Blog 5

OK, I just want to start this with a disclaimer. I don't usually agree with anything that Kathleen Parker has to say. She annoys me, but it annoys me even more when I agree with her. She's like Ann Coulter light. So having said all of this, I found myself nodding vigorously at her article last week. Unfortunately. Anyway, take a look and we will discuss:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/09/larry_summers_the_thought_poli.html

OK, so do I think what Lawrence Summers said is the worst kind of sexism? Of course I do. Blaming what one perceives as an inadequacy in women on genetics, as though men are somehow superior to women as a God-given truth, is just SO wrong. It's the easy way out of what is a more complex problem of educational differences between boys and girls. We should be more focused on how to get young girls more interested in Science and Mathematics, and not dismiss the lack of women in these fields of study as gender differences. For the president of an Ivy League school to say this in public was probably a huge mistake on his part. This is where my opinion differs from Ms. Parker. Now, much to my consternation comes the part where I agree with her.

Summers should never have been forced from his job for expressing his opinion, and he should not have been "uninvited" to speak at the University of California Board of Regents bimonthly board meeting. The last time I checked, both Harvard and UofC were in the United States of America. Therefore, expressing an opinion, even an unpopular one, should not be grounds for banishment. If we allow the left to censor speech in this way, then they shouldn't be surprised or affronted if the right wants to do the same. And then, where does it stop? No one, on either side, will be able to say anything without fear of reprisal.

Only the most purposely hateful speech should be called into question, and I don't think Summers was being overtly sexist in his remarks. So now, I find myself in the infelicitous position of being of the same mind as Kathleen Parker. And that makes me mad at my own "side", if you will. I think that when the left is so outspoken and defensive about something so inconsequential, it makes it hard to take them serious when they are trying to make a point about something serious.

So, I guess I can't wrap my thought up in a neat little bow this week. I'm irritated at the left, because they made me agree with Parker. I'm irritated at the right, for many reasons too numerous to mention. I'm irritated with the "thought police". So, I guess as a conclusion, I am just irritated.