What is extraordinary is how a system of beliefs grounded in the idea of cultural relativism, which teaches that there is no truth and everything is relative, has managed to create a type of behavior specific only to people who believe in an Absolute Truth. These students are convinced that they hold the Absolute Truth and everybody else is "on the wrong side" etc etc. How does their ideology coexist with a behavior that is its precise contradiction? Maybe because when you abolish Objective Truth, "your truth" becomes absolute.
Note that the same Muslim student likely doesn't think twice about categorizing all whites in negative ways or Jews. The problem is allowing these activists to get their way. The problem is leadership.
This is the sort of thing Joseph McCarthy and his acolytes regularly did in the early 1950s to discredit "communists"- using peoples' words and deeds in a biased way unfairly against them. Maybe these students were studying and learning from the Red Scare...
These students aren't "learning" anything because they despise learning. They think they know everything and their teachers' role is to affirm their beliefs.
Nope, you have bought propaganda and lies. For example: Every single person on McCarthy's "list" had actually already been investigated by State or the FBI and had been found to be on of the thousands of agents of the USSR that Stalin had managed to get working in the U.S. govt. The "Red Scare" is a myth created by Leftists, just as they call everyone that doesn't agree with them fascists.
Don't believe me, believe M. Stanton Evans in his book Blacklisted by History. You'll be astonished by how badly you've been played on this issue. But the Truman admin and Dems didn't want the embarrassment and the tarnish this would paint on FDR's reputation. Here's an interview with Evans on CSPAN. You'll be shocked. https://www.c-span.org/video/?182741-4/history-revisionism
Gerald Posner is absolutely on target in this piece. History is replete with examples of the revolutionary mob taking down anyone NOT as revolutionary as them. Then, like in all illiberal revolutionaries in history, they impose an ever growing purity spiral to what makes an acceptable revolutionary, devouring each other in the process. Read historian, Sir Simon Michael Schama‘s book , Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, and you see a chilling parallel between the “cancel culture” mob and the Jacobins of the Reign of Terror. These people have no compassion, they have no empathy, they have no morality, despite claiming to be all of those things. They are nothing more than kids high on revolutionary endorphins looking for their next target to get another “hit.” They deserve no consideration, no attention, and certainly no power!
24-48 hrs ago I submitted a comment to the Dickinsonian newspaper at the college. I did tell them I'd long admired the college and its president and I mostly supported the concerns and aims of their demonstration, but that I'd long admired Smerconish for inviting widely diverse guests with knowledge and diverse opinions--a willingness the students had not yet acquired but which I hoped they would. They first wanted to verify my e-mail (not surprising) and then said my comment was "being reviewed". Pleasantly surprised moments ago to find they included it verbatim in their online edition. There's hope--partly because there's Smerconish (who will be shedding light long after the heat generated by the students has subsided. And there's Gerald.
It's an abomination - cancel culture is the left's method to shut down any viewpoints they do not agree with. I am embarrassed that students at our so-called 'elite' universities fall for the propaganda - when history as well as current events tell a very different story. Hate is a virus that must be stopped.
Thanks for your article in defense of Smerconish! My sentiments exactly! I trust that enrollment at this Group Think University will decline drastically now that they’ve shown their true colors. Unfortunately, there are many others lurking in the wings waiting to show their narrow mindedness. Keep up your balance Michael Smerconish! You didn’t need that honorary degree anyway! Chris Hill
Now I'm not a particular fan of Smerconish (have often criticized his all-too "middle of the road" politics on his site), but this is outrageous !... Enough of these student cancelling activities (the inmates running the asylum....) !
The simple answer, they don't support freedom of speech. Because that's all he's doing, speaking.
They do support freedom to destroy and deface the property of others. The freedom to deny others their legal right to go where and when they wish, using illegal (force) means.
Especially when it's done in support of terrorist groups that they refuse to call terrorists.
Excellent comments! This is yet another classic example of the woke & morally chaste & pure students dictating to the weak adult administration with the latter buckling. Were there ever any discussions between the two? Seems highly unlikely.
I read Smirconish about 3 times a week, within my weekly diet of reading the news 14+ hours a week. I’d say I spend about 10 minutes of those 14 hours reading him.
I would never rush to the defense of Smirconish as a centrist. He is within the Overton window, but decidedly right of center. His coverage tends towards infotainment, never goes deep, and therein lies the problem: lacking insight, his work trends towards obvious conservative assumptions.
Reading Smirconish’s statement in question, I agree with the students. It’s racist. Words matter.
I’m 70 years old. I was out in the streets during the Days of Rage. Today’s pro-Palestine demos are tiny by comparison, so tiny that I feel that there is a propagandist agenda behind making them out to be more than what they are.
That said, cancel culture is not unique to the pro Palestine movement, as you must know. It’s been a ubiquitous feature of college life for a decade or more. As someone who remembers the Free Speech movement of the 60s, I shake my head in disbelief: the remedy for speech that you find objectionable is reason and debate, not the censorship of canceling.
It’s clear based on what’s going on in Gaza and our college campuses that there is no hope. Both sides violently hate each other and the only resolution is a fight to the end. There can be no peace.
What is extraordinary is how a system of beliefs grounded in the idea of cultural relativism, which teaches that there is no truth and everything is relative, has managed to create a type of behavior specific only to people who believe in an Absolute Truth. These students are convinced that they hold the Absolute Truth and everybody else is "on the wrong side" etc etc. How does their ideology coexist with a behavior that is its precise contradiction? Maybe because when you abolish Objective Truth, "your truth" becomes absolute.
Note that the same Muslim student likely doesn't think twice about categorizing all whites in negative ways or Jews. The problem is allowing these activists to get their way. The problem is leadership.
This is the sort of thing Joseph McCarthy and his acolytes regularly did in the early 1950s to discredit "communists"- using peoples' words and deeds in a biased way unfairly against them. Maybe these students were studying and learning from the Red Scare...
These students aren't "learning" anything because they despise learning. They think they know everything and their teachers' role is to affirm their beliefs.
Nope, you have bought propaganda and lies. For example: Every single person on McCarthy's "list" had actually already been investigated by State or the FBI and had been found to be on of the thousands of agents of the USSR that Stalin had managed to get working in the U.S. govt. The "Red Scare" is a myth created by Leftists, just as they call everyone that doesn't agree with them fascists.
Don't believe me, believe M. Stanton Evans in his book Blacklisted by History. You'll be astonished by how badly you've been played on this issue. But the Truman admin and Dems didn't want the embarrassment and the tarnish this would paint on FDR's reputation. Here's an interview with Evans on CSPAN. You'll be shocked. https://www.c-span.org/video/?182741-4/history-revisionism
Gerald Posner is absolutely on target in this piece. History is replete with examples of the revolutionary mob taking down anyone NOT as revolutionary as them. Then, like in all illiberal revolutionaries in history, they impose an ever growing purity spiral to what makes an acceptable revolutionary, devouring each other in the process. Read historian, Sir Simon Michael Schama‘s book , Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, and you see a chilling parallel between the “cancel culture” mob and the Jacobins of the Reign of Terror. These people have no compassion, they have no empathy, they have no morality, despite claiming to be all of those things. They are nothing more than kids high on revolutionary endorphins looking for their next target to get another “hit.” They deserve no consideration, no attention, and certainly no power!
24-48 hrs ago I submitted a comment to the Dickinsonian newspaper at the college. I did tell them I'd long admired the college and its president and I mostly supported the concerns and aims of their demonstration, but that I'd long admired Smerconish for inviting widely diverse guests with knowledge and diverse opinions--a willingness the students had not yet acquired but which I hoped they would. They first wanted to verify my e-mail (not surprising) and then said my comment was "being reviewed". Pleasantly surprised moments ago to find they included it verbatim in their online edition. There's hope--partly because there's Smerconish (who will be shedding light long after the heat generated by the students has subsided. And there's Gerald.
It's an abomination - cancel culture is the left's method to shut down any viewpoints they do not agree with. I am embarrassed that students at our so-called 'elite' universities fall for the propaganda - when history as well as current events tell a very different story. Hate is a virus that must be stopped.
Thanks for your article in defense of Smerconish! My sentiments exactly! I trust that enrollment at this Group Think University will decline drastically now that they’ve shown their true colors. Unfortunately, there are many others lurking in the wings waiting to show their narrow mindedness. Keep up your balance Michael Smerconish! You didn’t need that honorary degree anyway! Chris Hill
Now I'm not a particular fan of Smerconish (have often criticized his all-too "middle of the road" politics on his site), but this is outrageous !... Enough of these student cancelling activities (the inmates running the asylum....) !
The simple answer, they don't support freedom of speech. Because that's all he's doing, speaking.
They do support freedom to destroy and deface the property of others. The freedom to deny others their legal right to go where and when they wish, using illegal (force) means.
Especially when it's done in support of terrorist groups that they refuse to call terrorists.
Excellent comments! This is yet another classic example of the woke & morally chaste & pure students dictating to the weak adult administration with the latter buckling. Were there ever any discussions between the two? Seems highly unlikely.
I read Smirconish about 3 times a week, within my weekly diet of reading the news 14+ hours a week. I’d say I spend about 10 minutes of those 14 hours reading him.
I would never rush to the defense of Smirconish as a centrist. He is within the Overton window, but decidedly right of center. His coverage tends towards infotainment, never goes deep, and therein lies the problem: lacking insight, his work trends towards obvious conservative assumptions.
Reading Smirconish’s statement in question, I agree with the students. It’s racist. Words matter.
I’m 70 years old. I was out in the streets during the Days of Rage. Today’s pro-Palestine demos are tiny by comparison, so tiny that I feel that there is a propagandist agenda behind making them out to be more than what they are.
That said, cancel culture is not unique to the pro Palestine movement, as you must know. It’s been a ubiquitous feature of college life for a decade or more. As someone who remembers the Free Speech movement of the 60s, I shake my head in disbelief: the remedy for speech that you find objectionable is reason and debate, not the censorship of canceling.
It’s clear based on what’s going on in Gaza and our college campuses that there is no hope. Both sides violently hate each other and the only resolution is a fight to the end. There can be no peace.