Naomi Schaefer Riley Feminism
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CommentarySEPTEMBER 2019 O OBERLIN, MY OBERLIN! FEMINISM A Retired Professor’s Lament For His Misbegotten School ABRAHAM SOCHER ISRAEL HATERS, THEN AND NOW BRUCE BAWER Commentary JONATHAN SCHANZER SEPTEMBER 2019 : VOLUME 148 NUMBER 2 148 : VOLUME SEPTEMBER 2019 BY WILFRED REILLY $5.95 US : $7.00 CANADA $7.00 : US $5.95 NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY How you can help Israel have a healthy New Year. Provide EMTs with Protect Israel’s training to respond blood supply. to terror attacks. Supply crucial lifesaving equipment. Magen David Adom is Israel’s emergency medical first responder, ambulance, and blood-services organization. MDA operates 168 emergency medical stations throughout Israel, responds to nearly half a million emergency medical calls each month, and collects, safety tests, and distributes nearly all the blood for Israel’s hospitals, including all the blood needed by the IDF. If you’re looking to make a difference for Israel and secure the nation’s health and safety this coming year, there’s no better way than through a gift to MDA. Please give today. Shanah Tovah. Support Magen David Adom at afmda.org/rosh or call 866.632.2763. You can buy tickets now for The 10TH Annual COMMENTARY ROAST OF BEN SHAPIRO visit www.commentary magazine.com/ tickets The Roast is a benefit to support COMMENTARY INC., For information email the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization Stephanie Roberts that publishes Commentary Magazine. at sroberts@ commentarymagazine.com Commentary September 2019 Vol. 148 : No. 2 Articles Naomi Feminism Is in Trouble 15 Schaefer Riley Abraham O Oberlin, 22 Socher My Oberlin I taught there for 18 years, but the details of its conduct as revealed in a recent lawsuit shocked even me. Adam J. Mueller Agonistes 33 White Misunderstanding the special counsel—and Congress. Bruce Useful Idiot 38 Bawer The curious case of Max Blumenthal. Jonathan The Congressman 45 Schanzer Who Hated Israel Before Ilhan Omar, there was Paul Findley. Politics & Ideas Noah The Smashing of the GOP 48 Rothman American Carnage by Tim Alberta Politics & Ideas Philip He Who Is Without Zinn 52 Terzian Land of Hope by Wilfred M. McClay Daniella Campus Lies About Israel 54 Greenbaum Davis Israel Denial by Cary Nelson Jonathan V. The Man Inside Me 55 Last The Man They Wanted Me to Be by Jared Yates Sexton Culture & Civilization Terry Mr. and Miss Words 58 Teachout Of Betty Comden and Adolph Green Edward Aaargh 61 Kosner The Last Pirate of New York by Rich Cohen Monthly Commentaries Reader Commentary Washington Commentary 4 Letters Matthew Continetti 11 on the June issue The Freakout Over the New York Times Social Commentary Jewish Commentary 8 Christine Rosen Meir Y. Soloveichik 13 The Bad Fight The Land Waited for the Jews Hollywood Commentary Rob Long 64 The Bluest Eyeball READER COMMENTARY Searching for Alien Life To the Editor: Our earth has one moon and sun. probably don’t exist. THAN SIEGEL’S article “Are Think of the heavens as seen from But this is not so: The Search for E We Alone in the Universe?” other planets and galaxies with vast- Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) (June) reminds me that there are ly different celestial appearances. program is based on certain as- some unexamined assumptions Would the same astronomy have sumptions of how such civiliza- regarding the search for extrater- evolved in those places? Would there tions would communicate. A suf- restrial intelligence. The main one be a “sphere of the fixed stars?” ficient explanation for the failure appears to be that other intelligent Consider also Francis Bacon’s to find the evidence sought is that beings will discover and use the doctrine of science as a project the assumptions made by SETI are same technologies used by intel- devoted to “the mastery and pos- wrong; i.e., they’ve been looking in ligent humans. Thus, we search the session of nature for the relief of the wrong place. cosmos for their radio transmis- man’s estate.” My point is that the Among the three transitions on sions. That radio waves, or frequen- evolution of the sciences is not iso- earth that Siegel deems improbable cies, are inevitable discoveries is lated from civilizations and from are non-life to life, life to complex not necessarily persuasive. Look- fundamental questions raised by life, and advanced life to advanced ing backward through our prog- those civilizations and their reign- technology. However, each of these ress, it might seem that science is a ing opinions. reflects a change in the organiza- series of inevitable discoveries and Robert Licht tion of matter that makes the sub- their practical exploitation. But an Middlebury, Vermont sequent ones more likely. None of acquaintance with the history of these is guaranteed, but none is as the sciences raises some doubts. 1 unlikely as Siegel suggests. Consider astronomy. Its evolu- But there is something else tion in Greek thought required To the Editor: needed for us to find an extrater- both plane and conic geometry, a THAN SIEGEL’S “Are We restrial civilization: That civiliza- theory of ratio and proportion, and E Alone in the Universe?” argues tion would itself have to be curi- a long prehistory of carefully mea- that if there were other technologi- ous about outside contact. SETI sured observations. The origins cal civilizations in the universe, or is based on this assumption and of those measurements, indeed certainly in the Milky Way, we that an extraterrestrial civilization of arithmetic and geometry, are should have found evidence of would channel its curiosity in a shrouded in mystery. them by now. As we haven’t, they particular way. Though we might 4 September 2019 think it likely that an advanced civilization would be curious about the existence of others, this transi- tion isn’t guaranteed any more than the previous three. Thirty years ago, there was no direct evidence of extra-so- September 2019 Vol. 148 : No. 2 lar planets. The argument Siegel makes for no technological civili- zations could have been used then John Podhoretz, Editor to infer that only our sun has Abe Greenwald, Senior Editor planets. Then the first extra-solar Noah Rothman, Associate Editor planet was discovered, disprov- Christine Rosen, Senior Writer ing any claim that they didn’t ex- � ist elsewhere. Siegel’s argument could be disproved in a similar Carol Moskot, Publisher fashion: It would take only one Kejda Gjermani, Digital Publisher signal indicating the existence of Malkie Beck, Publishing Associate another technological civilization. � Yale Zussman Ilya Leyzerzon, Business Director Framingham, Massachusetts Stephanie Roberts, Business Manager � 1 Terry Teachout, Critic-at-Large � Ethan Siegel writes: Board of Directors HERE’S AN OLD STORY about a Daniel R. Benson, Chairman drunk man leaving the bar, real- T Paul J. Isaac, Michael J. Leffell, izing that he’s lost his keys. He keeps looking underneath the same lamp- Jay P. Lefkowitz, Steven Price, post, even though it’s very obvious Gary L. Rosenthal, Michael W. Schwartz that his keys are not located there. A concerned citizen sees him and in- cover photo: keith hayes quires, “Why do you keep searching for your keys under this lamppost?” The drunk responds, “Because that’s To send us a letter to the editor: [email protected] where the light is.” We will edit letters for length and content. To an extent, all experimental and To make a tax-deductible donation: [email protected] observational scientists are guilty of For advertising inquiries: [email protected] this: We look where our tools and For customer service: [email protected] techniques enable us to look. While the search for extraterrestrial life, in the early days, was exclusively focused on listening for intelligent Commentary (ISSN 0010-2601) is published monthly (except for a combined July/ signals in the radio portion of the August issue) by Commentary, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization. Editorial and business offices: 561 Seventh Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY, 10018. Telephone: (212) 891-1400. Fax: (212) spectrum, that is no longer an accu- 891-6700. Customer Service: [email protected] or (212) 891-1400. rate characterization of the search. Subscriptions: One year $45, two years $79, three years $109, USA only. To subscribe please go Scientists are looking for a myriad to www.commentarymagazine.com/subscribe-digital-print. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, of signals across the electromagnetic and additional mailing offices. Subscribers will receive electronic announcements of forthcoming issues. Single copy: U.S. is $5.95; Canada is $7.00. All back issues are available in electronic spectrum, including indirect signals form at commentarymagazine.com. Postmaster: Send address changes to Commentary, P.O. Box such as solar-system modifications 420235, Palm Coast, FL, 32142. Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by a stamped, or correlated signals between star self-addressed envelope. Letters intended for publication may be edited. Indexed in Reader’s Guide, systems that were only mere imagin- Book Review Digest, and elsewhere. U.S. Newsstand Distribution by COMAG Marketing Group, 155 Village Blvd, Princeton, NJ, 08540. Printed in the USA. Commentary was established in ings years ago. If there are intelligent 1945 by the American Jewish Committee, which was the magazine’s publisher through 2006 and continues to support its role as an independent journal of thought and opinion. Copyright © 2019 by Commentary, Inc.; all rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. civilizations out there, we are looking life, complex life, or intelligent life to trust the Palestinian leadership in every way possible. beyond Earth, to make an estimate of in “land for peace” deals. If Ariel We are also looking for direct anything other than upper limits on Sharon had not disengaged from and indirect signs of life in general: the likelihood of any of those occur- Gaza in 2005, it’s likely that the bio-signatures (or, more accurately, rences.