Dear those of you whom I have angered with my revised pledge:
Let me please take this opportunity to thank you for your feedback and clarify a few points that seem to be at issue. I am sorry I can no longer reply to everyone personally--the volume of mail is getting quite large. If you have written me a supportive note, can you please send it again without the word "pledge" in its title and I will be sure to read it more closely.
To those of you who are sending me hate mail, however, let me say the following:
I take my freedoms to dissent in this country very seriously. You are correct; I would not have the same rights to dissent and protest in countries like Afghanistan. I pledged solidarity not with their leaders or their terrorist organizations, but with the ordinary people, who are not being liberated by U.S. sanctions and bombs. Neither are they being liberated by the opportunites provided by U.S. capitalism. I do not have time to go through all the evidence for these claims, but if you are truly interested, write me again and I will provide some sources. Suffice it to say that if you have read any history you know that the U.S. either put in place or supported with money and guns the very dictators you decry today, including the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. Those of you who complain that you may have to fight and die for my freedoms clearly have misunderstood my anti-war stance. I do not want you to be sent to other countries to die or kill, because I think those actions are not in defense of our freedoms; more often it's about protecting oil profits and supplies. I don't want you over there killing civilians in my name, when my freedoms are not what is being defended at all.
The main thing to say is that if you cherish the freedoms of the United States, you need to tolerate the voicing of opnions that differ from yours. I am a well-educated thougtful human being. I see nothing overly bitter or provocative in having compassion not only for the victims of the 9/11 terrorists but also for suffering people in other countries. I am well qualified to teach at the University, which should be a place for thoughtful sharing of diverse views. My students get trained in critical thinking: the capacity to take in a number of perspectives and weigh evidence and reasoning on their own, which they would not be able to do if there were not at least a few dissenters among us here. And believe me, I am a member of a tiny minority on campus. I am not the enemy of freedom, but its staunchest supporter. I worry that now with the expanded Patriot Act and the new mega security-intelligence agency consolidation, that we may not have these freedoms very much longer. I will raise questions as long as I can.
I believe that name calling and threats to my physical safety, insults to my daughter, and other like responses are immature and unproductive ways of responding to serious political questions and issues. I am saddened that the quality of public debate in our nation is so impoverished. Of course I hoped to provoke a response, but I hoped to get a *real* response, not just hate and the attempt to silence me in the name of freedom.
With best regards,
Dana Cloud
MY EMAIL TO HER.... >Madam Professor-- > >Your "Pledge" is pure claptrap. You have not a clue about the greatness of this country. >Please tell me if there is another country you would prefer to live in--one that allows you to spew your anti-American drivel.
>"GRRRRR"
>Chicago
>Naturalized in 1994 by CHOICE!
Dana Cloud Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies CMA 7.114/mail code A1105 The University of Texas, Austin Austin, TX 78712
512) 471-1947 fax (512) 471-3504 dcloud@mail.utexas.edu website: http://www.utexas.edu/coc/speech/faculty/DCloud/
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. --Frederick Douglass
So much for supporting "dissent".
She would have resisted war with Germany too. Even after Japan attacked Hawaii (which was not even one of our states).
She must be outraged that we improved the lives of post-WWII Germans and Japanese with capitalism.
The main thing to say is that if you cherish the freedoms of the United States, you need to tolerate the voicing of opnions that differ from yours. I am a well-educated thougtful human being.
Air horns, noisemakers and slogan shouting hardly constitute "voicing of opinions." I think she is a bit confused.
I email her with the subject line: a dictionary and political science text might help. What the heck is "Unruly Civil Disobedience" anyway?