Thursday, August 2, 2007

"Progressives" and academia

On liberals and progressives, reader Chet makes a good point:

Interesting point about the difference between liberals and progressives - especially the part about demanding adherence to the party line. The "netroots" - coming from a more academic background to start - certainly has carried with it much of the authoritarian nature and theory of their academic peers.

I think it's probably a better distinction to suggest it's between libertarian liberals and their inverse.

Some of the biggest problems with the campus progressive movement (I'm torn on whether to use scare quotes here) stem from its reverence for trendy academic theories. And yes, in terms of their attitude and their approach to debate, the netroots and the campus left have a lot in common.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very true, it's funny to see the language barrier when radical sorts try to talk about something like affirmative action with people who're not schooled in CRT.

Chetly Zarko said...

Donn,

Chet is me, Chetly Zarko.