Perspective and context are important when reading articles in websites and blogs, or when watching cable channels such as Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN. Activist groups are extensively covered by many of these outlets. These groups tend to be on the fringe, and are not representative of the larger population. Often their methods are abhorrent and extreme. The middle-east crisis engenders strong feelings on both sides, pro-Israel and pro-Palestine.
Once again, I feel compelled to respond to Mark Bennett’s newest commentary. I take issue with the unsupported statements regarding the left and liberals: “…the left has control of our universities, they have suspended democratic process and substituted physical violence.” And: “The Muslims have moved in and trained the left to their techniques. So-called liberal professors now cover up for misogyny.” These are opinions, not statements of facts. Fringe groups are not representative of the college community as a whole and certainly do not define it.
As support for these opinions we are offered articles published in FrontPage magazine. As someone with the curiosity to learn more about the things I read, I undertook a quick Wikipedia check. There are those who like to disparage Wikipedia, but its postings include linked references that can be verified. And I was especially curious after noting this on the FrontPage banner: “INSIDE EVERY LIBERAL IS A TOTALITARIAN SCREAMING TO GET OUT”. A website with that expressed point of view demands further investigation. And let’s be real- a totalitarian is defined as a person advocating a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state. I know a lot of liberals, and that is the last thing on their minds.
The Wikipedia posting regarding the commentary’s source offers some revealing perspective. For instance, I learned that FrontPage magazine (FPM) is an online conservative political website. Contributors to the site, besides Phyllis Chesler- the writer of the articles mentioned in your commentary- include Ann Coulter, Dick Morris, and Charles Krauthammer. in the past the magazine has honored the following as “FPM Man of the Year”:
2003: Allen West
2004: John O’Neill, head of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
2006: Convicted U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compeon
2009: Glenn Beck
2010: The Tea Party Movement
I learned that FPM is one of many enterprises contained within the David Horowitz Freedom Center. The Center is funded by a number of Foundations that support conservative organizations. Along with FPM, some others of these enterprises are:
* Discover the Networks, “a database of alleged left-wing agendas, activists and groups.”
- NewsRealBlog, “a team blog of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Its focus is to analyze and critique cable shows, newspapers, magazines, and the blogosphere to reveal the political Left's methods and agendas.
The author of the articles cited in Mr. Bennett’s commentary is a much-respected scholar and author. But she has garnered notice in the past with her polemical writing style. I learned in a Wikipedia posting about her that Publishers Weekly was critical of her 2003 book, The New Anti-Semitism. Their review noted that it “too often undercuts itself when its author intends to be provocative", citing lines such as ‘African-Americans (not Jews) are the Jews in America but Jews are the world’s ni**ers’ [asterisks mine], and concluded that ‘Chesler's tone and lack of intellectual rigor will not help her ideas to be heard by those who do not already agree with her’.”
I could go on, but anyone with a computer could do the same. No doubt the events described in Ms. Chesler’s article happened, and in no way am I implying that since they are written about in a conservative-leaning website they have been distorted. But knowing more now about FrontPage, I will endeavor to investigate the events surrounding the incident, and gain more understanding and perspective about them. I would encourage others to do the same. I refuse to believe that they are indicative of the left seizing control of our universities and promoting physical violence.
D. Norman
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ReplyDeleteResponse to The Importance of Perspective and Context
ReplyDeleteD. Norman has suggested that my “The Loyal Opposition Is Degenerating” ignores perspective and context. But what does he do by using the term “pro-Palestine”? Palestine only existed as geographic place and was never a nation until Yasser Arafat declared it so in a fit of Muslim anti-Semitism a few decades ago. The so-called Palestinians are the descendants of recent migrants from Jordan and Egypt who came there looking for work after the Jews created economic growth. The historic large Jewish population was removed by the Ottomans in the 1870’s, just before the resettlement began. Palestine is a charade when one examines the perspective and context.
He seems to take offense at FrontPage saying that inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out. Certainly there are many traditional liberals, as he states, that are liberal minded. But they mostly support the Liberal agenda, which since Roosevelt has meant the supremacy of the common good, as defined by the state, and are not in terms of actual public policy liberal minded at all. That is why an individual must face additional hardships or impossible barriers to achieve their calling because of some liberal’s affirmative action spreadsheet definition of the common good. How about when Obama and his cadre changed the citizenship exam question to Freedom of Worship from Freedom of Religion to conform to the former Soviet Union? Look at how this decision was made. I had thought liberals believed in discussion, debate and voting, but times have changed.
How about financial institutions paying essentially protection money to the federal government based on disparate impact without any real proof of discrimination? And this occurs while we also worry about their soundness. The article I posted talked about liberal professors covering up for misogyny. Are those liberal values? Any instructor not treating everyone equally and helping them be the best they can be is violating the most basic premises of our nation. When I was young I lived in a duplex with my great grandparents downstairs. The family wanted my folks there to look in on them, while they wanted my folks there to help them start out in life by living in their home. But the State of New York required my great grandparents to charge my parents rent. Certainly we can’t have the family exist as a threat to the state and the subservience of individuals dependent upon it. You don’t have to gulags to have a totalitarian state.
D. Norman objected to my statement “…the left has control of our universities, they have suspended democratic process and substituted physical violence…The Muslims have moved in and trained the left to their techniques.” He claimed that when I restated this specific factual incident as a generalization it was opinion. But it’s a realistic and dire warning given the situation.
I am a conservative, in the contemporary sense, because I believe that any improvement starts in the burning desire within an individual’s heart first and foremost, not in the play it safe attitude prevailing among government functionaries.
There are several statements contained in your above reply that misinterpret my words.
ReplyDeleteI was not suggesting that your commentary ignores perspective and context. Rather, I was making a general point that when anyone reads or watches something, knowing the sources cited should be considered. In your commentary, you point to two articles contained in an online magazine website. I was simply suggesting that it is important for your readers to know the point of view this site espouses.
I wasn’t “taking offense” at the website’s banner- I was simply pointing it out so the reader would take it into consideration as an example of its point of view.
I wasn’t using the term pro-Palestine in any other context than to acknowledge that groups with that point of view exist. I wasn’t claiming that there should or shouldn’t be such groups.
In addition, your reply does nothing to address my assertion that you made unsupported statements about the left and liberals. You seem to feel that your opinions are a suitable substitute for factual statements. If you were to have written something like: “It appears to me that the left has control of our universities, they have suspended democratic process and substituted physical violence.” And: “The Muslims have moved in and trained the left to their techniques, in my opinion”. And: “I contend that these so-called liberal professors now cover up for misogyny.” Let your reader know that you are expressing your opinions.