Last night I caught the end of an interview with Ben Stein on C-Span in which Stein said something truly ridiculous:
[Interviewer Brian] LAMB: You said, for instance that there is a course offered at Brown [University] called the black female body in American culture.
STEIN: Right, none about the white female body or the Hispanic or the Asian female body, but the black female body. Lots and lots of classes in lesbian studies and gay women’s and gay men’s studies, but interestingly enough, not a single class – I believe that as a sister of Brown, in military history, not a single class in just a straightforward history of the United States of America [Emphasis added].
I’m not sure what the comment, “I believe that as a sister of Brown,” means (it could be an error in the transcript), but let’s take a look at Stein’s statement that there is not a single class at Brown in military history or straightforward history of the United States. The idea that an accredited, Ivy League University offers no such classes is laughable on its face, but Stein also invited viewers to find out for themselves, saying, “[…] I respectfully ask anyone who has a moment to read the section of the book that deals with the Brown University College catalogue […].” Fortunately, I did have a moment to check Brown’s course catalogue, and guess what? Ben Stein is categorically wrong.
Brown actually has an entire section of its course dedicated to “American Civilization,” something Stein would know if he had actually done any research, as he pretends to in his interview. In the Fall of 2008, Brown is offering the following courses in American History, both within and without its American Civilization program: “American History to 1877,” “American History since 1877,” “Era of the American Revolution,” “History of the American Colonies,” “The Early Republic,” “Antebellum America and the Road to Civil War,” “Civil War and the Reconstruction,” “Politics and Culture in the U.S. since 1945,” and many more. Whether or not these history classes are “straightforward” enough for Stein, I can’t say. I would, however, suggest that before he makes such a decision he actually takes one of these classes, rather than simply pulling a name at random from the course catalogue that fits his preexisting ideas about liberal universities.
As for military history, I didn’t see anything that used that term specifically, but it is possible that I missed it since I only took “a moment” to look, per Ben Stein’s suggestion. I did, however, find the following classes that dealt with armies, war and violence: “The American Military: Global Supremacy, Democracy and Citizenship,” “The Cuban Missile Crisis: American, Russian and Cuban Viewpoints,” “The Vietnam War Revisited,” “Hellenistic History: From Alexander the Great to the Roman Conquest,” “Japan’s Pacific War: 1937-1945,” “Cold War/War on Terror,” “Colonialism, War and Memory in East Asia,” “Grand Strategies of Empires,” “Conflict and Cooperation in International Politics,” and many more.
Anyone who plays so fast and loose with the truth, whether purposefully or out of pure ignorance, should not be trusted, and Ben Stein is no exception. For instance, Stein also says, “[…] I went to school at Columbia from ’62 to ’66. I don’t recall anybody saying anything negative about America at all.” So somehow Stein was unaware of the Columbia group Students for a Democratic Society, which was active throughout the 1960s and released its infamous Port Huron statement in 1962, criticizing the various injustices being perpetrated by the United States government at the time?
Stein also plays dumb on a more recent injustice, this time involving George W. Bush’s former political advisor and current Fox News pundit Karl Rove, whom Stein describes as a “[…] very good friend[…]” and as “[…] a wonderful, wonderful, […] incredibly great guy.” Stein became “[…] very upset […]” when he received a mass email suggesting Karl Rove be put in jail. “[… A]re you crazy?” Stein says he thought to himself. “Karl Rove hasn’t done anything criminal. […] What are you talking about?” One would think that such an email would describe the criminal acts that could send Rove to jail, but if it didn’t, Stein would not be much of a pundit, or a friend to Karl Rove, if he didn’t know the Democrats recently called for contempt charges to be leveled at Rove for his refusal to testify about the politicization of the Justice Department, charges that could lead to jail time. The politicization of the Justice Department is also in itself a crime, and Rove’s possible involvement in decisions to pursue Democratic politicians on trumped up criminal charges and to hire and fire attorneys based on political affiliation could also lead to jail time.
Stein likes to portray himself as a pretty smart guy. His television show Win Ben Stein’s Money was predicated on this entire idea. So why was he so dumb on C-Span?
