Thursday, March 3, 2005

Family Ties In writing about popular shows of the past recently, I was reminded in particular of "Family Ties." The charming thing about the show was that no matter how strong the political differences were between Alex and the rest of the family, they retained their respect for each other. Political differences were not taken to be necessarily indicative of intellectual or character flaws. They just humbly begged to differ on things. It's remarkable how inconceivable the show is in today's political climate. Were Alex P. Keaton to live in 2005, he'd be reading the Wall Street Journal editorial page, listening to Rush Limbaugh, watching Fox News, and dismissing his parents' views as "loony," "warped," "French" "terrorist appeasing," etc. I live in the reverse of the Keaton household: my parents are Reagan Republicans, and my sister and I are liberal (though hardly die-hards: she's a lawyer, and I'm a professor -- it's not like we work for public television and seek out political protests in our spare time). I was really struck by how hostile my parents were to my political viewpoint during the run up to the Iraq war. It wasn't simply that I had a difference of opinion with which they could respectfully disagree. It was that "I didn't get it." Or that I was a "crazy liberal" who supported "creeps." Or that the reason I thought this or that was that I went to Berkeley or that I was a college professor. At one point it got so ugly that I had the passing thought that, were the agents from DHS to come looking for people with questionable views, my own parents would turn me in. Things have improved since then. But I wonder what another major terrorist attack would do to our relationship, let alone the country. 3:22:02 PM    comment [] More New York Times follies As it turns out, my girlfriend, Kathleen Hadden, has appeared once in the New York Times. She was interviewed in reference to the affirmative action lawsuit against the University of Michigan that was decided by the Supreme Court in 2003. The article told the story of the three white students who were plaintiffs in the case, one of whom was Mr. Patrick Hamacher (23 y.o.). Here are the relevant bits: Indeed, in contending that Michigan discriminated against him, Mr. Hamacher has drawn the opposition of his girlfriend of nine months, Kathleen Hadden. Ms. Hadden, a graduate student in social work at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said in an interview that she endorsed racial preferences in admissions, for the very reasons the university itself cites. "The best part of my education," said Ms. Hadden, who is white, "is the friends I have made, the racial and ethnic minorities." All three plaintiffs acknowledge that they had been relatively confident they would be admitted to Michigan and had done little to line up comparable backup choices. Mr. Hamacher, who grew up in the rust-belt city of Flint, spent Saturday afternoons in the fall watching Michigan football games with his father. When it came time to apply in January 1997, Mr. Hamacher described his options as "U. Michigan and everyone else." After being rejected, Mr. Hamacher resigned himself to attending one of the more regional colleges to which he had applied, including Saginaw State and Central Michigan. But at the 11th hour, he said, he was recruited to play catcher at Michigan State in East Lansing. ... The section in bold adds a funny twist to the whole affirmative action flap: One of the plaintiffs has a girlfriend of nine months who's a liberal social worker and supporter of affirmative action. Isn't that a hoot? Yes, if it were true. But it turns out that the reporter in question, Jacques Steinberg, made the whole thing up to add color to the story. Although Kathleen and Patrick were friends, they never went out. Both Kathleen and her mom were upset about it (the notion that she, a smart, liberal social worker with side interests in creative writing and dance, would ever go out with the likes of a staunch Republican and academically challenged baseball player), and Kathleen even confronted the reporter about it. However, Jacques pooh-poohed her worries and never offered a correction. Jacques Steinberg still writes for the Times. Why, here's a story he filed recently on the whole CBS flap. 1:34:11 PM    comment []

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