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As an alum of the physics department at WUSTL - the author of this piece has quite a negative reputation on campus due to his outspoken beliefs on various polit

As an alum of the physics department at WUSTL - the author of this piece has quite a negative reputation on campus due to his outspoken beliefs on various political matters. It has led to his removal from many important projects and nearly cost him his tenure Removal from Obama commission during BP oil spill: http://archive.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=202393 http://archive.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=202393 One of his other essays, "In Defense of Homophobia": http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/defense.html http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/defense.html Essay "Why Terrorism Matters": http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/terror.html http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/terror.html Letter to school newspaper about global warming evidence: http://www.studlife.com/forum/2009/10/28/letter-to-the-editor-jonathan-katz/ http://www.studlife.com/forum/2009/10/28/letter-to-the-edito...

michaelochurch 12y ago
Even though I find his political beliefs repulsive, and am sure that his beliefs have put him afoul of the academic groupthink (which leaves me in a weird place, because I dislike his beliefs but also dislike the leftist conformity being brandished against him and breaking his career) I don't think any of this stuff is relevant. Standing alone, everything he says in this essay is correct and insightful. So I'd rather discuss that than him.
- jjoonathan 12y ago
  Did you actually read what he wrote? The views he expressed are much closer to what you so derisively call "leftist conformity" than his titles would seem to indicate.
  - Myrmornis 12y ago
    Huh? Modern "Leftist conformity" involves placing homosexuality and heterosexuality in a scientifically and sociologically spurious equivalence. His piece on homosexuality is extremely far from leftist conformity.
- Myrmornis 12y ago
  There's a place on HN for discussing both strictly the content and also issues related to the author don't you think? I mean, we have a beautiful tree UI, we may as well use it :)
amirmc 12y ago
This comment is borderline ad hominem [1]. I say borderline because you don't explicitly use the information you give to counter his views but since you don't actually say anything, that's the impression a reader might take away. The articles you cite have nothing to do with the author's views on academic careers or the choices people should consider regarding graduate school. Personally, I'd find a discussion of those points more 'on topic' than the author's views on sexuality. [1] I had to look it up to be sure. " ... a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument" - from wikipedia.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
  I disagree, the original link is to an opinion related to a societal issue, so other opinions by the author on societal issues are relevant.
  - verroq 12y ago
    Yeah you're right. His opinions on the last movie he watched is relevant when he's discussing what he thinks of postdoc positions as professor with tenure.
    - GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
      Kind of interesting you'd put 'I hate gay people' on the same level as 'I hated the latest Godzilla'.
      - verroq 12y ago
        >You: What he thinks of gay people is relevant when talking about postdoc positions. >Me: Yeah right >You: I bet you hate gay people too
- Myrmornis 12y ago
  What nonsense. What on Earth is the point of your post? Very clearly the GP posts some links which are helpful to someone assessing the written output, world view, politics and mindset of the author of the original piece on academia. Furthermore, have you read the piece on homophobia? I'm not the most politically correct person out there, but really that article is the sort of thing we expect from semi-literate bible-thumping retards from the small towns of the southern USA. It is definitely of interest to this thread that the physics professor in question wrote that.

michaelochurch 12y ago

Even though I find his political beliefs repulsive, and am sure that his beliefs have put him afoul of the academic groupthink (which leaves me in a weird place, because I dislike his beliefs but also dislike the leftist conformity being brandished against him and breaking his career) I don't think any of this stuff is relevant. Standing alone, everything he says in this essay is correct and insightful. So I'd rather discuss that than him.

jjoonathan 12y ago
Did you actually read what he wrote? The views he expressed are much closer to what you so derisively call "leftist conformity" than his titles would seem to indicate.
- Myrmornis 12y ago
  Huh? Modern "Leftist conformity" involves placing homosexuality and heterosexuality in a scientifically and sociologically spurious equivalence. His piece on homosexuality is extremely far from leftist conformity.
Myrmornis 12y ago
There's a place on HN for discussing both strictly the content and also issues related to the author don't you think? I mean, we have a beautiful tree UI, we may as well use it :)

amirmc 12y ago

This comment is borderline ad hominem [1]. I say borderline because you don't explicitly use the information you give to counter his views but since you don't actually say anything, that's the impression a reader might take away. The articles you cite have nothing to do with the author's views on academic careers or the choices people should consider regarding graduate school. Personally, I'd find a discussion of those points more 'on topic' than the author's views on sexuality. [1] I had to look it up to be sure. " ... a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument" - from wikipedia.

GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
I disagree, the original link is to an opinion related to a societal issue, so other opinions by the author on societal issues are relevant.
- verroq 12y ago
  Yeah you're right. His opinions on the last movie he watched is relevant when he's discussing what he thinks of postdoc positions as professor with tenure.
  - GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
    Kind of interesting you'd put 'I hate gay people' on the same level as 'I hated the latest Godzilla'.
    - verroq 12y ago
      >You: What he thinks of gay people is relevant when talking about postdoc positions. >Me: Yeah right >You: I bet you hate gay people too
Myrmornis 12y ago
What nonsense. What on Earth is the point of your post? Very clearly the GP posts some links which are helpful to someone assessing the written output, world view, politics and mindset of the author of the original piece on academia. Furthermore, have you read the piece on homophobia? I'm not the most politically correct person out there, but really that article is the sort of thing we expect from semi-literate bible-thumping retards from the small towns of the southern USA. It is definitely of interest to this thread that the physics professor in question wrote that.