Andrew Schlafly really needs to think before he speaks. These days all he seems to do is dig himself deeper in a hole. Ever since he went batshit insane over his former boss at the Harvard Law Review becoming President of the US, he seems to be on a mission to make himself look more and more ridiculous. The really fun bit, is watching his fellow administrators - a more craven bunch of cowards you will never meet - standing back and letting Andy's rant build impetus and become more crazy as each day passes.
Not content with the Lenski affair, or another letter (sadly ignored) to Prof Moo; the Conservative Bible Project; Best of the Public and God knows what else, Andy has now shifted his vision to mathematics. Now this is a somewhat dodgy area of expertise on CP, given people like Ed "if I don't understand it, I delete it" Poor and Andrew "the Axiom of Choice is a liberal plot" Schlafly. To save time, have a look at this indepth analysis of Conservapedia Mathematics.
Now we've already spoken about Andy's loathing of Einstein's Theory of Relativity (which he considers equal to moral relativism, for some bizarre reason), which has once again pulled CP into the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Even New Scientist picked up on and tore Andy a new one. From there, Andy decided that "atheist England" is "notoriously bad at mathematics" and hadn't produced any mathematicians of substance. This despite CP's own articles on Alan Turing, Bertrand Russell, and several others, describing them as "brilliant mathematicians." Newton was discounted because he was "pre-modern and pre-Britain." I kid you not - see how we couldn't make this stuff up?
Not content with that, Andy then finds out that the prestigious Fields Medal (a sort of Nobel Prize for maths) might - I repeat... might be awarded to a woman, as well as somebody of Vietnamese origin. Well. That just won't do for Andy. (Remember this is the man, who sets different tests for his male and female students, because it wouldn't be chivalrous for them to compete head to head.)
Of course, it's the fault of those nasty liberals - the being the International Mathematics Union - who would dare consider a female for an award over far more suitable male candidates. He also can't believe that somebody from communist Vietnam is being considered.
Luckily it isn't long before we see the true reason behind his outrage. Horror of horrors, one of the candidates is "an outspoken Obama suporter" and thus is clearly good for nothing. And finally, Andy's misogyny comes shining through: "Surely you should concede that a woman is not among the top four contenders based on merit." Notice, however, how Andy has yet to put forward any suitable candidates of his own.
Once he reaches rock bottom, Andy just continues digging. He's not happy that one of the potential candidates is a "communist Vietnam-trained mathematician", but when he gets called on that, is highly indignant at being called a racist.
Then again, it wouldn't be Andy if he didn't ratchet up the insanity another gear. First of all, he gazes into his crystal ball (isn't the Bible - even the Conservative one - kinda down on fortune tellers?) and predicts the "Liberal claptrap based on Fields Medal", which contains such misogynistic gems as:
- The "glass ceiling" for women in mathematics has finally been shattered!
- A woman has won the Fields Medal, but discrimination against women on math faculties remains an enormous problem!
- Nearly 100 years of discrimination in awarding the Fields Medal has finally ended!
Honestly, only Andrew Schlafly (ok, and his sick, twisted crone of a mother - how's the marital rape thing going, Phyllis. Bet your granddaughter can't wait for her wedding night!) could see those as being negative. But now, Andrew has lathered himself into such a self-righteous frenzy that it's up to him to single-handedly return mathematics to the conservative fold, by announcing... wait for it.... a drum roll please... the ConservaMath Medal. (You see, there's no way in hell I could make this shit up!)
Yes indeed, the ConservaMath Medal (no wonder Andy never made it as a copywriter) is "is the merit-based alternative to the Fields Medal, with winners announced at the same time so that real achievement is recognized." Oddly, there's no mention of prize money. True, the Fields Medal doesn't carry much, but the medal itself is worth some $15,000. Can't wait to see Andy springing that kind of money for an award that nobody would even consider using as a coaster.
Oh yes, final point of hilarity. Andy's first nomination for the ConseraMath Medal (sorry, I just love how ridiculous saying ConservaMath Medal sounds) is none other than Ben Green... who just happens to be British. But... but... I thought Britain had no great mathematicians? Welcome to Andrew Schlafly's world...
The “communist Vietnam-trained mathematician” went to college and graduate school in France.
ReplyDeleteAnybody not American is a communist.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update Nutty - posted a follow up on that. Of course, Andy will just carry on about the Socialist atheist French, or something, with their socialist medicine blah blah blah
ReplyDeleteQuick correction: Tao the Obama Supporter was a recipient last time, not a nominee this time.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that stands out to me reading Andy's comments is he seems to think that the Field's Medal is awarded to people for a single piece of work like the Nobel Prize. It is awarded for your entire body of work to date. Tao won as he had a far more impressive list of publications than Green. Although Green might still receive the award, he is only 33, he will be eligible in 2014.
ReplyDeleteFields Medalist for 2010 are:
ReplyDeleteNgo Bao Chau (France, born Vietnam)
Elon Lindenstrauss (Israel)
Stanislav Smirnov (Russia)
Cedric Villani (France)
Hey, your last post vanished. Are you secretly TK?
ReplyDeleteThe Fields Medal is given for any reason the awards committee deems suitable. No simple citation, like the with the Nobel is given, but instead a short congratulatory speech is given.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Cohen received his medal for inventing forcing, Jones for his polynomial, Faltings for proving Mordell's conjecture. The rest of their work was certainly good to very good--the sort that gets tenure at a good school and sometimes smaller awards along the way--but nothing over the top spectacular.
Other winners certainly did everything and then some. For example, there is no single Grothendieck or Bourgain theorem that everyone cites as proof of their greatness, but the vast body of their work certainly leaves everyone gasping.
Tao is somewhere in between. The Green-Tao theorem was certainly spectacular, but Tao's work is indeed wide-ranging and quite deep and significant all over the map. So far as winning the Fields medal, the Green-Tao theorem was more like the icing on the cake. It got Tao the Fields medal in 2006 instead of 2010 or even 2014. On its own, it won't get Green a Fields.