Dear Editor:
Leftist college professors have reached a new high in intellectual absurdity. In a recent study published in the Psychological Bulletin, they claim to have discovered that Reagan, Hitler, Mussolini and Rush Limbaugh have important personality traits in common. They are all right-wing "conservatives," by which the authors mean they "resist change."
Whether such resistance is to freedom or to dictatorship is not mentioned. So as not to sound too obviously left-wing, the professors add that left-wing dictators like Stalin, Castro and Khrushchev (who the leftists have consistently supported or excused) also "resisted change," and thus may also be labeled as right-wing "conservatives."
What could be the motive for lumping together an American President, a talk show host and assorted mass murderers? Obviously to try to "psychologize" away anyone who disagrees with the leftists by evading fundamental differences in the content of their ideas, for example, the fact that conservatives, at least the better ones, support America's founding, and decidedly radical, principles of freedom and individual rights, whereas the mass killers only goal was to obliterate all rights in their mad frenzy to seize power and enslave or exterminate all those who opposed them or anyone they did not happen to like.
With nonsense like this passing for objective scientific inquiry, is it any wonder that the American public is becoming increasingly contemptuous of its intellectuals?
Sincerely,
Edwin A. Locke Ayn Rand Institute
2121 Alton Parkway, #250 Irvine, CA 92606 United States (818) 706-9361