The university is not the only one to take action

The Times reported a few days ago:

Arizona State University has suspended Lawrence M. Krauss, a prominent theoretical physicist, while the university investigates accusations of sexual misconduct over a decade.

“In an effort to avoid further disruption to the normal course of business as the university continues to gather facts about the allegations, Krauss has been placed on paid leave and is prohibited from being on campus for the duration of the review,” the university said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Oh but I’m sure they’re just a bunch of fanatical SJWs out to get Krauss for no other reason than terminal political correctness.

Dr. Krauss, a professor in the university’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, is director of Arizona State’s Origins Project, a multidisciplinary research effort to tackle questions about life, the universe and complex social problems. He gained prominence for his book, “The Physics of Star Trek” in 1995. He later became one of the leaders of the so-called “skeptics” movement that espouses science over religion. He has also written essays and Op-Ed articles that were published in The Times.

Well, no, not exactly. There are no “leaders” in such a formal way that he could “become” one. They’re not literally “leaders” at all. What they are is guys (always guys – always) with name recognition because of best-selling books or similar achievements. They get invited to talk and present and front because of the name recognition, so their name recognition expands, repeat forever. It’s not a terrible arrangement in every way, because some of the best-sellers are outstanding and some of the “leaders” are good at talking and presenting and fronting. It does, however, tend to result in hero-worship which in turn tends to result in ferocious verbal harassment of anyone who dares to criticize – plus there’s the always guys aspect.

The university is not the only one to take action against Dr. Krauss. The American Physical Society and other organizations have withdrawn invitations to Dr. Krauss for upcoming talks. The Center for Inquiry, an organization that promotes secularism, suspended its association with Dr. Krauss on Monday.

On Tuesday, Dr. Krauss resigned from the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which is best known for its Doomsday Clock that represents that danger of atomic war and other calamities to the planet. In his resignation letter, he said he was resigning from the board because he did not want to distract from the organization’s work.

Additionally, a conference scheduled for next month to mark the 10th anniversary of the Origins Project has been canceled. “What we hope to do is reschedule it for another time,” Dr. Krauss said in an interview on Wednesday.

Since then several other “leaders” have abandoned him, though Sam Harris took pains to trash women on his way out.

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