David McRaney : Journalist

David McRaney | Journalist

New study generates fear, calm

A study released this week by George Mason University revealed 72 percent American professors are liberal and 15 percent are conservative. Eleven percent said they were Republicans.

This isn't exactly shocking news. But, I'm sure there are a lot of locals who are a little unnerved by this and a tenacious few whose hearts have been warmed.

Here sits USM, bastion of liberalism, a jewel of progressive thought, smack dab in the middle of one of the most staunchly old-fashioned states in the union. This is both disquieting and galvanizing, depending on how deep your fear of the unknown runs.

Still, this is troublesome for people like myself, who don't like people to expect me to see the world the way they see it. Call me a libertarian if that makes it easier for you. You might as well; everyone is taking sides these days.

I believe in getting your hands dirty, passing down recipes for cornbread and honoring your elders. At times, I look around and consider what it would take to start a farm and jump off the grid.

But, I also love subversive stand-up comedy, expletive-rich Tarantino movies and the dark world of Chuck Palahniuk. If they ever invent a way to plug directly into the Internet via neural shunt, I'll probably give it a spin.

So, I know full well I have no home in any political camp.

As soon as someone tells me they are a conservative or a liberal, a Republican or a Democrat, I start seeing subtitles every time they speak.

As Chris Rock once elocuted, "Anyone who makes up their mind before they hear the issue is a f---ing fool."

Still, when it comes to decoding this study, I'm pleased as punch. I'd much rather have liberal scientists, professors and philosophers in our nations colleges.

You see, I don't think this country is divided into liberal and conservative, Republican or Democrat. I think those are sneaky words designed to convolute and adopted to conceal.

I think our culture is divided into those who believe there is an objective reality - one that can be known - and those who believe all reality is subjective, and opinons on the matter should differ.

If you believe you know how the world does and should work, including all those tricky questions about the afterlife, and have a clear picture of the right way to go about being a human being, I'd bet a biscuit you also think of yourself as a conservative.

And that's too bad, because I don't think we're anywhere close to getting things right around here, not in this or any country.

Psychologists and astrophysicists are a lot more likely to fall into the stereotypes we equate with liberalism. Somehow, if you believe there is more unknown to the universe than there is known, you tend to lean left.

And, if you're on a quest for knowledge, that's probably a good thing. I know I would hate to take an ethics class from Bill O'Reilly or a sociology course from Ann Coulter. The Socratic Method would likely cause Michael Savage's head to explode.

Ambrose Bierce wrote education was "that which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding."

That's something I can believe in, because all the professors I've met who were worth their salt had one truly old-fashioned and yet liberal quality - humility.

Originally published in The Student Printz on October 10, 2007