Why do conservatives love to mock college professors?

Why do they make fun of the fact that people who are smarter and more educated than them completely disagree with them?

Where would the Republican Party be today without it?

:hide:

As much work as they assign us, it's our right.

You think they'd empathize. They've been through it.

it's like watching a fly take on a praying mantis.

And walk and chew gum at the same time.

My question would be: Who Cares What They Think? I'm smarter than them. I know it. They know it. End of story. Their opinion is irrelevant.
The Professor

Perfect.

:thumbsup:

I'd stomp on anyone who gave me the least grief today about any liberal point. Grrrrrrrrrr!
The Professor

Or are they just cynically pursuing their votes? The radical right has been bamboozled. Since the Reagan era, not one social issue that these radical right cares about has been pursued, let alone become law.

These cretins just don't know they're being used.
The Professor

certainly get politicians' attention.

They want tax cuts, gay marriage bans, privatized everything (except privacy, of course), private health care, and, of course, to not be called by telemarketers.

None of these are in their best interests, but they still want them nonetheless.

Those who can't stand the educated and intelligent ARE the radical right. Vero?
The Professor

I always ask them this, and they quickly change the subject, or say that professors don't know what it's like in the real world, or some other such nonsense.

Yea, they know so much more about the world even though they've never traveled outside the corn belt, sure :eyes:

Me, i've never experienced that. Besides, where do these people think professor's teach? And aren't they teaching PEOPLE? That IS the real world.
The Professor

and everyone else is just trying to get their 'hard-earned' money.

hold the stereotypical views of the "lazy, immoral professor."

They sense that these pointy headed intellectuals have no respect for them. Yet, they are the ones who do all the work - they plow the fields, go down in the mines, drive the trucks, milk the cows, tote the bales, etc., etc., etc. In a democracy, their opinion is not irrelevant, nor does anybody appreciate being made to look stupid, and almost anybody can be made to look stupid by some people. And what is stupid anyway. If you could put human knowledge into a vector, with every dimension representing a type of knowledge, and then assign a numerical value to everyone in each dimension, even the stupidest people probably know more than the smartest people in their own specialty.

What you describe is a management attitude. The people on the floor are just fumbducks who have to work hard for low pay, because they are not as smart as management. In my experience, alot of them know quite a bit about their jobs.

Apparently.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

that what they cannot understand. The conservative pundits have no logical response for reasoned academics, so the best they can do it make fun of them.

different developmental stages. Most conservatives view things in a dualistic manner of good/bad right/wrong. When someone comes along and uses a different rubric for thinking, it causes a disequilibrium for them and since it is not the same as theirs it has to be wrong. Simple explanations are preferable to dealing with open-ended complexities e.g. holiday vs christmas. Both are legitimate and not mutually exclusive. If one says that using christmas may not always be an appropriate context to view a celebration then it is assumed they are attacking the concept of christmas. Is Christmas right or wrong? For dualistic thinking there can be only one right answer. For others both can be right. We in higher education dedicate much of our days and energy in helping students to see complexities and think critically. These are not desired activities for conservatives, therefore, those who do are not admired.

:spank:

Funny sig line-who said it?

would beat up the smart kids for being "nerds."

If they mock the "liberal elite" college professors, it makes them look more intelligent by comparison.

Conservatives know more than doctors, scientists, civil rights activists, professors, musicians, geologists AND marine biologists. And when you have that much durned knowin', you MUST let the world know. Even IF they're fuckin' wrong as hell.

all a doctor would need to do (instead of hiring one of them lawyers) would be to sit in a courtroom during the frivolous lawsuit about them leaving an x-ray machine inside a patient, and yell out FRIVOULOUS LAWSUIT and LEGAL LOTTERY -the judge would have to throw out the case on the logic and history of such a strong argument everytime. No if only there was some place some way to get lawyers and doctors together so they could share just this sort of information...if only there was such a place perhaps a shared excercise of some sort.....

Yes, they somehow know more on climatology than the people who have spent years in their field, even though the closest conservatives have come to being in a university is spending a few days binge drinking with some friends who are back from school on winter break.

The way I see it: every conservative I know is 100% utterly concerned with money. I don't know any conservatives who are fundies or anything like that. The conservatives I know revolve their lives around money and automatically assume that the only reason anyone does anything is to somehow acquire more material possessions.

So, I think when they see a professor -- someone who is obviously very intelligent and could write their own ticket in the commercial or industrial sectors -- they automatically mock them for not chasing the almighty dollar. I think they don't understand altruism or why someone might choose *any* lower-paying profession over a higher-paying one.

community on (insert pretty much any issue here), they say that the scientists are only 'sensationalizing' an issue for the money they receive from grants.

Yea, scientists are SO rich.

find employment in the university system is because they are lazy and they don't have to do anything but teach a couple classes a week. (They have no concept of professorial responsibilities such as research, article and book publication, the constant pressure of staying on top of the work being done in one's field, counseling students, mentoring grad students on papers and through MA or PhD degrees, sitting on university committees, attending accreditation meetings, etc.)

You are right. They think that there must be something defective with the people who opt to work as a professor in their field instead of going for the big bucks in the private sector.

Yes, your post is very insightful.

(*RRR=Rabid Right-wing Republicans)

In college you have to be able to make a valid argument. Ever hear a conservative make a valid argument? One based on facts?

I doubt that the profs failed them. They probably never even saw them.

our school system promote an intellectual attitude.

Is it obvious that my Goddess is Stephanie Miller?

Note to self: be careful when posting in an inebriated state!

:rofl:

that when they send little Johnny and little Suzy off to the university, they are sending them out into the world, where a pack of wolves awaits them, eager to shred their religious beliefs and instill "secular" views into them, like evolution.

These parents have had utter control on their kids, and they can't bear the thought that in college their children might learn to think for themselves and to question all of their previous beliefs.

I have never instructed a student to abandon her religion. I have presented factual lectures, and sometimes kids do end up questioning what has always been told to them. That's part of attaining maturity--you question things and think for yourself.

The conservative talking-heads love to use the "professor hatred" thing to instill fear in parents. As long as conservatives have an enemy, they can conjeal as a monolith--enemies such as abortion, the "war on christmas," evolution, and, yes, higher ed.

But they know that Johnny and Suzy's best chance for a good job is to go through college, so they bite the bullet and send the kids.

This is what I've seen and heard, by talking to very RRR (rabid rightwing republican) parents. They are usually amazed when they talk to me and find that I'm a reasonable person and have no intentions to corrupt their children.

Incidentally, the parents who stay in constant contact with the professors of their adult children are often the parents who eventually lose contact with their kids, who finally buck their parents' constant domination and cut off contact with them. I've seen this numerous times.

For RWers their professors are Hannity, Rush, O'Reilly, etc. (who are never wrong by the way). These guys tell the RWers that college professors are stupid and wrong because they're all "librul."