19 February 2004
Source of bias
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If your temperament favors freedom without responsibility, then there are certain occupations that are a good fit. Academic life is one of them, as I pointed out in Real World 101. A professor has very little of what most of us would consider responsibility. Teaching, which is the most responsible activity that a professor must perform, is considered a minor part of the academic’s life. Almost all professors seek to lower these modest responsibilities even further by seeking reduced teaching loads.
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When we see leftist ideology statistically predominant among college professors, news reporters, or open-source software advocates, what we are seeing is self selection. What Richard Florida dubbed The Creative Class is a self-selected group that seeks freedom without responsibility in their professional lives. Thus, we should not be surprised that their ideological bent is toward modern liberalism, which translates this personal preference into a political platform.
I find this more plausible than the conservatives are stupid theory.
Board vs. Council
“Climax — More than just a feeling” is the slogan of Climax, Minn., a town of 270 souls near the North Dakota border. Adopted for the town’s centennial in 1996, the slogan is printed on T-shirts. There’s a school. You can guess the rest.
Shirley Moberg, superintendent of Climax-Shelly schools, said the slogan’s sexual innuendo made it inappropriate for students to wear.
School officials had “turned a blind eye” to students wearing the shirts until recently, when a teacher wore it to school and a person complained. The shirts are no longer allowed to be worn at school, she said.
“Sorry, you can’t wear a T-shirt with the town motto”? Perhaps the complainer should take it up with the town council.
Praise the lord and pass the ammunition
Insurgents here staged simultaneous morning assaults on three police stations, a civil defense base and the mayor’s office Saturday […]
No American troops were involved in the fighting. Officers from the 82nd Airborne Division stationed a 10-minute drive away could hear the battle clearly. They offered help but the Hammad said it wasn’t needed. The Americans did provide additional ammunition and weapons, including light machine guns.
As has been noted, the fact that the help the Iraqis wanted was guns and ammo instead of troops is a very good sign. You’d never begrudge that kind of thing to a neighbor.
Artistic opinion in Iraq
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Here’s an example of what an Iraqi artist thinks of the Americans.
This picture of the statue was made by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad. This artist was so grateful that the Americans liberated his country, he melted 3 of the fallen Saddam heads and made a memorial statue dedicated to the American soldiers and their fallen comrades. Kalat worked on this night and day for several months. To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms. It is currently on display outside the palace that is now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped and shown at the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.
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The sculpture is based on a scene many in Iraq have witnessed in one form or another.
A Soldier kneels before a memorial of boots, rifle and helmet — his forehead resting in the hollow of his hand. Behind and to his right stands a small Iraqi girl with her hand reaching out to touch his shoulder.
The statue evokes emotion. The girl was added to the statue to remind people of why the sacrifice was made, [Command Sgt. Maj. Chuck] Fuss said.
“It’s about freedom for this country, but it’s also about the children who will grow up in a free society,” he said.
Not quite the same attitude as Senator John Kerry, eh?
Political distinction
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[Senator John] Kerry has the dubious and perhaps unique distinction of being a presidential candidate whose speeches have actually been used as an instrument of torture against Americans. The Los Angeles Times reports on Kerry’s April 22, 1971, appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which we noted last week:
Dressed in his combat fatigues and ribbons, [Kerry] told Congress that U.S. soldiers had “raped, cut off ears, cut off heads . . . randomly shot at civilians . . . in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan.” He later acknowledged that he did not witness the crimes himself but had heard about them from others. . . .
Paul Galanti learned of Kerry’s speech while held captive inside North Vietnam’s infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison. The Navy pilot had been shot down in June 1966 and spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war.
During torture sessions, he said, his captors cited the antiwar speeches as “an example of why we should cross over to [their] side.”
Here’s at least one issue Kerry has been consistent on — opposing the US military.