Full Description
Many American liberals believe that misinformation is just a right-wing problem. As a result, they ignore a similar crisis of misinformation occurring on the left—particularly within higher education—and reflexively dismiss any such claim as just another right-wing talking point. Yet, as Virtuous Nonsense makes clear, the epistemic problems in blue America are not only real but also worsening and can no longer be ignored. With contributions from a wide range of liberal-minded scholars and thinkers, including Musa al-Gharbi, Jonathan Haidt, Carol Tavris, and Matthew Yglesias, among many others, the volume demonstrates how large segments of the academy—namely, in the social sciences, the humanities, and education—have become captive to progressive ideology.
Where universities once sought to produce and disseminate reliable knowledge, far too many academics today prioritize activism and political projects. This results in poorly supported academic theories and distorted claims that eventually proliferate beyond the university—through the graduation of students who've received a flawed education, through a mainstream media that all too often credulously parrots even the most biased claims as "the truth," and ultimately through public institutions increasingly shaped by politicized expertise.
On subjects ranging from race and gender to single parenthood and free markets, Virtuous Nonsense exposes the most damaging of these academic distortions, which not only undermine public trust and sound policymaking but also artificially narrow the boundaries of acceptable debate. In so doing, it presents a challenge to the left: face the crisis, or remain complicit in the degradation of our intellectual and civic life. Until more liberals acknowledge the problem of malfunctioning disciplines and uncritical media environments, America cannot hope to repair its engines of knowledge—or recover from an epistemic crisis that sickens our culture, society, and politics.
Contents
Foreword by Michael Shermer
INTRODUCTION
1 Tribal Epistemology Is a Bipartisan Problem
Lawrence M. Eppard, Jacob L. Mackey, Lee Jussim & Steven Sloman
2 The Bias That Divides Us
Keith Stanovich
3 "Misinformation" Isn't Just on the Right
Matthew Yglesias
INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS
4 Universities Must Choose One Telos
Jonathan Haidt
5 Ideological Diversity in the Academy
Musa al-Gharbi
6 The Institutionalization of Ideology in Sociology
Carl Bankston III
7 Ideology and the Behavioral Sciences
April Bleske-Rechek, Michael H. Bernstein & Robert O. Deaner
8 Who Should You Trust?
Anthony Fowler
9 Science Journalism and Progressive Ideology
James B. Meigs
SEX & GENDER
10 The Ideological Subversion of Biology
Jerry A. Coyne & Luana S. Maroja
11 Don't Downplay Progress Toward Gender Equality
Lee Jussim
12 Explaining the Gender Pay Gap
Lawrence M. Eppard & Katie Bonomo
13 Equal Pay Myths
Kay S. Hymowitz
14 The Modern Dismissal of Biology
Robert Lynch
15 Evidence and the Transgender Movement
Leor Sapir
16 Minors and the Transgender Movement
Kay S. Hymowitz
17 From Fringe Academic Theory to Law
Leor Sapir
RACIAL INEQUALITY
18 Problems with Implicit Bias Research
Carol Tavris
19 The Questionable Science of Microaggressions
Lee Jussim
20 Race and Police Shootings
Robert VerBruggen
21 "Hands Up, Don't Shoot"
Michael Huemer
22 Dubious Research on Racial Inequality
Michael Jindra & Arthur Sakamoto
23 Exaggerations about Standardized Tests
April Bleske-Rechek & Daniel Robinson
24 Testing and the War on Reality
Craig Frisby
25 Slavery Was Not Unique to America
Kay S. Hymowitz
26 Tough Conversations on Diversity and Merit
Heather Mac Donald
CANCEL CULTURE, IDENTITY POLITICS & MORE
27 The Harper's Letter
Various Signatories
28 What Is Cancel Culture?
Carol Tavris
29 What to Do When You're Cancelled
Ilya Shapiro
30 The Downside of Identity Politics
Karl Zinsmeister
31 Family Breakdown Denialists
Kay S. Hymowitz
32 Being Honest about Single Parenthood
Mona Charen
33 In Defense of Free Markets
Johan Norberg
34 The Good Times Are Now?
Lawrence M. Eppard & Jacob L. Mackey
35 Climate Catastrophizing Doesn't Help
Mona Charen
PARTING THOUGHTS
36 Attacks on Reality from the Left-Wing
Jacob L. Mackey & Lawrence M. Eppard
37 The Virtuous Lies We Tell
Jacob L. Mackey
38 The Dangers of Progressive Myths
Michael Huemer
Epilogue: White Doctors and Black Babies
Jacob L. Mackey & Dave Gilbert
Bibliography
About the Editors
