https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/u...&smid=em-share


Don't assume all or most academics are part of this thought police movement, because they are not. I can say that 90% of the academics I know consider this a tipping point and a bad one.

The thought police effects in academia are driven in part by at least three things, none of which have anything to do with most teaching or research academics:

1) Radical feminist groups, who have many valid points and reasons, but are trying to divorce science from their political goals and essentially denude science, which means they are teaching politics.

2) The conservative capitalist aspects of higher ed in the U.S., which means appeal to whoever is going to pay tuition. Safeguard the brands. Make the most money. Higher ed, just like McDonald's, is all about the Hamiltons. That means play Disney and never offend anyone.

3) The fact that ties in with the two points above -- namely, that higher ed is now 60/40 female as opposed to 50 years ago when it was more than 60/40 male. So the higher ed consumers are women, and that drives both the politics and the attempts to appeal to most likely consumers of higher ed.


So when right wingers start berating political correctness, understand it's not an academic problem per se -- it ain't the majority of the working professors. It's the small radical feminist groups and the suits making capitalist decisions as to who they will or will not offend. The perception that the people working in higher ed are all political correctness freaks is dead wrong.