On March 28, 2011, Paul Krugman titled one of his New York Times articles: "American Thought Police." The subject is a contemporary example of how some Republicans are harassing university scholars. The case in question involves the president of the American Historical Association, a scholar at the University of Wisconsin, William Cronon. Because this leading academic figured accused the local Republican party in Wisconsin of turning its back on the tradition of "neighborliness, decency and mutual respect.” the right wing retaliated by demanding
"copies of all e-mails sent to or from Mr. Cronon’s university mail account containing any of a wide range of terms, including the word “Republican” and the names of a number of Republican politicians." Krugman, one of the most lucid thinkers and prose stylists in America, continues:
The hard right — which these days is more or less synonymous with the Republican Party — has a modus operandi when it comes to scholars expressing views it dislikes: never mind the substance, go for the smear. And that demand for copies of e-mails is obviously motivated by no more than a hope that it will provide something, anything, that can be used to subject Mr. Cronon to the usual treatment.
The usual treatment being a "fake scandal" such as they orchestrated with “Climategate,” in which incidents taken out of context received serious media attention. Our interest here though, is in Krugman's own 'confession.'
Now, in this case they’ll probably come up dry. Mr. Cronon writes on his blog that he has been careful never to use his university e-mail for personal business, exhibiting a scrupulousness that’s neither common nor expected in the academic world. (Full disclosure: I have, at times, used my university e-mail to remind my wife to feed the cats, confirm dinner plans with friends, etc.)
"copies of all e-mails sent to or from Mr. Cronon’s university mail account containing any of a wide range of terms, including the word “Republican” and the names of a number of Republican politicians." Krugman, one of the most lucid thinkers and prose stylists in America, continues:
The hard right — which these days is more or less synonymous with the Republican Party — has a modus operandi when it comes to scholars expressing views it dislikes: never mind the substance, go for the smear. And that demand for copies of e-mails is obviously motivated by no more than a hope that it will provide something, anything, that can be used to subject Mr. Cronon to the usual treatment.
The usual treatment being a "fake scandal" such as they orchestrated with “Climategate,” in which incidents taken out of context received serious media attention. Our interest here though, is in Krugman's own 'confession.'
Now, in this case they’ll probably come up dry. Mr. Cronon writes on his blog that he has been careful never to use his university e-mail for personal business, exhibiting a scrupulousness that’s neither common nor expected in the academic world. (Full disclosure: I have, at times, used my university e-mail to remind my wife to feed the cats, confirm dinner plans with friends, etc.)
My summary: thank goodness we have Paul Krugman, and that may well be the sentiments of his cats also.
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