Why Go After the Universities?
Maybe that's where your critics are and "the truth."
One of the challenges of tough thought goes back to diner menus when I was young. Connect the dots!
Many ask: why an attack on higher education especially the Ivy League. They do employ and honor a high proportion of left-leaning scholars in various fields. This may hint at bias. Perhaps in a few fields. Humans make human decisions.
However, the overwhelming criteria for hiring and advancement in these universities is rigorously applied meritocracy. They are the best of the best in their fields of study. I don’t find anyone credibly attacking them on that ground. Few even try.
If an explanation is needed, it seems clear that the first choice to consider is one that will anger some Trump supporters. It need not, of course, but stated without detailed analysis it will seem partisan. Top scholars in their field are very smart people and smart people see tragic flaws in Trump and his policies.
Now before I’m jumped on, let me agree with some of you. Abstract thinking is not the whole of intelligence. And one can point to many times in history when the “scholars” have been wrong. More wrong than others, maybe not, but I can’t in this short space even begin to explore it further.
Leave it, if you can, as a possible explanation and let’s explore another way to “connect the dots.”
Research in the arts, the social sciences, engineering, medicine, chemistry and all the other sciences have consequences. When Archimedes ran naked through the streets yelling “Eureka,” he probably upset applecarts, let alone moralists. New products replace old products. New evidence casts doubt on lucrative cures and services. Byproducts of production of many profitable commodities are found to be harmful. I can’t imagine the plastic industries rejoicing in counting the number of microplastics in the human brain. And then there is climate and geology.
Furthermore, not just facts but theories are at risk. And that hits home, as old theories of practically everything have been used to justify spending money, taking risks, justifying tradeoffs. Theoretical understandings hold out for a time, but retreat (slowly) under the burden of new evidence. This leaves a lot of what we do without good support.
Universities are far more these days than “student incubators.” They create the future prosperity of the nation by their research agendas. They are the chief muscle of new science and are upsetting every applecart in sight.
Yes, the surgeon who operates on my cancer may be woke. It’s like the shortstop on my team who may be trans. Batting average, runs saved, lives saved. What matters?