The Harvard Social Studies Major's Fiftieth Anniversary Party...

Looks like it may be exciting!

You see, Harvard has a Marty Peretz problem. Here's Benjamin Sarlin: Harvard's Marty Peretz Problem.

Marty Peretz asks: do I have to pretend I think Muslims should have free speech?

This statement does two things:

It declares that Peretz believes that a billion Muslims should not have free speech.
It announces that any future declarations by Peretz that he thinks Muslims should have free speech are not to be taken seriously--are "pretense."

There are risks involved in a university honoring a guy who is out there with an unretractable statement that he thinks a billion people in the world should not have free speech rights.

As so often, the best thing on this is by James Fallows:

A Primer on Bigotry

Here is the Marty Peretz paragraph in The New Republic:

The New York Times Laments "A Sadly Wary Misunderstanding Of Muslim-Americans." But Really Is It "Sadly Wary" Or A "Misunderstanding" At All? | The New Republic: frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.

It is worth noting--as a matter of communication--that Peretz has written a paragraph that it is logically impossible for him to ever recant. He asks his readers whether he needs to "honor" "these people" and "pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the first amendment."

Thus any statement Marty should make to withdraw or amend falls under the shadow of his "pretend." Any withdrawal or amendment becomes a statement that "yes, I do need to pretend--but I don't mean it."

I did warn them...

Brad DeLong to ejdionne, jamie.gorelick, dfaust
show details Sep 6 (10 days ago)

I have to ask: Have you thought about the long-term risks?

Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 11:42 AM, XXXXXXXX XXXXX@fas.harvard.edu wrote:

a number of our alumni, led by Jamie Gorelick and EJ Dionne, have created an endowed student research fund in honor of Martin Peretz, who taught in Social Studies for many years. The fund will support undergraduate thesis research, special projects, and the kinds of intellectual inquiry that Marty encouraged in his students. It is a wonderful gift for our students..."

September 6, 2010, Marty Peretz wrote:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/77475/the-new-york-times-laments-sadly-wary-misunderstanding-muslim-americans-really-it-sadly-w The New York Times Laments "A Sadly Wary Misunderstanding Of Muslim-Americans." But Really Is It "Sadly Wary" Or A "Misunderstanding" At All?: "Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.

Yours,

J. Bradford DeLong

We Are with Her!

Looking Forward to Four Years During Which Most if Not All of America's Potential for Human Progress Is Likely to Be Wasted

With each passing day Donald Trump looks more and more like Silvio Berlusconi: bunga-bunga governance, with a number of unlikely and unforeseen disasters and a major drag on the country--except in states where his policies are neutralized.

Nevertheless, remember: WE ARE WITH HER!

Blogging: What to Expect Here

We are going to need more monkeys blogging Google Search

The purpose of this weblog is to be the best possible portal into what I am thinking, what I am reading, what I think about what I am reading, and what other smart people think about what I am reading...

"Bring expertise, bring a willingness to learn, bring good humor, bring a desire to improve the world—and also bring a low tolerance for lies and bullshit..." — Brad DeLong

"I have never subscribed to the notion that someone can unilaterally impose an obligation of confidentiality onto me simply by sending me an unsolicited letter—or an email..." — Patrick Nielsen Hayden

"I can safely say that I have learned more than I ever would have imagined doing this.... I also have a much better sense of how the public views what we do. Every economist should have to sell ideas to the public once in awhile and listen to what they say. There's a lot to learn..." — Mark Thoma

"Tone, engagement, cooperation, taking an interest in what others are saying, how the other commenters are reacting, the overall health of the conversation, and whether you're being a bore..." — Teresa Nielsen Hayden

"With the arrival of Web logging... my invisible college is paradise squared, for an academic at least. Plus, web logging is an excellent procrastination tool.... Plus, every legitimate economist who has worked in government has left swearing to do everything possible to raise the level of debate and to communicate with a mass audience.... Web logging is a promising way to do that..." — Brad DeLong

"Blogs are an outlet for unexpurgated, unreviewed, and occasionally unprofessional musings.... At Chicago, I found that some of my colleagues overestimated the time and effort I put into my blog—which led them to overestimate lost opportunities for scholarship. Other colleagues maintained that they never read blogs—and yet, without fail, they come into my office once every two weeks to talk about a post of mine..." — Daniel Drezner

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: bradford-delong.com: