Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Paul Campos Can't Keep It Up For The Entire Column
Although he makes sense for most of the op-ed local Law Professor and Tuesday newspaper columnist, Paul Campos, wrote today, it all unravels at the end. Behold the good:
Like most people who went to college in the 1980s or 1990s, I was exposed to significant amounts of what came to be known as "politically correct" nonsense, in the form of shamelessly dishonest affirmative action policies, loathsome hate-speech codes, and various forms of left-wing ideology masquerading as scholarship.
And, like a lot of other people who possessed any contrarian impulses or a thimbleful of common sense, I was revolted by this stuff. When I joined a university faculty a few years later, my feelings were if anything intensified. There were days when I felt that if I heard one more sanctimonious speech about "diversity" or the unholy trinity of racism-sexism-homophobia I would go on a tri-state shooting spree...
Good stuff, except for wanting to shoot people with guns, and there's more:
Intellectually, I was impressed by various conservative critiques of the failings of post-New Deal liberalism, especially in regard to the legal system. It seemed obvious to me that something like the imposition of a nationally uniform system of very liberal abortion laws through lawsuits was an example of judges imposing their political preferences on everybody else, while fooling themselves into believing that they were merely doing what the Constitution required.
Indeed, I still can't read the Supreme Court's plurality opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which Justices Kennedy, O'Connor and Souter call upon the American people to stop arguing about abortion because the court has "resolved" the issue, without feeling somewhat nauseated.
Whoa Nelly, this guy is coming around to good sense and a conservative view.
Then it all goes horribly wrong. First Campos complains that he, with all these apparently secretly held views, is pegged by conservatives as just another liberal professor. I've read the professor for two years straight now and when he is not stridently liberal in his published opinions, he is an apolitical yawn. There is no way one could fail to peg him as just another liberal professor from what he has written. He's complaining that we've taken him at his word. What a little baby.
Here's his close, where he proves yet again he is just another liberal professor, with my comments thereon interspersed in purple:
For many years, conservative critics made the valid point that academia had too many people in it who were willing to accuse anyone who opposed affirmative action or hate-speech codes of "racism." Excellent point, thanks for noticing how the charge or racism is used by the left to stop debate, not further it.
Unfortunately, post-Clinton Republican political dominance and post-9/11 anxieties about foreigners OK, I'm getting a little nervous here, taking rational steps to protect this country from attack by Jihadists is going to be lumped with irrational hate of a race of people? have combined with a generation's worth of often-warranted disgust about irresponsible charges of racism to create an atmosphere Whoa Whoa Whoa--a reaction to false charges of racism by lefties is causing actual racism in right wingers--this is stupid pop psychology, at best, more likely pure nonsense in which actual racism is making a very public comeback. Where? Like the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in lefty dominated France and Belgium? Does he have a scintilla of factual support for that bold but very questionable statement? See below that he doesn't.
Consider the comments of Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, part of whose extended family I have know for 40 years who in a letter to his constituents one constituent last week called for "strict immigration policies" in order to keep Muslims from being elected to public office. I don't call that a fair restatement of the Goode letter (read it for yourself) Goode was reacting to the election of a Muslim, Keith Ellison, to Congress. More precisely Rep. Goode was reacting to a constituent's letter reacting negatively to Ellison's wanting to swear his oath of office on the Quran rather than on the Bible Ellison was born in Detroit, but to read Goode's letter is to realize that people like Goode find it difficult to imagine that Muslims can actually be loyal Americans. Campos is going too far here--we are at war with Muslim extremists; of course that creates a rational suspicion which is wholly unrelated to anti-Semitism (not racism--how did we get to anti-Semitism as an example of open racism?) This is just another false charge by a lefty of racism to shut up and/or punish a conservative with whom the accuser (here Campos) disagrees. Is there any quote from the letter other than "strict immigration policies"? No, there isn't, because there are no quotes from the letter which support the racism charge.
Goode is being lambasted (though not by any prominent Republicans) Yeah, he's being called a racist by lefties--that's the status quo ante of the past 30 years not because his letter was "politically incorrect," but because it was bigoted. How? Where? Too many people can no longer tell the difference. Yeah, specifically Paul Campos.
Like most people who went to college in the 1980s or 1990s, I was exposed to significant amounts of what came to be known as "politically correct" nonsense, in the form of shamelessly dishonest affirmative action policies, loathsome hate-speech codes, and various forms of left-wing ideology masquerading as scholarship.
And, like a lot of other people who possessed any contrarian impulses or a thimbleful of common sense, I was revolted by this stuff. When I joined a university faculty a few years later, my feelings were if anything intensified. There were days when I felt that if I heard one more sanctimonious speech about "diversity" or the unholy trinity of racism-sexism-homophobia I would go on a tri-state shooting spree...
Good stuff, except for wanting to shoot people with guns, and there's more:
Intellectually, I was impressed by various conservative critiques of the failings of post-New Deal liberalism, especially in regard to the legal system. It seemed obvious to me that something like the imposition of a nationally uniform system of very liberal abortion laws through lawsuits was an example of judges imposing their political preferences on everybody else, while fooling themselves into believing that they were merely doing what the Constitution required.
Indeed, I still can't read the Supreme Court's plurality opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which Justices Kennedy, O'Connor and Souter call upon the American people to stop arguing about abortion because the court has "resolved" the issue, without feeling somewhat nauseated.
Whoa Nelly, this guy is coming around to good sense and a conservative view.
Then it all goes horribly wrong. First Campos complains that he, with all these apparently secretly held views, is pegged by conservatives as just another liberal professor. I've read the professor for two years straight now and when he is not stridently liberal in his published opinions, he is an apolitical yawn. There is no way one could fail to peg him as just another liberal professor from what he has written. He's complaining that we've taken him at his word. What a little baby.
Here's his close, where he proves yet again he is just another liberal professor, with my comments thereon interspersed in purple:
For many years, conservative critics made the valid point that academia had too many people in it who were willing to accuse anyone who opposed affirmative action or hate-speech codes of "racism." Excellent point, thanks for noticing how the charge or racism is used by the left to stop debate, not further it.
Unfortunately, post-Clinton Republican political dominance and post-9/11 anxieties about foreigners OK, I'm getting a little nervous here, taking rational steps to protect this country from attack by Jihadists is going to be lumped with irrational hate of a race of people? have combined with a generation's worth of often-warranted disgust about irresponsible charges of racism to create an atmosphere Whoa Whoa Whoa--a reaction to false charges of racism by lefties is causing actual racism in right wingers--this is stupid pop psychology, at best, more likely pure nonsense in which actual racism is making a very public comeback. Where? Like the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in lefty dominated France and Belgium? Does he have a scintilla of factual support for that bold but very questionable statement? See below that he doesn't.
Consider the comments of Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, part of whose extended family I have know for 40 years who in a letter to his constituents one constituent last week called for "strict immigration policies" in order to keep Muslims from being elected to public office. I don't call that a fair restatement of the Goode letter (read it for yourself) Goode was reacting to the election of a Muslim, Keith Ellison, to Congress. More precisely Rep. Goode was reacting to a constituent's letter reacting negatively to Ellison's wanting to swear his oath of office on the Quran rather than on the Bible Ellison was born in Detroit, but to read Goode's letter is to realize that people like Goode find it difficult to imagine that Muslims can actually be loyal Americans. Campos is going too far here--we are at war with Muslim extremists; of course that creates a rational suspicion which is wholly unrelated to anti-Semitism (not racism--how did we get to anti-Semitism as an example of open racism?) This is just another false charge by a lefty of racism to shut up and/or punish a conservative with whom the accuser (here Campos) disagrees. Is there any quote from the letter other than "strict immigration policies"? No, there isn't, because there are no quotes from the letter which support the racism charge.
Goode is being lambasted (though not by any prominent Republicans) Yeah, he's being called a racist by lefties--that's the status quo ante of the past 30 years not because his letter was "politically incorrect," but because it was bigoted. How? Where? Too many people can no longer tell the difference. Yeah, specifically Paul Campos.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:21 PM 
Comments:
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REUTERS. Roger Fraley, former assistant district for the Second Juicial District of Colorado, now in private practice, and well known blogger, was compelled to visit the dry cleaners early Wednesday morning after an incident that occurred Tuesday afternoon.
As time weighed heavy on his hands, Mr. Fraley critiqued the weekly Rocky Mountain News column by Professor Paul Campos. Although he had been warned not to shoot carp in a barrel, Mr. Fraley could not resist and fired away. As a result, water containing carp offal splashed onto Mr. Fraley's dress pants thereby requiring his visit to the dry cleaners.
Mr. Fraley's dry cleaner expressed optimism that the poants could be saved.
As time weighed heavy on his hands, Mr. Fraley critiqued the weekly Rocky Mountain News column by Professor Paul Campos. Although he had been warned not to shoot carp in a barrel, Mr. Fraley could not resist and fired away. As a result, water containing carp offal splashed onto Mr. Fraley's dress pants thereby requiring his visit to the dry cleaners.
Mr. Fraley's dry cleaner expressed optimism that the poants could be saved.
# posted by 
: 9:16 AM
: 9:16 AM
I almost mentioned in the recent post that some smart center left guys considers criticizing Campos like shooting fish in a barrel. Now I don't have to. You have to admit that he was making sense for a good while there.
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