Accra, Ghana–I have recently determined that sitting poolside at the Erata Hotel in East Legon is the only tolerable way to check my email. The food is good and the ocher thatch roof shields me from the sun. The waiters know me well and we exchange very hip fist bumps upon my entrance Also, the wireless connection is robust.
In the wake of my column on ideological diversity last week, my in-box has  flooded with responses from people all over the country.  Ninety-five percent of them have been supportive but I have received some criticism. Most of it has been pretty incisive and I have appreciated it greatly.   However, occasionally I come across a gem like like this:
What the world needs now is for Dan Lawton to move into the beautiful hills around Eugene and go to work as a tree planter. Dan, please, newspapers are a waste of good trees. Your writing is a waste of education. Plant trees, you aren’t going to be a newspaper person.
This is a comment on a post written by Steven Reynolds, a blogger for a website called All Spin Zone, regarding my column and me. It’s tagged with the terms, “media,” “right-wing nut job” and “stupid.” It’s a strange thing to read– especially in the funky state of relaxation that imbues me at the moment–and it makes me wonder who Steve Reynolds is and whether or not he has a mustache.
If he does, I can’t imagine it’s as macho as mine.
Better yet, what did Steve’s face look like when he read my column? I can imagine the twisting grimace, the perspiration dripping down the nib of his nose, the quiver of his lip and the throbbing of his forehead vein.
Anyway without further delay, here are some excerpts (emphasis added). You can read it all here.
The whole canard of liberals in academe is being argued again, this time by a student at the University of Oregon. Forget for a moment that he chose to attend college in Eugene Oregon, where granola is a highly prized commodity. Dan Lawton seems to be arguing for affirmative action for Republican academics in his sloppily written columns.
(Later)
Does Lawton really mean to say that our voter registration is what’s important? That’s an absurd reduction for a man claiming the high moral ground of impartial journalism in his writing. But the assumptions of Lawton’s article are far worse, and it is no wonder he’s been treated a bit badly by faculty there in Eugene, or so he claims. He simply doesn’t understand that the liberal values of faculty members also coincides with academic rigor and fairness. Would he get that from merely adding Republicans to faculties? Not if those faculty members acted like Republican journalists.
Of course, I can’t respond to this, it’s just too strange. Plus, there’s a dearth of granola out here in West Africa. How could I ever understand that the” liberal values of faculty members coincide with academic rigor and fairness” without my grainy sustenance?
get a life loser – you want biased right wing professors
here’s a clue – there are very few smart enough and the ones that are would rather work on wall street and rob ordinary people blind
I wish I had someone like you advocating for me when I attended the UofO. I also wish I had saved one of the teacher’s comments on my writing 122 paper. We were given an assignment to write an “opinion” paper, and then back up our opinion with sources. The red ink stated:
“This is one of the most well-written and well-researched freshman papers I have ever seen! This paper is entirely deserving of an A+. However, your opinion is far too conservative so I am going to give you a C-. If you could just learn to be more liberal in your mindset I’m sure you will graduate with honors!.”
That was only one of the comments I received there. I left the UofO soon after that. A few years later I graduated with honors from OSU, where only one professor (Daniels, English Department) commented that “if I had my way, all Christians would be put to death.” It was wonderful to study in a school where I did not have to suffer bigotry and hatred more than a few hours a week.
Wow. Dan, the reactions to your column are a bit scary. The “anyone who disagrees with me is either evil or stupid” line is getting more and more popular.
Hey Dan.
Really enjoyed that piece there. Although you and I have taken separate ideological paths since our Mandeville days, it’s refreshing to see you call out your own in the name of ethical diplomacy.
Also, I recently got published in the local Venice newspaper called the Beachhead, and I think I will keep writing for them monthly. Whenever you find your way close to this side of town again, you need to come visit Kristin, Cat, and I so we can get a little silly and have ourselves a time!
First of all, t, read what the column says and not what you want it to say – then you’ll see that Lawton isn’t advocating for biased right-wing professors, only a fair chance for varying viewpoints.
As a self-proclaimed “liberal”, I’m shocked and disheartened to see such a lack of tolerance of opinions. As Reynold’s points out, academic fairness and rigor coincide with liberal ideas. Let’s read that again in the context of this firestorm: academic fairness, which implies the recognition and analysis of varying ideologies, coincides with liberal ideas. So, why then, are liberal professors and readers alike attacking someone for writing a piece which simply asks a question about a lack of diversity? Lawton isn’t advocating for the indiscriminate hiring of “right-wing nut jobs”, he is questioning the blatant liberal slant of the U of O. If moderate and conservative students are afraid to speak freely (with intelligence) in their classes on a college campus due to the blatant political allegiances of their professors, it seems obvious that there’s an issue. The situation Lawton describes following the publication of his article is one that reeks of intolerance.
I wish my liberal brothers and sisters could see that discrimination against ideas – regardless of where they fall on an ideological/political spectrum – is still discrimination. And isn’t discrimination something we liberals are against?