We already knew this: they're insecure, defensive, and rigid

Ha ha! We're spending the night in Berkeley tonight, and what should I discover over at BlogsPeek but this gem:

A Berkeley study, published in the Journal of Research Into Personality, showed that whiny 3- and 4-year-olds:

... tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.

The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests.

Very funny. Still, much as I appreciate the heady intellectual climate at Berkeley, I'd have trouble attending the place for more than a week, I think, without wanting to punch someone. We ventured onto the campus for exactly twenty minutes this sleepy Monday afternoon and in that time I noted:

• a PETA display with graphic, lifesized photos of baby seals being clubbed to death and handouts thrust at passersby
  
• two men clad in black leather, each with multiple body piercings, one saying to the other, "Well, then, call them 'white-centric' views..."
  
• a building festooned with so many gender/ethnic/sexual orientation/racial qualifiers in multiple combinations that I kept walking around it in wonderment to see each new doorway (the Lesbian Latina Center; the Asian Gender Equity Project - I'm making these up but you get the picture)
• a demonstration in formation, for what we don't know, occasioning a TV news van, multiple police cars with sirens, and a blocked off street.
  

And lots of other stuff I think I've blocked out. For instance, I spent about five minutes reading the action-packed student bulletin board (which did have a notice in the middle for a course in Intelligent Design). Anyway, maybe I'm just old and cranky.

But now I know I wasn't a whiny child!