Posted on 12/22/2002 2:26:21 PM PST by free biscet
Year Ends on a Sour Note at Southwestern U. by George Livadas
Georgetown, Texas has never been considered a hotbed of radical left-wing activism or PC-fanaticism. Yet, as the home of Southwestern University, a small liberal arts college, one of the most anti-male and anti-American feminists of our time was given center stage to spread her radical ideas and political agenda to the captive audience of 2002's graduating seniors.
Last month, bell hooks, a feminist theorist, poet and writer, was Southwestern's "featured speaker" for the May 11 commencement ceremony. Selected because of her "stimulating discussions" in the fall, hooks (who intentionally spells her name without using capital letters) also holds a distinguished position at Southwestern-the Brown Visiting Scholar-in Residence of Feminist Studies-and, has an interesting background (as a black lesbian, hooks is not your typical Texan). She also has a very impressive educational background and resume, highlighted by her B.A. from Stanford, her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, her Ph.D. from UC-Santa Cruz, and her previous position as a professor of English at Yale. Given her various qualifications, the selection of hooks as the "featured speaker" did not seem unwarranted.
Hooks began her speech by speaking of how the graduates must not look towards their future, but must "live in the now." Criticizing our society's emphasis on working "for progress and advancement," she stated, "every imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal nation on the planet teaches its citizens to care more for tomorrow than today."
Repeatedly speaking under the assumption that capitalism and competition were widely regarded as unjust and racist practices, hooks, during several of her bitter rants, listed some of the undesirable characteristics of modern oppressors by placing the word "capitalism" between "white supremacist" and "patriarchal hunger."
Hooks also harshly criticized all aspects of the war on terror, saying specifically that after September 11 many Americans saw for the first time the true need for a peaceful response to violence; however, hooks maintained, our nation's "imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal hunger" soon took over so that we could "show the planet our nation's force."
Continuing her criticism of the American response to September 11, hooks then claimed, "the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns." She also cited the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, saying, "along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate."
Interestingly enough, hooks is the author of "A Killing Rage," in which she advocates the completely opposite point of view by writing about her deep desire to kill a white man simply because he had purchased a first-class plane ticket. She then elaborated on this hateful desire by writing about the necessity for blacks to unleash their "killing rage" towards whites. Not doing so, she suggests, would be doing blacks everywhere a grave injustice.
Hooks also spoke of "life-threatening conservatism" during her address, and compared conservatives with "every terrorist regime in the world." Showing a clear disdain for conservatives throughout America and having previously written about the necessity of an "openness of mind and heart" in education, this marked the second instance during the speech in which hooks directly contradicted her previous teachings. This direct assault on conservatives was not well received by the audience.
Despite the fact that several members of the graduating class made a special effort to shake hooks' hand or to give her a hug after receiving their diplomas, a significant number of graduates and their families showed their tremendous disapproval of the address by booing hooks on numerous occasions throughout her tirade.
A number of disillusioned Southwestern alumni have also showed their disappointment with the University, charging that the selection of such a radical left-wing commencement speaker was merely a transparent attempt by the administration to further boost the school's rising academic ratings by gaining national recognition from elite academics.
On the other hand, the Southwestern administration appears to be relatively unfazed by hooks' address, acknowledging only that it was controversial, and continuously maintaining that the school has no official stance. Dismissing accusations that bell hooks is anti-American merely as the result of a "conservative bias," Southwestern spokesperson Eric Van Danen refused to "support or negate [hooks'] speech" on behalf of the University. He did however, maintain that the University will continue to embrace the "diverse discussions" resulting from the address. Van Danen also stated that hooks will be returning to her position at Southwestern in the fall.
Certainly no one would question that hooks should be allowed to maintain her own beliefs and to speak her mind; however, as someone who is filled with so much hatred towards America, and who advocates that blacks everywhere embrace their "killing rage" against whites, many would argue that she is not the kind of person that should be honored in academia.
Gads, what a headline!
I wish the Brits would HIRE these idiots instead of just collect cards about them.
Does she have one of those non-patriarchal New Age/Old Rage uncapitalized and semi-literate names ?
If so, ee cummings beat her to it - in the 1920's.
Some people still don't get it. We were attacked. If we wanted to "show strength" the Moslem world would have been nuked by now. The U.S. has shown remarkable restraint in all this.
Let's send her to Islam so she can teach them "a peaceful response to violence."
This has always irked me. Rules of grammar state that proper names are to be capitalized. What if somebody named Frank Johnson wanted his named spelled fRaNk jOhNsOn or FRaNK JOHnSON? Would the rest of us be obligated to accomodate him just because he wants his name to look different?
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