Those Ivory Tower Unmanly Lily Livered "Deep Thinkers"

Thomas Sowell, in his article at Townhall.com today, follows the standard conservative policy of attacking some vaguely defined political left for not understanding the world situation and seeking to appease Iraq. He has appointed Senator Patty Murray as a spokesmen for the left after some foolish remarks she made. (She stated apparently that Osama bin Ladin's generosity in the third world was what made him so popular.) Sowell makes the comparision to the United States after Pearl Harbor, saying ". . . when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Americans woke up -- and grew up. The September 11th terrorist attacks have had a similar effect on the American public at large, but not on the American left in politics, the media, and academe." For those who are not aware, the chief opponents of World War II were Republican Isolationists, not pointy headed academics.

This is standard Conservative ideology. Academics cannot be trusted (unless of course they develop the "correct" opinions.) Sowell, like so many others, tries to play off America's natural dislike of any group of people who think themselves better than the rest of us. But he offers no proof. Senator Murry's comments were not made in a spirit of I know better than the rest of you, but in a discussion with high school students. I suppose Sowell doesn't need to prove Academia's moral failings; certainly many believe that anybody who chooses Academia as a way of life is weak kneed and lily livered. As he says, they are "consumed by their own sense of wonderful specialness."

This issue hits particularly close to home as I have a Master's degree in American History, and have considered returning to the Academic life. I've always had a hard time with the proposition that my interest in History makes me less of a man, less of a person, and unfit to comment on the issues of the day. On the other hand, I also struggle with whether or not to correct the misrepresentations and half truths generally believed.

Here's a bonus question;

Reconstruction failed after the Civil War because;
1. Nothern Carpet Baggers and Scalawags ran enormously corrupt governments, aided by foolish Blacks who proved incapable of Governing themselves.
2. Southern whites launched a campaign of terror against Unionist politicians (Northern or Southern) and blacks, involving murder, lynching, bombing, arson, and other forms of terrorism.