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Well here's one English major that "gets it"

Recontextualizing the Argument

Yeah, sorry I'm doing consecutive posts on the lacrosse thing, but it's like watching a slow-motion train wreck and I'm fascinated. And extremely glad that I don't have to handle Brodhead's p.r., but that's another story.

So yesterday the first civil suit was filed against a prof accused of deliberately failing 2 lacrosse students in "retaliation." The fact that the university changed the students' grades after the semester means it might not look too good for the prof.

Then today I was treated to an extremely long-winded op-ed from one of the authors of an ad that appeared in the student newspaper at Duke after the party--signed by 88 Duke profs--that's full of weeping and lamentation about the fact that hey, the world isn't a very nice place.

The op-ed is, well, long. And manages to do the thing that only the rarest of op-eds can do: make everything worse. There's puling of the high-minded "We had no IDEA that we'd make things worse" variety:

The ad we signed explicitly was not addressed to the police investigation or the rape allegations. The ad focused on racial and gender attitudes all too evident in the weeks after March 13. It decried prejudice and inequality in the society at large. "It isn't just Duke, it isn't everybody, and it isn't just individuals making this disaster," the ad insisted."

There's the retreat to moral high ground of the "I'm a brave professor saving the world 'cause God knows no one else on the planet is aware of racism! Or sexism! Or that strippers can actually be hired--of either gender--pretty damn easily! And I'm gonna shoehorn every social cause I can think of in here, because I'm an english professor who wants you to know that a bunch of stupid drunk jocks are a METAPHOR for all this stuff!" :

We are in the midst of a social disaster where 18 percent of the American population lives below the poverty line and a disproportionate number of those are African-American. We live in the midst of a social disaster where 30 percent of our students do not graduate from high school (making the U.S. No. 17 in the world). We live in the midst of a social disaster where women's salaries for similar jobs are substantially less than men's (and, as of this year, starting to go down again, not up). We live in the midst of a social disaster where we do not have national health care or affordable childcare. And we live in a situation where a group of white athletes at a prominent university can get drunk and call out for a stripper the way they would a pizza.

And finally, the coup de grace - the "Now I'm going to name-call everyone who disagrees with what we did and paint them as mentally unstable, or worse--violent--or EVEN WORSE: REPUBLICANS, so that no one can actually address the argument itself without suffering the taint of my mischaracterization, plus it makes me seem even braver! In literary terms, that's what we call 'creating a foil!'" paragraph:

On the other hand, most of my e-mail comes from right-wing "blog hooligans." These hateful, ranting and sometimes even threatening folks don't care about Duke or the lacrosse players. Their aim is to make academics and liberals look ridiculous and uncaring. They deliberately misrepresent the faculty and manipulate the feelings of those who care about the lacrosse players in order to foster their own demagogic political agenda. They contribute to the problem, not to the solution.

Wow, bitter much? No one is making you look ridiculous. You're competent professionals, and I'm sure you're more than capable of accomplishing that all on your own.

See? I still have faith in the professoriate.

But why, why, WHY, is it always the English profs? Sigh.

http://www.bigarmwoman.com/archives/000957.html

Thank you -- reading that made my morning so much more bright. Yes, the author does get the entire Gang of 88 playup and playout. It was refreshing for me to see the author use the word "puling" in reference to the recent Gang of 88 article, as "puling and mewling" was as I saw it, too. And of course "creating a foil".

And why oh why is it always "English Professors". I've no doubts the authoress knows the why's of this too.

In the early 90s, in the colleges near me, Shakespeare was dropped as a course of study because ole' Shakespeare was deemed a racist white guy. Then, years later, Shakespeare was brought back, but with a spin. And along with the bringing back of Shakespearre came the inevitable mandatory readings of Barbara Kingsolver, etc. in English courses.

I give it to Kingsolver, hands down; she writes well. I've read all her works. But, she's an hysteric, activist for the left. Most all the required reading for pre-req courses is leftist. Why oh why is it always English Profs....

Required reading in a PreReq English class for one of my daughters was this.

We read it together, daughter and I....

A college student contacted me (years ago). Required English.. students were given a list of topics to write upon. At that time in CA, The California Civil Rights Initiaive (repealing preferences and quotas from public entities) was a major topic. However, the instructor mandated the students could ONLY use a specific website for data searching for their essays.

Every single last article on that SPECIFIC website was an activist "NO on the CCRI" article. No supportive document/article positions on the CCRI were at that website.

Why oh why... English Profs ....