Bigoted Prof loses bid to head department, throws tantrum

The New York Sun reports on a story that provides yet another striking example of why it is nearly impossible to spoof anti-religious bigotry and stupidity:

A Brooklyn College professor who described religious people as "moral retards" said he is dropping his bid to become chairman of the department of sociology after the college's president expressed outrage over his views. ...

The controversy surrounding Mr. Shortell involves an essay he published in 2001 in the online journal Fifteen Credibility Street, in which he argued that religious people are "incapable of moral action."

"On a personal level, religiosity is merely annoying - like bad taste," he wrote. "This immaturity represents a significant social problem, however, because religious adherents fail to recognize their limitations. So, in the name of their faith, these moral retards are running around pointing fingers and doing real harm to others. One only has to read the newspaper to see the results of their handiwork. They discriminate, exclude, and belittle. They make a virtue of closed-mindedness and virulent ignorance. They are an ugly, violent lot."

The comments are insane, barbaric, and vile. But it gets even worse because 1) Professor Shortell is no danger of losing his job; he simply won't be head of the department (ah, poor fella!), and 2) he is claiming that he is the "victim of a political attack, and 3) he is angered at the "administration's 'inadequate' defense of his academic freedom."

Now, imagine that I was a professor at Brooklyn College and I wrote the following:

"On a personal level, homosexuality is merely annoying - like bad taste. This disorder represents a significant social problem, however, because homosexual activists fail to recognize their limitations. So, in the name of their orientation these moral retards are running around pointing fingers and doing real harm to others. One only has to read the newspaper to see the results of their handiwork. They discriminate, exclude, and belittle. They make a virtue of closed-mindedness and virulent ignorance. They are an ugly, violent lot."

Do you really think that I would keep my job? That I wouldn't be slapped with a lawsuit? That I wouldn't be turned into a whipping boy of the media? Exactly right.

Most bothersome, perhaps, is how sacred has become this mysterious sacrament called "academic freedom." Freedom to do what? Bash religious believers (Christians, specifically, since we can safely assume that Shortell's comments were not aimed at Buddhists or Scientologists)? Be a jerk? Be a bigot? Put simply: if you have the sacrament of "academic freedom," you can be close-minded, ignorant, and morally retarded. But if you have not received the sacrament, you are fair game. You must be mocked, if only to demonstrate the superiority of those who have attained the Promised Academic Land. "Academic freedom" is more often than not a license for bullies and intellectual weaklings who cannot deal with opposing ideas, beliefs, and arguments. Professor Shortell should be fired, or at least forced to attend religious services at various churches, synagogues, and mosques for a year. Alas, that won't happen since he has immunity from reality. If only the rest of us had immunity from him...

Comments

[Ed Peters]

Once again, Carl's point last seen sailing high over the left field wall, it's, it's, it's outta here! Nice job. I LUV it when we do "issue substitution" exercises (you know, our issues plugged in to their rhetoric). It's one of the few tactics that the utterly illogical can occasionally still get.

[Mik]

It is truly amazing to me that these blowhards can drone on about how brilliant they are. I say we rent a room and put this Brooklyn boy in with the dotard from Denver. We will put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door which will insure no maid service and there will be no instructions given to them which may include locking the door, turning on a light, or frighteningly enough flusing the toilet.
With no one around stroking their ego's they will find themselves desperately in need.