In article
<9b4c23ab-213a-43a0-b6c2-b19fd7c2750a@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
kujebak <kujebak@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Feb 13, 8:07 pm, Karel Kriz <ka...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> I apologize for top posting.
> I am sure there are plenty of college educators who feel
> uncomfortable about the perception of ideological bias in
> the academia. Does that somehow absolve them from
> responsibility of protecting their students, and their pro-
> fession from left wing ideologues in their ranks? Perhaps
> that was not even your point. What is your point?
Thankfully, it is not up you to dictate to educators what their
responsibilities are, which, since you bring it up, do NOT include
"protecting" them from anything. Do you want to be the one who decides
which books are burned first, which periods or events are excised from
history lessons, which country leaders will remain unmentioned? Yeah, I
bet you would like to be the one. But you are not.
When I went to school, my history books stopped at 1918, and started
again in 1945. Nothing of note happened during those years. Your schools
books were the same. Now you advocate that any mention of communism is
excised from schools. But that would be intellectually dishonest - no,
wait, it would be plain dishonest, because communism existed and was
real for millions of people for decades. I am not afraid of it being
mentioned, taught in social and history cl*****. IT HAPPENED.
But I am wasting my time. The conservative modus operandi for the last
50 years has been one of intimidation of it's followers. "Either you toe
the line, do as we say, or you are a traitor". It's been that way since
McCarthy, through Nixon, Reagan, Bush. You've been taught to believe
rather then think, which is actually both fascist and insecure.
I am in a better place. I do not agree with everything the Democrats do
or say. Far from it. As a party they are actually pretty ****ed up. But
I know this. If I stand up, and disagree with them, no one will call me
a traitor a no one will try shut me up.
One more thing. You obviously did not bother to read the stuff below.
The point is that this kind of movie takes isolated cases that do not in
any way represent the whole and insinuates that, in fact they do,. That
is why a flake like Ward Churchill has become the poster child whereas
he is in fact an isolated case. It's a bit like saying that because a
Republican senator from Idaho likes boys, ALL senators are, in fact
homo***ual. Which, may be true, but most assume that it is not. I would
welcome the same consideration, but I know I will not get it from the
good conservative foot soldiers who can march to only one tune.
That was my point.
K
>
> > In article
> > <51cfd7fa-5605-4697-8575-7360ffa65...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> >
> > kujebak <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.
> >
> > ¤ The big problem I have with the reasoning of my conservative
> > friends is they assume that 3either you1re with us or against us.2 In
> > 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.
> > ¤ I teach at Emerson College in Boston and also at the University
of
> > Massachusetts. I1m one of those people who is liberal on some issues,
> > moderate on some, and conservative on a coupleS but in Maloney1s
world,
> > I guess I don1t exist, since evidently an educator must come down on
the
> > side of good (his side) or the side of evil (everyone who doesn1t like
> > President Bush). I doubt he1d believe me, but many of my colleagues
> > don1t toe a rigid 3party line2- and not everyone on the faculty votes
> > for the Democrats. But even if we all did- what would that prove? My
job
> > isn1t 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 3spin,2 and recognize manipulation of facts when they
see
> > it- whether it1s right wing or left wing or whatever.
> > ¤ And speaking of manipulating facts, Maloney and his fellow
> > conservatives like to take the extremes as present them as if they are
> > typical- I don1t know many liberals or moderates at either college
where
> > 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 wouldn1t know Ward Churchill
if
> > they hadn1t seen the right wing TV shows huffing and puffing about
him.
> > But no, he does NOT represent the 3typical2 liberal. I am not sure
there
> > really is a 3typical2 liberal except for the mythic one the right wing
> > loves to attack. Can you say Straw Man argument?
> > ¤ And since Maloney seems to think all of us Blue State educators
> > 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 don1t hate America- I
> > just don1t like our current administration and its assault on civil
> > liberties, so I guess I1m a commie in his book. I wonder if he1s ever
> > really talked to some of us allegedly liberal educators. But no, it1s
so
> > much easier to stereotype us.
> > ¤ Yes, some of my colleagues like Chomsky, but some wish he had
> > 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
it1s
> > the left who engage in thought control.
> > ¤ I wish he1d 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 don1t explore various
viewpoints?
> > Also, when I give my opinion, I let students know it1s my OPINION. If
> > they quote it back to me on a quiz, my eyes will glaze over. I don1t
> > 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, wouldn1t you say?
> > ¤ What 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 it1s
> > dishonest today. Liberals are not destroying our kids, and
conservatives
> > are not saving them. There are other very real problems with today1s
> > 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- some DEPARTMENTS, yes. Entire campuses, not so
> > much.
> > ¤ I 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.
> > ¤ Š Posted by Donna L. Halper
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