Treason on the Campus: Portland Professor teaches anti-American course on "Enmification"

Portland State University ^ | July 9, 2005 | nwrep

[nwrep]

I am starting a new monthly series on Freerepublic.com titled "Treason on Campus." This will profile a new US Professor each month, and give a description of the classes they teach, their governing philosophy, examples of anti-Americanism, and any other relevant information I can dig up.

This series is intended to inform and educate readers about the socio-political propaganda carried out on American campuses under the guise of education, and help equip them to counter such destructive influences.
***********************************************************

***********************************************************
Amanda Byron, Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution

For the first installment in this series, I have chosen Portland State University (Portland, Ore.) Professor Amanda Byron, a faculty member of the "Conflict Resolution Graduate Program" at PSU.

Among the courses she teaches are the following:

Introduction to Conflict Resolution

Enmification: The Art and Consequence of Enemy Making

Facilitation

Restorative Justice

Of these, the curiously titled course "Enmification" deserves some attention. Here is the course description from her website:

Enmification

The Art and Consequence of Enemy Making

Course Description: This one credit course will explore the United States’ fascination with the making of enemies. We will consider the various influences that contribute to a climate of ready hatred, considering the many political, social and economic motivations, as well as their ramifications.

Suggested Reading/Viewing:

Blazemore G. and Schiff, M. (2001). Restorative Community Justice: Repairing Harm and Transforming Communities. Cincinnati OH: Anderson Publishing.

Keen, Sam (1986). Faces of the Enemy: Reflection of the Hostile Imagination. San Francisco: Harper and Row.

Moyers, Bill (2004). Beyond Hate [Television Broadcast]. Washington, DC: PBS.

Reiber, Robert W. (1991). The Psychology of War and Peace: The Image of the Enemy. New York, NY: Plenum Press.

Zehr, H. (2002). The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Intercourse PA: Good Books.

Ms. Byron describes her personal influences and philosophies in an autobiographical section on her website. Excerpts follow:

*********************************************************

Autobiography

Growing up in atheistic household, I am always amused at how spiritually I define myself, and how diverse the spiritual influences of my childhood truly were. My mother is a secular Jew who came to the United States with her family, refugees from Germany during the Holocaust. My father grew up in the Methodist Church in Texas, but was greatly influenced by his Catholic Mother, and self identified as an athiest. My step-father is a practicing Buddhist, with Taoist leanings. I have chosen the Sufi path, on which I have been walking for over a dozen years. The initial lure of this path was the ecumenical nature of it, including practices from all of the world's traditions as an acknowledgement of the unity of all religious and spiritual ideals. I married a fellow Sufi, who grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Church studying Norse Mythology, and who has subsequently become a Muslim. When our son was born a year ago I discovered some of the inescapable bonds to my Judaism, which I am currently exploring.

I have been surprised to find that the story of my mother's life has had the most profound influence on my life, and on who I have become. This is ironic because the story I refer to is not one she tells. As with many refugees, from the Holocaust and from other wars and autrocities, my mother identifies with her successes and accomplishments -- not with the circumstances that victimized her people. I grew up believing that the terms "Jew" and "German" were synonymous (and, ironically in the face of today's cultural climate, that "Christian," "Texan" and "American" were also synonymous). I was taught differently when I was ten years old, babysitting for the Feldmans across the street. Perhaps other Jewish children learn about the Holocaust from their parents, I only know that I did not, which was of great concern to Mrs. Feldman.

I pieced together the story of my mother's adventurous exodus from Germany, and her family's subsequent struggle to learn a new language and culture. The emotions of the story were always downplayed, not wanting to make our history sound desperate or our selves sound like the losers. My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again. The pictures that were painted always showed my family with chins raised high, too sophisticated and too worldly for the circumstances that they happened upon. And God never found a way into any of these stories.

*********************************************************

As can be expected, Faculty members of the Conflict Resolution Program are activists in their spare time, and promote various leftist radical causes on the campus.

This department also sponsors the annual "War, Peace, and Media Conference", which will be held on July 8-9 this year on the PSU campus. This year's keynote speaker is Medea Benjamin, co-director of the radical anti-war group "Code Pink" . She will also be signing her book "Stop the Next War Now" at this conference.

[Eaker]

My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again.

LIAR!!

This NEVER happened.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What an upbringing....but she needs to add this to her curriculum for an opposing view.....and a good course should consider all views:

*********************************************************

Unholy Alliance
by David Horowitz
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; ISBN: 089526076X
Hardcover - 256 pages (September 2004)

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. This Left, which once made common cause with Communists, has now joined forces with radical Islam in attacking America’s defenses at home and its policies abroad. From their positions of influence in the university and media culture, leftists have defined America as the “root cause” of the attacks against it. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance, writes John Haynes, the noted historian of American Communism, “is an insightful, brilliant examination of the mental world of the radical left. Horowitz shows how today’s radicals, unwilling to reflect on the internal flaws that destroyed Marxism-Leninism from within, have embraced an all-consuming nihilism in its place. This has led them to a hatred of American institutions and a solidarity with Islamic terrorists that makes the radical left more properly regarded as dangerous than loony.”

Unholy Alliance is an eye-opening book that should unsettle conventional assumptions and reveals why intellectuals and political leaders who applaud Michael Moore are no laughing matter. As Harvey Klehr, author of Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, writes, “The world Communist movement may be moribund, but its habits of mind and ideological fantasies have not disappeared. This is a fascinating and depressing account.”

Price: $19.01 - Click here to order:

[Lee E. Tallent]

And we are bombarded to save all our lives for our children and grandchildren's college education??????
When I started to college (in 1953)you could work part time at Krogers for a buck an hour and pay all yor fees, books and room & board; and the average professor made about $5000 per year, and really wanted you to learn Chemistry,Geology, English and trig. none seemed to focus on an agenda, except to encourage us to get an education.
Should we continue to pay those that teach our children to hate our nation. God Forbid !!!!! Let's shut then down !!!!!

[Chappaquiddick Crawdad]

Nobody beat up an SS Soldier and lived to tell the tale. Perhaps what this woman learned from her Grandmother was the Art of Prevarication.

Unless her grandmother's idea of proving herself to be "the victor" was getting gang-raped by members of the SS-Totenkopf and surviving to "tell" about it...

Ms. Byron may have been taught the art of prevarication by her grandmother, but it seems she's taken it to a whole new level: tergiversation, and hence sedition.

[sageb1]

Put me on your ping list! This is great!

[ItsForTheChildren]

My mother is a secular Jew who came to the United States with her family, refugees from Germany during the Holocaust. My father grew up in the Methodist Church in Texas, but was greatly influenced by his Catholic Mother, and self identified as an athiest. My step-father is a practicing Buddhist, with Taoist leanings. I have chosen the Sufi path, on which I have been walking for over a dozen years. The initial lure of this path was the ecumenical nature of it, including practices from all of the world's traditions as an acknowledgement of the unity of all religious and spiritual ideals. I married a fellow Sufi, who grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Church studying Norse Mythology, and who has subsequently become a Muslim. When our son was born a year ago I discovered some of the inescapable bonds to my Judaism, which I am currently exploring.

Geez... I really feel for the kid. Probably going to be another one of those who are constantly "exploring" themselves and accomplishing little else. Probably end up a professor (and I use the term loosely) just like mommy.

[Matchett-PI]

"Sometimes professors are some of the most ignorant people EVER. ..."

Since it is logical for us to hold certain presuppositions without scientific proof, we can assume that they have minds. And since they have minds, they can't pretend not to know what they, and all rational beings know.

"..Though it always comes as a surprise to intellectuals, there are some forms of stupidity that one must be highly intelligent and educated to commit. .." ~ Dr. Jay Budziszewski

[blackie]

Hang 'em High ~ Bump!

[MindBender26]

>"Ms. Byron has over ten years of experience working with survivors of torture..."

>So she's been hanging out with Gi'tmo detainees, has she?

Actually, it was NPR listeners and Dan Rather viewers.

[Busywhiskers]

Well...one more reason not to contribute to the alumni association of my old alma mater...as if I needed one.


PSU Class of 82

[SunnySide]

Course Description: This one credit course will explore the United States’ fascination with the making of enemies. We will consider the various influences that contribute to a climate of ready hatred, considering the many political, social and economic motivations, as well as their ramifications.

---

So do these type of college anti-American courses give the flip side of the coin, I bet they don't. How about teach how Taliban males make enemies of the female gender. Someone needs to slap a burqua on this ditzy broad professor, put her down on her knees with a rifle to the back of her head in a soccer stadium and order her to explain why she should get to live after being raped. I mean, if it's good enough for innocent middle eastern women it should be good enough for her, right? (disgusted sarcasm)

[SunnySide]

" Are classical majors/programs like engineering, history, and economics still taught at liberal schools? "

Doesn't seem like it does it. My impression is courses offered today are farting in the wind 101, Elephants giving birth to fleas would be like oh so Kewl and Real Friends are Fun like a chapped a$$ in the middle of winter are considered high on the liberal curriculum.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Professor Amanda Byron, Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution

Advanced college degrees in specialized programs are a good indication that someone had plenty of idle time, and somebody else’s money.

[6SJ7]

My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again. Enjoy your delusions.

Funny. That line caught my attention also. One would likely only get into a fist fight with a Waffen-SS officer once.

[SunnySide]

"Sometimes professors are some of the most ignorant people EVER"

So true! Some of them prefer to remain in the comfy insulated confines of campus life. The real world is much too scary to them. In the real world they would have to face facts.

[CollegeRepublicanNU]

There are a FEW (and I stress few) Universities out there that are teaching students the RIGHT way.

I attend a small private business school in northern Michigan and the philosophy and focus of our school is concentrated on learning the pro's of small government and free enterprise.

Also almost 80% of our campus reported they were Republican in a poll conducted by a club on campus.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Intellectual Idiot PING

[investigateworld]

I call her story about her grandmother striking an SS officer Pure BS. Striking any member of the uniformed services was a trip to the "camps" for six months minimum, maybe less if the person was drunk. Monday I'll forward a copy of her statement to the Simon Weisnthal Center in LA for their comments. They have excellent records on what punishments were applied for whatever offenses against the state.

[junta]

The alienation factor at it again, what a tired shtick. Someone please tell this bimbo to go grow up and stop it with the "woe is me, the oppressed."

[Eaker]

First a 5 foot tall woman ain't whipping any man in a fight. Second you fight a Houston cop in 2005 and you will lose, much less fighting an SS officer in NAZI Germany.

This is such a lie that even an idiot liberal should have thought first before telling it.