Bradley Smith (seated)
"Education" rolls on at California State University at Fullerton where notorious Holocaust denier Bradley Smith is due to speak at the Titan Student Union (TSU)today.
http://yesbuthowever.com/holocaust-denier-9000001/
I wish I could drop everything and go over to Fullerton to give this idiot a few pointers. I might even lend him my copy of "Death Dealer", the memoirs of Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Hoess, who acknowledged it all in writing as he awaited the gallows after the war.
But enough about this idiot. My question is who at Cal State Fullerton is responsible for giving this boob a room to speak in? I can't wait to hear Ms Carmela Gomez's statement on this. Is it really true that a university has to accommodate every crackpot who walks in off the street and has something to say? What's next, some KKK guy who wants to say slavery never existed?
Kurt Borsting, the director of the TSU, was involved in the reviewing process of Smith’s contract.
“A university is a marketplace of ideas,” Borsting said. “Even when those ideas may be offensive.”
A flea market, perhaps?
I'll have more to say on this later after we find out more about who has facilitated this guy's appearance at CSF.
"A marketplace of ideas"! What a joke.
* Update: A friend called the university today and spoke to a spokesperson in the Community Relations Office to ask about the decision to rent the room to Smith. Reportedly, the official became quite defensive and hostile.
When I was a child, the students of a small private college where my father taught decided to invite George Lincoln Rockwell to speak. They didn't really believe in what he was said to have to say, but they thought it would be a lark to hear him. Most of the faculty signed a letter saying they disapproved, but respected the right of the students to invite him. Many of those faculty, including my father, picketed his appearance.
ReplyDeleteI remember the press coverage for the quote "You can't fight communism if you don't understand that it is Jewish. I am not saying that all Jews are communists, but I am saying that all communists are Jews." Yes, I know, even as a child I could have picked that one apart. But in light of current stereotypes, it is interesting to think on how that resonated in the days of the cold war...
If some student group wants to rent a room on campus and invite the guy to come speak, so what? If the university invited him as part of an academic program, that's a waste of money. But try to write a policy to exclude him, which would not be used by the biology department to prohibit a Christian student group from inviting the founder of Answers in Genesis to speak on campus, or by a Christian students group to prohibit the biology department inviting Stephen Jay Gould (when he was still alive).
Yes but where do we draw the line? Do we let some guy from the flat earth society to waste our time on campus?
ReplyDeleteThe flat earth guy does not get invited to speak in geology or astronomy class, unless the teacher has a credible plan to let the students see for themselves what a whacko he is, and ask him pointed questions. That might work, sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIf the Chowder and Marching Society wants to invite the flat earth guy, at its own expense, to speak at its annual beerfest, that's on them.
How about a middle school biology teacher who beyond teaching evolution, tells his students that they are foolih if they believe in any religion?
ReplyDeleteStay tuned.