博爾頓在其新書指控「特朗普想要中國幫助他連任」等十宗罪。(資料圖片)
月初，芝加哥大學的經濟系教授厄里格(Harald Uhlig)在Twitter發表一段「死藍絲」的「撐警」言論：Too bad, but #blacklivesmatter per its core organization@Blklivesmatter just torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice : “We call for a national defunding of police.”Suuuure. They knew this is non-starter, and tried a sensible Orwell 1984 of saying, oh, it just means funding schools (who isn’t in favor of that?!?). But no, the so-called“activists”did not want that. Back to truly“defunding” thus, according to their website. Sigh.#GeorgeFloyd and his family really didn’t deserve being taken advantage of by flat-earthers and creationists.Oh well.Time for sensible adults to enter back into the room and have serious, earnest, respectful conversations about it all: e.g. policy reform proposals by @TheDemocrat and national healing.
所謂「撐警」，其實只是質疑即時全面取消警隊經費，言論卻馬上被狠批為與三K黨可比的種族主義。克魯明等行家，於是發起聯署要求著名的芝大學報《政治經濟期刊》解除他編輯一職。之後，厄里格一位前學生加入批鬥行動，翻舊帳投訴他2014年在課堂說了幾句對馬丁路德金不敬的說話。另一邊廂，去年「被辭職」的美國國家安全顧問博爾頓(John Bolton)，近日在新書《事發之室》(The Room Where It Happened)指控「特朗普想要中國幫助他連任」等十宗罪。芝大經濟系的莫里根(Casey Mulligan)，卻以前經濟顧問委員會首席經濟學家身份公開反指《博爾頓錯了，我當時在場》(Bolton Is Wrong；I was There)。當中關於「特朗普曾指他想執政超過兩屆」一宗罪，莫里根認為博爾頓斷章取義：Bolton recalls Trump discussing his “third term”with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The missing context is a frequent“moron or evil genius”riff that Trump uses to humorously point out the self-contradictions of his political opponents.The full riff is“They cannot decide whether I’m a moron or an evil genius. One moment they’ll say that someone like me wins only by luck, and the next moment announce that I’ve devised a way to become a three-term president.”Bolton undoubtably knew how often the president used this line, but washing away that context is a better way to sell books.
利申，我是芝大舊生，莫里根更是我的博士論文導師兼廿年好友，我們的相熟程度，是每次去芝加哥我都會在他的家中作客。莫里根今次以他在白宮的所見所聞反駁博爾頓，跟年半前我到華府探望他時閒談的沒有兩樣。政治上的正確性，我兩師徒從來少理。
回說厄里格被行家批鬥事件，很快便有朋友問我芝大經濟系會否受不住壓力。我當時拋下一句，我們不是哈佛MIT。後來，厄里格失掉芝加哥聯儲銀行顧問一職，《政治經濟期刊》亦暫時停止了他編輯的職務。值得留意的，是停職決定只是為了調查舊生就他課堂歧視言論的指控，厄里格在社交媒體說過甚麼根本不值一提。調查結果幾天前公布：
The University has completed a review of claims that a faculty member engaged in discriminatory conduct on the basis of race in a University classroom. The review concluded that at this time there is not a basis for a further investigation or disciplinary proceeding. The University’s policy on harassment, discrimination, and sexual misconduct is posted here. In light of this outcome, the Journal of Political Economy has returned the faculty member to his role as journal editor.
大師兄返嚟啦！歡迎經常政治正確上腦的左膠繼續挑戰我們。