The Volokh Conspiracy - Just to Make Sure I Have this Straight:

According to Brian Leiter, Phyllis Schlafly is a bigot, parochial, and an ignoramus, so much so that the fact that Rick Hills is perplexed that Leiter is so angry about her receipt of an honorary degree at Wash. U. reflects Hills's "silly prejudices."

But while Schlafly is beyond the pale because of the bigotry Leiter identifies (including rather tenuous evidence of bigotry, such as membership in the paranoid anti-Communist John Birch Society), but any criticism of Norman Finkelstein's anti-Semitic and misogynistic statements, (e.g., that leading American Jewish activists "resemble stereotypes straight out of [Nazi newspaper] Der Sturmer," and that a photo of two respected elderly Jewish women may "give you nightmares") is a "smear attack." [Update: To be fair, while Leiter thinks that Schlafly's membership in the John Birch Society and opposition to the '64 Civil Rights Act reflects bigotry, he denies that Finkelstein wrote anything anti-Semitic.]

Schlafly's distaste for homosexuals is appalling, but pointing out that Joseph Massad argues that homosexual identity in the Arab world is purely a product of Western cultural imperialism via a conspiracy he calls "Gay International," and that Massad suggests that Arab homosexuals have basically invited Arab governments to persecute them because they are importing foreign ideologies, is a "smear attack".

And, finally, that Schlafly's hostility to evolution reflects ignorance born of ideology, but crude Marxist ideas such as "one can explain historical events by attention to how different economic classes pursue their material interests, which lead them into conflict with other economic classes" are "amply supported in numerous historical and sociological studies". And merely noting that the fact that many left-wing intellectuals continue to cling to discredited Marxist and Freudian ideology suggests that conservatives aren't the only ones who reject the scientific method amounts to "mindless anti-intellectualism about other scholarly pursuits."

UPDATE: Leiter and I are in accord! He writes in the comments "Yes, I think you've got it straight, thanks."

	[David Bernstein, May 23, 2008 at 11:08am] Trackbacks Just to Make Sure I Have this Straight: According to Brian Leiter, Phyllis Schlafly is a bigot, parochial, and an ignoramus, so much so that the fact that Rick Hills is perplexed that Leiter is so angry about her receipt of an honorary degree at Wash. U. reflects Hills's "silly prejudices." But while Schlafly is beyond the pale because of the bigotry Leiter identifies (including rather tenuous evidence of bigotry, such as membership in the paranoid anti-Communist John Birch Society), but any criticism of Norman Finkelstein's anti-Semitic and misogynistic statements, (e.g., that leading American Jewish activists "resemble stereotypes straight out of [Nazi newspaper] Der Sturmer," and that a photo of two respected elderly Jewish women may "give you nightmares") is a "smear attack." [Update: To be fair, while Leiter thinks that Schlafly's membership in the John Birch Society and opposition to the '64 Civil Rights Act reflects bigotry, he denies that Finkelstein wrote anything anti-Semitic.] Schlafly's distaste for homosexuals is appalling, but pointing out that Joseph Massad argues that homosexual identity in the Arab world is purely a product of Western cultural imperialism via a conspiracy he calls "Gay International," and that Massad suggests that Arab homosexuals have basically invited Arab governments to persecute them because they are importing foreign ideologies, is a "smear attack". And, finally, that Schlafly's hostility to evolution reflects ignorance born of ideology, but crude Marxist ideas such as "one can explain historical events by attention to how different economic classes pursue their material interests, which lead them into conflict with other economic classes" are "amply supported in numerous historical and sociological studies". And merely noting that the fact that many left-wing intellectuals continue to cling to discredited Marxist and Freudian ideology suggests that conservatives aren't the only ones who reject the scientific method amounts to "mindless anti-intellectualism about other scholarly pursuits." UPDATE: Leiter and I are in accord! He writes in the comments "Yes, I think you've got it straight, thanks."