I have been warned almost since I started blogging that one of these days I would show up on University of Chicago Law School Professor Brian Leiter’s radar and that his world-renowned pettiness and nastiness would be visited upon me.
But at least I’m in good company [added: link broken a/o 11-21-2011 10:45 am., here is cache]:
But the traffic these [left-wing law professor] blogs generate is dwarfed, to be sure, by the crazed right-wing blogs, namely “Instapundit” (or “Insta-Ignorance” as we aptly dubbed it years ago), Althouse, the Volokh blog, and, more recently, “Legal Insurrection,” a blog by a clinical law professor at Cornell.
Key to the success of all these blogs is “Instapundit,” the blog by the reprehensible University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, whose sui generis combination of ignorance and moral depravity has made him the mainstay of the far right blogosphere (well outside academia), and who links vigorously to any academic he can find who is benighted as he is.
I find it interesting that someone of Brian Leiter’s towering intellect and enormous influence worries about blog traffic. Not that such things matter to me
I have only one concern.
At some point these acts of brazen viciousness are going to lead to a renewed philosophical interest in the question of when acts of political violence are morally justified.
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http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&q=Brian+Leiter&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1g-S8g-sS1&aql=&oq=&biw=1024&bih=672&sei=LvzGTuH6N4GU2AWW6LXmDw
Schlub
Eeeeeeeeeew!
Look at all the people Leiter mentions: Reynolds, Althouse, Volokh, and Jacobson. All are exceptionally good-looking people. Just a coincidence, I’m sure, that Leiter himself is so homely that he’s actually painful to look at.
And I’m allowed to say that, being homely myself.
Brian Leiter is bald, fat, and has yellow crusty-looking teeth. He looks like he probably smells funny.
I had BL in law school at UT. He doesn’t smell. But he isn’t pleasing to look at, not that that mattered. I didn’t really like listening to him. And that was before my views were sufficiently formed to know exactly why I didn’t like listening to him. I had Sandy Levinson, too. Rough duty.
It’s a relief to learn that Brian Leiter does not smell the way he looks.
Seen his “addendum?” Not sure if it was already there at the time of your post. If not, he is obviously painfully sensitive to criticism. Poor guy. What a way to live…
No it was not there originally. Ego is a terrible way to live.
He says a “reader” sent the link to him. I think we are into Glenn Greenwald sock puppet territory.
There are few things more pathetic than someone using sock puppets to inflate their own ego. It’s a step below owning and using an inflatable “Love Ewe”.
I wonder if he writes his own Wiki page.
Towering intellect and enormous influence? Seriously? Professor Jacobsen, I live near Hyde Park, I would respectfuly disagree with your assessment. He’s an eedjit–a self-important eedjit.
The study of law lends itself to conservative thinking. The law adapts to change rather than causing it.
I say that as a liberal lawyer.
Kudos Professor. You are indeed in good company but that’s not news.
You’ve been there for quite some time. You are a must read daily, really several times daily.
Reply Chuck912 | November 18, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Kudos Professor. You are indeed in good company but that’s not news.
You’ve been there for quite some time. You are a must read daily, really several times daily.
YES!
Congratulations. Given a choice when leaving the room, I’d prefer not to see big happiness on the face of the learned opposition.
A good measure of a man is the quality of his friends, but also the quality of his enemies. I would say this puts you in a very high excellence category.
Far better this, than his approval
Who the heck is Professor Brian Leiter? And why would ANY reputable law school hire such a petty, nasty person?
Leiter seems to be a man who fantasizes constantly about committing murder and mayhem but lacks the balls to actually do it. Sort of like a teenager crouching in his bedroom playing violent video games and thinking it makes him Duke Nukem (without the bulging muscles, strippers, and snappy one-liners).
I must dispute the applicationb of “man” or indeed “person” to such a thing as Brian Leiter. Indeed I doubt it could ever rise to the diginity of chordate. Though I must say that almost all of the other lower forms are inoffensive beings.
Except chiggers — I loath chiggers.
Chicago Law School Professor Brian Leiter — surely you jest? Surely such a thing is merely a figment of a debased and vile imagination marinating in self-loathing and expressing itself as mere projection?
Congratulations and hopes that you will be a thorn in his side forever 🙂
It’s about time that the conversation became sufficiently interesting that it would inspire a progressive emotional response.
Viva la libertad!
Embrace your dignity. Respect others dignity.
Btw, this headline cracks me up…
Something is wrong with our educational system. We keep producing law professors like Brian Leiter and Michael Avery: that is, those incapable of persuasive writing.
Isn’t Brian Leiter more of a case that demonstrates the absolute need to recall Chicago’s Health Department and reconstitute it as it has obviously failed to protect the recent influx of Bovine Wasting Diseased meat products in that once acclaimed city. Or, Leiter could merely be another example of someone suffering from wearing underpants that are too tight.
Still, our professor is most learned and his analysis that Leiter is an example of an overblown ego might be more on point.
A scene from long ago, when nasty name-calling leftist law professors drove through the conservative blogosphere neighborhood looking for a fight …. The conservative law professor blogosphere comes out to play.
who the hell is suzi generis?
There’s an old adage, professor, which I’m sure you’re familiar with: “If you’re getting flak, you must be over the target” Kudos for your work, you’re a one man Liberal demolishing crew. Bombs away!
Acts of political violence are always morally justified…if you’re liberal.
Rich Vail
Pikesville, Maryland
The Vail Spot dot Blogspot dot Com
which is what frightens me about the polling booths next november.
What slays me about these attacks on conservatives–whether blogs, news outlets (Fox?), or individuals–is they all say the same thing but never give any examples of how any of the above were erroneous, ignorant, or morally reprehensible. Like saying it is enough. I can, in a ‘flinstant’ as a coworker would say, give plenty of examples where progressive blogs, any of the mainstream media outlets, politicians, and other individuals who pop up on my radar have possessed all of these negative attributes and consistently go beyond belief and common sense with their blather and actions. I hope they keep it up however, just like OWS, because more and more people who were on the fence are seeing the truth now like never before and that’s a good thing for conservatism.
They don’t see the need to cite examples, because they believe that “rational” people all think just like them … and that what they are thinking is the Way It Is. Everybody KNOWS what’s wrong with those pesky conservatives … don’t they?
These same assumptions blind them to the blind faith and sweeping assumptions that underlie their views … and blind them to the fact that they are trying to jam their social and economic moral views down our throats, with a fundamentalist zeal that makes Jerry Fawell look like Jerry Garcia by comparison.
They are, what they decry.
i would say a sure sign of success these days is pissing off the right people.
kudos, professor-you got mentioned in the same line as Volokh (no disrespect to others mentioned, as instapundit et al have always kicked ass).
I have to wonder about the perspective of anyone who considers Althouse “a crazed right-wing blog”, what with her voting for Obama in 2008 and all. Clearly, she’s extreme!
Of course, such overreach (eventually) deprives their hyperbole of any effect at all; if Althouse, a creature of the “moderate right” (at ‘worst’) is now to be considered a crazy right-wing extremist, there are no words left to describe the TEA party, or people who’d sooner write-in Palin/Cain/Bachman than vote for Romney. Well, other than “racist!” of course… and you see how much weight that word carries these days.
“OMG! They made us clear out of Zucotti Park — it’s genocide!”
And lord knows, the only reason I occasionally read Insty is for the “ignorant moral depravity”… or would be, if I had any freakin’ idea what Leiter’s even talking about.
I’ve read enough of Leitner the past couple of years to know that not only is he way out on the leftist fringe, but he also is a gifted writer with a superior intellect. Which is why it’s truly puzzling that he insists on using a condescending tone and invective to criticize those on the right who he disagrees with philosophically.
Leitner is schooled in philosophy so he understands logic, reason, deduction, and all the other tools to make a solid intellectual argument persuasive. But he almost always lowers himself and resorts to childish ad hominems and gutter sniping in describing bright intelligent people who happen not to share his ideological worldview.
It’s quite strange to observe. If he sees a psychiatrist, his shrink must be fascinated with his personality.
The condescending tone and invective is the standard defense mechanism deployed by Progressives, to protect their privileged status as the High Priests of the Cult of Human Omniscience from erosion by objective truth and principled reasoning.
Leiter is no doubt green with envy at Glenn Reynolds unmatched success in blogging and selflessly promoting others’ success.
Many Instapundit readers may not know that 20 years ago, Renolds was a Democrat. His father was a liberal Democrat who brought Glenn along to civil rights demonstrations. Glenn worked in Al Gore’s 1988 Presidential campaign. He has said that he became more libertarian in his views during the 1990s and as of the 2000 election was indifferent to the outcome. I think Reynolds is among the relatively small band of conservatives who better understand issues for having made an intellectual journey from left to right and come to their convictions by serious thought.
Another thing some may not know is that Renolds began his online avocation as a poster on the early Slate magazine discussion board, The Fray. Owned originally by Microsoft and edited by Michael Kinsley, Slate was the first ever solely online political journal and from its inception skewed left. The Fray went through several transformations (now, it’s just another place for comments), but in the period beginning about 1999, as best I recall, it was a feature that drew more eyeballs to Slate than most of the articles. This was partly its novelty but mostly because under the guidance of a smart editor, it had some of the best debate and discussion to be found anywhere on the web — led by a group of “star posters” so designated by the editor for their intelligent, persuasive commentary and lively but civil exchanges.
Reynolds, who had been posting on The Fray using the cybernym A.G.Android was the first star poster — selected by the very liberal editor on the left-leaning magazine for his cogency, breadth and depth of knowledge, and first-rate writing. I believe it was in August 2001 that Glenn launched Instapundit. Many readers if The Fray followed him there and he quickly built on that base of readership.
JEBurke wrote, “Leiter is no doubt green with envy at Glenn Reynolds unmatched success in blogging and selflessly promoting others’ success.”
Also, Leiter is probably incensed that a professor at some hick school (so he thinks) gets the attention that he himself would get if the world were truly just.
I guess Leiter is such a sick person he doesn’t realize how bad his blatantly over-the-top venom looks. His opinion of Instapundit: “sui generis combination of ignorance and moral depravity”? To quote PelosiGalore, “Are you serious?”
What the heck is “clinical law”?
Keith Burgess-Jackson used to refer to Leiter as an “academic thug”. That seemed appropriate at the time and appears still to be appropriate. It did surprise me when Leiter moved from Texas to Chicago. I wondered why any institution would want to take on an ego as large as Leiter’s.
My [very late] comment is “Who the blank-blank is Brian Leiter and why should I care?”. More directly I know LI, Althouse, etc., but Only in the context of looking for rational real “Law Professors” after the MSM declaration we now had a distinguished and Genius “Constitutional Lawyer” for Prez.
I don’t read Slate, WaPo, NY Times. At All. I don’t watch our Great “Shape The News” CBS/NBC/MSNBC/ABC propagandists.
Okay, off rant I could see how anyone participating in the US Law School environment would know of him, but….
..no, I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night and I didn’t play Marcus Welby or Perry Mason on TV.
Who the F is Brian Leiter?
[…] I FIND BRIAN LEITER’S TRAFFIC-JEALOUSY PATHETIC, but somehow pleasing. […]
After reading Professor Lieter’s comments on the unfairness of it all, I promptly decided to sign up for your blog just to spite the douche.
One of my favorite rare beasts on the Internet is a cry of ideological rage leveled at Glenn, whether it be accusing him of being a shill or Wrongthink or whatever else.
It’s so patently absurd because The Puppy Blender himself says so very little. His style is mostly evidence-without-argument. The argument is in the links. You can argue with his conclusions (generally, if you’re an idiot, useful or otherwise). You cannot, however, argue with the existence of the evidence. Essentially, the commenter is angry at the universe for breaking faith with his or her own righteous self.
I like MaggotAtBroadandWall’s comment @ 11/19/11 1:03PM
A comprehensive & dynamic purview, to me, of Prof. Brian Leiter.
My interest in this contretemps with a group of bloggers
of somewhat similiar socio-political ideologies is from the
‘General Semantics’ angle. Particularly how his use of language
reflects his attitudes, values, thinking, etc.,etc.
Of particular interest is what seems to be his total avoidance
of acknowledging & considering the social/professional groups
of commenters his ‘targets’ have. There are times & occasions
when it can be somewhat of an honor to be denigrated, castigated
and vilified by a really talented & famous villian. Congratulations,
Professor Jacobsen
He’s just looking for linkage.
Bullies are the same, whether intellectual or physical. In any face-to-face encounter expect this piece of crumb-cake to be perfectly polite and deferential, and then watch him repeatedly stab you in the back once you have turned away.
“the question of when acts of political violence are morally justified.”
Silly professor – we already know the answer to that.
Whenever it benefits the Democrats. 🙁
[…] It’s much like law professor Brian Leiter whining about my friend William Jacobson’s traffic. […]
Congratulations, Professor; you have some good enemies. The time to worry is when someone that vicious befriends you.
[…] OWS protestors plead for pity from others using lawlessness, urged on to political violence by men who should know better. They also do not seek God for their daily bread. That would take humility […]