The Satire Problem, Cont'd.
Writing in the MetroWest Daily News—and yes, I have no idea where that is—
Julie Berry points out that, what with Larry Summers' troubles and the arrest of Martin Weitzman for the theft of horse excrement, "2005 has been an unsavory year for Harvard economists." (And she doesn't even mention Andres Shleifer.)
Like the rest of the world, Berry finds it hard to understand why one would steal manure. Has Weitzman fallen on hard times? "Or could it be that in order for his boss to continue to sling manure, his underlings must act as suppliers?"
Which brings me to a point that I'm not sure Harvard alums appreciate, judging from my recent encounters with them. Whether those alumni like Summers or not, they take him seriously. But as I've pointed out before on this blog, the Harvard president has become a widespread object of satire—a punch line.
This state of affairs, is, of course, unfair. But it exists, and since nothing Summers can do (well, nothing good, anyway) is going to attract the amount of attention that his women-in-science comments did, it's going to linger.
