In recent months two particularly silly blogs have come to my attention. (Blogging is annoyingly democratic. Any moron can say anything.) Moneylaw and Classbias, like impotent fleas, are going nowhere but do have a propensity to be pesky from time to time with their cheap shots at my profession -- law teaching. None of what the contributors have to say is important but once in awhile I will be using this forum to set the record straight.Moneylaw, the brain child of Jim Chen, is based on the idea of the baseball book Moneyball. The best I can tell from wading through the gibberish is that he and his fellow contributors think that one can deliver legal education more effectively and at a lower cost. Jeff Harrison is responsible for Classbias which appears to be nothing but whining about the fact that some people are not as gifted, as smart, or as well educated as the rest of us. His view seems to be that we could all be replaced by janitors.
Their favorite targets are Ivy League schools and hiring practices that have existed and been successful for years. What the do not get is that the existence of law owes itself to the institution of private property. The more you have, the more you rely on law to protect it. Who better to do the protecting that those of us who identify with those who control wealth. Their approach would be tantamont to putting the proverbial fox at the gate to the chicken coop -- or whereever chickens live since I am hardly the person to know, nor to want to know about farming.
1 comment:
My dear Chadsworth--
Your effort to defend our privileged status is truly noble and greatly appreciated. I worry, though, about your decision to leave this blog open to comments. For one thing, responding to comments is simply a nuisance--especially for someone as busy as you. But leaving that concern aside, consider another: people in our category don't generally function well in places where open exchange and candid criticism are fostered. We tend to do better making private deals over drinks at exclusive clubs (or chat rooms). The last thing our culture needs is exposure to public scrutiny.
I wonder therefore whether you might consider closing your blog to comments, or perhaps instead opting for a "moderated" environment in which comments are screened and those containing Moneylaw-type talk or otherwise offensive analysis get excluded.
Cheers,
Maximillian
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