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Why dissent is necessary

by Greg Krehbiel on 21 August 2007

The New York Times has an article called “Criticism of a Gender Theory, and a Scientist Under Siege,” which you can go look up if you want to, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s your typical “he offended the thin-skinned class so we have to ruin him” sort of story.

There are some things academics simply can’t say, whether they’re true or not. Imagine, for example, if a scientist did a study showing that blacks have a lower IQ than whites. He couldn’t publish the study or he’d be fired.

In that kind of environment, you simply can’t believe anything that’s said about the IQ and race, because you know that only the politically correct studies will be published.

The same is true of the sexes, or “sexual preference,” or of any of the favorite hobby horses of the elite. It’s simply not rational to believe anything you’re told on a politically sensitive topic because you know the results have been filtered to fit somebody’s agenda.

Everybody’s been bullied into toeing the party line.

This is why things like academic freedom and tenure are so important. After demonstrating competence in their field, professors have to be above the fray. They have to be able to say any crack-pot thing they like without being fired by the latest group of agenda Nazis.

This means we’ll have nutty professors who say crazy things, but it also means we’ll have some degree of confidence we can believe what we hear.

2007-08-21  »  Greg Krehbiel