Wednesday, February 18, 2004

More Conservative Crushing On Campus   Andrew Sullivan today shares a letter from a closeted conservative professor at the University of Michigan.  Here's part of it: Last year, I came up for tenure, and I realized then how thoroughly I self-censor. I was in the car with a close long-time friend and fellow academic (at another institution), and I told her how difficult it was for me to overcome this compulsion not to speak. I then spent half an hour telling her what I'd bottled up for thirteen years - that I voted for Bush, that I watch Fox News, etc. At the end of it, she said, "I am an undercover officer with the Liberal Enforcement Administration, and you are under arrest for violation of section 123 of the U.S. Institutional Code: Watching Fox News while purporting to be intelligent."  I was taken to a gulag, where for two years I was forced to work on an assembly line making 'Hillary Clinton--Theresa Heinz Kerry in 2008' buttons, while listening to NPR.  I learned the hard way that society is brutally intolerant of those of us who were born, through no fault of our own, with a gene that makes us vote for George Bush. Okay, I actually made up that second paragraph, but Andrew DID say this about his correspondent's tale of repression and self-loathing: I hear very similar stories from many academics when I'm on lecture tours of colleges. It just strikes me as a terrible shame that at universities of all places, people are censoring themselves from expressing their actual opinions. It's not healthy for anyone.  Meaning, "It's a terrible shame for conservatives to have to repress their actual opinions, but if liberals share their actual opinions, they're indoctrinating their students and should be reported to No Indoctrination.com: NoIndoctrination.org provides a forum for college students to report courses and programs that in their opinion contain severe bias or amount to indoctrination.  If you believe you have experienced courses or orientation programs that advance one-sided social or political ideologies, denigrate alternative views, or create an intimidating atmosphere for expressing diverse opinions, please post your experiences here (and, if possible, send corroborating material). The information we gather will help us in our mission to promote open inquiry in academia. So let's hear from some of those college students who have reported being indoctrinated.  (Since the students get anonymity, I've given it to the profs too, even though said profs are suspected liberals, and actually deserve no fairness.) First, there's the student at UCLA who took an elective class in "Agitational Communication," which you'd expect to be kind of, well, agitational.  But apparently the Prof took the title too much to heart, doing things like: . . .He complained that the primary and secondary educational systems are not biased enough to the left, and called many important American historical figures "racist" and "sexist", even though their ideas are responsible for the environment that fostered his own success. ... He directly referred to conservatives as "weird", and called the national anthem "stupid". ... Called Ann Coulter a "piece of work -- I would use more colorful language [implied the "b" word], but I'll do that in private." ... Called George W. Bush "an example of someone who talks about it [sex] a lot more than he does it" in the context of defending the hippies whom he claimed didn't have much sex. Shocking!  Imagine a professor mentioning Ann Coulter -- and not in an approving way!  Clearly this professor is a disgrace to the field of Agitational Communication! And then there's the student at University of Texas at San Antonio who took a class on Texas History, and was sadly disappointed at what went on there. Professor [R.-J.] discussed the connection between oil and politics in Texas in the 1930s. However, she then said that this still occurs today in Texas and American politics and said: "Hint, Hint" and looked around the room, implying to many in the classroom that President Bush and others in the government are acting on oil-interests rather than American interests. . . . In terms of tax dollars and my tuition money, I didn't learn anything except that Texas is about oil, greed, death, etc.  Which is a foul lie, since everybody knows that Texas is about FOOTBALL, oil, greed, death, etc. And reflect on this report from a student at Western Kentucky University who took Sociology 101:    Dr. [M's] class was so biased it was almost comical. The first day of class he attacked free traders: Adam Smith and Milton Friedman.   He attacked big business. He said that George Bush was hurting all the poor people by giving tax cuts.  Most lectures consisted of Dr. [M's] own ideologies being forced upon the class. He seemed to push a Marxist agenda.  Examples of some of the topics in his lectures included: CEO of corporations are paid too much, taxes should be raised so everyone can receive "free health care," in 20 years only rich people will be able to afford water because of environmental degradation and global warming, conservative virtues are evil, and how everyone should be a feminist, and that everyone should be a vegetarian because killing animals is cruel. The professor in question submitted a rebuttal to the student's statements: . . . I never claimed Americans were murderers because they eat meat. I'm not even a vegetarian myself!  But some people, like the millions of PETA members, do.  (One class was indeed on 'environmental issues' like deforestation etc. and many people did not leave during this class at all).  Part of any sociology class in college is being exposed to a wide variety of different ideas, thoughts and perspectives you've never heard of before, and you may not agree with.  Yes, including Marxism, as Marx was one of the founding fathers of sociology.  So the exam did include ONE question on Marx.  But also on Max Weber, Durkheim, Adam Smith, David Ricardo etc. and of the course the 3 req. textbooks. . . . Rest assured, it is very doubtful that outside of college you will ever again be exposed to such critical thinking or rethinking of the world as it currently exists, or have to wonder about the existence of a variety of social problems.  Now that must be a relief to you.   Well, that's all well and good, but why should we accept the statements of a proven Marxist over that of a true-blooded, young American patriot? Anyway, the scandalous way that conservatives are forced to endure hearing opinions and ideas with which they don't agree is such a national disgrace that I think the press should immediately stop whatever they're doing (whether it it be looking at those TANG records which show that in 1972 a young George W. Bush took time off for the Guard to do court-mandated community service for his cocaine trafficking conviction, or making up lies about the White House's statements on job projections) and focus on these civil rights violations on our nations campuses. We plan to set an example by revealing the thoroughly-documented, scrupulously true stories of some persecuted conservative W o'C readers in our next post.  4:33:28 PM     comment [] trackback [] The Crushing of Conservatives on American Campuses!   That's been an ongoing theme with Glenn Reynolds for some time now -- he links to some unconfirmed story by some whining associate professor telling how the liberal college administration violated his first ammendment rights by refusing to let him teach a course on "Why White People are Better Than Everybody Else."  Or the account of some high school student who patterns himself on Michael Savage, who published an unauthorized newsletter calling the teachers "traitors," the Hispanic students "thieving webacks," the female students "feminst dykes," the Muslim students "terrorists," and the debate club "jerks" -- and then complained to Bill O'Reilly how nobody likes him just because he's a conservative. Andrew Sullivan has posted several stories from unidentified readers who tell of how they once had a professor say something like, "Isn't it great that we're all liberals here and think that Karl Marx was the coolest guy ever?", or "America was mean to the native Americans." A couple of days ago, Glenn linked to one of Andrew's story hours and proclaimed that it was "Like the second coming of Joe McCarthy!"  Let me share one of those searing McCarthyesque experiences with you (one which Andrew labels "pure misandry"):  From 1983-1987 I was a graduate student in European History at the Univ. of Mass. I was, very nearly, the lone 'conservative' and witnessed then and afterwards dozens of instances of left wing bias both in teaching and in the hiring of teachers for the Academy. The one that stands out, I suppose for humorous reasons, is the following: I had a good friend who was taking a class in the Women's History department on advertising and women. I sat in quietly during one of the classes and noticed that it was a fairly well-attended class of around 25 women and one man (not including me.) It was about 2/3rds of the way through the semester and they were thick in the process of presenting to the class their research projects for the semester. The teacher was scheduling these for the next few sessions and she would call on each student by name and schedule their day to present. Eventually, she got to the lone male in the class at which point she asked ... 'What is your name again?'" A professor failed to remember a student's name (or pretended not to)!  That IS just like the second coming of Joe McCarthy! And of course, Mike Adams uses his weekly TownHall column to tell of the trials and persecution he experiences as the lone conservative professor at UNC-Wilmington (and possibly the only one on the entire American continent).  Jesse at Pandagon discusses Mike's latest column (it involves publishing someone else's email in order to make the point that liberals violate other people's freedom of speech when they insist on having rules for decourous discourse in their classrooms). Anway, here's my plan: tell me your most heartwrending stories of how the liberals crushed you on campus, and I will post the best ones.  And then maybe Glenn will be happy. 2:04:51 AM     comment [] trackback []   Equal Time, As Required By the FCC    With all the hype about Mel Gibson's Jesus movie, I thought it only fair to give some time to opposing viewpoints.  Plus, I'm really, really tired.  So, from the future best-seller Subliminal Cinema: Life Lessons from Lousy Movies, I give you the first part of the chapter "DEVILED HAM: Torments of the Damned, or Just Overacting?" *** The great monotheistic religions have a tradition of enforcing their fiats with threats of post mortem reprisals. Unfortunately, it's difficult for many people to grasp the concept of eternal, unceasing torment, which makes it an inefficient behavior modification tool (even if it is one of the few training methods approved by PETA). Adding to this problem is the lack of any consistent architecture of Hell. Some consider it to be a vast lake of fire, where damned souls writhe and burn until the extinction of time itself. Others envision it as no worse than Alabama in July, where it's not the brimstone so much, it's the humidity. This problem is especially acute for artists who seek to map the netherworld; in order to portray ultimate suffering, they must assault their audience, transgressing the limits of taste and tolerance. We see this in the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch, in Dante's "Inferno," and in the performance stylings of Howie Mandell. (Who, as of this writing, has grown a goatee, shaved his head, and now bears a startling resemblance to Anton La Vey, founder of the Church of Satan. Coincidence? We think not.) But how has Hollywood, which for much of its history was under the censorious boot heel of the Hays Office, dealt with depictions of eternal damnation? By and large, through overacting. It's no mere happenstance that Satan is often portrayed as a cloven-footed beast, nor that the Jewish and Muslim traditions forbid the consumption of pork, for ham is a powerful symbol of evil. Watch William Shatner's performance in The Devil's Rain, and tell us you don't feel the hot, bacon-scented breath of Satan on the back of your neck. Observe Frank Langella's climactic scene in The Ninth Gate, and see if you can't smell the pure pork sausage of perdition, frying on the brimstone-fired stoves of Hell itself. And even if the thought of unending darkness and limitless pain is beyond your ken, 100 minutes of Casper Van Dien in The Omega Code will make the punishments of a burning underworld all too real. So Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here, and keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times. There's some bad, bad actin' ahead.   THE DEVIL’S RAIN (1975) Directed by Robert Fuest Written by James Ashton, Gabe Essoe, and Gerald Hopman It is a dark and stormy night. Ida Lupino is worried about her husband—and she has cause, because when he shows up, he’s missing his eyes. Mr. Ida tells son William Shatner to take "The Book" to Ernest Borgnine, then melts into a pile of goop—a thing which apparently happens all the time, since neither Ida nor Shatner is much impressed by it. Next morning, Shatner rides out into the California desert until he reaches Satan’s Subdivision (which, though it reeks of unholy corruption, is conveniently located near schools and shopping). He and Borgnine exchange fraught dialogue until it’s apparent they are equally matched in the overacting department, so they agree to a Faith showdown. As they enter the New England-style white clapboard chapel where the duel is to take place, we notice that the whole congregation is wearing black robes ornamented with Hello Kitty insignias--and they don’t have any eyes! Apparently, Borgnine’s entire following consists of a Braille Academy graduating class that he recruited in mid-commencement. Borgnine and Shatner each offer prayers to the deities of their choice, and then Shatner shoots a bunch of parishioners. This is not only improper behavior in a house of worship, but the judges rule that it constitutes illegal use of a foreign object, so Ernest gets his soul. Meanwhile, over in Hooterville, Shatner’s brother Tom Skerritt and Tom’s vacant wife Julie are playing the Kreskin Home Game with Eddie Albert. Just then, Tom receives word that his family is missing and presumed damned. Tom and Julie head over to the Satanic Suburbs, where up-and-coming cult member John Travolta (who is listed in the credits as "Danny, the Littlest Satanist") roughs them up. Julie then has a flashback to their previous lives in Colonial Salem. It seems they sold their souls to Satan (through his licensed representative, Ernest Borgnine) in exchange for acting careers. However, the good times ended when Shatner's wife stole Borgnine’s book of names and ratted everybody out to the HUAC, which burned them at the stake. The Satanists are impressed by Julie’s uncanny ability to provide exposition, and they kidnap her. A shaken Tom seeks help from Eddie Albert (since his first choice, Arnold Ziffle, was busy). Eddie deduces that "The Book", which has been in Tom’s family ever since the flashback, contains the signatures of those who sold their souls back in Salem. Eddie further explains that Satan won’t accept delivery of the souls without proof of purchase, which explains why Ernest wants The Book so badly--it’s the end of the quarter and he needs to get his expenses in. While exploring the quaint Satanist chapel, Tom and Eddie discover a manhole that leads to Hell. While browsing around the underworld, they pick up a lovely souvenir at The Ungodly Giftshop: Satan’s Sno-Globe, a vessel containing the souls of Borgnine’s followers. These unfortunates are continually subject to the Devil's Rain—which must be even ickier than golden showers, to hear the people in the paperweight moan and groan. But while they were sno-globe shopping, Borgnine grabbed "The Book," causing him to hideously transform into the physical embodiment of Satan--which means that he wears a white fright wig, a sheep’s nose, and ram horns. Or maybe he suddenly became a spokesmodel for Dodge Trucks--the movie’s a little vague on this point. Tom puts on a Hello Kitty Satanic cap and gown and infiltrates the coven, but he blows his cover by objecting mildly to Borgnine’s plan to sacrifice Julie (allowing John Travolta to deliver his only line in the movie, "Blasphemer! Blasphemer!"). Score so far: Evil 5, Good 0. Suddenly, the filmmakers spring their horrible surprise: William Shatner is still in the movie! And now he has the sno-globe. Fortunately, he succumbs to Eddie’s plea to break the cursed knick-knack, assured that this will free his soul (and everybody else’s) from the devil's power. Unfortunately, this doesn’t end the movie, it just causes it to rain—and, as it turns out, devil worshippers are highly water-soluble. So, everybody starts to get gooey and then to melt. For nearly ten minutes. What a world, what a world. While the copy on the video box promises "Absolutely the most incredible ending of any motion picture!" this sequence actually contains all the thrills of watching a carton of Neapolitan ice cream you’ve left out in the sun. But if you are lactose intolerant, you might feel vindicated by it. Eventually the landscape is littered with sticky piles of pastel goo that used to be Borgnine and company, and Julie and Tom are free to go on with their lives, released from the curse that has hung over their family for centuries! At last, Good (represented by the star of Green Acres) has triumphed over Evil (embodied by the co-star of Airwolf), just as it was foretold in the Book of Revelation. The End. So, what did we learn from this movie? Mainly that the disposition of one’s immortal soul depends not upon good works, or mortal sin, but on whether Satan’s minions turn in their paperwork on time. We also learned the importance of keeping accurate records. IRS Publication 552, "Record Keeping for Individuals" makes the same point, albeit without William Shatner or John Travolta, so it’s more entertaining. This pamphlet, written for Americans of all ages, asks thought-provoking questions, like "Why Keep Records?" and then provides faith-affirming, weirdly ungrammatical answers ("In addition to tax purposes, you may need to keep records for getting a loan"). IRS Publication 552 also deals with specific situations that may come up in the life of you, the taxpayer. For instance, if you are in the second-hand soul business, and somebody happens to steal your inventory, here is vital information about what records you need in order to file a tax write-off on those souls: Casualty and Theft Losses of Souls Before filing a deduction, you must complete form 666-EZ, indicating the amount you paid for each soul. (For intangible payments like "fame" and "power," provide a fair market estimate by checking comparables on eBay; the fair market value of "love" will be determined by whatever the women are willing to sell themselves for on the current version of "The Bachelor.") To support your claim for a casualty loss, your records should show the type of mishap that destroyed the soul or souls (e.g., "water damage.") For a theft loss, your records should show: *When you discovered your property was missing; *That your property was stolen, and. . . *That you were the owner of the property. Hint: keep a journal, making note of all the information you will need to file your IRS claim. You know, something like, "Dear Diary, On June 2, 1975, I asked the satanic intern, John Travolta, to check on the souls that I keep in a sno-globe stored in a pit of hell. He said he couldn’t find the sno-globe, as it had been stolen. Probably by blasphemers. Those souls were my property that I purchased in a flashback. Before I could get them back, they all melted, so they were a complete loss. Well, the William Shatner soul had already been depreciated to worthlessness by those Priceline commercials, but the rest were pretty valuable. I must remember to claim a loss on this year’s income tax return, which I fully intend to file in January. Because, as we all know, it’s intending to pay taxes that paves hell’s roads." And what else did this movie teach us? Principally, that while the Church of Satan is just a couple of weird guys and some eyeless people who meet Wednesday nights in the old Presbyterian chapel, they do have a cool gift shop where you can buy Hello Kitty ceremonial robes and Tupperware soul containers ("locks in damnedness"). We actually went to their web store (Satanshop.com), and admired their gargoyle planter, Baphomet Styrofoam beverage cooler (very useful for keeping your Coke cold . . .in HELL!), and satanic car accessories (because if the devil really does look like a Dodge logo, it only makes sense to put one on your truck). But we didn’t dare order, for fear of getting on Lucifer’s mailing list—and we didn’t want to go through that again, after having to file a cease-and-desist order to get him to stop sending us all those AOL disks.  In conclusion, The Devil's Rain cost a lot less to make than The Passion of Christ, and despite that long melting scene, it's way less violent.  1:01:05 AM     comment [] trackback []

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