You meet some really interesting people in hot tubs.

[Bluesman]

And I met this guy last night while taking a soak at the Grand Residence Inn at South Lake Tahoe.

And he's exactly what you'd expect from an elite academian: sniffy, superior, snide and dismissive. Interrupted every single time I tried to talk.

He called me (and every other Bush supporter) 'troglodyte'. He actually referred to the majority of blacks as 'stupid'.

REALLY big on insisting that AGW was a settled quesion; found it impossible to conceive that there are people that can be convinced it's a hoax, AND that have actually done some layman's research into the question.

It was really interesting to meet one of the new commissars, our future rulers. I expect that with my few bare comments that I was allowed to make, I revealed myself as an enemy of the People, and I will need to be liquidated as soon as possible, so if someday I suddenly dissa

[Parihaka]

See you're sooo much more tolerant than me. I would have poked him in the eye then apologised profusely.
Parihaka "I'm terribly sorry, did I poke you in the eye? How terrible, I can't apologise enough, I have this reflexive twitch you see, something to do with eating raw oysters as a child"

[Bluesman]

I like you more with each of your posts.

[troung]

And he's exactly what you'd expect from an elite academian: sniffy, superior, snide and dismissive. Interrupted every single time I tried to talk.

How long did this chat go on for?

He actually referred to the majority of blacks as 'stupid'.

How did that come up? I don't doubt the guy said it, just how does one lead into that one... "as I was saying before you interrupted me about conditions in the inner city black people are stupid anyways"

[Bluesman]

I really wish that some of you had been there, because it ws very revealing. It was really everything I'd come to picture in my mind about this class of person. (As we all know, stereotypes are generally based in some measure on truth, but a lot of the particulars vary, and tend to make them into cariactures. But BOY...this guy is just who you'd think he'd be.)

So many things to relate from this encounter, but it just wouldn't be adequate. You'd have to have been there.

Oh, and follow some of the links from his page. It is a real trip into the rabbit hole of an intellectual's mind.

[Albany Rifles]

So did you fart in the water and blame him?

Guys like this give academicians a bad name. They are not all like this dikchead.

But just remember, Those who can't, teach. (Said by me, an adjunct professor)

[Bluesman]

How long did this chat go on for?

Over an hour.

How did that come up? I don't doubt the guy said it, just how does one lead into that one... "as I was saying before you interrupted me about conditions in the inner city black people are stupid anyways"

His hatred of most segments of society - even those that he found politically useful, such as the ever-dependaple black vote for any and all Democrats - was on display. He believes that most of us need to be saved and redeemed by our betters (he didn't say that phrase, but you could tell he meant himself and everybody in the History Faculty at Stanford), and the blacks that have no idea WHY they should vote correctly (as he see it) nevertheless DO, and they can be written off as 'stupid'. He said that in the same context as the people that vote Republican are equally stupid, and a Ron Paul / Sarah Palin / Mike Huckabee voter is just as stupid as any black that can't tell you which issues THEY care about.

His hatred of Palin was almost pathological, and I thought I'd actually drive him away when I told him I saw nothing particularly objectionable about her. I said I supposed that made me somewhat ape-like in his eyes, and he didn't bother to set me straight on that.

His Big Thang is his heroic fight against Big Tobacco, and it was interesting to hear him destroy his own logic but fail to see himself doing so, when I pressed the point that he basically was saying tobacco should be outlawed, but he was in favor of legalizing marijuana, though. There were a lot of other points like that: government is benevolent, government is wise, government only wants the best-organized and happiest society possible for us.

And if millions have to perish to get there, well, then, we should go to work right now, eh, Professor?

He seemed to treat me like a lower life form when I said that.

I imagine I'll be on a boxcar as soon as he's able to arrange it, after THEY are in charge.

[troung]

And he's exactly what you'd expect from an elite academian: sniffy, superior, snide and dismissive. Interrupted every single time I tried to talk.

Not all though, I know some nice ones.

I imagine I'll be on a boxcar as soon as he's able to arrange it, after THEY are in charge.

Do like me and keep feet in both boats ;). Granted with health care, immigration, Afghanistan, and global warming might end up in the water...

But if I make it through it, I will find you a nice space on zee train.

His hatred of most segments of society - even those that he found politically useful, such as the ever-dependaple black vote for any and all Democrats - was on display. He believes that most of us need to be saved and redeemed by our betters (he didn't say that phrase, but you could tell he meant himself and everybody in the History Faculty at Stanford), and the blacks that have no idea WHY they should vote correctly (as he see it) nevertheless DO, and they can be written off as 'stupid'. He said that in the same context as the people that vote Republican are equally stupid, and a Ron Paul / Sarah Palin / Mike Huckabee voter is just as stupid as any black that can't tell you which issues THEY care about.

Sadly common view which can be found on both sides, that the "lower class" base of the other side are mouth breathing idiots.

Big Thang is his heroic fight against Big Tobacco, and it was interesting to hear him destroy his own logic but fail to see himself doing so, when I pressed the point that he basically was saying tobacco should be outlawed, but he was in favor of legalizing marijuana, though.

That's a classic one. In part on who runs which one, the mystic of smoking pot and the lack of thought.

[Bluesman]

So did you fart in the water and blame him?

Guys like this give acadecians a bad name. They are not all like this dikchead.

But just remember, Those who can't, teach. (Said by me, an adjunct professor)

His wife was there, too, and whaddayaknow: a gender-studies historian. Think there's any point-of-view from one such as she? Think her version of 'agnotology' (a word the two of 'em made up as the study of ignorance) has a political purpose?

These two were really so very, very much what I always picture when I think of the Academic Left (but I repeat myself): blinkered, cloistered, radical, so interested in Humanity that they're willing to write off large segments of Humankind as expendable on the Road to Utopia. And absolutely convinced of their own goodness and rectitude.

[Bluesman]

Not all though, I know some nice ones.

Oh, so do I. And not a single dam' one of 'em will ever vote for a Republican, nor can they be interested in National Defense (in REAL terms; they're all just like the President, with their unshakeable faith that there are no insoluable problems that cannot be resolved peacefully).

Sadly common view which can be found on both sides, that the "lower class" base of the other side are mouth breathing idiots.

I was able to get a lick in here. I told him I admired Palin MUCH more than Obama, and I certainly thought myself intelligent. Did he perhaps misunderestimate her supporters? Could he possibly have over-estimated HIS guy? Is he so confident that she's a ninny, and that Mr. Wonderful is going to smoke her in a debate? Or should he and the entire professoriate re-think what she's all about?

That's a classic one. In part on who runs which one, the mystic of smoking pot and the lack of thought.

I pointed out that HIS point-of-view was one of statism (he denied it), and mine was one of liberty (which he simply could not concede, and started frothing about the favorite lefty boogeyman, the Religious Right, and the attempts at social control through religion).

It was fun watching him lose his train of thought when I reminded him that I was an athieist, so how did he explain ME?

[dalem]

I would have peed in the water and just smiled at him while I was doing it.

-dale

[Blue]

I really wish that some of you had been there,

Better that I wasn't.......that's water deep enough to drown in and I don't have your patience...know wut I mean?;)

Besides, he sounds like a Nazi. I hate Nazis........

[Dreadnought]

Seems like a good place to throw a plugged in toaster.:));)

[Knaur Amarsh]

Besides, he sounds like a Nazi. I hate Nazis........

Nazi 1 , Liar 2 :))

[Julie]

People such as those are so engrossed with their own thought processes, ethey are totally out of touch with real people in the real world. Had it been me in that hot tub, he would have gotten a good kick in the crotch before my exit.