Overheard in the Faculty Lounge

So I’m eating breakfast in a faculty lounge in California and I hear an angry female faculty member loudly discussing politics with her male counterpart. As I eat my cantaloupe, I am treated to the following tidbits: Karl Rove and others like him are funneling money to the Republicans (I sure hope so!), Romney finally said how he really feels about the 47%, (that condescending a**hole!), why can’t Ross Douthat at the New York Times be more like David Brooks (who thinks just like a Democrat but calls himself a Republican)) and how does this Douthat have the gall to write a book on religion –he doesn’t know a thing (because he is–gasp! a conservative). And seriously, does Douthat need their permission to write such a book?

The angry voices and condescension toward anything or anyone who did not toe the line of the New York Times or the academic “elite” was staggering. These two faculty members had the critical thinking skills of a couple of gnats and no ability to understand anything outside their worldview. I thought higher education was supposed to teach critical thinking skills. Wishful thinking on my part. Perhaps these people should get out of their faculty club bubble every once in a while and talk to people who are different from them and maybe even try listening. What a novel concept!