Conspiracy: A Biblical View, by Gary North - EntreWave

COURT HISTORIANScomparatively little money (although they don't have to work veryhard, either). They are psychologically tied to their jobs in a way thatpeople in the business world are not. The tighter the academic .jobmarket — and it grew incredibly tight in 1969 and has remained so —the more fearful they are. They can imagine few employmentalternatives outside their non-profit universe. Thus, a raised eyebrowfrom a superior, especially if an assistant professor has not receivedtenure — a legal guarantee of lifetime employment — can workwonders.Something else must be understood. Advancement — either upwardor outward (a better place of employment) — is essentially medieval.It is not what you know but whom you know. Especially in your firstfew jobs, you need the support and recommendations of seniorprofessors. Personal recommendations are major screening devices forhiring. This is why people try to get into prestigious departments ingraduate school: better-known senior professors have a wider group ofcontacts. Contacts are vital.To make it into the academic "big time" in social science, you have tobe an absolute genius, as well as someone who has a knack at writingarticles for professional journals, or you have to have the rightcontacts. But few people are geniuses. Thus, contacts are probably80% of the game for 80% of the players in the big time competition.(Yes, the same rule applies to the "hard" sciences like chemistry andphysics, although the presence of jobs in private industry —free-market, profit-seeking firms — reduces the level of control.Consider: Who hands out the big money for research projects? TheFederal government and private foundations.)The manipulators offer young, aggressive, ambitious men thenecessary contacts.The Ethics of BabelThere is yet another factor which seals the alliance: sharedpresuppositions. The manipulators, like the academics, are usuallyethical relativists. They believe that there are no permanent standardsof national morality. There are only "interests." Interests are shiftingand temporary. (And who is best equipped to interpret changingconditions, identify today's "true" national interests, and formulate thehttp://freebooks.commentary.net/freebooks/docs/html/gnco/html/5.htm (10 of 15) [5/26/2000 1:48:14 PM]