Quote of the day
From Senator Judd Gregg (R. - NH): “It is inappropriate for someone at a public university which is supported with taxpayer dollars to take positions that are generally an affront to the sensibility of most all Americans.”
If you’d like to find out more about what’s wrong with this remark (and many more like it), buy this book. You’ll be glad you did!
Well, at least the good Senator made sure that the comparison group was “most all Americans” as opposed to “most some Americans.” He also kindly specified that he was talking about public universities that are supported with taxpayer dollars, as opposed to those public universities that are not so supported.
Now my question is, is this sort of grammarsnark by someone employed by a public university which is supported with taxpayer dollars a position that is generally an affront to the sensibility of most all Americans? Because if it’s not, then I’m being inappropriate.
Posted by John Protevi on 08/29 at 01:15 PMOops, I outgrammarsnarked myself! The last sentence should read, “because if it is, then I’m being inappropriate.”
Posted by John Protevi on 08/29 at 01:16 PMSounds like you’re inappropriate either way, John.
You don’t teach The Ice Storm by any chance, do you?
Posted by on 08/29 at 01:22 PMInteresting Senator Gregg should say that. I just signed my paperwork to work as a grader this semester at the public university I’m attending for graduate work in English (a school known for its liberal past). This is the second public university I’ve worked for, but the first which has asked me, as a state employee, to sign a form promising to uphold the state and federal constitutions. As I see it, it’s now my responsibility to uphold the sensibilities of the American public only insofar as they coincide with the Constitution of the United States.
Captcha word, fittingly enough, is defense.
Posted by on 08/29 at 01:27 PMYou don’t teach The Ice Storm by any chance, do you?
No, but I do teach in a Department of
FrenchFreedom Studies.Though I suppose that now that GWB is in a position to ask them to occupy South Lebanon, the French were never our enemies, so I guess we can take back out department name, if that wouldn’t be an affront to the sensibilities of most all Americans.
Posted by John Protevi on 08/29 at 01:44 PMMy college bookstore had the book before the date listed on Amazon so I broke down and bought it along with a ridiculously expensive Anthology of British Literature.
So, uh, the point? I bought your book.
Posted by on 08/29 at 02:18 PMI believe he meant “all-Americans”, as in the collegiate (and elite) sporting set ... generally, they’re not affronted by much of anything
Posted by on 08/29 at 02:45 PMAs I see it, it’s now my responsibility to uphold the sensibilities of the American public only insofar as they coincide with the Constitution of the United States.
Uh-oh, Rachel, I see trouble ahead. You are now dangerously to the left of about half the American public, particularly if you take Article II and Amendments IV and VIII seriously.
Mike, thanks for buying my book! At least it’s not ridiculously expensive. And John, did you know that the French have a long and friendly relationship with Lebanon? The president said so just the other day.
Stu, nice parsing. John here was trying to mess up the syntax for all of us, but I think you’ve got it right.
Posted by Michael on 08/29 at 03:32 PMMaybe I should change that bumper sticker to read “Doing my best to piss off most all Americans” instead of “...the religious right”
Posted by on 08/29 at 03:33 PMThou shalt not afront sensibility.
Posted by Central Content Publisher on 08/29 at 03:37 PMJoanna, if you have a really big car (and if not, why not?), you could get a bumper sticker that reads “Doing my best to piss off most all Americans while teaching at a public university which is supported with taxpayer dollars.” That would rawk.
Posted by Michael on 08/29 at 03:51 PMIndeed, Michael, there’s nothing like colonialism for forging a close relationship. Why, just look at us and the British. Nothing but love and affection. <Pause for two beats.> After a long and bloody revolution!!! </Lewis Black ranting shout>
And then the slight unpleasantness of 1812. Oh, and the various machinations involved in the Civil War. But other than that everything’s been fine, if you discount the 1950 World Cup.
Captcha: “hes” as in “Hessians”
Posted by John Protevi on 08/29 at 04:04 PMI think the easy solution is allow this university more freedom. I mean who thought of funding a university to specifically take positions that are an affront to most Americans?
Posted by on 08/29 at 05:23 PMOh man, Michael, this guy plus U. No. give a certain alma mater a bad name!
Posted by Dr. Virago on 08/29 at 06:18 PMWorking as I do at a public university which is supported with taxpayer dollars, I was trying to figure out just which positions I could take that would be generally an affront to the sensibility of most all Americans—because I don’t want to take a position only to find out that it wasn’t inappropriate after all. So I checked the collected writings of Senator Judd Gregg, and yes! the position that undocumented migrants ought to have a path to citizenship will<a href="http://www.senate.gov/~gregg/statements/2006 statements/0328_floorstatement_bordersecurity.htm">"affront our sensibilities as a nation of laws."</a> I take that position all that time. So I’m done.
Posted by on 08/29 at 08:28 PMIn response to Rachel (#8), when I was hired at a major southern state university with pretensions of quality, I was asked to sign a similar oath of loyalty to the state constitution. The personnel office worker was not at all amused when I asked for a copy of the state constitution so I could see what exactly I was swearing loyalty to.
(Capcha: yes)
Posted by alice on 08/29 at 08:31 PMDang, Jon W got off easy. All he had to do was to suggest a path to citizenship! Me, I gotta work on my advocacy of evolution. I’m trying to find a way to sneak it into my post-1945 American fiction class and affront the sensibilities of a good majority of Americans.
And remember, all you folks out there who have to sign oaths of loyalty to state and federal constitutions: when you’re asked if you plan to overthrow the government of the United States by force or by fraud, take the easy way out and say, “(b), by fraud.” It works like a charm!
Posted by Michael on 08/29 at 08:45 PMDoes the proportion of taxpayer to non-taxpayer revenue matter? In my glorious state, the proportion of higher-education being funded by the taxpayers is decreasing steadily, and has been for twenty plus years. Seems like it’s only fair that the allowable sensibility-affronting margin should increase inversely. I’m pretty sure that would make the current allowable sensibility-affronting to non-affronting margin somewhere on the order of 90:10. If the professors can keep from affronting the sensibilities of most all Americans ten percent of the time, we’ll call it even.
Posted by on 08/29 at 08:49 PMWhile I’m on the subject of funding...I swear I’m going to buy your book—as a private citizen, not a taxpayer—but I just bought three books that cost me over three hundred dollars. One of them was used; probably why I got such a good deal.
Anyway, unless the taxpayers see fit to start funding a bit more of my education—I’ll behave, I promise—my book budget is temporarily busted.
(Plus, when you shell out that kind of money for books, there’s that much more incentive to, you know, read them.)
Posted by on 08/29 at 08:56 PMMock on you mockers, but know this: (providential) history--as if there were any other kind--will vindicate Senator Gregg and those like him who tirelessly fight against the tide of godless, liberal academics currently swelling and befouling the ordinarily pure stream of American higher education.
I would applaud Senator Gregg’s courageous action were my hands not already temporarily employed in typing this defense of his aforesaid mensch-like stand. Since I cannot actually applaud him, I’ll type what it would sound like if I was (clap, clap, clap, etc).
Personally, I find the public funding of things that are an affront to the sensibilities of most Americans an appalling trend in our society, except of course in the case of the Iraq war which I think ought to receive funds in inverse proportion to its level of public support. At current estimates that would justify an increase of about 400%.
But back to what we should “defund.” Frankly, since this reliable news source recently made clear to me that a majority of Americans either have doubts about or reject the theory of evolution, I think we should institute a ban on public funding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and, of course, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. for their brazenly anti-creationist exhibition of this mockery of all true religion .
I know you scoffers will scoff (it is, after all, your prefered metier) and wonder how an engraving of Adam and Eve could be considered the piece of irreligious anti-creationism that it in fact is, but close inspection of Durer’s so-called “masterpiece” will reveal that he was in fact a Darwinian avant la lettre as I believe your ilk likes to say.
They have belly buttons, fer chrissakes, belly buttons! As anybody but your godless pinko commie and fellow-traveling liberal academic knows, Adam and Eve, having been created by G-d himself, surely didn’t have umbillical cords. No umbillical cords, no belly buttons.
Until the above mentioned publicly funded museums desist in their subtle undermining of religious faith through the exhibition of ostensibly religiously-informed but actually crypto-evolutionist artwork, I believe the only prudent response to be a complete withholding of federal funds from these institutions. They’ve been coasting for years on the generous suport of Uncle Sam, one hand held out like a common street bum pleading poverty and the other flipping the American public the bird through their defiant show of atheism.
Posted by on 08/29 at 09:01 PMDammit, but aren’t those godless craven bastards at the Metropolitan Museum of Art clever. Somehow I see they’ve thwarted my efforts to expose their brazenly evolutionist sympathies.
Let’s see if the Art Insitute of Chicago is as clever in hiding the evident atheism of Durer’s Adam and Eve
Hah, I thought not! Those effete snobs in the midwest can’t stand against the Almighty’s sword of truth!
Posted by on 08/29 at 09:08 PMGladly just bought the book. I’ve enjoyed and learned much from you already. Thanks!
Jeff
Posted by on 08/29 at 09:37 PMJudd Greg isn’t the brightest man ever to be elected to the Senate from New Hampshire. and Frist’s boy on thimerasol.
You can ask him if it is appropriate for someone at the National Institutes of Health, which is supported with taxpayer dollars, to take positions on mercury and infant neuroabnormalities that are generally an affront to the sensibility of most vaccine adulterant manufacturers and their political employees.
The correct answer of course is “no”.
Posted by ebw on 08/30 at 12:03 AMJudd Gregg is on to something. I, for example, happen to believe that it is inappropriate for public officials to take positions that are generally an affront to the sensibility of most all Americans, which is why—as taxpayer-funded employees—Judd Gregg and his colleagues should move quickly to withdraw American forces from Iraq; protect reproductive freedoms; decrease public spending on new weapons systems while boosting funds for education; and vigorously pursue all kinds of other policies that (while earning the majority support of Americans) have somehow been previously dismissed as the frothings of the mad....
Posted by Axis of Evel Knievel on 08/30 at 02:02 AMThe Honorable (sic) Mr. Gregg joins a long list of politicians to make idiotic statements about what academics should or should not do. It’s not the first time for sure; and it certainly won’t be the last.
By the way, Michael, I stopped by our own very fine Penn State Bookstore yesterday to pick up your book and it is not on the shelves. “We can order it for you” was the helpful response. (Isn’t that what Amazon is for if they don’t have it on the shelf?)
Posted by Christian Anderson on 08/30 at 06:29 AMwhen you’re asked if you plan to overthrow the government of the United States by force or by fraud, take the easy way out and say, “(b), by fraud.”
[Puts spiked club down with an expression of disappointment]
Posted by on 08/30 at 08:49 AMClearly a proper left winger would not shamelessly plug their product and link to a place where it costs money to buy it. They would give away free copies to the poor (i.e. people like me)as a contribution to overthrowing capitalism.
Posted by saltydog on 08/30 at 09:46 AMLiked very much the date that Amazon provides for the release of your anti-American and biased book.
Posted by Amitava Kumar on 08/30 at 10:04 AMIsn’t New Hampshire’s motto “Live free or die”? When is Gregg going to do the honourable thing and top himself?
Posted by on 08/30 at 10:13 AMmds, that was the funniest thing ("thing" being the captcha word) I’ve read in a few days.
Michael, I gotta buy your book for my father, the retired professor of engineering—who (fortunately for his non-calculus capable son) believes strongly in liberal arts education
Posted by on 08/30 at 10:15 AMA good left-winger endeavours to raise his fellow man’s access to resources… not lower his own.
As for a suitable comparison between publicly funded organizations who dare to take unpopular positions, I think our fingers can well menace tax exempt religious organizations. If Lord Gregg’s assertions have merit, minority religious denominations should be the first to abandon the teat.
Pausing now… just imagining what the world would be like if there were as many schools as there are churches.
Posted by Central Content Publisher on 08/30 at 11:16 AMHi Amitava! You know, I believe they picked that release date in order to suggest that if this book is being published, then the terrorists have already won.
And I might as well admit (though I was going to do so anyway, honest) that the “by force or by fraud” line can be found in a book by one Amitava Kumar, though of course Amitava borrowed it from someplace else (so I’m told), and besides, proper left wingers don’t keep track of “who” said “what” “where” anyway.
Saltydog, what’s “money”?
Posted by Michael on 08/30 at 12:05 PMA good left-winger endeavours to raise his fellow man’s access to resources… not lower his own.
An apocryphal (perhaps?) story: Marcuse, in his UC San Diego days (a public university supported with taxpayer dollars, mind you), lived in a beautiful home overlooking Mission Bay. Having received the young reporter into his home, he retired with said reporter to the book-lined study, where they enjoyed a glass or two of fine wine. The reporter turned to the great man and said, “Professor Marcuse, how do you reconcile your leftist views, which are an affront to the sensibilities of most all Americans, with living in such luxury?” To which the sage replied, “My dear young man, we leftists believe *everyone* should live like this!”
And that young reporter was .... Rush Limbaugh. And now you know .... the rest of the story.
Posted by John Protevi on 08/30 at 12:37 PMYeah, it’s an old lefty joke repeated since well before I was born. I heard it from a Sandinista, who heard it from a Jewish woman in Montreal, who heard it in a penhouse in New York sometime in the early sixties. Before that? I had no idea.
Posted by Central Content Publisher on 08/30 at 03:42 PMSaltydog, what’s “money”?
Money is a sign of poverty.
Pausing now… just imagining what the world would be like if there were as many schools as there are churches.
The problem is that “right-thinking” Americans such as Mr. Gregg probably think that there should be as many schools as there are churches, but only because they should be one and the same.
Posted by on 08/30 at 04:14 PMNew Hampshire is notable for how expensive resident tuition is, at least for the flagship (and unfortunately acronymed) UNH. Next door, the University of Vermont has not received state funding for any building in 30 years. Both states depend on the capacity of the SUNY and UMasssystems for access to higher education.
To further muddy the water, we could think about how much taxpayer money goes to support private and for-profit education, since their students rely on federal grants and loans. (Though it is hard to find out from for-profits how many students are in a program, since that is proprietary information, in their eyes.) We already, in effect, have a voucher system in higher education at the federal level.
I will put your book on my wishlist, Michael. Unfortunately, the queue is currently held up by Heat. I guess my priorities are little screwy, but I venture to say that there are thousands of academics who currently envy Bill Buford.
Posted by RobCrowe on 08/30 at 05:33 PMCan’t say I’m surprised to hear this kind of thing from Judd Gregg, cartoon rightist. He was one of the small number of Senators who didn’t see any need to apologize for lynching, either (speaking of “positions that are generally an affront to the sensibility of most all Americans”).
Posted by Nell on 08/31 at 02:00 AMActually, they don’t ask about “force or fraud” (overthrowing the U.S. government by fraud is just fine, so long as it’s done by the Right Folks). Your choices, rather, are generally between force and violence. See, e.g., Whitehall v. Elkins, 389 U.S. 54 (1967) (state loyalty oath), or Immigration Form N-400, question 10.
capcha: “asked”
Posted by on 08/31 at 09:08 AMYour choices, rather, are generally between force and violence.
So, “force” is meant in a purely Newtonian sense, and is a superset of violence? E.g., if I attempt to “cow-tip” the US government, it would still be wrong? You people won’t let me have any fun!
Posted by on 08/31 at 11:53 AMBegging your pardon, Jon W, I believe the choice is between force and mass. So, mds, let the cow-tipping begin—but make sure you’re accelerating as you tip the cow, or something like that.
Posted by Michael on 08/31 at 12:58 PMWas intrigued by Michael’s challenge on evolution: I’m trying to find a way to sneak it into my post-1945 American fiction class. And after a couple of days (which is like a gazillion blog years) pondering and querying others, I conclude that unless you include SciFi, there is no Middling American even-vaguely-related-to-Evolution Novel ... not to mention a Great American even-vaguely-related-to-Evolution Novel.
I guess the closest I came is Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake - except that northern border thingy gets in the way. [and maybe the SciFi exclusion, I actually first learned of this book from someone who had read it recently in a PSU English Dept. Science Fiction course.]
Maybe just stand up in class and say something like: “The tragic dearth of evolution themes in recent Amercan fiction is clearly the result of self-censorship by authors who don’t want to affront the sensibilities of most all Americans.”
Posted by on 08/31 at 10:41 PMGot one! Goldbug Variations, by my friend Richard Powers. But yeah, it’s a pretty small list.
Posted by Michael on 08/31 at 10:43 PMDarnton’s The Darwin Conspiracy?
Um...The Mathematics of Love, by Charles Darwin’s great-great-granddaughter?
Crud, the list is pretty small, once you naturally exclude science fiction, which cannot be real literature. (My God, we have to worry if it’s safe to label Margaret Atwood as literary, because she might actually be writing “SciFi”? What is this nation coming to, besides Gilead?)
Posted by on 09/01 at 11:50 AMMy God, we have to worry if it’s safe to label Margaret Atwood as literary, because she might actually be writing “SciFi”?
Point taken and semi-guilty as charged, mds. I did not mean to label Atwood but rather the specific book - which comes across to me as more of standard “SciFi” novel than, say, The Handmaid’s Tale. Although Atwood herself says:
Like The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake is a speculative fiction, not a science fiction proper.
But I will certainly take the point that my inference that the whole category is “not worthy” is unhelpful at best, and only serves to unwittingly reinforce the C.P. Snow “Two Cultures” gap.
And Atwood stands as my all-time second-favorite female artist whose last name begins with A and effectively integrates science into her art.
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Posted by quality inspections on 02/20 at 11:37 AMquote is sound well Michael. I’ll read this book.
Posted by Yellow Labels on 02/24 at 06:06 AMIsn’t New Hampshire’s motto “Live free or die”? When is Gregg going to do the honourable thing and top himself?
Posted by Mortgage Payment Protection on 03/03 at 02:37 AMndeed, the whole learning process is changing thanks to the Internet. First professors posted syllabi online and used e-mail to supplement their office hours. Then learning activities like classroom presentations were supplemented by student-published Web pages, searchable discussion forums, and collaborative wikis. In a curve that has only been accelerating these past 20 years, we now have an educational economy of information abundance confronting an educational delivery system that was built for a time of information scarcity. Colleges have shared some of their best teaching using new systems like Apple’s iTunes U, OpenCourseWare, and explosive content-creation activities underway in countries like India and China.Future generations of learners will no doubt look back at the global economic crisis of 2008-9 and reflect on which institutions were agile enough to make a difference by bringing the wisdom of their scholars together with the acumen of their technology officers and the ingenuity and determination of their university leaders. It’s actually not only the future of the university that is in play. How we produce, organize, and distribute open education resources is at the heart of the future of education around the world......!!!!
Posted by Toronto condo on 03/20 at 08:36 AMI believe the choice is between force and mass. So, mds, let the cow-tipping begin—but make sure you’re accelerating as you tip the cow, or something like that. Costa Rica Real Estate
Posted by Costa Rica Real Estate on 03/28 at 07:37 PMThis is the second public university I’ve worked for, but the first which has asked me, as a state employee, to sign a form promising to uphold the state and federal constitutions. As I see it, it’s now my responsibility to uphold the sensibilities of the American public only insofar as they coincide with the Constitution of the US
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Posted by on 02/06 at 12:46 AMHey Micheal, I’m really fund of your comments and views of the current administration. Keep it up!
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Posted by Croatia on 03/13 at 01:21 PMYeah, it’s an old lefty funny story frequent since well previous to I was born. I heard it from a Sandinista, who heard it as of a Jewish lady in Montreal, who heard it in a pen house in New York sometime in the early sixties. Before that? I had no idea.fast printing
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Posted by on 04/22 at 08:51 AM
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