The Yale English department is a good example. In the directory for tenured and tenure-track faculty, “Marxist literary theory” is listed by five professors among their fields of interest, “gender and sexuality” by nine, and “colonial and postcolonial” by 11, or a quarter of the 44 professors. In the graduate student directory, however, the numbers for those subjects are one, three, and a fat goose egg. That’s quite a statistical drop-off, considering that grad students outnumber professors nearly two to one. The topics favored instead by these future scholars are Romanticism (six), Victorian literature (five), Milton (seven), and, oddly enough, religious literature (also seven). Honorable mentions include “Biblical exegesis,” “conversion narratives,” and “Middle English devotional, visionary, and anchoritic writing”— they’re not just reading the Bible, they’re reading monks.
I can’t get on Facebook without seeing people mocking various religions. However, the adherents of these faiths aren’t rioting, burning, or killing anyone — nor would they be tolerated if they did. However, the message we’re sending is that rioting works. The Islamists riot, and our government (and its media waterbearers) cheerfully throw the speakers who give offense under the bus. Apparently, the Mormons aren’t smashing enough windows or setting enough fires.
And Robbo.