LIBERAL BIAS IN ACADEMIA AND THE MEDIA

It has been reported that some media outlets have been crass enough to boo the President of the United States during the State of the Union speech (MSNBC) and another newsroom erupted in cheers over some slight to our President. And I must admit the thought of the institutionalized liberal bias in broadcast and print newsrooms makes my already volatile temper flare to volcanic proportions. I was, after all, born with red hair! It’s in my DNA!

This pervasive bias exists as well in academic realms where the uncomfortable influence of politics on academia is widespread. And good manners are apparently nonexistent.

It is within this context that I now read that St. Mary's College in Maryland has named Kathleen Kennedy Townsend as its Paul H. Nitze Senior Fellow for 2007-2008. Townsend's recent book, Failing America's Faithful - How Churches Have Mixed God and Politics and Lost Their Way is the topic of her first visit's lecture on October 2. The lecture is open to the public and begins at 8 pm in the Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary's Hall.

Now something about me that may surprise some readers is that I harbor no real dislike for the Kennedys (excepting Teddy Kennedy – because I am the adult child of an alcoholic father and I don’t DO drunks no way, no how) and consider their family emphasis on public service to be completely admirable.

What does concern me is that had this honor been given to a conservative, it is very likely that institutionalized rudeness and just plain nastiness would have been directed at the Nitze Senior Fellow throughout their tenure. THAT is what worries and annoys me.

Good manners to far too many liberals consists almost entirely of . . . well actually, absolutely nothing! Of course there are exceptions (paul, you’d be a shining example), but generally speaking it is considered a badge of achievement when a liberal is unconscionably rude to a conservative.

But another surprise to y’all – I blame conservatives for this pervasive atmosphere just as much as I blame liberals. This is one conservative who calls people on it immediately when they are hateful to me. Being a wuss accomplishes nothing.