Lynne Cheney's Taliban and the New Political Correctness
xofpi
ON CAMPUS
Conservatives denounce dissent
By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff, 11/13/2001
A conservative academic group founded by Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice
President Dick Cheney, fired a new salvo in the culture wars by blasting 40
college professors as well as the president of Wesleyan University and others
for not showing enough patriotism in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
''College and university faculty have been the weak link in America's response
to the attack,'' say leaders of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in a
report being issued today. The report names names and criticizes professors for
making statements ''short on patriotism and long on self-flagellation.''
Several of the scholars singled out in the report said yesterday they felt
blacklisted, complaining that their words had been taken out of context to make
them look like enemies of the state.
''It's a little too reminiscent of McCarthyism,'' said Hugh Gusterson, an
associate professor of anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He was named in the report for his comments at a campus peace rally
where he made a connection between American suffering after Sept. 11 and the
suffering in war-torn Afghanistan.
''This kind of document reminds me of the Soviet Union, where officials weren't
satisfied until 98 or 99 percent of people voted with them,'' Gusterson said.
Lynne Cheney, who was a powerful voice for conservative intellectuals as chief
of the National Endowment of the Humanities during the first Bush
administration, is not an author of the new report. But it is peppered with
quotations stating her views, and it was prepared by two close allies. She was
until recently the chairwoman of the council, a private nonprofit organization
based in Washington. Her agenda - to promote Western civilization and American
culture as the bedrocks of US education - continues to guide the group's
activities.
The report lists 117 comments or incidents as evidence that campuses are hostile
to the US government and out of step with most Americans who, according to
polls, support the war in Afghanistan. ''Indeed,'' the report says, ''the
message of much of academe was clear: BLAME AMERICA FIRST.''
While there have been some campus antiwar protests recently - such as the
burning of two American flags at Amherst College - these have been relatively
rare, and most were criticized by college officials concerned about other
students and alumni who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Anne Neal, an author of the report and council official, said that while she is
sure many professors and students support the US government, they are afraid
that if they speak out, liberal colleagues might shout them down.
''For the most part, public comments in academia were equivocal and often
pointing the finger at America rather than the terrorists,'' Neal said. ''It's
hard for non-tenured professors to speak up when there's such a chorus on the
other side.''
Among the scholars named in the report, however, several said yesterday the
council was carrying out its own political agenda: painting higher education as
a bastion of political correctness and trying to silence any criticism of the
Bush administration.
''These kinds of attacks will only discourage professors from speaking out and
opening up dialogues about what's happening overseas, and why,'' said Kevin
Lourie, a professor at the Brown University School of Medicine.
The council cited Lourie for writing, in a Brown news service opinion article,
that the United States may be ''paying an accumulated debt for centuries of
dominance and intervention far from home.'' Lourie said he was attempting to
explain how other nations and societies may view the United States.
Douglas Bennet, the president of Wesleyan, was named for a Sept. 14 letter to
the Wesleyan community. The letter condemned the terrorist attacks, but the
council singled out one passage in which Bennet voiced his concern that
''disparities and injustices'' in American society and the world can lead to
hatred and violence, and that societies should try to see the world ''through
the sensitivities of others.''
Bennet complained that the report's authors took his comments out of context. He
said that he strongly supports the Bush administration's response to the
terrorist attacks and that an American flag has hung on the door of his house
since Sept. 11.
''I don't know where this group gets off extracting language from my
statement,'' Bennet said. ''They're trying to perpetuate cliches that belong to
an earlier era. I don't think it'll wash - we all have important, real work to
do as a nation.''
D.G. Porter
>
> http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/317/nation/Conservatives_denounce_dissent+.shtml
>
> ON CAMPUS
>
> Conservatives denounce dissent
>
> By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff, 11/13/2001
>
> A conservative academic group founded by Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice
> President Dick Cheney, fired a new salvo in the culture wars by blasting 40
> college professors as well as the president of Wesleyan University and others
> for not showing enough patriotism in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
Lynn Cheney eats with her butt.
Lou
absolutely NO PROBLEM making lists of conservatives and so called "anti
environmental organizations", but holy shit, you just piss and moan when a
conservative points at a liberal.
Piss off
xofpi wrote in message ...
>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/317/nation/Conservatives_denounce_dissent
Lou
D.G. Porter wrote in message <3BF2EB...@pacbell.net>...
>xofpi wrote:
>>
>>
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/317/nation/Conservatives_denounce_dissent+
D.G. Porter
>
> and your ass sucks buttermilk...so what?
You eat with your butt too.
Details to follow tonight at 10 PM on Comedy Central.
xofpi
> Look facist, can you say FIRST AMMENDMENT? You and your kind have
> absolutely NO PROBLEM making lists of conservatives and so called "anti
> environmental organizations", but holy shit, you just piss and moan when a
> conservative points at a liberal.
>
> Piss off
I can say and support the first amendment. I can't support attempts to
blackball academics for their beliefs, which is what Mrs. Cheney's
Taliban is attempting to do.