Conservative Author Rails Against Colleges

[Khephra]

Ben Shapiro isn't the only conservative railing against liberalism on America's college campuses. But right now -- thanks to a marketing campaign taking place mostly in cyberspace -- he's the one getting the most attention.

At 20, Shapiro graduates later this month from UCLA, where he has been best known for caustic columns in the campus paper.

But Shapiro also took careful notes in class, chronicling what he viewed as a pervasive liberal bias by professors who fed mostly unwitting students a steady diet of anti-Americanism.

Now, Shapiro has assembled those notes in "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth" -- a book that has won attention even amid the flood of political tracts from both left and right that is saturating the best-seller lists.

The publisher, WND Books, will not release sales figures, and the book has not cracked any overall best-seller lists. But despite little mainstream publicity, it has been among Top 25 hardcover non-fiction best-sellers on Amazaon.com lately, spiking after appearances by the author on conservative talk radio shows.

more........................

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-campus-conservative-book,0,1320391.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[charlyvi]

1. Repubs are for

conservative madrassas (sp?); no independent thought, no deviation from the party line. Have EVERYONE toe the line---er...see the light!

[QC]

2. "Conservatives" write the same book over and over and over.

And still their readers line up to buy them.

It seems that some people cannot have their own prejudices confirmed enough to please them.

[Voltaire99]

56. And then their media friends promote the books.

I'm amused to read that this kid's scratch-and-sniff book has "won" attention. It hasn't won anything, except a free ride from rich, powerful ideologues.

[MattNC]

3. having just graduated college

there's no bias to be concerned about. All of my professors were very liberal but they left their politics at the classroom door.

[Goldom]

4. So what can we derive from this?

Smart people are liberal. Hmm.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Poor Ben.

Clueless on the difference between dogmatic faith-based talking points and critical thinking that looks at issues from multiple perspectives.

But he learned an important lessen....pandering to rightwing viewpoints is profitable.

[alarcojon]

22. Well put!

I am a college prof. My colleagues and I have spoken about this on a number of occasions. Typically, the kind of student who complains about "liberal bias" will submit a poorly researched paper with a conservative viewpoint. The most common type of error is to cite non-academic, non-peer-reviewed sources. Many of these students want to be able to use the Bible as a scholarly source, for crying out loud.

I could care less about ideology if the paper is well researched by the standards of an institution of higher learning. Students who are used to the Limbaugh/Coulter/Hannity/O'Really style of argumentation come in for a rude awakening, and are rarely mature or intellectually honest enough to blame themselves and seek to improve their research and critical thinking skills. It is so much easier to blame the assumed ideology of the prof.

[jdj]

37. They don't have critical thinking skills.

They are not allowed to have them. The bible says honor thy father and thy mother, so they are not allowed to criticize their environment of origin, which is where critical thinking should begin, so this thought process is stunted from the beginning, and is deformed for eternity ( take Mel Gibson, for example). This reminds me of Coulturd's claim that you know whether you're 'liberal' or 'conservative' at age 14. They are presented with a world view early on, and told (verbally or otherwise) not to deviate from it.

It reminds me of one of Alice Miller's books about child abuse, and it's appropriately titled "Thou Shalt Not Be Aware." She mentions another book called "The Authoritarian Personality" which talks about the origin of this kind of thought process (not) within the family . I think inside these folks are in a lot of pain, which explains their bombastic and borderline abusive debate styles.

One speaker I heard said it best, that he came from kind of family where "there is only one opinion, and YOU WILL COME IN LINE with that opinion." I think these folks are extremely resentful of people (liberals in particular) who either haven't felt this pressure to "come in line" or who have stood it down.

[LiberalFighter]

50. The problem is...

that they believe word for word the likes of Limbaugh/Coulter/Hannity/O'Really. They don't want to double check the sources or determine whether they are telling the truth.

[info being]

6. Let Conservatives avoid college

That just leaves more opportunity for the rest of us.

[Catfight]

33. here here, and send them to defend our country. Let the smart rule

and the ignorant protect the ruling class. The only thing conservatives understand is killing humans or torturing them. They couldn't possibly consider solving global issues with peace, we all know what peace movements lead to. Gandhi, Dr. King, those crazy fools, changing the world for the worse through non-violent crusades.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

7. Shapiro's mistake?

UCLA.

1 college.

and the title of his book:

"Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth"


Second mistake?

Taking notes only in HIS classes and HIS professors.



Third mistake?

Thinking the students actually paid attention to what the professors were saying.


Guess he didn't get a good grade out of English 101 and compare & contrast... probably made 50% on just the contrast piece of it.

[HereSince1628]

15. As one of the 5-paragraph themes comaparison contrast isn't

taught in many contemporary introductory composition courses.

Strange but true, the vast majority of students in my Biology classes had no idea how to address an essay that aske them to compare and contrast anything...

If you learned the basics of rhetorical writing count yourself lucky. It can no longer be assumed that all undergrads get this.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

19. I guess I am getting old, we did this in HIGH school <n/t>

[skjpm]

25. As a college English teacher. . .

I'm surprised how little my students know about biology. I guess if you learned the basics of science you can count yourself lucky. You can't assume any of those science teachers are doing their job.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

32. I must be getting old, I won the Biology award in HS!

C'mon anymore?

History?

Algebra?

[absolutezero]

59. it depends on students

i'm in college right now as a chem major, the science department at my high school was excellent (public school in north jersey), the problem is with students, who refuse to learn. I tried tutoring my classmates but they couldn't grasp concepts that didn't involve memorization. Most kids are taught only meaningless facts that they can regurgitate on cue.

[kiahzero]

61. My ENGL110 prof didn't want 3-5 essays

As for having no idea how to write a compare/contrast essay, how much thought does it take? You explain what's similar and what's different.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Bet it's all bulk purchases

[geek tragedy]

9. Ben Shapiro is a weenie little idiot

Check out this charming column entitled "Enemy 'civilian casualties' ok by me."
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20020725.shtml

"I am getting really sick of people who whine about "civilian casualties." Maybe I'm a hard-hearted guy, but when I see in the newspapers that civilians in Afghanistan or the West Bank were killed by American or Israeli troops, I don't really care. In fact, I would rather that the good guys use the Air Force to kill the bad guys, even if that means some civilians get killed along the way. One American soldier is worth far more than an Afghan civilian."

I would hope that America's universities would offend the little prick.

[smirkymonkey]

11. What a little shithead!

I hope he got beat up at UCLA - a LOT.

[pinerow]

12. Let's sign the little S.O.B up for a year or two in Iraq or Afghanistan,

I'm sure he'll have a wonderful time.

[TankLV]

27. He's a shoo-in for the next repuke administration - if we're ever that

unlucky.

What a little shit.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Bet he was a legacy quota scholarship, too.

[funnymanpants]

44. Shapiro very, very stupid

Regarding the wedding party that the Americans killed, this is what Shapiro says:

"Whom do you believe? The American pilots, who say they were fired upon and respected the rules of engagement? Or the Afghan "civilians," who claim that American pilots were bored and decided to have target practice with women, children and goats?

"I believe the Americans. The Afghans tolerated and supported the Taliban for years, no matter what President Bush says. A group doesn't conquer 95 percent of a country unless it has some support among the populace. The Afghans are fundamentalist Muslims. They didn't seem to mind too much that their women were treated like dogs or that the Taliban enforced Shariah (Muslim law). So frankly, it doesn't matter to me if some of their "civilians" get killed for involvement with the enemy."

This is incredibly stupid argumentation. Why not blame the slaves for their plight, too? Why not blame the 20 million victims under Stallin?

Shapiro is not precocious, as the original article states. I have taught many high schoolers who would laugh at such a silly argument.

Shapiro's a right wing loud mouth, and you'll never have a problem getting coverage if you are that.

[progressivebydesign]

52. Someone PLEASE send that asshole over to Iraq for a while!

I think it would do him some good to have even just a small wound or two.. let him get a taste of how it feels to be wounded by "the good guys". What a spoiled idiot... enlist, you coward!

[mom cat]

10. His title suggests that he was brainwashed. Obviously, he is still

able to articulate his own view. It sounds more like he had difficulty tolerating dissent and ambiguity. When I look at people who have really been brainwashed and tortured, I can not manage much pith for someone whose main torture was suffering through a differing opinion.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. If his premise that professors are "brainwashing" students is worthy of

rational analysis and argument, then this would be an indictment on the university system as the students haven't learned to think for themselves. I went to a small, private college and I challenged every professor whom I thought was wrong on even minor issues. Yes, I paid the price sometimes (it was the chairman of the department of my major and he forced me out of a performance group and I received an "F") but I'd do it again.

It's only "brainwashing" if you were never capable of thinking independently from nursery school on up. Universities are the last chance to teach students how to study, to analyze their data, and decide which is truth and which is false.

[TankLV]

31. Me too.

We got to pick our project theme, and all thru the semester, the professor was barely available, not a single criticism from him when he did manage to grace me with some of his time away from his pet students.

Every time, at the beginning of class, I would ask him for some advice, and he would be at one of his pet student's desks. Every time I had to wait till 2 hours past the studio time - until it was too late for dinner on my pre-paid dinner ticket that I paid for. I did this a couple of times, and finally started leaving when the designated time for the class to end was up. He was not amused.

Then, when ever I would approach him to see me while he was with one of his pets, he would berate me for being rude for interrupting them. At the same time, on the few instances when he managed to come to my desk, whenever one of his pet students would come by and ask for assistance, he would drop everyting and go over to them.

At the time of our jury, I went first. Before I got more than a couple words out to describe what I'd done, he started in on me for MY PREMISE - I stated that he OK'd the premise, and asked him to keep his remarks directed at how well I solved my premise. He constantly went back to berrating me for my premise - and I mean he was vile and rude. After about a half-hour of this, I'd had enough. I told him he was a fucking idiot, that he was wasting my time and the rest of the classes' time, and that I had better things to do with my time. I ripped my project off the wall - even leaving corners of it still on the board, and stormed off.

I found out later, that he had most of the students - men and women - crying for the shit way he treated them.

He tried to give me an "F". I stormed into the Dean's office, demanded he be there NOW, related my case to the Dean. Told him that I had completed my assignment, and that the worst he could give me was a C. Whether I got an A that I deserved or a B was dependant if I kissed his ass - which I stated I would never do if hell freezed over!

I got a C.

[bluestateguy]

14. He's a little neo-con chickenhawk

I could just see him having his parents pull the appropriate strings to get him out of the draft when it is revived next year.

And what the hell is a 20 year old kid doing being a syndicated columnist? What could someone that young possibly have to say about the world? He should sit, wait, watch, listen and learn before making himself out to be a social commentator of any value.

[GOPFighter]

16. Another damn RW Chickenhawk!

Why isn't he over in Iraq fighting for his neo-con ideals?

[struggle4progress]

17. Republicans don't want to be professors: the jobs don't pay enough.

If you want more Republicans in academia, triple or quadruple the salaries. Then Republicans might apply.

[LittleApple81]

20. HA! Agree about the pay. But in our local college there are plenty

of conservative faculty. Usually that does not affect the teaching at all...except when classes deal with ethical issues.

[struggle4progress]

30. Well, I thought it made a good sound-bite.

[lolly]

18. Gee, sounds familiar

I've had a few students like him in my comp classes (including a couple at UCLA! But that was way before Ben's time).

Here's how it works; they're asked to write an essay that states a position, makes an argument for that position, then summarizes the opposing position, then refutes it. Classical rhetoric stuff.

They refuse to admit there is an opposing position. Instead of arguing their own point, they hurl invective and repeat trite bumper-sticker sayings. If they do present an "opposing position," it's a straw-man argument. Then they get a lousy grade, and complain that the teacher hates them because they're conservative.

You really can't reach these people. You just try to minimize the damage from their snottiness with as much good humor as you can muster and try to teach the rest of the class.

[kiahzero]

62. It's much easier being liberal in college

I had to do a mock USSC trial for a Civil Liberties class... we analyzed the Michael Newdow case. The best the side arguing for the state had was slippery slope ("We'll have to take God off the currency, and remove the Gettysburg Address from libraries!"). I almost felt bad for them.

It's easier being liberal, because our positions generally make some sort of sense. :D

[The_Casual_Observer]

21. Smart people, who are attracted to college/ college life

Are more likely to be liberal minded. It is a simple as that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

55. And if you go into grad school in the liberal arts

(and in the sciences, too) you can't just blather on like Rush Limbaugh. Your contentions have to be supported with evidence and presented in the style customary for your field of study. To get them published, you have to submit them to what amounts to a "jury of your peers"--who will rip you apart if you use faulty logic or forget to cover a piece of evidence.

Imagine, requiring evidence! Little freeper heads explode at the idea!

[KamaAina]

23. WND Books? World Net Daily has a *publishing arm*?!

Shocking but true! And worse still, it appears to be associated with Christian* publisher Thomas Nelson!

http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/dept.asp?dept_id=260020&TopLevel_id=260000

Seriously, could some of our authors, like Will Pitt, help us fight back with "DU Books"?

[Tellurian]

24. Comparing his profs to tomatoes? Immature, malcontent lingering on the

cusp of self-discovery without a parachute.


"Intellectually precocious and extremely confident, Shapiro counts better-known columnist and author Ann Coulter as a friend, says he is himself far to the right of Ariel Sharon on Israeli politics, and -- in his book -- calls some of his professors "as red as overripe tomatoes."

"He's fearless," said David Horowitz, a conservative intellectual who has extensively criticized colleges and universities for bias against conservatives. "Usually, there's peer group pressure when you come into a university -- you're just a student -- that would intimidate most people. He's part of a new generation that you can't intimidate."

(Horowitz is) A moron behind a moron, propagating divisive politics.

Shapiro's heroes: Coulter and Horowitz.

Next thing you know, this little 'weenie' will be up for a judgeship.

[bluestateguy]

29. Far to the right of Sharon?

What does that mean? That he favors death camps and a "final solution" for the "Palestinian question"? That would put him into Nazi/fascist territory, and him being Jewish should not be shield from being called what he really is: a Nazi.

[Tellurian]

36. The length and breadth of his education, he tallied with the remark:

"That should be fun," he laughed. But he insists he is genuinely looking forward to learning at an institution that -- despite a fairly large contingent of conservative students -- is viewed by some on the right as the belly of the beast.

[QC]

35. If Horowitz is what counts as an intellectual in conservative circles,

then it's no wonder that so few of them make it as scholars.

[Tellurian]

39. Yes, I thought the same thing. However, the Right needs role models,

as Hitler did with his Nazi Cadets.

I hope he turns his parents in under Citizen Watch.

That'll learn um'.

[kodi]

26. sounds like a truculent little prick who has problems with authority

.

[The Zanti Regent]

28. Is this a DInesh D'Souza wannabee?

Spare us from such liars!

[yardwork]

34. Yawn. Just an excuse to get out of doing his homework.

What a whiny-butt. If he didn't want to listen to different opinions, why'd he go to college in the first place?

[Rocket Science]

38. "... Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth"

If it were only true ...

[keithyboy]

40. Truth is always "liberal"

i hope he took good notes. Obviously he hasn't learned much.

[Columbia]

41. As a UCLA grad, I agree with him

There is a liberal bias at UCLA. There is no denying that at all. Now, whether one thinks that is a good thing or not - that's the real question.

[HuckleB]

49. Perhaps.

Depends on where one calls the middle, of course. And the right has been pushing the middle to the right for a long time.

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

53. Nonsense

I am also a UCLA grad. the only bias is in favor of truth and rigorous reasoning, which is why ditto heads like Shapiro can't handle it.

[Columbia]

63. Well, I guess there is denying it then

So you disagree that liberal viewpoints outnumber conservative ones? In all the classes I took at UCLA, I do not remember one professor who was conservative.

[Barkley]

65. The UC system is a conservative institution

The students and professors may be somewhat idealistic but the UC system is very conservative.

1. Most of the protest in Berkeley in the 1960s was directed at the University's policies.

2. The student anti-apartheid protests of the 1980s was again directed at the University's investment policies in South Africa.

3. More recently, efforts in 1999-2000 by the University TAs to form a Union were strongly opposed by the UC administration.

4. A majority of the UC board of regents sitting members mostly appointed by conservative republican governors. Regent Ward Connerly was a primary sponsors of Prop. 209 which banned affirmative action policies throughout the state.

While Prop. 209 banned admissions policies that considered race, it did not seek to ban special admission for student athletes and peoples whose parents/ relatives make large financial donations.

5. Two weeks ago a UC-Irvine a cardboard wall constructed by the Arab Students Association was intentionally burned to the ground.
The police are inclined to call it arson and not a 'hate crime'.

Dinesh D' Souza was a guest (PAID) lecture at UC-Irvine spring quarter '04. He debated the chair of the Political Science Dept. on "Whether or not the US is an Empire". D'Souza said so many obscene things about Islam I would not even re-state them here.

6. I graduated from UCLA ('82) and UC-Irvine ('00) and I got a very healthy dosage (perhaps over exposed) to "English Literature", "European History", Economics of Friedman et al.

[Columbia]

66. I'll agree with you about the Board of Regents

But overall, the staff and students are overwhelmingly liberal. I don't see why that fact is getting everyone upset here. Isn't that a good thing?

[SalParadise]

42. I love their underlying argument.

Whether it's about liberal professors or the "liberal media" what they're saying is that the average person is too stupid to form their own opinions & THEY (the ones who make these claims) are too smart to resist the siren call of liberalism.

The right wing has a greater following now than it ever did (save Germany, circa 1930) in spite of all these evil liberal influences. They love the role of the victim, whether it's in politics or religion.

Kinsley had a great article a few years ago addressing the "liberal press" myth & he makes the point that business is chock-full of Republican-types & have a vast amount of direct influence over the lives of we working-class types - where's the outrage in this?

So what's their answer to this perceived problem? Start an affirmative-action program in colleges where academic staffs are hired based on political leanings & not the merits of their abilities?

Like the hypocrites they are, I'm sure that's just what they want. Sadly, they want to be handed jobs at universities & not put any effort towards working their way into these jobs.

I'm sick of these tired old claims & sick of their incessant whining.

Babies.

[RummyTheDummy]

43. Say it isn't so!!!!!

A Jew who hates Muslims. Color me surprised.

(Sarcasm off)

[Cocoa]

45. Shapiro is one of my favorite bad RW writers

he's bad even for a 20-year-old.

In his bizarre column defending Ashcroft, he writes "Ashcroft is an overwhelmingly decent man."

Here's a whole bunch of Ben:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/archive.shtml

[donotpassgo]

46. We should send our kids to a fine Conservative institution like

Bob Jones. Learn our kids proper values like separating the races.

[struggle4progress]

47. Book misconstrues facts

A book a UCLA undergraduate wrote that alleges students are "brainwashed" by a liberal bias at U.S. universities contains numerous factual errors, misquotations and misrepresentations of people's views.
<snip>

In at least two instances in "Brainwashed," Shapiro, a former Bruin Viewpoint columnist, states that Student Media at UCLA – which encompasses The Bruin, UCLAtv, KLA radio and several newsmagazines – receives funding from student fees.

Student Media receives no money from the university or student tuition and fees and is completely self-funded.
<snip>

In addition to factual mistakes, Shapiro makes multiple errors when quoting.
<more>

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=28928

Review of Shapiro's book by the student newspaper that dumped him as a columnist.

[HuckleB]

48. Intellectual bashing. How original.

That's never been done before in history, now has it?

And from a know-it-all 20-year-old, who's lived a sheltered life, no less.

Ain't that precious.

Can you say Brownshirt, Ben? Do you know who the Brownshirts were? Oh, you don't? Hmm. Berry interesting.

I hate to break it to you, Ben. But there are lots of us in the "real world" who don't ignore history, either.

[daleo]

51. A key sentence

"The publisher, WND Books, will not release sales figures, and the book has not cracked any overall best-seller lists."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

54. I used to encounter students like that

When I was on the college's honors committee and helping supervise senior theses, the ones from the business majors were almost always rightwing drivel, and the business professors never found anything wrong with them.

I had one student who wrote a "research" paper claiming that social programs kept the savings rate down. All her sources were obviously rightwing, and she didn't follow rule #1 of a research project: Begin with a review of previous research on the topic, and then either agree with it or disprove, giving valid evidence either way.

Neither she nor her advisor saw anything wrong with writing an extended rightwing editorial, and they claimed that she had used balanced sources. Why, she had used one article from the New Republic! Well, I said, if social programs depress the savings rate, how do you explain Germany and Japan? They had no answer.

Another student wrote a paper called "The U.S. Trade Deficit: A Japanese View." Not only did this student not quote a single Japanese source (and there are a number of Japanese economists who write in English), she used outdated statistics.

Then there was the student newspaper debate about affirmative action after Dinesh D'Souza's visit to our campus. One student wrote in about how admitting "unqualified" students of color.

Having known people who worked in admissions at Yale, I wrote in and explained that Ivy League universities seek diversity in many areas, including public versus private school graduates, different talents, and different geographical areas, as well as different ethnicities, all in the interest of providing an enriched environment for their students, instead of one composed entirely of rich, white, male preppies.

The following week, the student wrote a response. Admitting students from different states was fine, he said, because there were real cultural differences between, say, New England and the Pacific Northwest. But everybody knew, said this kid from a small town in Oregon, that there were no cultural differences between black and white Americans.

Uh, yeah.

[mbperrin]

57. Yep, and none of these RW idiots

ever has a problem with "white man's affirmative action", I mean, legacy admissions, do they?

[delete_bush]

58. I understand that Ann the Man

has offered to relieve him of his virginity on his 21st birthday or 100th book sale, whichever comes first.

[Cheneys_former_heart]

60. Good, let them "Home-College"

And they can keep all the "ideas" out of their college experience. What a bunch of useless whiners, why don't they get out of the system and let some kids who really want to get an education get one.

[Best_man23]

64. Most Fascist Republicans stick with quoting from ideological drivel

Such as the Limpballs letter or one of Hannity's ghost-written scribblings.