Hat tip IPatriot and Middlebury Campus
This week, there was yet another disruption of a speaker invited to appear at a university. In this case, it was Charles Murray, who was invited to speak at Middlebury College in Vermont. There was also violence in that a professor suffered a neck injury while trying to escort Murray from the campus.
Aside from the obvious disrespect of the First Amendment, these mindless students once again demonstrated the sad state of academia these days. All too many of them are so brainwashed that they will not listen to alternative points of view-nor will they allow others to do so.
I know very little about Mr Murray and his views. I do know that he co-authored a controversial book some years ago called The Bell Curve. I have not read the book or even perused it. I understand it contained some negative comments about the mental capacity of blacks. If that is so, I would disagree strongly with it. I am a firm believer that if people are subjected to the same environment and nurturing, the results will come out pretty similar. Of course, if your biological father is Charles Manson, you might inherit some bad genes even if he is safely locked away in prison. Then again, I am no expert.
Since I became an activist, I have attended more presentations by people I disagree with than by those with whom I agree. I don't need to have my views affirmed by others. I would rather go to an event involving someone I can challenge. When I say challenge, I don't mean try to shout him or her down or shut down the event. I have listened to some pretty despicable (in my view) speakers. Sometimes, I come away with a knot in my stomach. I sit, listen, take notes, videotape if it is a public event, and write about here on my blog. I also try to formulate a question or challenge during the q and a. I know I am not going to change the mind of the speaker nor of his or her supporters, but I want to reach those in the audience who are undecided and curious-especially on college campuses like UC Irvine, where I taught for 18 years. Why should I not try to counter someone who advocates for the destruction of Israel or that America is a lousy country- a rather hard case to make since so many people are trying to come here and stay here.
But if I am going to reach the minds of those young people who are trying to figure out an issue, I have to respect the right of the speaker. What kind of impression do I make for my own point of view if I try to disrupt? Answer: The same impression those Middlebury students made this week. They couldn't sit and listen to Murray make his points then challenge him during the q and a. Maybe they don't have the intellectual capacity to do so.
This is a very scary generation of college students we are turning out these days. They are lacking in true knowledge especially of history. It only takes a Jesse Watters to ask these kids simple questions that any person of their age should know to prove it. If you are in college and don't know who we fought in World War II, something is wrong. It may be wrong with you or the so-called professors who have indoctrinated you. Yet,we have many college students walking around who don't know who we fought in World War II, let alone why we fought.
That's what Middlebury College is apparently turning out; kids who can only chant, "Hey Hey Ho Ho, Fill-in-the-blank has got to go".
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The really ludicrous thing is, the author of the original call to protest wrote that when he came to Middlebury he didn't know anything about structures of power. I seriously doubt that if he came to such an isolated and idyllic location knowing nothing about the structures of power, he has learned anything about them while he was there. I bet he's never taken a lead pipe in the face from a company goon even once in his life.
I have read Murray's book. I was working on an article on racism for a reference work and the editors wanted The Bell Curve discussed. To write about it, perforce, I had to read it. All of it, all the way through, just to write three paragraphs. Most of Murray's conclusions are dubious, but all he suggested was that the curves on IQ tests are slightly different. He freely admits that there are black geniuses and white morons. He also thinks that IQ is a significant measurement. Having been tested four times in the public schools, I know that my IQ is somewhere between 70 and 140, which shapes my thinking of how accurate a measurement it is.
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