LIBERAL PROFESSOR sends video of self being liberal to right-wing Campus Reform group, demands his $100 bounty for turning himself in

The people at Campus Reform (whose mission is to smash left-wing scum) are offering a $100 bounty for videos of "LIBERAL PROFESSORS" that lead to news stories. Kieran Healy, being a liberal professor, plans to snap up a C-note of his own from the group, whose founder, Morton Blackwell, also founded the Leadership Institute, which boasts such alumni as Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, and James O’Keefe. Here's Healy's entry. I think he's a shoe-in.

Bottom Feeders (via Making Light)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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cservant

Will there be cake?
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  College so more likely cheese cubes
  - billstewart
    
    “Brie and Chablis”, right? (And yes, the right-wingers who seem to think this is a funny description of how “elitist” the liberals are didn’t catch on to Chardonnay taking over the default white wine position sometime in the 80s or 90s, depending on which coast you lived on.
    
    But yeah, back when I was an undergrad in upstate New York, if the college sponsored the munchies, it wouldn’t have been brie, it would have been cheddar or something else from the ag school’s dairy department, local apples, and white wine from a jug because they hadn’t invented boxed wine and you really didn’t want to drink the local reds. If students sponsored it, it would have been beer.)
    - http://www.facebook.com/bogslug Daniel Latta
      
      People drink white wine?
      - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
        
        WHITE (wine) POWER!
    - http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood
      
      …the right-wingers who seem to think this is a funny description of how “elitist” the liberals are didn’t catch on to Chardonnay taking over the default white wine position sometime in the 80s or 90s, depending on which coast you lived on.
      
      Actually, there was a GOP framing memo on that after the ’93 election: they still use the phrase because “Chardonnay” doesn’t rhyme with “Brie.” Also, the French apellation of Chablis grows and produces the Chardonnay grape to the near-total exclusion of any other varietal, so it was decided to keep the “Brie and Chablis” phrase both for its rhythmically greater viral potential and because the same fruit was used in the two wines.
      - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
        
        “Huey Freeman: Wait, I’m sorry. Did you say “cheese”?
        Robert ‘Granddad’ Freeman: Yup, cheese. You give the meanest white man a piece of cheese and he turn into Mr. Rogers.
        Huey Freeman: Granddad, that doesn’t make sense.
        Robert ‘Granddad’ Freeman: Don’t you talk back to me, boy!
        Huey Freeman: Granddad, you can’t tame the white supremacist power structure with cheese!”
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxGf51Tghvc
- http://twitter.com/masseffected Ross
  
  Yes, there will be cake and grief counseling.
- Peter Erwin
  
  Said Evil Liberal Professor has already produced a Keynote theme file for your Aperture cake-and-science enjoyment:
  
  http://crookedtimber.org/2011/04/19/present-more-effectively-for-science/
  
  (“For maximum effectiveness, the use of this theme is best accompanied by a well-prepared text, a clear speaking voice, and—for fielding questions—a functional Aperture Science military android. I’ll probably use the theme in class tomorrow (though the turret is still being shipped to me).”)
- MrLibearian
  
  Not sure if reference to Aperture Laboratories sign in the background or just a fan of cake
http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33

“Smash left-wing scum”? Really? Oh my head.

The video is great though. Kudos.
http://twitter.com/AKAtheMilkman J.C. Carlisle

The money is a lie.
Thad Boyd

And look! It led to a news story!
- rtb61
  
  Go straight to campus reform is pointless dip into money grubbing based attacks.
  One example a critique of a ‘liberal’ history professor with ‘a number’ of negative ratings on rate your professor, guess what ‘a number’ equates to, ‘one’, it’s a number and the date of the rating suspiciously aligns with the story.
  This all amounts to, give us some money and we will attack anyone you want us to.
  - Erik Postma
    
    Actually, zero is a number too. Some of these scummy left-wing professors have zero bad ratings! It’s a scandal!
Ito Kagehisa

A shoe-in?
rattypilgrim

Forgive me for invoking Godwin’s Law here, but the GOP sure looks and sounds an awful lot like the Nazi Party ca. 1935. Turn in liberal professors….! It’s so American to spy on and turn your neighbors and fellow citizens into whatever authority. Ok, we’re becoming Mao’s China without the birth control.
- http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
  
  Or most republicans or democrats in the 1950s? I think that’s a closer analogy. I’m not sure we’re at Mao/Stalin/Hitler levels of insanity, but depending on many factors, things could snowball…
  - rattypilgrim
    
    I have a feeling during the McCarthy era more centrist and liberal thinking people (and in those days that included some Republicans) were also invoking Godwin’s Law before it existed.
Brainspore

How can we be sure he’s the real deal when he wasn’t even pissing on a crucifix or trying to indoctrinate anyone into homosexuality?
- http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
  
  What, Marx = Satanic Black Mass = Homosexuality = SOROS
  
  FOLLOW THE ARROWS ON THE CHALK BOARD!
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Wrong!
    
    Stalin = Moustache Ride = Satanic Black Mass = Homosexuality = SOROS
    - http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
      
      I feel like we’re missing an easy Godwin here.
      - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
        
        …or a Poe
      - http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
        
        IT’S MY FAULT BLACKLEAF DIED!
- fuzzyfuzzyfungus
  
  I am given to understand that even Liberal Fascists understand the division of labor: I think that the ‘liberal arts’ and ‘social science’ professors handle indoctrination in matters of marxism, maoism, and ‘global warming’, while the man-hating feminazis in ‘gender studies’ handle perversion-related work.
- jccalhoun
  
  for these people it would just be enough for a prof to say “Even though I love the USA with all my heart and think it is the best nation in the world, I still think it may not be entirely perfect” to be labeled as a radical leftist.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    And yet, “This country is a cesspit of filth and degradation and we need to tear it down by armed force” is rapidly becoming mainstream conservative rhetoric.
http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai

Anybody think of going to a junior high school biology class & recording a presentation on Darwinism? Or maybe an elementary school were they push radical disinfo like the existence of dinosaurs before man, or that the planet is more than 6000 years old? WE CAN BUST THIS WHOLE THING WIDE OPEN. Seriously, when I learned about the existence of China my teachers didn’t even mention that every historical Chinese person before there were Christian missionaries went to hell. SMASH THE SCUM!
- Cowicide
  
  Don’t forget perpetuating the global warming “hoax” as well…
- Sagodjur
  
  That’s too complicated. Just go to pre-school and videotape the teacher telling kids that they should be nice to others and share their toys. That’s un’mericun god-hatin’ commie-nism at its purest!
http://halfbakedmaker.org Robert Baruch

Does this include professors of liberal arts?
- http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
  
  ZING!
- rattypilgrim
  
  That’s a no-brainer.
Steve Taylor

“shoo in” surely? No need to bring footwear into this.
billstewart

Sigh. My own college professors have long since retired, and most of the locals I knew were grad students who’ve gone on to teach at universities that are farther away. Maybe one of the local crypto professors would like to be turned in for a share of the bounty – we’ve certainly used it to spread Chaos and Anarchy around the world!
nel

Strange (from a British perspective) how liberal and socialist/communist seem to be seen as the same thing here. Is liberal on the extreme left from a US perspective?
- Bodhipaksa
  
  “Centrist” is seen as being on the extreme left from certain US perspectives.
  - http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
    
    There are “people” on this earth that believe that anything that isn’t Far-far-ultra-far-right is considered a closet pinko commie lefty.
    
    I’ve talked “at” (because there is no talking “with” someone with that level of self-indoctrination) folks who unironicly believe that Fox News is left-wing, because Fox isn’t as extreme as the ultra-right-wing poo-flinging-monkeyhouse that is American talk-radio.
    
    …in the presence of these “people” I occasionally go and say things that may be… uncouth like mention that Obama is more right-wing than that tax-and-spend liberal Ronald Regan, or bring up that whole “Criticizing a sitting president during wartime is treason!”-meme that was bandied about back when Bush-the-lesser was in office, or that Obama was born in Hawaii and has a birth-certificate to prove it, while McCain dosen’t have a birth-certificate* AT ALL, because he was born in frikken’ PANAMA.
    
    *He has a “proof of citizen born abroad” and “statement of live birth”, which was issued by the American Consulate to Panama, which acts just as a birth-certificate for ID paperwork purposes for little things like: getting a driver’s license, applying for student-aid, or proving that you’re eligible to run for the position of the President of the United States of America.
- knappa
  
  Not necessarily. In the US, a liberal is somewhat like all-of-the-above-except-Tory.
- http://www.ecoevolution.org/ Ian G
  
  The use of the word “Liberal” here in the U.S. is a propaganda/marketing technique proliferated by right-wing media outlets like Fox News used to frame issues in way that is favorable to their particular form of Conservatism.
  
  There are two parts to the technique; the first is to use “Liberal” as a derogatory word and second (and most importantly to the technique) is to associate the word with people or actions that are generally rightward-leaning. This allows the speaker to frame the discussion in ways that push the audience towards ever more extreme right positions.
  
  For example, media outlets like Fox label people like Obama and Hilary Clinton as “THE MOST LIBERAL PEOPLE ON THE PLANET!!!” which is laughable since most of their positions tend to lean on the Right side of the spectrum; Pro-Military, Pro-Corporate, Anti-Labor, tepid on Social Welfare, etc. Their positions are generally far to the right of actual Liberal or Progressive ones. However, by labeling holders of this postion as “Liberal” what they have additionally done is framed the spectrum so that anyone outside of it would be fringe or more bluntly “wackos.” By controlling the framing, they control what is considered acceptable ground for discussion, and they are able to simply block out the broader range of options.
  
  Unfortunately for them, most of American public opinion when polled on key issues falls to the left of Obama and H.C, so what they consider as crazy is actually mainstream. Unfortunately for us, that form of conservative message is so successful politically it doesn’t matter what the public will accept, our politicians accept the frame and will apparently never give us what public opinion supports.
  - tsol
    
    Hilary “We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” Clinton a liberal? Perish the thought!
    - http://www.ecoevolution.org/ Ian G
      
      The common in that sentence is business common, not people common.
      She’s a corporatist like her husband, follower of the Democratic Leadership Council http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council principles like her husband Bill Clinton, is a military hawk especially regarding Israel/Iran, and on and on. She may be more liberal on the social issues, but she is hardly liberal on economic or military ones.
      
      This is the success of media outlets like Fox and their brand of Conservatism, many people don’t understand who truly liberal/progressives are.
- al7jj
  
  The word “liberal” has different meanings in the US and Europe — “liberal” in the European meaning is “libertarian” in the US.
Bodhipaksa

If they were *real* conservatives their mission would be “to smash left-wing *and* moderate right-wing scum.”

By the way it’s “shoo-in” rather than “shoe-in.” Apologies for the pedantry. I just can’t help myself.
- digi_owl
  
  moderates are lefties in drag
B Timothy Creel

Argh… there is an “Atlas Shrugged Part II” ad that got plugged into this post.
surreality

Too bad I live in Massachusetts and our page consists of 3 members out of a school of 20k students, or I’d ask my favorite professor if he wanted to split the prize 50-50.
Supreme

Why stop with just one professor?

This seems a tailor made cause for the internets to make teh funny.
What if a bunch of professors did this and all cumulatively made news, requesting their $100?In the hopes that they will, thereby publicizing the crapulence of the organization and taking their crispy green dollars, I set up this site to collect videos.

There’s only one now… http://liberalprofessors.wordpress.com/about/
- http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
  
  Because people who genuinely believe that they are doing “G-D’s WORK™” generally feel that they have the mandate to lie, cheat, and avoid “Rendering unto Caesar’s what is Caesar’s”.
  
  If you’re “On a mission from god” you can screw-over man as much as you want, as this (self-appointed) “mission” is a “get out of hell, free”-card.
  
  It’s the logical-fallacy of “moral false-equivalence”, it’s why tax-evasion and Creationism tend run together.
  
  So, I don’t expect any of the right-wing idealogical-extremists who set this up to actually make good on their promise.
Grahamers2002

He obviously works for Aperture Labs, so he could not be a liberal!
desiredusername

He would be more convincing as a liberal professor if those were library books.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KHCUTUOZ2YXERCXQQN324LZSZY Mike

WTF does leftism have to do with a reactionary right-wing ideology like liberalism?
- Jonathan Allen
  
  In the US, ‘liberalism’ is, like ‘conservatism,’ an odd term that includes all sorts of political and ideological bits. Neither necessarily have a great deal of correspondence with classical usage or contemporary European usage. A ‘liberal’ in the US is generally someone who has libertarian/classical liberal views on, say, civil rights and human rights generally, some vagueish communitarian views on other things, and a preference for liberal managerial capitalist economics with a strong state-regulatory component. Sometimes liberals like to veer over into more leftist territory, hence the odd conjunction of a self-professed ‘liberal’ parading Karl Marx (!).
  
  ‘Conservatism’ is also a strange bag, combining classical liberal economics and liberalism on some social and civil rights issues with communitarian/traditionalist leanings on others, and (usually) a strong commitment to an aggressive military. There are of course exceptions, as with liberals; some conservatives genuinely are such, in the classical sense, with a commitment to hierarchy and anti-egalitarianism; far more tend to be populists (!) and even somewhat egalitarian (in the old small d democratic sense, and within certain bounds).
  
  Neither affiliation is very internally consistent, but rather represent the curious ways historical contingencies have created and shaped both ‘sides,’ drawing upon some common ideological ‘stock’ if you will, that has been grafted on in odd and seemingly contradictory ways.
  - DoctorDoak
    
    Domenico Losurdo’s recent account of liberalism’s intellectual history is pretty illuminating in helping to sort out the massive inconsistencies in what constitutes liberalism across different times and places, and why it has actually supported some of the most reprehensible practices in human history, including colonialism and slavery.
    http://www.versobooks.com/books/960-liberalism
    
    Coincidentally, it’s published by Verso, which puts out many of the books in Dr. Healy’s video.
  - http://www.gyrofrog.com/ Gyrofrog
    
    “…the odd conjunction of a self-professed ‘liberal’ parading Karl Marx (!)”
    
    I think he was just being polite, and giving them exactly what they’d like to see.
benher

I don’t see what’s so bad about this. They lose $100 each time so couldn’t there be some sort of “flash-mobesque” mass filming/submitting?

Think of all the wine and cheese we could buy! Maybe even a second wing on the ivory tower!
http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood

I’ve started using Chrome (for various painful sad Firefox reasons) and now I can see ads on BB, for the first time in years. And, on this story’s page, I see an ad for…Atlas Shrugged Part II…? They told me this wouldn’t…that this couldn’t happen.
- http://mjfgates.myopenid.com/ mjfgates
  
  Click the ad! BoingBoing gets more money if you click the ad. Click it A THOUSAND TIMES
http://ofpiratesandpups.wordpress.com Megan

This could only be improved by a dramatic gopher (prairie dog, if we’re being picky) “Bwa, Bwa, Bwaaaaa!” soundtrack.
http://www.ecoevolution.org/ Ian G

So all comedy aside, should we be dismissing this so casually? I mean, we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of violent right-wing extremism since Obama was elected, this type of thing should be setting off alarm bells for sure. Hate groups are no joke, and these guys seem to be teetering at a full sprint in that direction…
Kerouac

I’m not sure if he has enough Marx-related tomes to clinch the $100. Maybe a few VHS covers from Marx Brothers classics could have taken him over the top.
Crispiann

The authorities at CollegeInsurrection have been alerted ;P
tracemcjoy

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs, via portals.
sacwobbly

So is he a Marxist or a liberal?
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YOIUMHAYNWVPEY2HGMIQTSQGJ4 Amansings
  
  Silly communist, don’t you know? They’re the same thing!