College is Biased

Angus did a pretty good job of explaining how colleges seem to have chosen a side in politics.

But there is a concern that goes beyond this.  I'm talking about the bias (and thanks to concerned reader WEH for sending this clip!) against students who are lazy and uninterested.  Here's the (scary) report:

Bias in El Beisbol

The Connection Between Race and Called Strikes and Balls 
 Jeff Hamrick & John Rasp
 Journal of Sports Economics, forthcoming

Abstract: We investigate potential racial bias by Major League Baseball umpires. We do so in the context of the subjective decision as to whether a pitch is called a strike or a ball, using data from the 1989-2010 seasons. We find limited, and sometimes contradictory, evidence that umpires unduly favor or unjustly discriminate against players based on their race. Potential mitigating variables such as attendance, terminal pitch, the absolute score differential, and the presence of monitoring systems do not consistently interact with umpire/pitcher and umpire/hitter racial combinations. Most evidence that would first appear to support racially connected behaviors by umpires appears to vanish in three-way interaction models. Overall, our findings fall well short of convincing evidence for racial bias.

Some things never change

Lars Von Trier:

"What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. But I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end," von Trier said. "He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War, and I'm not against Jews. ...

"I am very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass."

Von Trier went on to say he also admired Hitler aide Albert Speer.

Lars now says he was "joking".

Different Hues, Identical Views =/= "Diversity"

Interesting that the explanation of "bias" occurs to psych-os so readily, but not so much when it comes to the obvious bias against conservatives.

Or so says John Haidt, in this speech here, nicely power pointed. Terrific talk, < 30 mins. In fact, one of the best talks I have ever seen.

And John Tierney wrote about it, and the New York Times published it. I'm pinching myself. Must be dreaming.

Some little pieces on this debate in which I have had a voice.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five


Mr. Overwater? Thoughts?

(Nod to Neanderbill)