Adam Falk Shows How Far He Will Go to Protect Free Speech (Williams College Disinvited Derbyshire)

PJ Media ^ | February 19, 2016 | Roger Kimball

[C19fan]

Yesterday, Adam Falk, the president of Williams College, disgraced himself, the college that he leads, and the institution of free speech that he has claimed to support. He did this by disinviting John Derbyshire, the mathematician and commentator, from speaking at Williams for a student-run program called "Uncomfortable Learning," a series specifically designed to bring serious but alternatives points of view to the expensive (this year's tab, $63,290) and coddled purlieus of Williamstown, Massachusetts, where nearly all the faculty are left-leaning and the students, with rare exceptions, are timid if irritable politically correct babies.

[C19fan]

The Pres of Williams believes his special snowflakes could not handle Derbyshire.

[Redleg Duke]

They probably can’t handle an alternative viewpoint.

The students who can are carrying CAR-14 and a ruck, overseas.

[drop 50 and fire for effect]

They have done this before:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/10/20/williams-college-dropped-me-from-its-uncomfortable-learning-speaker-series-why.html

Personally, I dislike Derbyshire, who, while a talented wordsmith, has descended into bigotry too often for my taste.

However, if you are going to sponsor “uncomfortable learning” he is probably exactly the type of person you want. Someone who you violently disagree with, but can help you sharpen your arguments as you identify intellectually why you disagree instead of just emotionally disagreeing.

Leftists should view it as a worthy challenge. Instead they have the vapors and faint at the thought that their precious campus is polluted by such a brute.

[JBW1949]

Very good comment at the end of the article:

“...What is amazing is the apparent lack of faith the left must have in its opinions. If they are so “right,” why are they so afraid of questioning? They should welcome challenges because, after all, their positions are unassailable. Right?

[DuncanWaring]

Ironic that the “Uncomfortable Learning” program can’t handle uncomfortable learning.

[gogeo]

Personally, I dislike Derbyshire, who, while a talented wordsmith, has descended into bigotry too often for my taste.

Call someone a racist or a bigot, you should provide at least one example.

[jumpingcholla34]

"Personally, I dislike Derbyshire, who, while a talented wordsmith, has descended into bigotry too often for my taste."

I read Derbsyhire a lot. He isn't PC, but I've never read a word of his I thought to be bigoted.

Perhaps you can provide an example -- not a paraphrase, but an exact quote with enough language to give the context.

[frithguild]

The Derb is quite handy with a shotgun

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Call someone a racist or a bigot, you should provide at least one example.

From this article by Derbyshire:

"(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

(10i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving".

I deplore this university's need to shut out opposing views - their refusal to let Derbyshire say his piece to their coddled student body indicates intellectual cowardice, and that's become what our schools teach best. But Derbyshire is a racist and a bigot by any definition of the word.

[mrsmel]

And it’s not just the left anymore, it’s cucks like NRO who run screaming with their hands over their ears lest they hear some uncomfortable truths. Whatever they may really think, if they haven’t been thoroughly indoctrinated, they don’t have the courage of their convictions, givng any of them the benefit of a doubt that they have any.

[ifinnegan]

“Personally, I dislike Derbyshire, who, while a talented wordsmith, has descended into bigotry too often for my taste.”

Why do you say this? You think it’s not just a PC-inspired bad rap?

[gogeo]

From the web:

A bigot is someone who doesn't tolerate people of different races or religions.

Does Derbyshire tolerate no one but WASPs?

Is it your belief that anyone who has a problem with Islam is a bigot...or anyone who worries when a gang of black youth stalk them is a bigot?

[gogeo]

One more: Is Donald Trump a bigot because he wants to build the wall or limit Muslim immigration?

[Barkeep99]

Especially in universities learning SHOULD be uncomfortable, if it is not, you are wasting your money (or ours most likely).

Now you may keep your beliefs, I mostly did, but having them challenged, forcing one to reexamine, is a good thing.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Does Derbyshire tolerate no one but WASPs?

Derbyshire is married to a woman of Chinese ancestry. His specific problem seems to be with black people - and prejudice against only one race instead of all races does not somehow make one not a racist.

Is it your belief that anyone who has a problem with Islam is a bigot...or anyone who worries when a gang of black youth stalk them is a bigot?

A man who counsels others to avoid helping people of a specific skin type who are stranded on the road, and advises that politicians of that skin color be subjected to more scrutiny than politicians of his own skin color is a racist and a bigot. If you believe otherwise, do you believe any racists or bigots exist at all?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

One more: Is Donald Trump a bigot because he wants to build the wall or limit Muslim immigration?

Why raise this question in regard to bigotry and racism against a particular subset of American citizens who have been part of this nation's fabric since it's founding?

[MarvinStinson]

Very good.

[taildragger]

I can't get too deep in the weeds on this so take what I say as being the real deal.

In these institutions their are renegades that are starting to ask about intellectual diversity and the lack their of.

One of my gnomes attended a meeting with a Libertarian leaning Teacher / Prof and many students attended. Many of these institutions have a policy if you get 7 or 9 kids in writing to request a club, it is often granted, ergo LBGT clubs etc. So an Intellectual Diversity Club can't be nixed now can it? ;-) After all you are Diverse on your Campus now aren't you? ;-)

My guess is the Leftist tower of babble is cracking.

The walls are coming down, ya heard it hear 1st...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kX8lqXAONg

[jumpingcholla34]

Thank you for the example, which comes from the piece that got Derb fired from National Review. It's fair to say that it's the most controversial thing he ever wrote.

Now, the context.

Derb set up the piece by saying that he was giving his own version of "the talk," through which black parents supposedly warn their children to be extra careful around cops and white people generally, because whites are always looking for excuses to harm black people.

Before he got to the language you quoted, he said the following:

"The default principle in everyday personal encounters is, that as a fellow citizen, with the same rights and obligations as yourself, any individual black is entitled to the same courtesies you would extend to a nonblack citizen. This is basic good manners and good citizenship."

Derb goes on, however, to state that in the aggregate our black population has a greater than average disposition toward certain types of hostile and antisocial behavior, up to and including violence. He says that while such aggregate facts do not describe the behavior of all individuals, they justify some amount of caution. He then mimics the black parents' "talk" to point out ways of avoiding unpleasantness when encountering our black fellow citizens.

Is this bigotry? I suppose it's a matter of taste, but it hardly satisfies the usual definition of a strong opinion maintained in spite of evidence to the contrary. Derb explains the basis for his views with care.

Also, although Derb believed what he was saying and hasn't apologized for it, he was also using a little rhetorical ju-jitsu. He was saying that if black people are wary of white people, as they claim and as liberals applaud them for saying, then there are equal or stronger reasons for white people to be wary of black people. As Derb says, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't treat black people as fellow citizens with the same rights and obligations as ourselves.

Is it possible to disagree with Derb (nothing wrong with that) without calling him a bigot? Isn't name calling the default reflex of the left? Do we have to join them?

[MarvinStinson]

“(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

YOU EVER HEAR OF BARACK OBAMA, CHARLES RANGLE, KWAMI FITZPARICK, ELIJAH CUMMINGS, etc etc etc

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

POLICE HAVE TOLD ME THIS IS USED TO ENTICE PROSPECTIVE VICTIMS INTO A TRAP AND HAS BEEN USED A NUMBER OF TIMES AROUND THE US TO AMBUSH AND KILL POLICEMAN.

(10i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving”.

YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF THE KNOCKOUT “GAME”—OF THE HUGE UPSURGE IN BLACK ON WHITE CRIME?