RE: Professor Punished for Witty Remark
---------- From: Eric Cordian[SMTP:emc@artifact.psychedelic.net]
Peter Trei writes:
There's also a blacklist on the Web of people in academia who have publicly stated less than glowing support for Bush's war against "evil."
Where is it? [...] It was released by ACTA, formerly the NAF, run by Lynne Cheney, formerly arch-conservative Bill Bennett's heir at the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the wife of the federal government's favorite cardiac patient, Vice President Dick Cheney. [...] You might want to wade through http://www.goacta.org/ and see if you can find the report. I took a quick look, but my javascript and .pdf patience levels were quickly exceeded. [...]
Well, http://www.goacta.org/Reports/defciv.pdf doesn't actually name names, but the quotes are given enough attribution that, at least on a given campus, the speaker is probably identifiable. For example... 2 2 . "What the U.S. calls counter-terrorism is terrorism by another name. Operation Infinite Justice-the Bush administration's code name for proposed military action against terrorists - is 'cowboy law.'" Professor of linguistics, MIT. ...isn't too hard to identify. On the other hand, ACTA has specifically condemned the U of NM for their punishment of Berthold (which started this thread). http://www.goacta.org/Press%20Releases/11-14-01PR.htm AMERICAN COUNCIL OF TRUSTEES AND ALUMNI DEFENDS UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PROF Controversial Comment on Terrorist Attack Is Not Grounds for Punishment WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 14, 2001) -- The American Council of Trustees and Alumni today came to the defense of University of New Mexico professor Richard Berthold who is under investigation by the University for remarking: "Anyone who can blow up the Pentagon has my vote." "Professor Berthold's comment is certainly crude and debatable, but it is not punishable," said Anne D. Neal, ACTA's Vice President and General Counsel. "While we clearly disagree, academic freedom requires a free exchange of ideas-no matter how controversial." [...] "There is a big difference between criticizing someone's comments, and punishing those comments," said Neal. "It is the responsibility of a university to teach that the right way to counter ideas with which one disagrees is with more speech, not less," said Neal. -- end of quote - Peter Trei
Peter Trei wrote:
On the other hand, ACTA has specifically condemned the U of NM for their punishment of Berthold (which started this thread).
An interesting tactic. Out those whose remarks are not publicly known, to intimidate them and others into silence, while at the same time, "defending" someone whose reputation cannot be further vilified against excessive punishment. Like most organizations that are members of the Conservative Labyrinth, ACTA's web page is a bit deceptive. On first reading, you might get the impression that you were looking at some sort of ACLU-like organization devoted to intellectual and academic freedom. Look at how many times the word "liberal" appears in a positive context. Of course, this is designed to appeal to people who don't pay too much attention to the fact that the word "liberal" in "liberal education" has an entirely different meaning than it does in "liberal political thinking." Defense of liberal education and attacks on the elimination of humanities programs, do not equate to support of liberal politics and humanism. :)
"It is the responsibility of a university to teach that the right way to counter ideas with which one disagrees is with more speech, not less," said Neal.
Even the ADL proudly advertises that the "solution to bad speech is more speech." In fact, they will happily provide you with carefully prepared "more speech" to add to any website which contains comments that might be construed as negative about a particular ideology and its followers. I think most of us would consider the ADL pro-censorship, even as it adopts Cypherpunkish slogans to describe its behavior. As conservative organizations and other agendas strive to blend in to the freethinkers, it becomes even more important to recognize that the ACLJ is not the ACLU, Pregnancy Crisis Centers are not Abortion Clinics, and Child Advocacy is not Childrens Rights. Neither is defending a professor against being punished for snickering over the exploding Pentagon an invitation to university faculty to speak their minds on the likely fallout from decades of Belicose and Belligerent US Foreign Policy. There's a pretty good Boston Globe article on all this at... http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1113-03.htm -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
Peter Trei wrote:
Well, http://www.goacta.org/Reports/defciv.pdf doesn't actually name names, but the quotes are given enough attribution that, at least on a given campus, the speaker is probably identifiable. For example...
Are you sure that's the report all the fuss is about? All the newspaper stories I've read on this were pretty specific that names were named.
"What the U.S. calls counter-terrorism is terrorism by another name. Operation Infinite Justice-the Bush administration's code name for proposed military action against terrorists - is 'cowboy law.'"
Professor of linguistics, MIT.
...isn't too hard to identify.
Yes. Kind of like... "Fuck America. Fuck it to death and start over." Crusty Retired Engineer, Intel. Har. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
participants (2)
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Eric Cordian -
Trei, Peter