Steven Greffenius · @sgreffenius
14th Feb 2018 from TwitLonger
Autistic libertarians and empathetic historians
Robby Soave at Reason has another good one about current insights on campus:
Democracy in Chains Author Nancy MacLean Calls Autism a Leading Cause of Libertarianism
Here is what the author said in response to a question after a talk she gave at NYC's Unitarian Church of All Souls:
"It’s striking to me how many of the architects of this cause seem to be on the autism spectrum: people who don’t feel solidarity or empathy with others."
The subtitle of MacLean's book is The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America. If the book is an example of the kind of history you write when you are _not_ autistic, I'll take autistic academics anytime. I'd like to call the book leftist garbage, but I haven't read it and don't intend to. So I'll just call it leftist.
Perhaps Professor MacLean's next book will be titled Physics in Chains: Einstein's Secret Design to Corrupt the Space-Time Continuum. Then she might she might have a chance to remark, during the Q & A after one of her learned talks:
"It’s striking to me how many of the architects of modern physics seem to have Aspberger's: people who don’t feel solidarity or empathy with nanoparticles."
Professor MacLean teaches at Duke University. She joined Duke's faculty in 2010, and is the William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy there. I wonder if she regards herself as an empathetic person.
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Related book
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980966/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518591588&sr=1-3&keywords=9781101980965
Related article
Democracy in Chains Author Nancy MacLean Calls Autism a Leading Cause of Libertarianism
http://reason.com/blog/2018/02/13/democracy-in-chains-author-nancy-maclean