Diversity perversity
“ Even though the word "diversity" has become a mantra on the left, there is no such drive for intellectual diversity in bastions of the left, such as academia or the mainstream media.
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In recent years, the liberal media have at least added some token conservatives, but our colleges and universities are content with whole departments consisting solely of people ranging from the left to the far left. In academia, "diversity" in practice too often means simply white leftists, black leftists, female leftists and Hispanic leftists. ”
Instead of the usual baseless accusations of "liberal bias," Thomas Sowell is trying out a new phrase: "intellectual diversity." What he really means is right-wing ideology.
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Mainstream media lack "intellectual diversity." "... Perhaps it was the remarkable popularity of conservative talk radio and the meteoric rise of the Fox News channel that led liberal TV networks to begin adding some conservatives to their lineups." |
What Sowell is referring to is ideological, not intellectual diversity. Shouldn't news media be above any ideology? Shouldn't it just report news? If he's talking about the pundit class, he undermines his own argument by bringing up the undue popularity of FOX. In 2004, FOX "pulled in an average of 913,000 viewers, compared to CNN's 479,000," continuing its three-year dominance of cable "news." Thanks to this, the conservative-dominated commentariat has come to replace reporting. |
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The academy also lacks "intellectual diversity." "There are a few good small conservative colleges like Hillsdale or Grove City, but Ivy League schools have no conservative rivals of comparable size and prominence, and neither do most state universities. "A student can spend four years at many colleges and universities and graduate with no real awareness of any other viewpoints than those on the left." |
Conservatives love to cite Hillsdale and Grove City has "good" colleges not for academic merit, but rather for their conservative bias -- their explicit dedication to fundamentalist Christianity and market libertarianism or "smaller government, strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional values." This is not "diversity," nor is it "intellectual." A student can spend four years on a dairy farm and never learn about cows, but I'll bet you dollars for donuts that someone like Sowell (Harvard '58, Columbia '59, Chicago '68) is going to send his children to college for learning, not ideological indoctrination. |
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Conservative students cannot find conservative voices on campus, and they are beaten down by their professors in class. "[P]erhaps it is just sheer intolerance that creates hostility to anyone expressing ideas contrary to the prevailing notions of the left. "Students often report that their professors react against them for stating a viewpoint different from the prevailing orthodoxy of the left. They can be ridiculed in class discussions or given low grades on exams." "... A student at Lewis College in Colorado was actually kicked by a professor for wearing a sweatshirt proclaiming his Republican views. This happened at a birthday party, of all places, and the professor has been quoted as saying that her only regret was that her kick was not 'harder and higher.'" |
The campus conservative movement is vast and well-funded, with chapters and speakers at most colleges. Most classes are on subjects that are not liberal or conservative -- engineering, math, basket-weaving, etc. For every "women's studies" there is an orthodox economics department, for every Oberlin there is a Brigham Young. If conservatives students get poor grades for "stating a viewpoint," it is more than likely they failed to make a proper argument. And as for this lovely anecdote, of course we don't condone professors beating on students -- but let's note that this happened at a party, not in the classroom. |
Instead of the usual baseless accusations of "liberal bias," Thomas Sowell is trying out a new phrase: "intellectual diversity." What he really means is favoritism for right-wing ideology.
The mission of the university is to expand the field of knowledge, not narrow it by categories of ideological vogue, and to teach students to think critically, not parrot whatever this week's talking points happen to be. Take a look at Sowell, or any other right-wing commentator -- proud products of the educational establishment that is the envy of the world, and which they decry. The schools they trumpet -- places like Hillsdale, Grove City, or Jerry Falwell's Liberty University -- are nothing more than ideological printing presses, shielding students from the critical debate they would encounter at any school that takes academic inquiry seriously.
Similar, news media are supposed to objectively inform the public on current events and provide a reference point for public debate. With the rising power of FOX and the pundit class, investigative reporting is being replaced with peurile shouting matches, where "experts" from think tanks or other talk-shows give their idiotic opinions. And when it comes to unsubstantiated assertion, it's the right that has the monopoly. And they call it "news."
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