Liberals have open minds in common

Shane is a third-year political science student.

By Jennifer Shane

In his recent article, “”˜Defiant’ liberals
actually conformist” (Viewpoint, March 4), Ben Shapiro makes
the keen but sad observation that liberals, in trying to defy
social norms and convention, actually end up being conformists
themselves by assimilating to their professors’ ideologies
and to various social trends.

Liberals only seem to conform with each other because they all,
for the most part, share a common characteristic: an open mind.

They open their mind to trying new things, like the nose rings
Shapiro condemns. They’re also open to exploring new ideas
that are often overlooked in high school curriculum ““ usually
because it makes Sam look more like a dictator than an uncle.

It’s not a crime to experience more than one lifestyle and
to view the world from different perspectives; it is expected of an
educated person. No one can claim their viewpoint is correct and
incorrigible until they have tried to understand other
perspectives.

Before coming to college, most of us have already experienced
the conservative view of the world through strict parents and other
authority figures. Many students also come from religious families
that, for the most part, completely stifle self and world
exploration. Naturally, people with these kinds of backgrounds will
be thirsty for the “forbidden knowledge.”

But when these students form a liberal conglomerate in college,
they’re not practicing conformity in the same way
conservatives do (by excluding all other possible knowledge of the
world). They’ve been through conservatism; now
they’reviewing things from the other side to get a broader
perspective. It’s not their fault that the university’s
smartest people, professors, are liberal. If conservative
philosophy were convincing and practical enough for smart people to
adopt it, they would. But as it turns out, it’s not.

Shapiro probably gave himself a pat on the back for concocting
what he may believe to the biggest irony to ever grace the earth:
professors teaching classes in order to perpetuate the need for
those classes. He’s saying professors who teach classes on
lesbian psychology (his example) only teach it so they can create a
demand for something that’s not really important in his eyes.
Well, it may come as a shock to you, dear Ben, but that’s
what academia is: discovering new knowledge and teaching it to
people.

I know the quest for new knowledge ““ as was the case with
finding out the moon revolves around the sun and about the process
of evolution ““ is sometimes a bit uncomfortable, because it
forces conservatives to rethink what was previously deemed
absolutely correct. But we owe it to humanity to try to advance our
artistic and intellectual efforts.

Call me crazy, but last time I checked, we don’t all have
the last name “Shapiro” and work as Daily Bruin
writers. Why? Could it be because people are different? Intriguing.
And as people are different, they have different assessments of
what classes are useful. This is not liberal indoctrination or mass
conformity; it’s accepting reality.

It’s very hypocritical of anyone who’s conservative
to chastise liberals for mass conformity. After all, conservatives
invented it. It started with religion and the quaint idea that
everyone in the world who is not Christian must have something
wrong with him ““ commence assimilation. Then it carried over
to the adoption of a capitalist society, where people are either
labor units or marketable sectors ““ no more identity, no more
inefficient, individual creativity placed into work.

And now that we’re having fun as an imperialist power,
bombing starving children in the desert. People who think those
children should probably be fed instead are called
“anti-American.” No dissenters allowed. I don’t
understand why Shapiro would make such a big deal about liberals
assimilating to each other. We’re merely following the
conservative’s example ““ except for the killing
innocent children part.

I don’t really mind liberals assimilating to each other.
It gives us a sense of loyalty and community to counteract the
ignorant conservative networks who fear we will eventually discover
something that will force them out of their relaxed, elitist stupor
and into reality.

I don’t really care if liberal professors indoctrinate me
““ hopefully that indoctrination will keep me from advocating
such crazy notions as stopping AIDS research funding, like Shapiro
does.

As a gesture of thanks to the campus conservatives for reminding
us how much more intelligent and open-minded we are, let’s
all get nose rings.