WHERE AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE NOT FREE TO SPEAK


When I posted here on 10/13/2006 about the student protests (which turned into a riot) at Columbia University, during which speakers from the Minuteman Project were prevented from speaking, I did not realize that this was just the tip of the iceberg of campus hypocracy in this country. I am just beginning to grasp how widespread the suppression of dissenting voices is in the classroom and on campus. http://www.columbiaunbecoming.com/
provides the text of a film documenting abuse of students at CU by professors who are permitted to teach only one point of view and to silence anyone questioning their opinion. Yet they continue to go on teaching.

As a further example of suppression of open debate, in my first blog here I wondered why American Muslims do not often speak up against Islamist terrorism and against punitive and restrictive practices in some Muslim countries. I assumed that they were afraid of reprisals by those terrorists. I was wrong. It seems that they are, at least some of the time, prevented by other American Muslims!

Nonie Darwish, raised as a Muslim, was prevented from speaking at Brown University of her rejection of human rights abuses by radical Islamists, because Muslim students found her to be too controversial. She also got no support from a Jewish student organization which preferred to show its allegiance to Muslim students. A woman's organization also opposed her coming to speak on campus because Ms Darwish did not criticize Israel for not protecting Palestinian women from their husbands. (It does seem difficult, though not impossible, to prevent spousal abuse just about everywhere!) Just where is the logic in this as Ms Darwish wants to speak for Muslim women everywhere?

I must admit that I still wish that liberal Muslim leaders and individuals would say something more in public or in the press if they truly deplore such acts as, in just one example, fathers and brothers in Jordan murdering a daughter or sister who has been raped because she has "disgraced" the family.

And I also strongly urge those politicians and journalists who have expressed concern at erosion of free speech and other civil rights brought about by the current administration, to also use their clout and access to the media to bring to light the situation in higher education. When university faculty and students do not understand open debate, freedom of speech, and do not realize how horrendous disruptive protests are in an academic environment, then higher education itself is a victim.


Please check out these links:

Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror (Hardcover) by Nonie Darwish
http://www.anchorrising.com/barnacles/003603.html
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21369

PET PEEVES: FROM THE ANNOYING TO THE RIDICULOUS


....I am mildly bemused and irritated that in general only American Indians are referred to as "Native Americans." I am a natural-born American too but it is vaguely not PC to call myself a native American. Okay, their ancestors were here before mine arrived in the 19th Century, but perhaps there were other people here before the "native Americans" arrived.

....The word "boutique" may be thought to be cool and trendy, but it's just "a small shop, esp. one that sells clothes and accessories for women" (American College Dictionary). Now I'm not one that demands that words be strictly held to their original meaning, as language is a living, growing organism. The frequent current use of "boutique hotel" is, however, definitely over-used. Do they mean that it is small, is it meant to imply it's fashionable and trendy, that only celebs and fashionistas are welcome? They never say.

....Maybe I'm dim, but at the onset of dusk, or on a gray, overcast day, while driving I turn on my low beams. But I am invariably blinded by approaching cars with high beams turned on. Sometimes I flash my brights at oncoming cars and they turn down their high beams. Why are some drivers so thoughtless and inconsiderate? Why do they use such blindingly bright lights even when on well lit roads and even before it is fully dark? Of course my eyes are especially sensitive as they are aging, but I've never understood this bright light phenomenon.

....Since "Pro Life" is supposed to be the opposite of "Pro Choice" it should be called "Anti Choice."

....This is the time of year when some Christians are often vociferous in opposing such signs of holiday cheer as brilliantly lit shopping districts (especially when it starts too long before Christmas) and seem to feel that the love of Santa Clause is inimical to Christian worship. Father Christmas even made an unwelcome appearance at church services in England.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/6170059.stm. The anti-Christmas-consumerists don't care that all the December marketing gives a boost to the economy, which seems like a good thing, and they surely cannot put a stop to reindeer, elves, inflatable snowmen and over-the-top spending this time of year. Is there any solution to this unchristian complaining and hostility?

Well, maybe we all need to remember that early Christians stole the date of christmas in the first place, in order to exploit the popularity of the pagan festival in December. So there really is no disrespect of the holy season by non-believers and intermittent believers. They are all just doing what they did before the birth of Christ, going back to god knows when, in the mists of prehistory, and so are many church-going Christians, whose ancestors were also pagan. Let's just see it as two separate holidays which overlap, one of which disdains the other.

I wish you all a Good Yuletide, Merry Christime, Jolly Winter Solstice, and a damn good New Year.