Why Reading Is Fundamental, Especially For Fundamentalists

So I happened to be perusing the Internet and came across the "Brainstorm" blog in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The blog written by Naomi Schaefer Riley was entitled "The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations." Please pay close attention to the "Just Read The Dissertations" as it will be very relevant later. In her post Riley says that the dissertations being offered by graduate students who were featured in the site's piece entitled, "A New Generation of Black-Studies Ph.D.'s", were "a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap" and that the best thing about them was that they won't be read by many people. She goes on to attack some of the students individually about their dissertations. In fact, she calls La Tasha B. Levy's efforts to examine black Republicanism a work of "sheer political partisanship and liberal hackery". Riley also completely dismisses Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor's work entitled, “Race for Profit: Black Housing and the Urban Crisis of the 1970s.” as a belief in a government conspiracy to promote single family homes in black neighborhoods after the unrest of the 60s. She specifically calls into question Taylor's assertion that,  “The subprime lending crisis, if it did nothing else, highlighted the profitability of racism in the housing market.” Riley rebuffs this by sarcastically suggesting that the white people who lost their homes as a result of sub-prime lending were "collateral damage".

During her vitriolic and uninformed blither she even makes mention of the "black president" as if to suggest that that should be enough evidence that there is no need for black studies and black people have arrived by writing, "black studies today seems to rest on the premise that nothing much has changed in this country in the past half century when it comes to race. Shhhh. Don’t tell them about the black president!" Click the link above, I can't make this kind of stuff up. She closes her balderdash with this sentiment, "...there are legitimate debates about the problems that plague the black community...But it’s clear that they’re not happening in black-studies departments." Then she dares to write, "legitimate scholars find solutions to the problems of blacks in America. Solutions that don’t begin and end with blame the white man.".

As a ray of hope for our society she was bombarded with criticism for her nonsensical tirade from people who commented on her blog. However she wasn't rattled by the comments. In fact, she found it necessary to write a response to the response that she had gotten. In her response she admits to not having read the dissertations and that she doesn't hold an advanced degrees herself. How utterly arrogant is it for her to make such brash statements about the works of Ph.D. candidates, when she didn't read the works nor holds any advanced degrees herself?

Perhaps, the riposte from the students who's program of study and diligent works she so critically, blindly and unapologetically bashed will give her a clearer understanding as to how ignorant she really is. If you hold you breath waiting on that to happen, I hereby absolve myself of any liabilities. The response to her nonsense is a far better read than the malarkey she let drip from her fingertips. So, click the link and enjoy reading them smash egg into her face.