollar will get stronger, the internal rate of return will be lower so their money will be better spent internationally. Let’s see what happens.