Continuing the debate over hypocrisy at Duke that I last discussed here, Glenn Reynolds and Kevin Drum continue the debate here. Drum writes:
Campaigning for more conservatives in universities is fine. I think you’re barking up the wrong tree, but fine.
But when you start comparing it to racism and sexism, it’s like the folks who compare every offense in society to the Holocaust. It trivializes a genuinely important issue and, eventually, becomes sort of offensive. If you started complaining about discrimination against short people, which is undoubtedly real but trivial, and put it in the same sentence as complaints about racism and sexism, it would be the same thing.
Reynolds replies:
But I’m not the one who’s trivializing things here. Rather, it’s the universities who lack the courage to push Kevin’s approach[of forthrightly admitting that preferences are based on a desire to correct historical wrongs], and retreat into mealy-mouthed lies about diversity.
One can add, and so I will here, that the real trivializers of racial discrimination are those who defend racial preferences by arguing that discrimination on the basis of race is no different from discriminating on the basis of athletic ability, musical talent, place of birth, or legacy status. If one tolerates any one of these latter forms of discrimination, preferentialists maintain, then one is a hypocrite if one doesn’t also accept discrimination on the basis of race.
This is non-trivial trivialization.
Calpundit goes on to say:
“It’s very unlikely to be due to either overt or unconscious discrimination.”
Well, Kevin doesn’t seem to believe its discrimination when the percentages don’t match the population. This “quota” test is the basis for discrimination in a lot of other areas. As I understand it, if you don’t make the quotas, you have to explain why you don’t discriminate. My industry (Aerospace) has become very quota conscious There is anecdotal evidence of discrimination against conservatives in hiring – there was a case at NYU IIRC. There is anecdotal (and more) evidence of a hostile environment to conservatives (Look at the comments in Kevin’s blog – conservatives are too dumb for teaching!). Shouldn’t the Universities be held to the same standard as business and have to explain why they don’t meet the quota?
How long do we let Duke “subtlety” discriminate against conservatives, before we need to investigate using the tools we have established for other discrimination?
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Kevin is obviously very selective what he considers “likely”.
“If you started complaining about discrimination against short people, which is undoubtedly real but trivial…”
Now wait just a cottonpickin’ minute here. What makes discrimination trivial or not? (Disclaimer: I am not short.) Why is it trivial to discriminate against short people but not against women? Is it because there’s no National Organization for Short People? The whole civil rights thing is about political pressure, and nothing else?
I am flabbergasted by arguments that it would seem 15 seconds’ reflection would cause the proponent to scrap.
TGIF, but I still have little time to blog
Since I’m still trying to catch up on work while recovering from The Sinus Infection That Ate My Brain, I’ll post some links to other bloggers who, unlike me, have actually posted something worth reading recently: Jim over at ZeroIntelligence…