What’s in your emails? The American thought police.
NY Times columnist and Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman nails it this morning. In a column on the William Cronon Affair and the right-wing’s assault on teachers’ associations and beliefs, he writes:
So we don’t need to worry about Mr. Cronon — but we should worry a lot about the wider effect of attacks like the one he’s facing.
Legally, Republicans may be within their rights: Wisconsin’s open records law provides public access to e-mails of government employees, although the law was clearly intended to apply to state officials, not university professors. But there’s a clear chilling effect when scholars know that they may face witch hunts whenever they say things the G.O.P. doesn’t like.
Someone like Mr. Cronon can stand up to the pressure. But less eminent and
