I don't subscribe to the WSJ or its comments, but I suspect there's also an additional reason:
7. Colleges and universities are ground zero (and a symbol) of a (newish) culture that loudly, strongly, and explicitly rejects and condemns much of the rest of America; and especially the type of American that stereotypically would read the WSJ. Conservatives, libertarians, and increasingly classical liberals are not going to have very warm feelings towards things that they perceive are openly hostile to their values.
> 7. Colleges and universities are ground zero (and a symbol) of a (newish) culture that loudly, strongly, and explicitly rejects and condemns much of the rest of America; and especially the type of American that stereotypically would read the WSJ.
Do you read the WSJ? I can’t really take your point seriously if you’re using it as an example of what the “left intelligentsia” condemns. Yes, it’s not the NYT, but the WSJ is mostly consumed by people in the group you’re talking about. In fact, they are the WSJ’s primary readership.
> Colleges and universities are ground zero (and a symbol) of a (newish) culture that loudly, strongly, and explicitly rejects and condemns much of the rest of America
I believe that this is a conservative charge. For what it is worth, I work at a college and I don't find that to be so. Of course, it may be the college I work at and I am sure that a person can find college faculty with almost cartoonish views on society.
But, while most of my colleagues are mildly liberal (although there certainly are conservatives), they seem to me to be quite mainstream. I can't recall ever, since I came here in 1990, hearing even one instance of rejecting and condeming much of the rest of America.
7. Colleges and universities are ground zero (and a symbol) of a (newish) culture that loudly, strongly, and explicitly rejects and condemns much of the rest of America; and especially the type of American that stereotypically would read the WSJ. Conservatives, libertarians, and increasingly classical liberals are not going to have very warm feelings towards things that they perceive are openly hostile to their values.