Friday, July 10, 2009

Wart bin

From part two of Pravda's "Ward Churchill and the death of academic freedom":
Naves’ inanity went even further when he proclaimed that CU regents were entitled to the same type of “judicial immunity” that judges and prosecutors use to insulate themselves from civil liability whenever they abuse their power.

So who are the new faces of university recruitment: Gonzales and Yoo? Has the world of academia really sunk so low that lying, torture endorsing, constitution loathing war criminals are more preferable to have as colleagues than professors who use distasteful analogies to stress a point?

The answer, unfortunately, is yes. During the past few years the neo-fascist movement in America has taken control of the corporate-controlled media, dumbing down the nation with “reality” shows, celebrity “gossip,” pseudo-journalism, and an obsessive focus on sensationalism and superficiality. This, in turn, has allowed these fascists to steal elections, infiltrate classrooms, and influence policies in education. In public school systems across America, the use of random drug testing, the censorship of student newspapers, the banning of books that challenge conventional thought, and the reduction in the number of courses that inspire creativity and imagination—like music, art, theater and literature—have all served to fuel the neo-fascist ideology that indoctrination is more important than education.
Leave it to Pravda to assert that it's "neo-fascists" rather than post-Marxists who think indoctrination is more important than education. Despite the titty pics ("Megan Fox Wet Dress"), Pravda is still living in the Soviet era, say, about, 1976.

JWP's got stuff.

Missed this one last week in the Gamera:
Payson Sheets, an anthropology professor at CU, insists the academic setting is not the place for Churchill and doubts whether another university would hire him.

“He should not be in a university, or college, or junior college or high school — any kind of teaching — where honesty, candidness and doing your own research is important,” Sheets said. “My suggestion is that he go into a profession like used cars or real estate, where no one expects honesty or candidness.”
And that's an anthropologist. Eat it, Maxie. Okay, one more, from the same piece:
Rachel Dobkin, who works at the Left Hand Book Store in Boulder and has seen Churchill speak, said she agrees with Churchill’s decision to appeal and hopes he will continue to teach in some capacity.

“He is one of the most esteemed Native American scholars in the country,” Dobkin said. “To take teaching out of him would be like making Beethoven stop playing music. I don’t think a witch hunt in academia will keep him out of his life passion.”
Update: Dobkin, of course, is referring to Joe Beethoven, who plays a three-string guitar on the Pearl Street Mall and has been arrested several times for shitting in store doorways.

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