LOCAL PROF SEZ WE'RE BIBLE-BEATING BIGOTS

Professor Ben Rudolph of Grand Valley State University has a regular column in the West Michigan Business News.  I often find myself in agreement with Prof. Rudolph as he casts perceptive eye upon the local business scene.  However, his June 27th column is quite a clunker.  It reveals more about the blinkered pieties of academia than any truth about local businessmen.

Rudolph tells us that we shouldn't blame the politicians for the sluggish local economy.  Instead we must be introspective and realize that it's our racist, sexist, homophobic, religiously bigoted, anti-intellectual, timid, and -- yes -- even prudish business culture.  He equates all these nasty attributes to the generally conservative worldview of the denizens of West Michigan.  This keeps the more enlightened from migrating to the area and delivering us from our economic blight with their skills and talents.

To this end, Rudolph scolds us as racist:  "Many of the most competent and talented people in the world are not white Protestants."  He then bemoans the region's religious mores with a little calumny tossed in: "Well-educated Americans tend to be secular and non-dogmatic people.  They do not want to come here to have their children educated in an environment where science and rational-thinking are not taken seriously."  And just to make sure we get the point that we are a pack of finger-wagging prudes, the good professor reminds us:  "Bars, restaurants, casinos, entertainment and sex are all things most people really enjoy."  No kidding.

Once Rudolph gets past painting us with the broad brush of bigotry, his criticisms that are actually pertinent to business culture don't make any sense.  For example, he lambastes West Michigan businessmen as too timid in management style.  Yet, he uses as examples General Motors and Ford.  Well, neither are headquartered here, and the problem with these ailing auto giants is not that they are run by conservative Republican WASPs but by bean-counters who climbed the greasy pole of corporate America.  To further undercut his thesis, success in that climb to the top requires in no small part bowing deeply to the political correct pieties that Rudolph denounces West Michiganders for lacking.

As I said at the beginning of this article, I often agree with Prof. Rudolph.  He has excoriated the corrupt clique of players and their "go-along-to-get-along" lackeys that are the bane of River City.  However, he has gotten their motivation wrong.  It is not that they are Bible-beating bigots.  It's a lot simpler than that.  They're greedy bastards.  Lumping in with them the majority of West Michigan businessmen who don't have the same affection the professor does for ivory-tower multiculturism is unjust.

Comments

[Dan Tietema]

I have been introduced to your site by my brother while I campaigned for third ward city commissioner. I wanted to pass on a note of congratulations to you for your thoughtful and insightful articles and I also want to wish you the best of luck for the future.

Keep up the good work - Dan Tietema

[The Executive Director]

Hello, Dan.

Thank you for the kind words. While we do not make endorsements in political campaigns, we did think you would have added an unrepresented and necessary perspective to the Grand Rapids City Commission. We hope to see you run again.

Regards,
Bill Tingley