Not sure of the context here, but my guess is that this was a discussion of academic independence. Full professors do not answer to administrators, deans, or anyone else on academic matters.

This is an arrogant thing to say, certainly. But I'd bet my bottom dollar that if you show this quote in context it'll be clear that he's not suggesting that Harvard professors are infallible, just that they don't have to kowtow up the food chain.

Philip Dawdy responds: it is in context. it was at the beginning of the depo where lawyers commonly ask what someone's job or rank is. pretty perfunctory stuff. and maybe biederman thought he was joking, but there is no notation of any laughter on the depo transcript. you can download it yourself on the in vivo site.

Philip, I agree that Biederman needs to be punched out. However, to extend the punch-out session to all ivy leaguers strikes me as unfair. I went to an ivy league school, and I have my struggles, like a lot of other people. I really admire your blog, but this just strikes me as totally alienating. I know some ivy leaguers are snots, but a lot aren't, and implying they all are just gives me one more reason not to want to say where I went to college. By the way, a lot of those snots don't have entitlements, and are in deep financial aid, and - although there have been some changes lately - have the graduation gift of hefty loans to be repaid.

Peace be with you

Biederman better hope he doesn't piss off his boss. Does that put him in front of Jesus as god's right-hand man?

It is hard for me to accurately articulate how that statement makes me feel, but I am way past being surprised. People who think they are god-like tend to play god a little to often. I believe Biederman is such, and I suspect that Professor of law from the "Chigago School" is no exception either.

love eternal
tad

I think Biederman was trying to make a condescending dig at the deposing lawyer frankly but it's still reflective of where his head was at.

I guess when you're second only to God, then you don't have to follow rules. You make your own. That must explain my former psychiatrist.

When patients compare themselves to God they get loaded up on antipsychotics. When a psychiatrist compares himself to God he gets large grants. Go figure.

Same stuff, different context: at link, Matt Taibbi exposes AIG/Wall Street.
And hasten the day that Dawdy and Taibbi work together.

Above him only his father, so Biederman is Jesus.
That's what his thing because his showing that he is more like the Antichrist of psychiatry.
This is sick, disgusting and I totally agree that it shows how some of these people see themselves.

Yalie,
Alienating? Do you think that Philip's views are alienating.
I see.
The problem is that the "a lot others" that are not don't raise their voices to say their that the work of the"few lots" colleagues that has more power than them is harming people.
If the majority is good it is even more strange why only these few have the last word.

Ana

I just went to the Dr. a few weeks ago and asked to be switched to Natural Thyroid from synthetic (after doing extensive research). The doctor's reply; No, I don't prescribe that because that's not what Harvard or Yale docs would prescribe.
Consequently, I'm looking for a new doc.

Not saying I hate all Harvard docs. Dr. Peter Breggin and some other good people went there.

Ana, David Oaks went to Harvard. He is speaking up, lots of Ivies and Seven Sisters folks in the c/s/x movement who speak up, same problem for them as anyone else in the movement, they don't get listened to, get discredited as crazy, a degree doesn't mean anything when you're in the loony bin, in fact it can make things worse as doctors and nurses try to prove you aren't all that or whatever their own insecurities they want to act out on a person. I saw a doctor in a psych. ward treated horribly, worse than others.

there's no Ivy or non-Ivy in foxholes..

I appreciate your remark, Alison. As for Ana: I don't quite understand your garbled message or garbled logic. My point was that Philip was extrapolating justifiable outrage at Biederman's arrogance to (in my opinion) unjustified, misplaced outrage at anyone who has attended an ivy league school. There are real villains worth fighting in this world, and real evils, and it is prudent to aim carefully. I appreciate this blog because Philip seems to be on target. Here, though, I think he's off, and indulging in a little grudgery that if I weren't a regular reader of this blog would turn me off from it altogether.

I'm with Philip on this. Everything we believed about banks, business, medicine, media, and government continues to fall apart, and those in control came from a few select places. For facts and diagrams, go to http://theyrule.net or a newer site called Muckety.

Alyson.
David Oaks is working at Harvard?
He left Mindfreedom?
Wow!
That's appalling.

Yalie,
I was not using logics.
Perhaps it's a question of semantics. "Alienating" is a very strong word in Portuguese.
Perhaps in English it does not have all this power and a plethora of significance.
Perhaps even "God" has another meaning in other languages.
If someone claims that above him there is only God in Portuguese he is half way to the loony.

Philip Dawdy responds: ana, she was referring to the fact that david was an undergrad at harvard in the 1970s.

"Conspiracism serves the needs of diverse political and social groups in America and elsewhere. It identifies elites, blames them for economic and social catastrophes, and assumes that things will be better once popular action can remove them from positions of power. As such, conspiracy theories do not typify a particular epoch or ideology" Mintz, Frank P.. The Liberty Lobby and the American Right: Race, Conspiracy, and Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood. pp. 199.

Ok, one more quote, and I'll stop. And just to reiterate, I am a huge fan of Furious Seasons, but object to this post which would seem to encourage the demonization of a group of people of which I happen to belong. Is some nerdy kid going to get shunned or worse because he's one of those "ivy league snots" that are responsible for everything that's wrong with the world? Is this responsible journalism? This quote is via wikipedia:
According to Berlet and Lyons, "Conspiracism is a particular narrative form of scapegoating that frames demonized enemies as part of a vast insidious plot against the common good, while it valorizes the scapegoater as a hero for sounding the alarm". Berlet, Chip; Lyons, Matthew N.. Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. New York: Guilford Press.

I thought when in Boston, God only speaks to the Cabots and the Lodges.

I am so glad i didn't go to Robert Cohen's Alma Mater, just was a town rat there.