A Forum for Vigorous Debate, Cornerstone of Democracy

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A FORUM FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND VIGOROUS DEBATE, CORNERSTONES OF DEMOCRACY
[For the journal--guidelines, focus, etc.--go to www.theamericandissident.org. If you have questions, please contact me at todslone@hotmail.com. Comments are NOT moderated (i.e., CENSORED)!]
Encouraged censorship and self-censorship seem to have become popular in America today. Those who censor others, not just self, tend to favor the term "moderate," as opposed to "censor" and "moderation" to "censorship." But that doesn't change what they do. They still act as Little Caesars or Big Brother protectors of the thin-skinned. Democracy, however, demands a tough populace, not so easily offended. On this blog, and to buck the trend of censorship, banning, and ostracizing, comments are NEVER "moderated." Rarely (almost NEVER) do the targets of these blog entries respond in an effort to defend themselves with cogent counter-argumentation. This blog is testimony to how little academics, poets, critics, newspaper editors, cartoonists, political hacks, cultural council apparatchiks, librarians et al appreciate VIGOROUS DEBATE, cornerstone of democracy. Clearly, far too many of them could likely prosper just fine in places like communist China and Cuba or Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Russia, not to mention Sweden, England, and Austria.
ISSUE #47 PUBLISHED MAY 2024. NOW SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR ISSUE #48.

More P. Maudit cartoons (and essays) at Global Free Press: http://www.globalfreepress.org

Sunday, July 23, 2023

Jeffrey Sachs

 


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From: George Slone

Sent: Saturday, December 3, 2022 8:00 AM

To: jeffrey.sachs@acadiau.ca <jeffrey.sachs@acadiau.ca>

Subject: Your FIRE article

 

To Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Politics, Acadia University:

Well, I spent most of my working life as a failed academic… and I’d have it no other way.  In each institution employing me, I spoke rude truth openly.  And of course each institution eliminated me for doing so.  FIRE never did help me in my diverse higher ed battles.  Hell, I even battle way back when with its founder.  


In any case, your FIRE criticism, “Everyone’s Wrong About FIRE," was interesting and perhaps unusual too. Keep in mind that the Chronicle of Higher Education is itself an organization that censors unwanted opinions.  It certainly will NOT publish anything I send it.  Yes, I have been openly critical of its editors. 




Anyhow, I would add to your FIRE critique several thoughts.



If a college has a green light FIRE designation, that is essentially de jura.  The de facto reality might of course be quite different.  Another FIRE problem is that the organization does not address criticism with its regard.  It certainly has not addressed my criticisms (see attached cartoons, for example).  


For your chuckle, I attach my CM.  Imagine if I’d sent it to your university, for example.  The fundamental problem with academics is quite simple:  Career vs. Truth.


Anyhow, I enjoyed visiting Grand Pre on several different occasions and visit NS several times per year on my way to NL. 


Au plaisir,



G. Tod Slone (PhD—Université de Nantes, FR), aka P. Maudit, Founding Editor (1998)

The American Dissident, a 501c3 Nonprofit Journal of Literature, Democracy, and Dissidence

www.theamericandissident.org

wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com    

todslone@hotmail.com

217 Commerce Rd.

Barnstable, MA 02630


{No Response]




From: George Slone

Sent: Saturday, December 3, 2022 8:00 AM

To: jeffrey.sachs@acadiau.ca <jeffrey.sachs@acadiau.ca>

Subject: Your FIRE article

 

To Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Politics, Acadia University:

Well, I spent most of my working life as a failed academic… and I’d have it no other way.  In each institution employing me, I spoke rude truth openly.  And of course each institution eliminated me for doing so.  FIRE never did help me in my diverse higher ed battles.  Hell, I even battle way back when with its founder.  


In any case, your FIRE criticism, “Everyone’s Wrong About FIRE," was interesting and perhaps unusual too. Keep in mind that the Chronicle of Higher Education is itself an organization that censors unwanted opinions.  It certainly will NOT publish anything I send it.  Yes, I have been openly critical of its editors. 




Anyhow, I would add to your FIRE critique several thoughts.



If a college has a green light FIRE designation, that is essentially de jura.  The de facto reality might of course be quite different.  Another FIRE problem is that the organization does not address criticism with its regard.  It certainly has not addressed my criticisms (see attached cartoons, for example).  


For your chuckle, I attach my CM.  Imagine if I’d sent it to your university, for example.  The fundamental problem with academics is quite simple:  Career vs. Truth.


Anyhow, I enjoyed visiting Grand Pre on several different occasions and visit NS several times per year on my way to NL. 


Au plaisir,



G. Tod Slone (PhD—Université de Nantes, FR), aka P. Maudit, Founding Editor (1998)

The American Dissident, a 501c3 Nonprofit Journal of Literature, Democracy, and Dissidence

www.theamericandissident.org

wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com    

todslone@hotmail.com

217 Commerce Rd.

Barnstable, MA 02630


[No response]



Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Poet Laureate Ada Limon

Below is the front cover of the latest issue of The American Dissident, #45, published/distributed in May 2023.  Per usual, I sent it to those targeted in the sketch.   Normally, silence is golden for those (cogs of the establishment) who hate debate (i.e., democracy).  Surprisingly, I received one response, though it was not an intelligent one.  For the brief correspondence, see below.

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May 13, 2023, 7:05 AM

To Rigoberto Gonzalez,

Attached is a satirical aquarelle front cover depicting you and a few others.  Why not expose your students to it?  Hell, if you did that you wouldn't be a typical academic hack...

Au plaisir,

G. Tod Slone (PhD—Université de Nantes, FR), aka P. Maudit, Founding Editor (1998)

The American Dissident, a 501c3 Nonprofit Journal of Literature, Democracy, and Dissidence

www.theamericandissident.org

wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com

todslone@hotmail.com

217 Commerce Rd.

Barnstable, MA 02630



May 23, 2023, 3:43 PM

Sorry it’s taken me a bit to respond. I’m on leave. Anyway, where can I get a good print of this? I’d frame it and hang it in my office. 


Regards,

Rigoberto


Rigoberto González [rigonzal@newark.rutgers.edu]

Distinguished Professor of English

Director, Rutgers-Newark MFA Program in Creative Writing

43 Bleeker St.

Newark, NJ 07102



May 25, 2023, 7:50 PM

Hola Rigoberto,

Thanks for the response.  It is extremely rare for a professor to respond to my criticism.  That has been my decades-long experience.  Now, I have to wonder if you're joking, And if you're not, then perhaps you did not understand the aquarelle image.  

Au plaisir, 

G. Tod


[No further response]




Monday, July 3, 2023

Radical Teacher

Not sure if I've been shadow banned, so don't know if anyone ever looks at the blog.  So be it.  The following was sketched and shot out to the targets in 2020.  No response was ever received.  When radical becomes groupthink ideologue, it is no longer really radical, which demands a certain independence and courage… to break away from the herd, including the self-proclaimed radical herd.

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