QUOTE OF THE DAY. Here comes Book Review No. 2: Michael Crichton's State of Fear (details or compare prices) which I disposed of overnight. I won't give away too much, although the basic plot (catastrophic weather events staged by overwrought environmentalists) is in common knowledge and I found the fate of one famous primitive-celebrating naif particularly appetizing. Mr Crichton has apparently had enough of academic fads (the postlude includes a riff on eugenics that is worth your attention) including one retired academician holding forth as follows. (pp. 458-459).

"What happened," [the retired professor] continued, "is the universities transformed themselves in the 1980s. Formerly bastions of intellectual freedom in a world of Babbittry [dubious premise, but I digress -- Ed.], formerly the locus of sexual freedom and experimentation, they now became the most restrictive environments in modern society. Because they had a new role to play. They became the creators of new fears for the [political-legal-media complex.] Universities today are factories of fear. They invent all the new terrors and all the new social anxieties. All the new restrictive codes. Words you can't say. Thoughts you can't think. They produce a steady stream of new anxieties, dangers, and social terrors to be used by politicians, lawyers, and reporters. Foods that are bad for you. Behaviors that are unacceptable. Can't sweat, can't swear, can't screw, can't think. These institutions have been stood on their heads in a generation. It is really quite extraordinary.

"The modern State of Fear could never exist without universities feeding it. There is a peculiar neo-Stalinist mode of thought that is required to support all this, and it can thrive only in a restrictive setting, behind closed doors, without due process. In our society, only universities have created that -- so far. The notion that these institutions are liberal is a cruel joke. They are fascist to the core, I am telling you."

That's all I'm going to tell you, but you've just received more substance from me than you'll get from Dwight Garner at the alleged paper of record. (via Russell at Cafe Hayek.)