This Prof. needs to be fired

[JB88]

Originally posted by Tarmac
I've spent the last 4 years of my life at a major research university.  I consider myself an independent conservative.  I know plenty about the bias that's present, but if your views are logical you can generally argue with even the most illogical jackbooted liberal/conservative and come out with your views clarified.  Notice I said clarified, not necessarily reinforced -- it's important to hear these people out even though you disagree with them, because there's probably some grain of truth behind all their rhetoric and it's that grain you want to incorporate into your new views on the world.  If your views are so closed off that you won't even listen to the opposition, then you don't have an opinion resembling any sort of truth - you have a fanatical faith.

Turning the "you offended me!" witch hunts 180 degrees won't put a stop to it - it'll make it worse.  The problem is with persecuting people  for their views, instead of being open to the reasonable arguments and letting the retarded views fall out of the spotlight on their own.    I believe that most college students are smart enough to do this, if they're exposed to a broad range of views on the world.  They can take what they find reasonable from each philosophy and incorporate it into their own, while ignoring the junk and rhetoric.  The problem comes when there's no counter to that rhetoric and junk... then you get the fanatics who support a view because it's all they know.

well said.

[Dinger]

FIrst, yeah, professors can be asses.
And, contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of racist, fascist or otherwise scary professors out there.
And, well, sure, academia in the US is predominantly left leaning. Why is that?
Well for one, you ain't gonna get rich teaching in a university. Many of those who espouse the ideals of the party in power, such as cutting government spending for education and pure research, while encouraging corporate profiteering of the public sector seem to be drawn to the world of business more than academics. (that also means you'll get a significant number of libertarians and similar economic freaks in universities too)
For another reason, there are plenty of privately-funded think tanks that hire conservative academics. Capitalism in the US isn't simply about the free market, but rather about getting the government to create the legal conditions most favorable for a given corporation, and least favorable for its competitors. That requires a multi-pronged approach, and one of those prongs is para-academic work. So there's plenty of funding out there for academics who want to shill for the corporations.

Which brings us back to what academics should and shouldn't be allowed to do. Militaries exist to support the state, and, given their very real power, many safeguards must be in place to prevent them from opposing the state. That's why there are restrictions on what militaries can and cannot do. They are tools in the hands of politicians. Otherwise, we get a military dictatorship.
Universities exist for the benefit of the citizens, and they do this in several ways. First, they provide education, and not simply vocational education (aka "learniing to slave"). They should provide the citizens with the critical apparatus necessary to be informed participants in the democracy. Second, they provide a space where people can expand the bounds of human knowledge.
The moment we say, "and professors must support the state", we kill both these objectives. The very first lesson a university should teach is to question authority. That authority includes both the state and the professor. We don't want you to think like us, we want you to think for your bloody self, thank you very much.
And the moment we make academics answerable to something other than the boundaries of professional conduct (=not stealing other people's work), we damage considerably their ability to expand human knowledge. If you doubt this, google "soviet genetics".

[Mighty1]

I normally wouldn't care what this guy said but  when he is paid by the state to teach our kids his hate for our country that goes over the line.

Everyone has a right to voice their opinion but they should not be rewarded for their hate.

[lazs2]

Do they really have the right to free speech in schools?   Can a professor teach white power or christian belief... I have heard that in some schools it is even forbidden to say that evolution is only a theory..  

I would have no problem with giving equal time to any political or religious view.   I also believe that it is not equal time that professors like him and 88 want.  

lazs

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by JB73






im sorry but MAN those crooked 80's glasses make me want to stomp on his face for that alone.

 

80's Glasses hell.
Those are 70's Glasses!

The Style and color of the frames is called Tortoise Shell

I know. I used to have a pair exactly like them back in the 6th grade cause my parents wouldnt let me get the wire frame aviators I wanted LOL

The Reason they sit on his head crooked, as many who wear glasses can tell you is because he falls asleep with them on. ( he likes to sleep on his left side)

Saw a report on the news about this guy.
Seems he cant be fired because he is tenured.
Maybe someone would be kind enough to run him over With a UPS truck or something

[Dinger]

You're confusing mandatory schooling for minors with voluntary education for adults. Mandatory schooling for minors means a) the people in class are required to be there, b) the people in class are legally not capable of making their own decisions and c) the state determines what the kids learn.
There's serious problems with the way our  state (or any other) interacts with schoolkids.

But at the university level, we're talking about adults on adults. And in a properly run state schools, tenured professors are allowed to teach anything they like, provided they maintain a level of professional conduct. So, sure, they cannot physically or otherwise attack students, sexually harass them, sleep with them, sell them drugs, or sell them grades. And they cannot plagiarize, or sell their position as university professor for profit.
But as far as what they say in public, they certainly can preach white power if they like. And some professors have done that, and the result recently is much the same as our little genius noted here: he can't lose his job for expressing his ideas, but people are going to make his life miserable.

[Masherbrum]

Originally posted by Wolfala
OK,


So i'm sure he won't mind when I see him walking down Flatbush Ave and a group approaches him with some burlap bags and black jacks - it'll just be business as usual with free speech.

I hardly think after his comments anyone from NY would miss his rosey presence.

Wolf

The United States Constitution is what I was referring to.  Read more.

Karaya

[Mighty1]

Dinger the problem comes in when a school makes a course manditory. What do you do then?

I've heard of to many Profs who abuse their classes knowing that they can say and do anything they want because the kids don't have a choice.

Yeah I know they can go to another school in theory but that is not always an option.

My oldest brother is an example. He went to IU after he retired from the Army and one of his black teachers would not pass him till he admitted in front of the class he was a racist just because he was a white male.

 He spoke with the dept head and the Dean and they all said the same thing "There was nothing they could do".

So his choice was fail the class or say he was a racist.

[lasersailor184]

Hey grun, he's allowed his views.  However, we're allowed to call him a handsomehunk and laugh at him repeatedly.

[Charon]

A lot of these guys don't teach all that much. They are supposed to be writing and getting published and bringing in grant money for research. I believe actual teaching is pretty low on the list.

Charon

[Furious]

Part of his diatribe made me laugh a bit.  

It reminded me of Neal Stephenson's "War as Text" crowd.

[Thrawn]

Originally posted by Mighty1
So his choice was fail the class or say he was a racist.

Not sure if it would have helpped, but I definately would have gone to the press with that one.

[Mighty1]

In Bloomington?!

Wouldn't help one bit. Bloomington is so liberal they would probably run my brother out of town just because he questioned a black teacher.

Bloomington is so liberal you can't even cut a tree branch that has fallen in your driveway unless you get a permit.

Bloomington is so liberal you couldn't wish anyone "Merry Christmas" without being sued.

Bloomington is so liberal they have an active drive to bring in more gays.

[Thrawn]

So, are saying that Bloomington is liberal?

[wrag]

OOOOOOOHHHHH..........

You guys hit on one of my pet peeves!!!!

Had a Soc. prof. that went round and round with me.

I was going to college on the GI Bill.

This guy made us buy this book that was pure B.S. and very anti-american/anti-capitalism.

It was filled with stuff like how Beacons moving and storage had purchased an underground hive like structure and was selling office space to many companies for the revolution/disaster that was coming.  Thus afterward they could come out and bill everyone again.

He crowed about a document that had just come out.  Seemed a Gov. offical when asked about the document said he had never heard of the Gov. org. that had put out the document.  This prof was claiming the U.S. gov was such a mess they didn't even know just how many branch's of our gov there actually was.  The document was later proved to be DIS-Informaton, the Gov. Org. it was reported to have come from NEVER existed.

This guy constantly spoke of his trip to Red China and just how wonderful the place was.

He and I went round and round.  Once he was talking about the great struggle between North Viet Nam and the U.S. and was painting ugly picture of U.S. troops.

I could see some of the younger students, the looks on their faces, they were lapping this stuff up.

SOOOOOO............

I responded with the mass executions of civilians, many of them teachers, public workers, etc. I saw near Hue.  Killed by the NVA and buried in mass graves.  I told him of the MIC force people from villages near Khe San skinned alive and hung from trees.  

I told him and the class about S/Sgt Larry Dring the Army Medic that saw first hand the benevolence of the VC/NVA.  He had been going through the highlands innoculating village children and elders etc.  The unit forgot some important equipment in a village they had just left.  They doubled back.  Found the VC/NVA had been following them from village to village.  As an example to the village people the VC/NVA had cut off the inoculated arm of the son of the village headman as an example of what happened to those who collaborated with the enemy.  One of the VC/NVA had been caught in his benevolence.  S/Sgt Larry Dring upon seeing this, by his own report, picked up a rifle and beat that VC/NVA to death.  Thereafter  S/Sgt Larry Dring carried weapons and actively hunted and fought them.

We went back and forth.  He finally took me aside and promised me a C if I would just stop coming to class.  I held out for a b and got it and stopped going.  He at least kept his word on that.  Some of the students from that class would come by and talk with me in the caf. before and after class.

Some of these leftward leaning types really bother me.  I freely admit I don't care for some of the rightward leaners that go to far as well.  Any side that blatantly lie's and twist the truth gets me going.

I have since read Tsun Tzu's Art of War specifically the section on espionage.  I now think I may have a better understanding of who and what he might have been/was.