Judy Rebick: Gird Your Loins!
December 21, 2006 · By Aaron Unruh
Speaking of heads on sticks: Listen and learn, feminists of Canada. Step out of line and you will deal with the wrath of The Rebick.
By the way, I enjoyed this passage:
Since you have so little respect for me or for the women’s movement which mobilized for so long to win this hard-earned right, I hope you will understand that I ripped up the cheque I had written to the Green Party.
Damnit! May could have used those Canadian Tire dollars!
Seriously, though. That last excerpt should really be interpreted as a dig at the silly university department that is currently paying Rebick a professorial wage so that she can preach at Canadian women from great heights. I remember when political science departments hired faculty to, you know, conduct research. How parochial!
I have to admit that I was a bit wrong about the Greens. I mean if Rebick hates them they can’t be all bad can they? Here’s hoping they finally dispose of the NDP.
She’s a tough old bird, how long can she continue to hold Sam Gindin’s chair and when is he coming to pick it up?
Amazing, you snipe at an academic having a political opinion, and just what do you think Ted Morton did for years?
Well, let’s see. Morton holds a PhD, held a faculty position at a university for over twenty years, and is a respected contributor to his scholarly field. Rebick was an NDP bureaucrat, a commentator on the CBC, and was given her position by CAW and a silly compliant political science department. See any difference here?
Frankly no. Morton was at UofC when I was there - he spent by far the majority of his time using classrooms as a pulpit for his particular ideology.
As for his public profile - his involvement/participation in the so-called “Calgary School” was, in my view, little different than what you are criticizing Rebik for doing.
As for whether Mme Rebik holds a PhD or not, there are lots of former politicians teaching in Universities. Real world experience is often more than equivalent to a PhD.
If you honestly believe that Morton’s only contribution to academia was to lecture the “Calgary School” line, then you’re obviously blinded by your own biases.
FYI - often the only people who use the term “Calgary School” are the rabid leftist who honestly believe in the vast-right-wing conspiracy. Somehow Morton, Flanagan, Knopff, Cooper, and others, are behind everything evil in the conservative movement in Canada.
Its humorous and pathetic all at the same time.
The reality is, a great deal of politicians who are teaching and or serving on university boards are brought in not for their experiences/knowledge, but for their connections into the business and political communities.
For evidence of this, look no further than Mount Royal College in Calgary, who just recently created the “Ralph Klein Chair in Media Studies” and appointed Ralph as the first chair. No doubt Ralph has a great deal to share in terms of “experiences” but in terms of academic prowess, the college could have looked elsewhere.
It also doesn’t hurt to have the former Premier on staff when the college goes on the offensive to lobby the Conservative government to grant it the college university status - which it has wanted for years.
“Frankly no. Morton was at UofC when I was there - he spent by far the majority of his time using classrooms as a pulpit for his particular ideology.”
If it were true that Morton was nothing other than an ideological shrill, then his publication record would be nil. The truth is that his record is extensive and that he is one of Canada’s most important constitutional scholars.
Perhaps your preconceptions of Morton beforehand clouded your judgement of his class?
“Real world experience is often more than equivalent to a PhD.”
Ummm, no, it isn’t. A PhD is a specialized and intensive four-year degree. Life experience is something that everyone gets as they…live.
“A PhD is a specialized and intensive four-year degree. Life experience is something that everyone gets as they…live.”
Specialized PhDs take 4 years to earn. But if you want an education, you need more than 4 years.
All of you are missing my fundamental point. If you wish to criticize someone, criticize their positions and politics, not their occupation.
I chose Ted Morton as a counter example because he can be held to similar criticisms, and because the original author of the post seems to think that Ted M. is somehow beyond criticism. Refute the author of that letter’s points and position, not their occupation.
As for my opinion of Ted Morton, it’s my opinion, and it has formed over a long time (some 20 odd years). I didn’t like him much as an academic, and more recently, I don’t especially care for him as a politician either.
Grog: I am sure that TM will be crushed to read that a person of your qualifications does not “like him as an academic.”
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It’s also a little known fact that Jim Dinning was the first recipient of a Mount Royal College Policy Studies Diploma –they don’t have degrees. That’s the department where Keith Borwnsey works. MRC has always tried to position itself well with the politicos and politicians. Apparently, during the recent leadership race for the PC party, the MRC faculty union advised its membership to vote for Dinning.
A PhD can be equivalent to anything you like, including elementary school depending on the PhD. It’s not whether one has one or not, it’s where you got one, and who supervised it. You can get PhDs in Crackerjack boxes these days. Some people with PhDs also received an education, as Tom mentions.