What was obvious from the beginning is now admitted to by Crystal Mangum, the former exotic dancer who accused three Duke men’s lacrosse players of rape in 2006, igniting a national firestorm, She confesses that she lied about the encounter.
What Steven Miller says here is correct. Truth doesn’t matter to progressive academics. They’re advancing a political agenda. They can’t be bothered by facts. The agenda aligns with the goals of the Democratic Party. It’s very tribal.
Given the ubiquity of this attitude in the academy, it can be a lonely and alienating place for liberal and conservative faculty and students.
This is why those who had a different position of the Duke case—except Miller—did not speak up at the time. And it’s why progressives don’t change their position in the face of overwhelming evidence contradicting their assumptions.
A new report by FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) reveals that half of faculty believe mandatory DEI statement pledges in hiring are “rarely” or “never” acceptable, while two-thirds advocate for institutional neutrality in colleges and universities.
The findings also highlight significant ideological divides, with nearly half of conservative faculty (47 percent) feeling unable to express their opinions due to concerns about negative reactions, compared to only 19 percent of liberal faculty (i.e., progressive academics).
Additionally, 35 percent of faculty admit to self-censoring their written work, a striking increase from the level of self-censorship reported by social scientists in 1954 during the McCarthy era, underscoring a growing climate of caution in academic expression.
Only 20 percent of university faculty say a conservative (and presumably a liberal, as well) would fit in well in their department.
There are many sets of “two kinds of people in the world.” One set is made up of those who identify with a social movement or political party and allow that tendency to sweep them along. If the movement or party changes, they change with it. Truth is what the party says the truth is. George Orwell captured this well in Nineteen Eight-Four.
The other side of this particular set are those who are true to themselves, truth arrived at through fact and reason, and support movements or parties if these advance the goals based on truth. The reasonable don’t allow themselves to be carried off by the movement or party. And, crucially, they can admit when they’re wrong.
The first side of the set is caught making bold claims based not on evidence, but on agendas. This attitude makes them gullible. It also makes them tenacious. When the facts contradict their ideology, they tend not to step forward and admit they were wrong. They’re even less likely to repudiate the ideology that made them that way.
freedom and reason 