URLs du Jour

2017-04-29

■ We open up a new chapter in Proverbs with 26:1:

Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.

Let's go through the list of Kennedy Center Honors and start scratching out the fools: Carole King, Shirley MacLaine, Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger, … Oh, wow, too easy.

■ Jonah Goldberg writes a corrective history column this week: Berkeley Didn’t Birth ‘Free Speech,’ but It Seems Intent to Bury It. What should be obvious: "free speech" had a long and deep tradition in classical liberalism. And Mr. Free-Speech-Movement Mario Savio was a raging leftist who urged his followers to oppose liberal democratic capitalism by "put[ting] your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels . . . upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop!"

Whatever legacy Savio has for the cause of free speech is dead, but this mindset lives on. The rioters and goons — along with their pusillanimous enablers in the administration — are carrying on this tradition. It is a tradition that says this is our sacred place and anyone not loyal to our faith must be resisted, rejected, and renounced. All the talk of “hate speech” is clever marketing — like the label the “Free Speech Movement” itself.

Well, the "hate speech" marketing is showing itself to be less clever day by day.

Mr. Ramirez also comments on UCB:

[Berkeley Trophy Room]

■ Andrew Klavan visited Oberlin, got heckled, and observed The Cruelty of the Academic Left.

Observation shows and science confirms that a young person's brain does not fully mature until age 25. Your college years should be years in which your mentors train you to integrity, reason, self-confidence and broad-mindedness. Instead, the bullying leftists of academia are betraying their charges for the purpose of imposing their political view.

Shame on them.

Unfortunately, they're shameless.

■ Another weekend, another march, and (at Reason) Ronald Bailey looks at the upcoming Peoples Climate Movement March for Jobs, Justice and the Climate. Looking at the unintentional hilarity of the "march line-up":

The pre-march line-up confirms the organizers' social justice aspirations. Heading off the parade are the "protectors of justice," which includes native youth and youth of color, the indigenous women's delegation, and Black Lives Matter activists, among others. Next up are the "creators of sanctuary," which includes immigrants, LGBTQI, women, Latinos, Waterkeepers, and food sovereignty and land rights marchers. Third in line stand the "builders of democracy," who are representatives from labor, government workers, voting rights, and democracy organizations. The fourth contingent is the "guardians of the future," who speak for kids, parents, elders, youth, students, and peace activists. Fifth come the "defenders of the truth," representing scientists, educators, technologists, and the health community; sixth are the "keepers of faith," consisting of religious groups. The "reshapers of power" are seventh: anti-corporate, anti-nuclear, anti­–fossil fuel, and pro–renewable energy activists, plus bicyclists and other transportation advocates.

The final place in the lineup is called "many struggles, one home." It's reserved for environmentalists, climate activists, the business community, and everyone else.

Waterkeepers? Well, shame on me for not keeping up with leftist taxonomy. Googling says it's a thing.

■ Steve MacDonald at Granite Grok notes political censorship at the University Near Here: UNH Employees Cannot Appropriate University Resources to Express Partisan Political Views. At issue were some Shepard Fairey posters in his recent "We the People" theme (you can check them out here) that an unidentified Memorial Union Building droid posted in the hallway. Which were subsequently removed by higher-ups. GG quotes the student paper:

“The ‘We the People’ posters were hung in the Memorial Union Building by an employee. While artwork posted in public spaces and meeting rooms in the MUB is done at the discretion of the building’s management team, UNH is a public university and employees cannot appropriate university resources to express partisan political views,” [UNH Director of Media Relations, Erika] Mantz said.

This is a topic I know something about. (I left a comment at GG as well.)

Erika is wrong (or, charitably, sloppy). Back when UNH used to host this very blog in its early years (full of political views, even back then) I sensibly made sure it was in compliance with official UNH policy . Faculty and employees operate under the same rules. There is no carve-out for "partisan" political views. You're OK as long as you make clear that you're not "speaking for the instutution." And, believe me, I was not.

The actual case here is a little more dicey, since the MUB hallways can be perceived as a place where the "institution" speaks for itself.

But—this is a point I've made before—I speculate that UNH administration is especially wary of parents on college tours getting the perception that the university is a hotbed of lefty indoctrination. That could well mean some lost tuition money, when Mom and Dad decide to send little Susie or Sammy to someplace less besotted with progressivism.

Or as they say: "When a fellow says, 'It hain't the money, but th' principle o' the thing,' it's th' money."


Last Modified 2024-02-02 4:51 AM EDT