Story Comments on UW Chancellor Biddy Martin from the Wisconsin State Journal

A few posts back, I did this story:

Republicans in Wisconsin have a long history of hating the highly touted state colleges. The next chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Madison, Biddy Martin, “hadn't finished signing her contract before inflammatory e-mails about her began flying around the state Capitol.”

"An obscure, self-indulged, theory-laden, post-modern scholar," read the National Review Online commentary. The message came on the heels of a press release Republican State Rep. Steve Nass issued the day Martin was named…but asserting the people of Wisconsin "don 't want a university promoting the liberal indoctrination of young minds at the altar of political correctness. "

In keeping with my never ending quest to expose how Republican framing has affected public policy and the way their members think, I couldn’t help but continue this story with a couple of their comments following the Wisconsin State Journals article. Reader “MalcomX” embodies the feelings of a true believer. How over time, defining liberals as intellectual elitists, Nazi appeasers, traitors, Marxist commies, has vilified about half the country. It’s all about pitting liberal college professors against the poor defenseless conservative student victims. Check it out.

Comment: MalcomX

We are on the side of Nass. I read the article and it is right on. The new Chancellor is another one of those pointed headed post modern thinkers who do not believe in nothing but fat pay checks. She will not be successful and the good old boys will eat her lunch. Reilly, UW President, is one of most incompetent administrators in the state. Here he had the opportunity to bring in a someone whose philosophy is more in line with the legislators and what does he do, bring in another pointed headed liberal. He argued that more money is needed to attract quality talent but this new chancellor is an obscure adminstrator from Cornell, hardly a world class leader, and he gives her a nice salary, exceptionally high for Wisconsin standards where workers are losing their jobs due to the economy, then he goes on to boost his own salary as well as the salaries of the other executives, and does nothihg about the reduction of faculty and staff salaries. They will get a one percent raise while he gets a 21 percent raise. No wonder UW System is rightfully under attack.

Pesonal attacks is what the liberal agenda is all about instead of dealing with the merits of the argument. The conservative agenda has ruled America including Wisconsin since the Reagan years. Liberals dismiss Nass and other conservatives as being ranting, raving maniacs and have always failed to realize and understand that the public is more in line with his thinking than the liberal agenda. Have you forgotten that Bush won two elections and McCain is running about even with the O man and will probably win for a third Bush term. Now this is beyond Reilly and company but the really smart thing to do would have been to either hire a centrist or better still a thinking conservative leader, not an openly gay administrator, nothing against her sexualty, but she is dead on arrival in this hostle political climate. Add to this scenario is the stupid mass raising of salaries from the athletic director, coach, to all of the chancellors at the same time tuition is hiked up 5.5 percent and faculty and staff salaries reduced by 1 percent. UW must learn that this is a conservative political environment, the liberal agenda died with Bobby Kennedy.

Comment: Seamus

The problem with writing things like "pointy headed liberals" and "she don't believe in nothing" is that they reveal far more about the writer than the subject. Dr. Martin is an unknown quantity, and being vilified by the National Review is hardlya badge of shame. And having it distributed by a crotchety anti-intellectual like Rep. Nass only exposes the shallowness of his agenda. The trouble, dear Mr. X, is that when you approach an issue with conformational bias, you are rarely capable of discerning the truth when it appears.

Seamus nailed it. I just wanted to point out the language of the first political viewpoint, language that divides more than consoles, to the second reasoned response. I highly recommend reading “Outright Barbarous” How the Violent Language of The Right Poisons American Democracy.”