Thus spake Ward Churchill
News is in from an island friend that the University of Hawaii invited our friend and intellectual mentor Ward Churchill to speak.
Well, I'm not surprised that UH invited him.
Have you read his little diatribe about the 9/11 victims? His point that the Pentagon was a legitimate military target is one I happen to agree with, tho using a civilian airliner to attack it is pretty questionable. (Please note that while I agree that the Pentagon was a military target, I also think that we ought to exterminate al Qaeda. Not capture them, not negotiate with them, not render them helpless. Exterminate them.)
Calling the ppl in the World Trade center 'little Eichmanns" was well beyond the pale of reasoned discourse, tho, and only one inflammatory example from his flame. Having read some of his stuff, most especially his 9/11 piece, I think the guy is an idiot far more interested in pissing ppl off than in making any converts to his cause. Sort of like a lot of Libertarians, unfortunately.
I think he doesn''t have enuf respect for his own beliefs to make reasoned arguments for fear that they will be shot down- like the socially inept who deliberately offend others so that their rejection won't be so threatening as it would have been if the person had actually tried to be liked and was then rejected.
Those who think Churchill's so-called First Amendment rights have been curtailed betray their ignorance of the First Amendment if they are referring to either his canceled speaking dates or the criticism he has received: no one is obligated to provide him with a forum, and anyone who criticizes him is exercising their own rights to free speech.
Should the state of Colorado fire him for his views? No- that might well constitute abridging his 1st Amendment rights-, but given the in my opinion appalling quality of his intellect he should never have been hired. Giving him tenure was pathetic. Making him Dept Chairman was also pathetic, but once he was in, only to be expected if he was willing to take on the chores. If the rumors about lying on his resume and plagiarism hold up, he should be fired for those real failings, and chalk it up to the fact that his notoriety brought his transgressions to public attention.
Actually, a more interesting aspect to me of this whole brouhaha is the light it casts on some university departments: the truly awful "scholarship" which passes muster if the viewpoint is correct, and the belief of students that they must keep quiet in front of professorial prejudice. Churchill is just one individual example of what seems to be a long term trend. I'm not sure it is as bad as the conservatives make it out to be, but I saw enuf of it at UWM to be satisfied that lefty-statism in academia is real and that it does impact students in some departments.
Anyway, as I blogged some time back, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Let him rant on. The shame is that the left allows itself to be represented by idiots like Churchill. I used to know lefties I respected, because they were smart enuf and knowledgeable enuf to make me think in order to debate them. The Ward Churchills should be denounced by the left- I think they are psychiatric cases, not intellectuals.
Not that I have strong opinions on this or anything, mind you.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/18/ln/ln34p.html
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/22/op/op02p.html
Well, I'm not surprised that UH invited him.
Have you read his little diatribe about the 9/11 victims? His point that the Pentagon was a legitimate military target is one I happen to agree with, tho using a civilian airliner to attack it is pretty questionable. (Please note that while I agree that the Pentagon was a military target, I also think that we ought to exterminate al Qaeda. Not capture them, not negotiate with them, not render them helpless. Exterminate them.)
Calling the ppl in the World Trade center 'little Eichmanns" was well beyond the pale of reasoned discourse, tho, and only one inflammatory example from his flame. Having read some of his stuff, most especially his 9/11 piece, I think the guy is an idiot far more interested in pissing ppl off than in making any converts to his cause. Sort of like a lot of Libertarians, unfortunately.
I think he doesn''t have enuf respect for his own beliefs to make reasoned arguments for fear that they will be shot down- like the socially inept who deliberately offend others so that their rejection won't be so threatening as it would have been if the person had actually tried to be liked and was then rejected.
Those who think Churchill's so-called First Amendment rights have been curtailed betray their ignorance of the First Amendment if they are referring to either his canceled speaking dates or the criticism he has received: no one is obligated to provide him with a forum, and anyone who criticizes him is exercising their own rights to free speech.
Should the state of Colorado fire him for his views? No- that might well constitute abridging his 1st Amendment rights-, but given the in my opinion appalling quality of his intellect he should never have been hired. Giving him tenure was pathetic. Making him Dept Chairman was also pathetic, but once he was in, only to be expected if he was willing to take on the chores. If the rumors about lying on his resume and plagiarism hold up, he should be fired for those real failings, and chalk it up to the fact that his notoriety brought his transgressions to public attention.
Actually, a more interesting aspect to me of this whole brouhaha is the light it casts on some university departments: the truly awful "scholarship" which passes muster if the viewpoint is correct, and the belief of students that they must keep quiet in front of professorial prejudice. Churchill is just one individual example of what seems to be a long term trend. I'm not sure it is as bad as the conservatives make it out to be, but I saw enuf of it at UWM to be satisfied that lefty-statism in academia is real and that it does impact students in some departments.
Anyway, as I blogged some time back, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Let him rant on. The shame is that the left allows itself to be represented by idiots like Churchill. I used to know lefties I respected, because they were smart enuf and knowledgeable enuf to make me think in order to debate them. The Ward Churchills should be denounced by the left- I think they are psychiatric cases, not intellectuals.
Not that I have strong opinions on this or anything, mind you.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/18/ln/ln34p.html
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/22/op/op02p.html
Labels: Ward Churchill
posted by TTB at
6:37 PM
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