Entre Nous / Musings of a former Belgian

Harvard prof caught stealing horse manure

No sh*t.

Party like it's 1939

Res ipsa loquitur.

UPDATE: one "Chris Bertram" (apparently a lecturer at the U. of Bristol, and a former editor of the New Left Review, say no more) downplays the importance of the AUT "boycott":

Critics--and Daily Mail columnists--will seize on this decision and claim that it demonstrates that British academics are obsessively anti-Israeli (and possibly anti-semitic). The truth is that the AUT is not particularly representative, that aforementioned librarians and computer technicians often play more of a role than academics, that poor attendance at union meetings means that single-issue activists find it easy to push through resolutions on political topics, etc. Will anyone pay any attention to the boycott? A few, perhaps. But most British academics will continue to work with Israeli academics as before.

Here's hoping this will be the case. I also think that things will be a bit different in the sciences (pure and applied) than in the "luftgeschaeften" ;-)

Commenters at "Harry's Place" point out that the prime mover behind the initiative,
Sue Blackwell of Birmingham University (seconded by an at least technically Jewish lecturer at the same institution, Shireen Benjamin --- are we surprised ;-)) is a former member of the Socialist Worker's Party (Trotskyite group too left-wing for Labour)
and presently a member of the 'pretend' CPGB (Communist Party of Great Britain).

The Jerusalem Post notes:

A message from Dr. Ilan Pappe, a lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa, was distributed to every executive member. Pappe called on the conference to adopt a boycott of his university, alleging he was the victim of "restriction" and "harassment."

Had this been Belgium, then Pappe would not have had to suffer "restriction" or "harassment", since doing what he did --- endorsing international academic boycotts against Israeli academic institutions --- thus directly and intentionally harming one's own employer --- is just about the only reason not involving a felony crime that a tenured Belgian academic can get fired for.

But get this, from the BBC of all places:

The lecturers' decision has been criticised by representatives of the executives of Britain's universities, Universities UK. A spokesperson said: "UUK condemns the resolution from AUT which is inimical to academic freedom, including the freedom of academics to collaborate with other academics" [...]

The Israeli Embassy in London said the resolutions were "as perverse in their content as in the way they were debated and adopted".

"The fact that no AUT member who wanted to argue against this decision was allowed to speak, and the case for the Israeli universities was not presented to delegates, speaks volumes about the relevance and fairness of this debate.

Debate? Who needs "debate" during "two minutes of hate"? ;-)

UPDATE 2: in their obituary for Ezer Weizmann z"l, the JPost note in passing:

He also spoke fluent Lithuanian-style Yiddish in which he told side-splitting jokes. One of his favorites was about his uncle Chaim, who, toward the end of his life, suffered severely from respiratory illnesses.

Trying to ease some of the pressure on Chaim Weizmann's lungs, one of his relatives said to him: "Chaim, sphai zich ois" (Chaim, spit it out). To which the reply, according to his nephew, was: "Nisht do oif vemen" (There's no one to spit on).

Now here Ilan Pappe could have made himself mighty useful ;-)

UPDATE 3: the in Israel submarginal darling of the Belgian media, looneytunes-leftist Helmut Ostermann Uri Avnery, cannot pass up another good opportunity to show what a "tool" he is. From the Haaretz ticker ("Itim" is the main Israeli press agency):

08:13 Leftist Uri Avneri backs U.K. academic boycott of Bar Ilan Univ. for W. Bank ties (Itim)

UPDATE 4: Three cheers for the Chancellor of Haifa University. Haaretz reports:

Haifa University President Aharon Ben-Ze'ev called on Dr. Ilan Pappe, a staff member who supports the academic boycott on Israeli universities, to tender his resignation. "It is fitting for someone who calls for a boycott of his university to apply the boycott himself," Ben-Ze'ev said Monday. Ben-Ze'ev said the university management would not boycott Pappe nor would it take disciplinary steps against him, because boycotts destroy academic freedom. But he said Pappe's behavior was "intolerable from a moral point of view," and that he should therefore decide to leave of his own accord. Pappe, a member of the political science department, was not available Monday evening for comment.

Freakonomics: Politics and Crack-dealing

Instaman points to a review of Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner's new book "Freakonomics". He really likes the chapter entitled:

"Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?"

The upshot is that the crack trade, even at its market peak, was lucrative only for those at the top of a selling organization. The gang's foot soldiers made less than minimum wage and faced a 1-in-4 risk of being killed over four years. (In the same time, being a timber cutter, the most dangerous legitimate job in the U.S., carried a 1-in-200 risk.) These drug dealers struggled desperately to reach the gang's upper echelons, but few would make it.

I don't know Levitt's answer here, but one explanation (besides the obvious "they're idiots") for why people become drug dealers when the economic returns are poor is that being a drug dealer offers -- and, especially during the crack boom, offered -- nonmonetary returns, by having much more status than working minimum wage. (Read Richard Price's excellent book, Clockers for some very good illustrations of that phenomenon).

My historian-brother often says that one of the most interesting phenomena that he's observed is the cross-cultural willingness of people to trade away economic benefits for status. I suspect that this is one example of that. So, in a surprisingly similar way, is being a politician. That's an obviously poor economic move for most folks. But one of the drug dealers in Price's book talks about how he likes the way he becomes the center of attention when he enters a room full of junkies. Politicians, I think, get the same thing, especially in the bubble-environments of Washington, or state capitals. I suspect, in fact, that people are, to varying degrees, hardwired to get an endorphin rush from that sort of attention, just as they're hardwired in varying degrees to respond to drugs.

As I say, I don't know if Levitt talks about that or not, but I think it's one possible explanation for a lot of stuff that looks economically counterproductive.

Heh.

The WC notoriety tour

Pretty hilarious reporting from a Weekly Standard "embedded reporter" with the Chief Shitting Bull "Dr." Ward Churchill traveling freak show.

Harvard Prof. arrested for stealing horse manure

No sh*t

A very sad soul

As documented ad nauseam by Martin Kramer in his book "Ivory Towers on Sand", the sad state of Middle Eastern Studies in US academia in in large part due to the Middle East Studies Association having degenerated into a pro-Arab propaganda organ. If anything, their new chairman seems to be even more of a moonbat than the previous one (no mean feat). Old Juan Cole was a very sad soul is a profile of this whackjob. (For non-Anglosphere readers: Steve Plaut's title is a pun on a familiar British children's song.)

Real diversity in academia

Stanley Kurtz notes:

The rebellion against campus p.c. may finally be nearing critical mass. Once prestigious schools actually stand to lose applicants, administrators may finally wake up and do something to balance their one-sided faculties.

Let’s take Columbia as an example. The problem with Columbia’s Middle East-studies program is less the behavior of any given professor than the absence of alternative points of view. If Columbia had a place for professors who supported American and Israeli policies, and not merely for faculty who bitterly opposed them, not only would we have real debate, but students would feel less intimidated.

The faculty holds the power of grades and recommendations. One’s ability to go on to post-graduate work depends on not offending one’s professors. Once moderate and conservative students know they can get recommendations from professors who are broadly sympathetic to their views, students will have less to fear from leftists. And having lost their monopoly, politically correct professors may even begin to compete for students. That would make fairness to students of all views more likely.

So if Columbia wants to solve its problem, it needs to create a program on foreign policy and matters Middle Eastern outside the control of the tainted and completely one-sided MEALAC department. (Hiring a single professor of Jewish studies — which is what Columbia is proposing — is not nearly enough.) Establishing an alternative program is what Princeton did when it faced alumni anger for hiring euthanasia-advocate Peter Singer. In response to the Singer hiring, Princeton created the Madison Program, headed by the brilliant natural-law theorist, social conservative, and frequent NR/NRO contributor Robert George. Now social conservatives at Princeton have a place to go. They don’t feel intimidated, and it’s actually easier for students to take courses with liberal profs — because they know their careers don’t depend on it. Columbia needs to adopt the same solution for its troubled Middle East studies program: Set up an alternative program in foreign affairs and matters Middle Eastern under the control of professors with a different point of view.

Ground Control to Professor Tom

A college placement councelor explains that more and more of his clientele are getting "brassed off" at having to pay top dollar for getting what amounts to occupational therapy at best and indoctrination at worst.

My advice to everyone: forget the "Liberal Arts". Get a science or engineering degree, but read humanities books on your own. And yes, I practiced what I am preaching :-)

Here and there, April 9, 2005

Libertarian blogger "Jane Galt" explains why, in the homosexual marriage debate, she sits on the fence. This would be rather unremarkable were it not for some very interesting reflections on the way social institutions work.

Jeff Jacoby recalls "the Pope who set antisemitism aside". And British historian Paul Johnson (himself a practicing Catholic) eulogizes "the Pope who loved life".

John Jay Ray of dissectleft.blogspot.com (one of whose hobbies seems to be to go argue with signposts at various "right"-loonbat sites) seems to be on something of a roll. First of all, he draws my attention to this article about the way in which many "neoconservatives" look to Winston Churchill as something of a spiritual ancestor.

Also via JJ Ray, this report (PDF) on the state of "women's studies" programs in universities in the state of North Carolina.

And this lovely Churchill quote:

'All men are created equal' says the American Declaration of Independence.
'All men shall be kept equal' say the Socialists.

And a sad but true tale about EUranian regulations driving a Czech goat farmer to sell his goat cheese as animal fodder.

Some disturbing reading about the links between some hospices and the pro-euthanasia lobby. Following some links yield this piece about the 'culture of death' in Georgia and... Belgium.

Finally, This article by George Watson goes into the "Marxism and Nazism as evil twins" collection. (Check out this collection of racist quotations from Marx and Engels that your Marxist uncle wouldn't believe could be for real.)

UPDATE: Nothing to see here, move along ;-)

Academic outrage of the day

Via the JPost, an article (see also here) in The Daily Wanker The Guardian on a renewed call for reports that a British union of university lecturers has called for an academic boycott of the three major Israeli universities.

According to the report, The Association of University Teachers' annual council scheduled to meet April 20th, will, among other things, debate a proposal to boycott the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in addition to the Tel Aviv University and Haifa University, which, according to a claim, do not condemn Israel's policies in the territories.

Self-righteous, hypocritical tossers, the lot of them.

UPDATE: As expected, the LGF crew is all over the story. Commenter "Godfrey" notes the irony that April 20th happens to be the birthday of... Adolf Hitler (y"sh).