“It could have some role in explaining why I’ve always been a bit outsiderish,” says Roger . . . .”Even when I’m included in a certain circle, or a particular society, I seem to do all the wrong things and arouse hostility straight away.”

His remarks reinforce the argument above:

For the most part there’s a kind of cynical scepticism that prevails, and it nourishes itself by attacking people like me. You don’t have to believe anything yourself, but at least you can sharpen your wits on the kinds of things that I say. I’ve become institutionalised as a bogeyman. It would be very damaging to the intellectual world for me to be accepted as something else, because I’ve been incorporated into the scheme of things.

People who have a lot of emotional investment in their jobs–and that includes most CEOs–usually regard losing them as very painful, regardless of the size of the golden parachute.

It’s true, though, that trends are in the direction of more emphasis on non-measurable jobs. I suspect that people who have been exposed to years of “self-esteem building,” as defined by today’s public schools, often have egos that are so inflated and fragile that they can’t risk anything that might deflate them.

I didn’t like BAD, either. It was a diatribe against hype and excess, distinguishing things which are merely bad (McDonald’s food, which is crappy fast food, but doesn’t pretend to be anything else, so it’s OK), from things that are BAD (I don’t remember the specific example, but trendy restaurants with lousy service and mediocre food which nevertheless charge through the nose would be the type of thing he meant). Unfortunately the book, which started out amusing and entertaining, ended up shrill, smug, and entirely too impressed with itself, becoming, in the end, BAD.

This passage struck me as extremely relevant to the problem of class and political bias in academia. Although academics tend to be liberal, and good departments more liberal still, the bias is especially pronounced in departments of the humanities or softer social sciences.

Within a university — no matter how leftwing — the harder and more technical the subject, the less monolithic is the hold of leftism. Even at Berkeley, Physics and Economics are likely to have more conservatives and to have liberals who hold positions that would get them labelled as neocons in Art or Lit departments.

Of course, the residue of liberal bias that remains then points to the important role of conformity. I know many a professor whose stance on most individual issues makes him effectively a Republican, but who always votes Democrat, because he can’t stand to be thought of as one of those Red Staters.

“As Noonan observes, Dan Rather ‘adopted a political philosophy to fit in, to rise. He wanted Mr. Paley’s men to think he was sophisticated.’ To the Xer this is marked not by the depth of understanding – of evolution, of foreign policy, of the tax system – but rather by the ability to wield irony against others’ arguments. The cynic’s task is to diss – and he relishes it.”

I wonder whether journalists are particularly prone to this, though I’ve seen it a great deal in academe too. Maybe journalists and academics, among others, are particularly vulnerable to this vice because their stock in trade is words. It’s sometimes very easy to mistake glibness for wisdom. When I read in Ginny’s post what I quote above, I couldn’t help remembering an exchange in the great play (and movie) INHERIT THE WIND. Henry Drummond (the Clarence Darrow character) tells E. K. Hornbeck (the H. L. Menken character): “I’m getting tired of you, Hornbeck. You never push a noun against a verb without trying to blow up something.” Drummond then adds: “You poor slob! You’re all alone. When you go to your grave, there won’t be anybody to pull the grass up over your head. Nobody to mourn you. Nobody to give a damn. You’re all alone.” Sort of ironic when a desire to be loved, we might infer, thanks to Ginny’s insights, is what impels Hornbeck’s cynicism.

(Of course, Hornbeck does retort, with plausibility: “You’re wrong, Henry. You’ll be there. You’re the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely?”)

(really really late) Morning Link roundup.

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(really really late) Morning Link roundup.

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