On Feb 13, 10:07=A0pm, Karel Kriz <ka...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> In article
> <51cfd7fa-5605-4697-8575-7360ffa65...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>
> =A0kujebak <kuje...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoctrinate_U
>
> Generally, I don't use someone else's material to buttress my points.
> That would be intellectually dishonest. But thsi post is very well
> written and I think worth reading.
>
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0The big problem I have with the reasoning of my
conservative=
> friends is they assume that =B3either you=B9re with us or against us.=B2
I=
n
> their black and white universe, there are only the good people
> (conservatives) and the bad people (liberals). There are the people who
> love America (Republicans) and the people who hate it (Democrats).
> Simplistic *****sments like this can be heard on Fox News relentlessly
> and found on all too many right wing blogs. So now, we have a
> do***entary that offers the same tired myths. Just what the world needs.
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0I teach at Emerson College in Boston and also at the
Univers=
ity of
> Massachusetts. I=B9m one of those people who is liberal on some issues,
> moderate on some, and conservative on a couple=8A but in Maloney=B9s
world=
,
> I guess I don=B9t exist, since evidently an educator must come down on
the=
> side of good (his side) or the side of evil (everyone who doesn=B9t like
> President Bush). I doubt he=B9d believe me, but many of my colleagues
> don=B9t toe a rigid =B3party line=B2=AD and not everyone on the faculty
vo=
tes
> for the Democrats. But even if we all did=AD what would that prove? My
job=
> isn=B9t to recruit for the Democratic party. My job as a professor of
> journalism is to teach my students how to do serious analysis of the
> information they are given, find the stories that deserve to be covered,
> get beyond the =B3spin,=B2 and recognize manipulation of facts when they
s=
ee
> it=AD whether it=B9s right wing or left wing or whatever.
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0And speaking of manipulating facts, Maloney and his fellow
> conservatives like to take the extremes as present them as if they are
> typical=AD I don=B9t know many liberals or moderates at either college
whe=
re
> I teach who think Ward Churchill is the next best thing to sliced bread,
> yet Maloney asserts that every liberal professor adores the guy. Truth
> be told, I know a lot of professors who wouldn=B9t know Ward Churchill
if
> they hadn=B9t seen the right wing TV shows huffing and puffing about
him.
> But no, he does NOT represent the =B3typical=B2 liberal. I am not sure
the=
re
> really is a =B3typical=B2 liberal except for the mythic one the right
wing=
> loves to attack. Can you say Straw Man argument?
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0And since Maloney seems to think all of us Blue State
educat=
ors
> lack the proper values, may I mention that I used to teach Sunday
> School, I can quote scripture with the best of them, I have 2
> step-daughters who served in the military, and I don=B9t hate America=AD
I=
> just don=B9t like our current administration and its assault on civil
> liberties, so I guess I=B9m a commie in his book. I wonder if he=B9s
ever
> really talked to some of us allegedly liberal educators. But no, it=B9s
so=
> much easier to stereotype us.
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0Yes, some of my colleagues like Chomsky, but some wish he
ha=
d
> stuck to linguistics. At the risk of stating the obvious, as educators,
> our job is to make students think. So, we have them study and discuss
> all sorts of theorists. Some of those theorists are from the left, and
> some are from other ends of the political spectrum. If I ask my students
> to read a Marxist critic, am I then guilty of training future Marxists?
> Maloney seems to think that even reading from left-wing scholars makes
> one a traitor-in-waiting. I find it ironic that he seems to want to
> censor reading lists and political beliefs, all the while claiming
it=B9s
> the left who engage in thought control.
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0I wish he=B9d come to one of my cl*****. He would see
that, =
like
> many educators, I insist upon my students looking at both sides of the
> issues. they are expected to read both left-wing and right-wing
> publications, along with those generally perceived as objective. How
> else can they gather the facts if they don=B9t explore various
viewpoints?=
> Also, when I give my opinion, I let students know it=B9s my OPINION. If
> they quote it back to me on a quiz, my eyes will glaze over. I don=B9t
> want students to agree with everything I say. I just want them to
> consider my opinions, as I will consider theirs. Discourse is about
> respect, wouldn=B9t you say?
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0What would make me happy is if my friends on the right
would=
stop
> demonizing the campus as a hotbed of radicals and traitors. I am a media
> historian and I must tell you this tactic has been used by the right
> since the turn of the last century. It was dishonest in 1920, and it=B9s
> dishonest today. Liberals are not destroying our kids, and conservatives
> are not saving them. There are other very real problems with today=B9s
> educational system, but blaming it on too many (allegedly) liberal
> professors is utter nonsense. Based on my 25 years of teaching and being
> a guest lecturer in a number of cities, I seriously doubt that most
> campuses are liberal=AD some DEPARTMENTS, yes. Entire campuses, not so
> much.
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0I am tired of people like Maloney stereotyping and
maligning=
my
> profession. His evidence is largely anecdotal, and his assertions are
> based on distorted information. Shame on him for letting his ideology
> determine the story line of his so-called do***entary.
> =A0 =A0=80 =A0=8B Posted by Donna L. Halper
And the point of this malarkey is what? That Democrats know how to
write? y
|
