Low blows for higher education: Troubled by comments from Ithaca College faculty member

Ithaca Journal ^ | Tuesday, February 5, 2002 | By Brandon Crocker

[Behind Liberal Lines]

You don't have to travel all the way to the Pakistani frontier to find mobs of America-hating fanatics -- just visit your nearest American university.

From Harvard to Michigan to UC San Diego, editorial comment from our future "journalists" admonish us that the Sept. 11 attacks were "not unwarranted" given our "arrogance" in dealing with the rest of the world. Demonstrations by students and professors proclaim that patriotism equals hate and that a country as criminal as the United States got what it deserved.

[tacticalogic]

Oh, this is the worst rationalization of all. There's a liberal bias, the author says, but hey, that's just the natural order of things.

This is an old liberal tactic. It asserts their position as being some kind of self-evident truth, and agreement with it a litmus test of rationality. The term for it is dogma, and it has no place in the free debate and exchange of ideas because it's purpose is to prevent it. Unfortunately it seems to be gaining in popularity on both ends of the political spectrum.

[YankeeReb]

This "arrogance" argument has been around since 9/12. It's amazingly pervasive and it's amazingly bogus. How can such educated media types continue to put this crap forward? Just how irresponsible can the media be?

I agree with you here, this "arrogance" argument is complete crapola. I like your analogy of Bill Gates, and NO they wouldn't tolerate the murder under these circumstances. But these same leftists who would decry a murder in that situation, somehow can justify acts of violence by someone or some group they see as an "oppressed minority". It's always been my experience that behind EVERY leftist is an ELETIST. Behavior they wouldn't tolerate from a group of white people , they'll justify from anyone else because in the liberal mind, "They just can't help themselves, so we can't expect them to follow the norms of civilized behavior." This is why they're liberals, they see themselves as superior, and it's their job to lift others out of the pathetic state they're in.

As an aside, IMO, this is why they have such a special hatred for someone like Clarence Thomas. He represents the minority who DOESN'T NEED liberalism to boost him up.

[general_re]

Sure. It's a close cousin of the old rhetorical gimmick where I say x, y, and z, and proclaim that no reasonable person could possibly disagree with x, y, and z. Oh, you disagree? You must be unreasonable ;)

It's older than the hills - you'd have heard the same thing in the Roman Senate, and in ancient Greece. It's still amazing how many people can't manage to see through it, though.

[tacticalogic]

It's older than the hills - you'd have heard the same thing in the Roman Senate, and in ancient Greece. It's still amazing how many people can't manage to see through it, though.

Or come up with their own convoluted version of it and imagine they have presented the perfect, irrefutable proof that they are right.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

these same leftists who would decry a murder in that situation, somehow can justify acts of violence by someone or some group they see as an "oppressed minority". It's always been my experience that behind EVERY leftist is an ELETIST. Behavior they wouldn't tolerate from a group of white people , they'll justify from anyone else because in the liberal mind, "They just can't help themselves, so we can't expect them to follow the norms of civilized behavior." This is why they're liberals, they see themselves as superior, and it's their job to lift others out of the pathetic state they're in.

A similar point was made in the latest issue of ISIS, the e-zine for what liberals call Ithaca's "fascist underground":

That childish demand of saying "Sorry" and abolishing bad behavior has become derigueur in our society. And even if the perpetrator of nastiness does not say it themself, there is a wide coalition of people who are ready to jump in and apologize for them. For instance.... Fly a plane or two into the World Trade buildings? Well, I'm sure they had a good reason. Why, America must have done something to goad them into it. After all, we are the world's big bully.

(To order "Ithaca is the City of Evil" merchandise, courtesy of FREEPER "the," Click Here).

And to order "Ithaca is the City of Evil" bumper stickers (and support Free Republic),Click Here).

[general_re]

Ah, nice catch - that's exactly what the professor has done, here, isn't it? Put a horsesh*t neo-Darwinian spin on it, and "explain" why there are no conservatives in academia. Good call..

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Of course, it goes without saying that the only "marketplace" these ideas can survive in is the rarified one of academia, where no alternative is allowed.

[general_re]

Hey, it's a foregone conclusion that the liberal perspective is the correct one, right? So why bother with debate and discussion - I'm sure they look on it as being akin to debating Nazis or some such.

Besides, when there's an alternative, it defeats the purpose of having a captive audience in the first place ;)

[tacticalogic]

Ah, nice catch - that's exactly what the professor has done, here, isn't it? Put a horsesh*t neo-Darwinian spin on it, and "explain" why there are no conservatives in academia. Good call..

After you reduce it all, it comes down to "College professors are smart people, and smart people are liberals."

[Windsong]

SUPPORT A CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

1 Mt Surface Blast: Pressure Damage

Ithaca, NY


Key:

12 psi	Radius: 1.7 miles [Note: The outside edge of this shaded area represents the 12 psi (pound per square inch) ring. Blast pressure within the ring is greater than 12 psi; blast pressure outside the ring is less than 12 psi.] At the center of the ring lies a crater 200 feet deep and 1000 feet in diameter. The rim of this crater is 1,000 feet wide and is composed of highly radioactive soil and debris. Nothing recognizable remains within about 3,200 feet (0.6 miles) from the center, except, perhaps, the remains of some buildings' foundations. At 1.7 miles, only some of the strongest buildings -- those made of reinforced, poured concrete -- are still standing. Ninety-eight percent of the population in this area are dead.
5 psi	Radius: 2.7 miles Virtually everything is destroyed between the 12 and 5 psi rings. The walls of typical multi-story buildings, including apartment buildings, have been completely blown out. The bare, structural skeletons of more and more buildings rise above the debris as you approach the 5 psi ring. Single-family residences within this this area have been completely blown away -- only their foundations remain. Fifty percent of the population between the 12 and 5 psi rings are dead. Forty percent are injured.
2 psi	Radius: 4.7 miles Any single-family residences that have not been completely destroyed are heavily damaged. The windows of office buildings have been blown away, as have some of their walls. The contents of these buildings' upper floors, including the people who were working there, are scattered on the street. A substantial amount of debris clutters the entire area. Five percent of the population between the 5 and 2 psi rings are dead. Forty-five percent are injured.
1 psi	Radius: 7.4 miles Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial buildings have sustained minimal damage. Twenty-five percent of the population between the 2 and 1 psi rings have been injured, mainly by flying glass and debris. Many others have been injured from thermal radiation -- the heat generated by the blast. The remaining seventy-five percent are unhurt.

NOTE: This information has been drawn mainly from "The Effects of Nuclear War" (Washington: Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, 1979). The zones of destruction mapped out on this page are broad generalizations and do not take into account factors such as weather and geography of the target.


Also see the effects of [1 Megaton Fallout] or [25 Megaton Blast Pressure]


To find out more about the blast, including other effects of the explosion, go to Effects of a Nuclear Explosion.

---

BLAST MAPPER | BUNKER | BLAST VIDEOS | PANIC QUIZ | CHARTS

---

THE FILM & MORE | SPECIAL FEATURE | TIMELINE | MAPS
PEOPLE & EVENTS | TEACHER'S GUIDE

THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | KIDS | FEEDBACK

WGBH | PBS Online

©

[Behind Liberal Lines]

A small price to pay to save the rest of Upstate NY ;-)

Bomb's Away!

[ottersnot]

"In this case, professor of politics, Asma Barlas, proclaimed that people like Osama bin Laden, as well as all sorts of "moderates" hate America because America's foreign policy since World War II has been one that "seeks control over the entire world by any means necessary." Furthermore, the professor says, "people everywhere are sick and tired" of our "political economy based on their systematic abuse, exploitation, expropriation, and degradation."

Higher education my hiney!. What a case of verbal diarrhea. I love how liberals can spew it out.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Next time please add

"... led the cops on a high speed chase through a residential neighborhood ..."

I've been there. If you live in suburbia, just look out your front door and imagine someone going by at 90 mph. He was driving 3X the speed limit where he was.

[Chemist_Geek]

I guess when I say I am disturbed by it, I don't mean the particular case, or the particular "victim" Rodney King, but more the issue itself. There was a time when my immediate reaction to anything of that nature was a knee-jerk "He had it coming." Rodney King may indeed have had it coming, and those officers may have been innocent of wrong doing (I do think their double jeopardy rights were clearly violated). But after so many instances of out-of-control local and federal law enforcement, my initial reation is to be disturbed by it.

Hear, hear! My opinion is very similar.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Rodney King is far from the poster boy for the Libertarian party

How many times has he been arrested for beating his wife? Maybe the media can do where are they now on all the charaters in the Rodney King play and post rial activities.

One thing that sticks in my mind is the Korean Shop keepers on the roofs of their stores fully armed to deter the post trial looting.

[Anamensis]

A few years ago, a columnist recalled that murder and postulated that the family (which was upper middle class) had more or less engaged in an arrogant display of their wealth at some point prior to that, and they were robbed and murdered as a result thereof.

Remember the woman jogger who was gang-raped and nearly murdered by a gang of "youths" who were "wilding" in Central Park back in the mid 80s?" I remember those who came forward later saying, "well, what do you expect, she was wearing those expensive running shoes and these poor, underprivileged youth were lashing out against her display of wealth." Or words to that effect.

Yes, there is definitely brainwashing of the variety: "the nail that sticks up highest gets knocked down" (a quote that Communist Chinese are very familiar with) among the radical class-warfare advocates in our society. And most of them have tenure.

[Bigg Red]

Someone needs to wake up the students so that they are not taken in by these losers.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

There must be a nice college in, say, Saudi Arabia or Iran
which could make good use of such a "professor." Of course, the plumbing facilities may not be as hygienic as they generally are in Ithaca.

[cgbg]

future "journalists" admonish us that the Sept. 11 attacks were "not unwarranted" given our "arrogance" in dealing with the rest of the world.

By the lefties own logic their execution would be warranted since who can be more arrogant than a lefty professor or student? The fools know not what they say. ;-)