Kathy G. at Crooked Timber on the “odious” Phyllis Schlafly being honored by Washington University. I especially love how she nails WashU’s “weasel words” defending their decision in terms of Schlafly’s “influence,” and quotes Alan Wolfe from The New Republic [link apparently not available]:
… influence is a neutral category. It may be a force for good or a force for ill, depending upon the ideas that animate it. Let it be said of Phyllis Schlafly that every idea she had was scatter-brained, dangerous, and hateful. The more influential she became, the worse off America became.
And in case you’re wondering why Schlafly’s getting an honorary Ph.D. is such a big deal, Kathy G. reminds you:
… when you award someone with an honorary degree, you are making a value judgment. You are saying that the honoree—because of her exceptional intellectual, creative, or entrepreneurial talents, or her extraordinary contributions to American life, or the world—is so distinguished that she has rightfully earned the highest honor a great university can bestow. Let’s not kid ourselves: plenty of fairly hacktackular people—mediocre sitcom stars, not especially distinguished politicians, and the like—are regularly rewarded with these babies.
But very rarely—in fact, almost never—do you see a great university honor someone who, throughout her public life has shown nothing but contempt for the values of the academia, values such as intellectual honesty and integrity, rational discourse, and the dispassionate pursuit of knowledge. Who has been, not a champion of human rights and human progress, but rather, at every turn, sought to thwart the aspirations of millions of female and nonwhite Americans and deny them equal justice under the law. Who has attempted to leave the world a far worse place than it was when she came into it, and in many ways has succeeded at this.
To quote Crush, the sea turtle from Finding Nemo: “RIGHTEOUS! RIGHTEOUS!”
EDITED TO ADD: Tbogg’s take (with an anecdote I hadn’t read elsewhere) also very enjoyable.
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