Oh just kill them already
Steven Shaviro, a professor of English at Wayne State University, has a modest proposal.
So here is what I think about free speech on campus. Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.
When right-wing groups invite such speakers to campus, it is precisely because they want to provoke an incident that discredits the left, and gives more publicity and validation to these reprehensible views than they could otherwise attain. The protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes; the national and international press has a field day saying that bigots are the ones being oppressed, rather than the people those bigots actually hate being the victims of oppression.
In short, every time protestors shout down a racist or transphobic speaker, they are indulging their own moral sense of validity at the expense of actually strengthening the very bigots against whom they are protesting.
The exemplary historical figure in this regard is Sholem Schwarzbard, who assassinated the anti-Semitic butcher Symon Petliura, rather than trying to shout him down. Remember that Schwarzbard was acquitted by a jury, which found his action justified.
Minor point first – funny kind of professor of English who writes “they are indulging their own moral sense of validity at the expense of actually strengthening the very bigots.” He means at the price of or the cost of; “at the expense of” doesn’t mean at the cost of, it means to the detriment or neglect of. “She went for a walk at the expense of doing her homework.”
Major point of course is cool cool cool, academic says it’s admirable to kill people with unapproved views, and lumps women who know what men are in with racists and genociders.
Now that I’ve looked up Sholem Schwarzbard, I see that it is at least arguable that Symon Petliura was responsible for murders of many Jews in pogroms in Ukraine.
Making a similar case against ‘transphobes’ is another matter.
Hoo boy. Genderism is de rigeur at most US colleges, but even so, this kind of open jihadism won’t fly. A hundred bucks says Professor Shaviro will soon deeply regret this exercise in virtue signaling, if he doesn’t already.
I don’t know…I don’t think he would have said it if it were risky.
People like Shaviro demonstrate, over and over, that violent, authoritarian assholes exist on both sides of the political fence. In a way, the rightwing fascists are almost better, in the sense that they don’t care about making a better society in general; they just want to be supreme over everyone else, and they’re not afraid to say so. The Shaviros of the world actually think that they’re doing Good, though. They think that they are morally sound, and that if their desires were fulfilled, the world would be more perfect and sublime. It is for this reason that I distrust my “peers” on the Left more than I do those weirdos on the Right. I know that I can at least take the weirdos at their word, because their actions reflect their spoken thoughts, so I’m not as afraid of them. I can duck a punch aimed at my face, but it’s hard to dodge a knife in one’s back.
That being said, the good, honest people on the Left far outshine the grumbly “Let’s Go Brandon” God, Family & Country types on the right. I don’t know what impulse or psychological need creates the Shaviros from out of that pool of basic integrity. I really don’t.
Yeah, you can afford to be a lot more confident and cocky if you know you’re numbered amongst those who get to do the killing. With the tables turned, I daresay he’d be amongst the first and loudest to voice a preference for being shouted down rather than literally shot down.
It’s nice to see academic freedom put to good use.
And murdering the political opponent won’t? Honestly, this is so moronic I wonder if it is actually a conservative person trying to discredit the left.
I can’t figure out what it is. It’s extremely bizarre.
From a f*cking professor.
Who literally makes his living with words.
Words that, by design, others don’t understand or agree with. (isn’t that was teaching is all about?)
Shall we advocate for (or at least “admire,” should it happen) his murder, then?
Mob mentality is a well-documented horror of human nature. Now that social media has brought it to the masses — no actual mob required — all that’s left is that final swoosh of the toilet as humanity gets flushed down the drain with the rest of the sh*t.
I guess I’m feeling especially curmudgeonly today.
There aren’t enough swears for my sour mood at this.
It turned my mood pretty sour too, along with the news from Auckland and so on. A long walk down the hill and back has helped.
My partner and I have just got over covid*. That, being wildly behind at work, and the events at Auckland left me feeling pretty down. So we went for a walk as well. Nothing like a bit of Bush, views of the lake, and some amateur fungus identification to lift the spirits for a bit.
* I’d give covid a google review of 1/5. Not recommended.
[…] Wayne State professor of English Steven Shapiro? Who said […]
DO SOMETHING. As long as the sh*t Shaviro is on tenure at Wayne then DO SOMETHING to stop that. Cite your hatred of his statement, the irony that he can’t debate when he’s trying to cultivate debate and positions, and WRITE HIS BOSS. It’s terribly easy to search “DeRoy college of English chair” and doubly easy to write said professor.
My favorite quote to Ms. Hartwell-Yes, you need to LITERALLY WRITE THE CHAIR of the English Dept.:
“From an outsider’s perspective all it seems that Wayne has done is to censure and suspend him. Anybody supporting the death or murder of innocent people should NOT be employed as a professor anywhere at any time. Shaviro’s personal, and sick, approach isn’t something that a counselor will work to draw out of his little bald skull via counseling…his beliefs seem to be a pillar of his personality and a deep-seated belief. He seems more fascist in his writing and belief than those he seeks to stop. He cites a dissident against Nazi history…do you believe we live in such a fascist time that said actions are even remotely justified? By keeping Shaviro you tend to be guilty by association as does Wayne.”
Even if he feels justified to say his nonsense among a group of equal feeble-minded fools, join me and he’ll soon be pulling from his 403b instead of pulling a salary and spreading his vile thoughts.
I wouldn’t normally play this dirty without such a vile start so yeah, I’ll say it clearly, Shaviro SHOULD BE FIRED. And that, my friends, would be karma. Once again…DO SOMETHING.