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History moment: When feminism rules instead of Darwinism

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Larry Summers, who is definitely not an intelligent design proponent, is nonetheless paying the penalty of standing for what is obviously true in current academic life, columnist John Leo reveals:

So former Harvard president Lawrence Summers is once again paying for his sins, this time having a dinner speech canceled by the board of regents of the University of California. The regents caved because feminists circulated a petition announcing that Summers “has come to symbolize gender and racial prejudice in academia.”

Summers lost his post as Harvard chair for doubting that girls were just as good as boys at math.

Mmmm but, as Leo notes, general stuff that everybody knows is heresy nowadays.

Vanderbilt’s Camilla Benbow, a commanding researcher in the field for years, reports sex differences in mathematical precocity before kindergarten, differences among mathematical reasoning ability among intellectually gifted boys and girls as early as the second grade and pronounced sexual differences among intellectually talented 12- to 14-year-olds. Yet Summers, in capitulating to feminist anger, announced that “the human potential to excel in science” has nothing to do with gender. That isn’t true. At the very top of the profession, where the geniuses reside, there will be more males than females — absent political pressure and arguments about “underrepresentation,” that is.

Wondering about the title of this post? See When Marxism ruled instead of Darwinism Same demand to ignore evidence, different victims. For Darwinism’s rule, go to Baylor (the Enron of biology).

P.S.: Anyone who thinks that the fact that girls are not as good as boys in math means that girls do not rule is obviously not in contact with many girls.

Also: Milt Rosenberg interviews Mario Beauregard (The Spiritual Brain) and Francis Collins (The Language of God) Thursday night 9:05 Chicago tmei

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HarperCollins Canada offers free stuff from The Spiritual Brain.

Comments
nice to see the blog interface back. quotes are still too light and difficult to read (near impossible in the preview window without selecting the text) -
especially when posted by commentators over the green background
Borne
September 20, 2007
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One more example of how the academy has become corrupt, and soon-to-be pointless. Mull this A girl says she wants to study math and is told she can't because she's a girl. That would be unwarranted sex discrimination and bad. Now, let's say a girl wants to study math, sneaks in an takes an aptitude test and scores well. Then she's found to be a girl, and is told she can't study math because of it. That's also unwarranted sex discrimination and bad. Now, let's say girls who want to study math are given the same admissions tests as boys but only one girl qualifies for every nine boys. That's aptitude discrimination and very necessary. Now, suppose we shouted out of the debate those who claim that cultural factors are what cause females to be less likely to pursue certain interests. Would that be good? No. So why should those be punished who say the reason is biological? It makes you go hmmmm, after which a thinking person would conclude the reason is that those insisting on cultural reasons are less interested in truth than in protecting their status. And the academy has become corrupt.tribune7
September 20, 2007
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I must apologize for my myopia. I have found the link to the original article by clicking on the word "obviously". Mea culpa, mea culpa Denyse.Glarson24
September 20, 2007
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This is a topic of some interest to me, as my daughter has been identified as academicaly gifted. Is there a link available to Leo's original column?Glarson24
September 20, 2007
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"The fact that a person who’s a university professor can be in total denial of well-known, well-documented facts is quite disconcerting. Such denial is a form of madness." Yeah well, we're seeing quite a bit of that lately aren't we? It's been said here before: Darwinism destroys the ability to think. I was just listening to Denyse O'Leary on 'ID the Future' speak about the placebo effect, and the minds ability to change the brain. Well if people afflicted with OCD can physically change their brains for the better, people afflicted with Darwinism might be changing their brains for the worse. Maybe Darwinism is actually a disease? Sort of like the religion meme.shaner74
September 20, 2007
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The fact that a person who's a university professor can be in total denial of well-known, well-documented facts is quite disconcerting. Such denial is a form of madness. Is it wise to give mad people important roles in forming the minds of the next generation of citizens? Of course not! I call for this woman, and any other academic who signed the petition, to be required to show cause why they shouldn't be dismissed.Janice
September 20, 2007
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Yes, that thought occurred to me too. Plus, the indifference to the direction of the evidence is about the same.O'Leary
September 20, 2007
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I found it interesting that the petition to disinvite Larry Summers was led by a Professor of Evolutionary Ecology - Maureen Stanton. I imagine she is a staunch Darwinist, and was simply adapting the thought control methods used to enforce Darwinist orthodoxy.RogerW
September 19, 2007
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