I find Scott Atlas’s views to be as harmful and wrong as anyone, and I find his conduct to be as odious as anyone, but I don’t know that these would qualify for grounds for dismissal for an academic.
What I found most troubling is the wording — to call for Michigan residents to “rise up” against a governor — the same governor who had been targeted by a militia group.
After criticism, Atlas claimed he never meant actual violence — as planned by the militia — and that he would never NEVER support or call for violence, to which, my answer is, WTF do you think “rise up” means and connotes in his language. I am sick and outraged by people playing with dangerous language and imagery and then claiming they were misinterpreted. They are irresposnsible, full of sh*t, assh*le liars, but he did afterwards claim he didn’t mean to call for violence, so I don’t think it justifies a dismissal.
Second, he is wrong in a way that harms hundreds of thousands of Americans. What is the most troubling to me is that he is doubling down after extremely positive results from mRNA vaccines, and after the current administration was voted out. It would be one thing to call for “herd immunity” if the vaccines had failed, or if there would be continuity in administrations beyond the next 2 months, but now his calls — growing more and more aggressive — are even more irresponsible and wrong-headed. After the positive vaccine and electiob results he should go quietly, and ideally acknowledge he was wrong. Hopefully he will do that. But as wrong as I think he is, I don’t think this justifies firing an academic. It is a viewpoint.
Incidentally, I don’t even think Scott Atlas is the most dangerous, harmful, and embarassing thing to come out of Hoover. But Hoover also does have world-class economists and leaders. I had hoped one of the reasons Condi took over at Hoover was to bring greater respectability to it and to pull them back from the dangers of Trumpism. No such luck so far.
What I found most troubling is the wording — to call for Michigan residents to “rise up” against a governor — the same governor who had been targeted by a militia group.
After criticism, Atlas claimed he never meant actual violence — as planned by the militia — and that he would never NEVER support or call for violence, to which, my answer is, WTF do you think “rise up” means and connotes in his language. I am sick and outraged by people playing with dangerous language and imagery and then claiming they were misinterpreted. They are irresposnsible, full of sh*t, assh*le liars, but he did afterwards claim he didn’t mean to call for violence, so I don’t think it justifies a dismissal.
Second, he is wrong in a way that harms hundreds of thousands of Americans. What is the most troubling to me is that he is doubling down after extremely positive results from mRNA vaccines, and after the current administration was voted out. It would be one thing to call for “herd immunity” if the vaccines had failed, or if there would be continuity in administrations beyond the next 2 months, but now his calls — growing more and more aggressive — are even more irresponsible and wrong-headed. After the positive vaccine and electiob results he should go quietly, and ideally acknowledge he was wrong. Hopefully he will do that. But as wrong as I think he is, I don’t think this justifies firing an academic. It is a viewpoint.
Incidentally, I don’t even think Scott Atlas is the most dangerous, harmful, and embarassing thing to come out of Hoover. But Hoover also does have world-class economists and leaders. I had hoped one of the reasons Condi took over at Hoover was to bring greater respectability to it and to pull them back from the dangers of Trumpism. No such luck so far.