Most LRC readers are probably familiar with the academic lynching of my friend Walter Block by the cultural Marxists and cowardly economics faculty at Loyola College recently. Their immediate response to hearing an economist question a few of the superstitions of radical feminism (the “gender gap” and “glass ceiling”) was not to demand an apology, but to issue apologies to the entire universe on Walter’s behalf (and mine, presumably, since I invited him). (Forget about debating the issues; they’re not interested).
Where on earth does this come from — the idea of formally apologizing for the expression of politically-incorrect ideas — no matter how true — on college campuses? Well, there is evidence that it is literally part of the radical feminist playbook, and is probably written up somewhere.
F.C. from California writes me that: “Reading your article was like hearing tales from [my former professor] and it brought me back to the time when radical feminists called me all kinds of names and attempted to force apologies from me for reiterating the Pacific Research Institute’s findings that the gender gap is largely mythical.”
The letter makes it sound like these events occurred about 15 years ago.
