Academic Freedom 9/9
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
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In Defense of Academic Freedom, Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago 12 October 2007
Dr. Norman Finkelstein, author of Image and Reality of the Israel Palestine Conflict, The Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah
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By McGehee, Michael at Jan 30, 2008 07:00 AM
i couldnt agree more with Norman.
the comedy of comity is absurd.
I think the ones who bend over backwards with pleasantries and try not to be in-your-face appear (and maybe are) weaker and that their argumentative points are drowned in comity. So, when a point needs to be made, when an example or precedent needs to be set, I am of the persuasion that the intensity helps reach more people with raw emotion. I guess that is why the best orators are zealots. People respond more to those who are outspoken.
Of course there is a downside to it. Like anything, the tactic can be used for good or bad purposes. A baseball bat can be used to play a harmless game or it can be used to beat someone over the head. Another example would be to look at Adolf Hitler… His speaking skills were clearly inciteful.
Being painfully and bluntfully honest and being able to back up those statements that can be uncomfortable or disrupting to others sensibilities is a quality trait.
All of this hinges on what our values are. Do we cherish things like honesty or do we succumb to the subservience of dogmas?
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