The Atlantic

The Crisis of the American Elites

Judith Butler and Ed Whelan share little in common—save their willingness to direct cruelty against ordinary people in defense of eminent colleagues.
Source: Thomas Lohnes / dapd / AP

Judith Butler and Ed Whelan have probably never met. And if they did, we may be quite certain that they would have very little use for each other. After all, what does the professor of comparative literature, the author of (among other works) Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, who teaches in the critical-theory program at UC Berkeley, have to do with the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the co-editor of Scalia Speaks:?And yet, they find themselves embarrassed by nearly identical behaviors, forced to make shamefaced admissions that they have behaved like nasty, irresponsible idiots.

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