I saw this post on Instapundit.com, about a study trying to prove that liberals are smarter than conservatives:
September 15, 2007
WILL SALETAN on rigged studies. Similar result-oriented sloppiness on race/IQ research would get you drummed out of the academy. But maybe not sloppiness on other topics.
Would it really? No, accurate, unsloppy studies of race and IQ will get you drummed out, to the extent that tenured professors can be drummed out, if you're coming to the conclusions Professor Rushton does. But no amount of sloppiness will affect your reputation if you're on the side of the conventional wisdom. See Claude M. Steele's work on "Stereotype threat," or the work of Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin.
Then I noticed, a little later, that he was accused of racism himself for quoting puns about Norman Hsu, the Hong Kong immigrant who is involved in criminal fraud and illegal donations to Hillary. The Instapunning has gotten pretty thick, with the latest gem being " 'Hsu-per California Donors Extradition Opus.' If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious!"
The Instapundit replied
In Internet discourse "racist" — like "fascist" — is often a synonym for "someone who is winning an argument with a lefty." It's a term used with such abandon, and so little foundation, that it's largely lost its original meaning.
This saying has now become almost proverbial, but its original author is, of course, Peter Brimelow.
