Hear No Evil
An
Open Letter to the Professors of the Departments of Women's & Gender Studies and Writing and Rhetoric,
Syracuse University:
The citizenry is drowning in
hagiography, which is why I make it a point not to add to it.
One of your colleagues, Minnie Bruce Pratt, attracted my attention this week via Poetry Magazine. Statements she’s made incited me to sketch a
cartoon with her regard. It is posted
with this letter on The American
Dissident blogsite (wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com). Hopefully, one or even several of you might
actually be sufficiently curious to examine the uncomfortable truths depicted
in it. The crux of the criticism
concerns Pratt’s assertion of wanting a socialist revolution. But there she sits comfortably enjoying
privilege under the current capitalist system, which also designates her as an
“eminent poet.” How strange, I’d thought: a revolutionary with established-order
chevrons and laurels.
The problem
with the so-called women’s liberation is that purported liberators like Pratt
have mostly been coopted by the established order, especially in the realm of
politics and academe. Hillary stands as
prime example of that sellout. After
all, what does it matter if a hack is female or male? Ah, but the old Sixties feminists a la Pratt
are quite contented with their positions in the established order. Hypocritically, they remain shamefully PC-silent
regarding, for example, Islam’s inherent misogyny. How disgusted I was to see the photo of feminist
Hillary wearing a hiyad head scarf in full solidarity with misogynist Islamists!
On
another note, Syracuse University, which pays you quite nicely (to turn a
not-so-nice blind eye) boasts of being a bastion of freedom of speech (“Syracuse University is committed to
the principle that freedom of discussion is essential to the search for truth
and, consequently, welcomes and encourages the expression of dissent.”), while
simultaneously and hypocritically restricts that very freedom (see http://thefire.org/spotlight/schools/1143). For this, the Foundation for Individual
Rights in Education designated the institution a red-light university. “A
red light university has at least one policy that both clearly and
substantially restricts freedom of speech,” notes the Foundation. Therefore, I ask why you have done nothing at
all (turned a blind eye) to question and challenge—for the sake of your
students!—that shameful situation, or if you have done something—and I’d be
quite surprised—please let me know what the results were and inform the
Foundation of your efforts.
Finally, my
experience questioning and challenging academics over the past several decades underscores
the likelihood that just one of you will actually deign to respond and engage
in vigorous debate, cornerstone of democracy, is next to nil. So, the true purpose of this letter is not to
provoke a response from you—though hopefully it will educate you… a contrecoeur—, but rather to form part
of the public record. Thanks to the
Internet, this criticism of you and your university will be posted.
BTW, this letter
has also been forwarded to the student editors of The Daily Orange, though again my experience underscores that even
they will likely be nothing more than your ideological shadows and will also
likely not respond—thus has become higher education in America today.
PS: Please do
consider asking your library to subscribe to The American Dissident. Your
students might find the no-holds-barred, non-ideological criticism
refreshing. Perhaps, however, students
are not your real top priority, despite the usual proclamations. Institutional subscribers include Harvard University,
Buffalo University, Brown University, John Hopkins University, University of
Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Endicott College and, amongst others, New
York Public Library.
Thank
you for your attention.
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