It is damnably hard not to angrily condemn the Islamic terrorists in
France this day. But, while all these recent incidents are horrifying, before
we get high and mighty with a host "je suis Charlie" and issue blanket "we are
better than them" condemnations of Islam, we should stop, take a breath, slow
down, reflect, and learn. I've already read, "We don't shoot and kill like
Islamists when we disagree with someone." Some of us don't? We just had a
bombing of NAACP offices in Colorado Springs a couple of days ago. Without
going back to the Crusades or the religious wars of the Reformation or to
pogroms against the Jews or the "Gangs of New York" or SLA, without referring
to signs "Italians (aka Catholics) need not apply" or "No Jews Allowed," do a
lot of us always converse openly, respectfully, and civilly with people of
different faiths, or do too many of us often take the high ground for
ourselves, pontificate, insult, accuse, and condemn? We don't have our share
of puerile, simplistic, fundamental biblical literalists quoting scripture left
and right in support of their intolerant views and actions, condemning to hell
left and right those who disagree with them? We shouldn't forget the equally
home-grown intolerance bombings of abortion clinics, killing of abortion
doctors, beatings of homosexuals, burning of Korans, demonizing of
transgenders; we shouldn't forget white supremacists, anti-feminists,
anti-semites, anti-Catholics, and, of course, the KKK, all of whose
close-minded stands and actions were and are self-valdiated in the name of
their version of Christianity.
But, there's something else, something that's been sitting in my craw
for the last nine months or so, something that is part of this story. I want
us to think about a crime that too often is regrettably being committed on our
campuses. That crime is an intolerant and disrespectful strangulation of
debate, debate that is essential to reminding each of us who we are and what
are our beliefs. By that I mean, are our campuses really open-minded? Are
they really bastions of free expression? Are they really trading posts for an
exchange of ideas? Do they really give a wide latitude in allowing
disagreeable, even offensive, speech? How long do you think a satirical
publication such as Charlie Hebdo would last on any campus?
I want us to think of all those commencement invitations that were
stridently attacked last May and June by the holier-than-thou, close-minded,
and self-exaggerated who were offended by the views and positions of the
invited speakers and demanded that they be denied a podium. I want us to think
about, as David Brooks reminded us in his column yesterday, the plague of all
those cowardly administrative disinvitations of commencement speakers this past
spring.
All this has taken me back to a June micro-furor on my campus in which
childish, arrogant, and self-righteous groups loudly protested against an
invitation issued to the ultra-conservative Ben Carson to speak at VSU in
September. Filled with self-puffery, they resorted to close-minded,
disrespectful insult. He was labeled, "branded" is a better word, "attacked"
is still a better word, a "conservative darling" and the "dr. of division." A
call was made for the President of the University to display "assertive
leadership" and withdraw the invitation. And, he did display "assertive
leadership, for unlike on other campuses where the authorities caved in and
withdrew commencement invitations, our President refused. Rightly so, I say.
These people were just plain wrong. Agree with Carson's stands or not, we
should stand up for free expression on our campuses. As Sun Tzu said, "If
ignorant of both your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril."
And, even if you disagreed, you were, at least, better informed. Nothing is
learned with ear plugs and blind folds, or an ostrich stance.
The one labeling attack on Ben Carson was interesting: he was "affront
to academe." Why? Because he was a conservative? Because some people didn't
like or disagreed with his pronouncements? The real affront to academe was
the close-minded call to bar him a campus podium. You know, when we talked of
diversity, we initially meant racial diversity. Then, we added gender
diversity. And, then, we added sexual preference diversity. To these we added
ethnic diversity and a host other differences. We talk of the diversity this
and the diversity that. We say diversity does all great things for each of us,
that it expands our world by meeting and entering other worlds, that it forces
us to reflect and articulate the "why" of our thinking. It does all of that.
If this true, and I believe it is, we must embrace another diversity, one too
often greeted with closed door inhospitality: diversity of thought, a
diversity of belief, a diversity of all kinds of religious, cultural, social
and political stands.
This past year my campus was celebrating "50 Years of Inclusion." It
is a celebration limited to racial integration. It should been expanded to
include and embrace all who knocked on our doors to enter. If our campuses are
truly Ivory Towers with lowered bridges for all to enter, they must be down for
other forms of thought. The real test of supporting the right of free speech,
that corner stone of American democracy, is defending and allowing the presence
of expressions when you think such thoughts are different, disagreeable,
indefensible, unsupportable, offensive, and detestable. Never have I seen in
that First Amendment’s eloquent terseness, "Congress shall make no
law....abridging the freedom of speech," anything said with adjectives such as
convenient, comfortable, appropriate, agreeable, inoffensive, untroubling,
acceptable. Were our Founding Fathers to have imposed such restricting and
imprisoning and subjective adjectives on speech, that portion of the First
Amendment would be hollow.
We all need challenge to our own too often closed certainty, challenges
that chisel at those things we have set in stone. We need to realize that no
one and no one group possesses all the truth and wisdom, we all should have an
openness to the experience of the other. To be sure, it makes for a more messy
place. But, then, what do we want? Neatness? Commonality? Oder? Peace?
Uniformity? Conformity? Certainty? Imposition? Or, do we want freedom,
skepticism, inquiry, individuality, and authenticity. Think how poorer would we
have been if we didn’t have those who got under our skin, pushed our buttons,
tweaked our noses, got us mad, needled us, gave us pause to reflect, and caused
us--forced us--to articulate. How much farther would we be from the ideals of
American values.
Ever read Dale Carnegie's HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE? I
think many on my campus, and others as well, should. We all would be better
off not starting off with a self-righteous, arrogant, and closed "I am right"
and "you are wrong." Instead, we should humbly stop talking and start
listening; we should begin with a little humble "let's hear what you have to
say," a bit of acknowledging our own fallibility, and a praise for the
something about the other side. We should cut ourselves a little slack. Maybe
we should say in word, thought, and deed about us and them, "our guys got some
things wrong," "we were wrong about this," "your guys got some things right."
"you were right about that." We'd all be better off having a civil
conversation then a verbal pie throwing fight. By that I mean doing more
respectful, sincere, and open listening and reflecting than close-minded
talking, finger pointing, and pontificating. We would be better off overcoming
close-mindedness. We'd be better off respecting and learning something from
the other person with whom we differ. We would have been better off if people
avoided the dynamic of combatants, had praised for the other guy, and
acknowledged that no one has the perfect answer.
What we need is a truly fusion academy when we can taste all sorts of
foods for thought and then make an informed decision for ourselves what suits
our palate.
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier
http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta, Ga 31602
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