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4/15/2003 01:45:00 PM | Timothy StudentsDefendDeGenova(at hotmail dot com) I have been trying to work rather than blog on De Genova, but I saw 4 or 5 posters from a group called Columbia Students for Free Speech. Here's what I got a chance to write down (emphasis in original): Personally I hope for a million De Genovas!!We at Columbia Students for free speech would like to heartily applaud Prof. De Genova for his uncommon courage and conviction in protesting the Iraq war, and for being the only example of true dissent in this country right now.Commentary later. There were other posters talking about free speech and Congress trying to take action against De Genova, but with phrases like "culturally fascist intolerance for dissent" and a democracy means "plurality not univocality." One of the poster headings that I liked reading said: "Should a person be killed for expressing an opinion? Is that what we mean when we say we live in a 'democracy'?" Actually let me comment on something now: This 'stop the war by any means necessary' is to my mind incoherent. If they mean that literally, they are idiots (I assume they wouldn't support stopping the war by Bush's generals winning it quickly... what objective are they looking for, and do they really think, say, violence in the U.S. would be acceptable for accomplishing it?) A lot of other speakers at the teach-in did not support the war in part because Bush and the neo-cons seemed hell bent on overthrowing Saddam BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, regardless of the cost. If De Genova's defenders really endorse a pseudo-mirror image of this, it is no wonder other professors at the speak-in wanted to rightly distance themselves from De Genova's comments. For whatever reason, De Genova chose to use loud, provactive rhetoric. I charitably suspect his defenders also use imprecise langauge and rhetoric meant to show that we should not be patriotic at ALL costs: maybe they mean not that all means are acceptable, but more means than are being used now. It is interesting that students defending De Genova are not only defending his right to free speech (bastard Republicans who signed Hayworth's letter), but the basic content of his ideas. But if these students wanted to defend him, more slogans that if taken literally are 'hard to agree with' (to say the least) are probably not the best way to go. It adopts a similar strategy to De Genova's apparent strategy at the teach-in: to get attention you have to be provocative. That may be true, and if so it is sad and a commentary on the state of discourse, but remember that De Genova felt he never got his message across, and other similar acts will be liable to 'misinterpretation'. And I'll have more to say about later. perma link |
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