Jan 09 2010

Appeal to authority

So yesterday I wrote what I still consider to be an entirely uncontroversial post unless you happen to be a graduate of a particular college that I pointed out as being third rate and mediocre.

I’ll say at the start what I’m sincerely disappointed in is that nobody remarked on my clever turn of phrase substituting “credible course” for “credible source”, but as with most of my jokes the important part is that they amuse me.

But some also missed my more populist point which I’ll repeat because of new news.

The new news is this-

Jonathan Gruber, professor at MIT, far from being an independent expert on Health Insurance economics, is simply a well paid shill for Rahm Emanuel and the Obama Administration.

For those not so proud of their ignorance that they refuse to click links see-

This is exactly the same behavior we saw from the Bush Administration with Armstrong Williams and Military "Experts".

Late Night: Color Me Gruber

By: Gregg Levine Friday January 8, 2010 8:02 pm

Remember, back in November, when everyone inside the Beltway was all a-twitter (in both senses of the phrase) about how Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, was making practically every White House staffer read an Atlantic article by Ron Brownstein? That piece, touting what FDL’s own Jon Walker called “free market economagic,” relied heavily on the work of Jonathan Gruber-then billed as “a leading health economist at MIT,” now well-understood to be a super-remunerated contractor in the employ of several parts of the Obama Administration.

…

It’s hinky on its face, for sure, but what really gets me is the broad similarities this has to the way the Bush Administration worked the press during the last decade. Cheney would authorize a leak about a possible terror plot, a link to an alleged state-sponsor of terrorism, the use for some assortment of aluminum tubes, or the provenance of some copper casings, and then you would see these items reported in all the right, respectable places. Then, Dick Cheney, or Condi Rice, or any of host of other Bush White House proxies would go on the Sunday shows and warn us that the threats had to be real-after all, it was right there in the New York Times and/or Washington Post.

Judy Miller anyone?  Bueller?

Hopey changiness.

Now I’ll not call MIT third rate but I will repeat this point-

“Most professors I’ve met are self centered ignorant assholes even about their own subject and unworthy of accreditation by any measure.”

And my populist message is this-

People lie all the time.  Even “Experts”.  Why are you fucking falling for the fallacy of appeal to authority?

Time to wake up and smell the glove.

14 comments

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  1. The Difference Between Being Unable To Keep A Promise And Being A Liar

    By: Jon Walker Thursday January 7, 2010 10:45 am

    I don’t expect a president to make every promise a reality. I don’t even expect them to put a lot of effort into pushing for every single promise they made, but I at least expect him to not strongly advocate for things he directly campaigned against only a 15 months ago. The excise tax would never have made its way into the final bill if not for the strong push by the Obama administration for its inclusion. Is Washington politics so cynical and broken that expecting a politician to simply not strongly push for policies they spend months directly campaigning against considered naivety? Why is it so hard for people to state plainly what is going on? We have been directly lied to.

    • Robyn on January 9, 2010 at 14:57
    • #

    Most professors I’ve met are self centered ignorant assholes even about their own subject and unworthy of accreditation by any measure.

  3. the assembly and arrangement of the tools and apparatus required for the performance of an operation.

    First the lie and then the setup.

  4. Good Saturday morning, ek. I got stuck reading the wiki on “shill”. heh.

    Shorter: Your elixir is nothing but piss.

  5. I never graduated from college. ANY college. I have been told I supposedly earned an Associates Degree from CCAF just by having earned a certain number of college credits elsewhere, but actual proof thereof remains to be seen.

    I still have no need to prate against college professors as a group or entire schools which I have never attended. This is because I’m not neurotically insecure about my level of education or my abilities. Nor am I so self absorbed that I need to trumpet from the rooftops my disdain for people who either grant or earn college degrees.

    I have managed my education quite well someone who has ADD – hell, I’m apparently so good at hiding the symptoms that I’ve had people tell me that my ADD is “a lie that I’ve made up”, although I’ve been formally diagnosed with it both as a child and an adult. Formal college training doesn’t work for me. That doesn’t make formal training inherently bad, nor does it make me stupid because it doesn’t work for me. Christianity doesn’t work for me either, but I don’t sit there bashing Christians unless they bash me first.

    The dumbing down of the American public is certainly happening and has been for quite a while, but there’s no need to present the issue in such a prejudicial fashion. It certainly makes you appear to be part of the very problem you’re describing, if nothing else.

  6. I didn’t feel like getting into it.

    I think there is a huge problem in the academic world that weeds out unproductive (read unprofitable) disciplines and study. There have been extreme moves to privatizing our education system in this country. Notably this process has caused a rise in tuition, an This happens in several ways:

    1* Students look at job prospects when considering their focus, this includes their positions on topics all the way up to their choice of major and their choice of school. Tuition hikes has made it necessary to consider this.  

    2* Teachers are given money, via public funds and now largely private funds to conduct their research, they choose their subjects and positions wisely if they want to get the research grant or sponsorship.

    3* Schools and Departments in general take their cues from this corporate funding mechanism – one only has to look at how much pharma and medical tech money they get, to see the kind of impact they have. Then they can take a look which departments universities are choosing to shrink or expand. You guessed it, technology for profit expands and knowledge for the benefit of all citizen shrinks.  

    Now, take a look at how many left wing economists there are or left wing economics departments there are.

    Can you name one? Even one.

    I can’t.

    Naomi Klein has noted in her lectures to the Chicago school of humanities how Friedman’s free market ideology has been successful largely because it promises profit for the corporations who hire the economists.

    People were making the claim yesterday that this friendly economist had written the paper before being hired by the Obama administration. Therefore no corruption.

    His position was influenced and corrupted much earlier, and his payment was part of his long term career plan.  

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