The Last Thursday Idiocy Post: Sauce for the Goose Department
Eric Loomis: Tools of the Day:
First we have Larry Summers, for calling for university presidents to not fund faculty who want to attend the American Studies Association meeting. If the ASA had instead pushed to send toxic waste to Africa, Summers would be lauding the organization. It’s hard to see a stronger argument in favor of the ASA boycott than irritating Summers...
What's more idiotic?
Indeed:
It is indeed harder to see a stronger valid argument for the ASA boycott of Israeli academics than irritating Larry Summers: that tells you a great deal about the strength of the arguments for the ASA boycott, doesn't it?
If it is legitimate for the ASA to boycott Israeli academics because you do not like (extremely tenuous) links between Israeli academia and the Likud's settlement policy, is it not much more legitimate to boycott the ASA because you do not like its policies Sauce for the goose. Sauce for the gander.
"We can boycott you, but you can't boycott us!" is, as Dean Wormer says, "no way to go through life, son..."
