veganfan21 wrote:
Not entirely relevant to the discussion here, but I did want to kind of complicate a connection I see here and in other threads between Dan's education and his supposed commentary for the thinking fan. His background in English does not and should not give his views on racism, biology, heterosexual normativity, comparative theology, etc., any more weight than we would give a career street vendor's comments about rocket science and politics. Duke is a great school, but English majors don't simultaneously undergo any kind of rigorous and sustained training in the subjects he so forcefully and pedantically engages. I doubt his time in Rockford doing play by play exposed him to that kind of stuff as well. In other words, the views rightfully criticized here and in other threads are not the profoundly nuanced views of an educated man; they are simply the views of hyperbolic, sanctimonious, elitist asshole who happens to spit into a microphone.
By the way, just to be precise, Duke is technically not an ivy league school. This doesn't make it any less of a school, nor has anyone here mentioned Duke being an ivy league school, but I just wanted to point this out. It's not like the general perception of Bernstein's intellectualism needs to be any more inflated than it already is.
Good points. I always saw through this meme that Dan is any more intelligent than anyone else. I think he uses his Duke English degree and NY Times puzzles to have a proper way of speaking and a good vocabulary. Really what he must have done is simply take some advanced debate courses and really knows how to use those tools.
Does not make him correct though
Are you really going to argue that he doesn't have well above average intelligence? It seems pretty obvious that the guy is smart but he also has the paper on the wall to back it up.
Vegan, I understand that the degree does not indicate expertise in other areas. However, it is apparent Dan has wide ranging intellectual interests that he pursues even beyond his formal education. Anyway, I assume he took classes other than English literature and Communications.