For some time now there has been a growing sentiment amongst a segment of the population that makes up a much larger portion of the American citizenry than it should. This isn't breaking news or anything, but to someone such as myself, who is constantly trying to objectively study, well, everything, this is quite perplexing. Today while watching the morning news I saw a clip of some back and forth banter between Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich. What makes it even more perplexing is that both are products of academia. Gingrich, prior to entering public service, was professor of history and has a PhD in said discipline while Bachmann was a tax lawyer. Now, Gingrich, to his credit, doesn't really hide his academic background, but it does sort of open him up to right wing attacks on the percieved elitism of academia versus the rest of the country. Yesterday, Bachmann seized on this and attacked the former speaker with this, "Speaker Gingrich is a professor and professors do not like to be challenged." Now, with her making this statement, it really makes you wonder what sort of academic world Bachmann came out of. Sure, everybody has some sort of bias and some people have trouble seeing when they may be wrong, but anyone who has had any sort of academia exposure surely knows that degrees on many levels, particularly PhD's, tend to bring forth rather large amounts of peer review and a handy little event or events where people are required to present and defend their assertions to those similarly or more experienced in the field. Heck, the entire credibility of the institution relies upon it.
I'd really like to attend those academic conferences the professors that Bachmann is reffering to attend. They must be absolute war zones.
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