Lefty Professors Crush Dissent
I know, so what else is new? :roll:
You regulars here know my distaste for “blog wars” and jumping into others’ but this is a definite exception–it goes way beyond de-linkings and other “blog war” nonsense.
Just look at this. Follow the links and read the comments. (Found via Dean Esmay.)
In a nutshell, Paul Deignan of Info-Theory commented at a left-wing “I’m a PhD!!!” blog, and all hell broke loose. The Bitch (hey, that’s what she calls herself) banned him–although he was simply (and politely) debating her points. (Couldn’t handle having your point of view challenged?)
Then some pathetic piece of leftard dung named Wally (Wallace) Hettle, an associate professor of History at the University of Northern Iowa, jumps in the middle of it and CALLS Deignan’s faculty advisors (Deignan is studying for his own PhD) to tell them he feels that Deignan is “threatening” and “stalking.”
Just look at the posts and comments. You tell me if that looks like threats or stalking. Of course, it isn’t; it’s just that Deignan had the NERVE! to debate a PROFESSOR! Note also that Wally drags out the expected ad hominem attacks, lacking any sort of argument in the debate. Typical lazy, mindless crap–I guess they let anyone teach at the University of Northern Iowa. Also indicative of this jerk’s intellectual prowess: he had to Google to find Info-Theory, even though it was linked in Deignan’s comments! Duh!
I sure as shi’ite wouldn’t want to be a student at Wally’s or Bitch’s universities; I’m sure they aren’t allowed to have opinions of their own.
This guy wants to interfere with someone’s REAL LIFE for civilly debating an issue on someone else’s blog. Unbelievable. No, actually, it’s unfortunately not unbelievable, but it IS infuriating, disgusting, outrageous. I challenge anyone to defend Wally’s actions.
Hey, Wally, you pathetic little moron, you want to come screw with my real life? Guess what–you’re going to have to call my mommy to tattle on me, because I’m one of those stay-at-home mothers you most likely deride.
UPDATE: Bitch PhD has deleted all traces of the above from the comment thread. Is this the kind of thing leftard trolls call “censorship!!!”? Heh.
JohnDewey says:
Professor Hettle’s attempt to harm Paul Deignan’s career is alarming. But it is not surprising. I’m finally getting around to reading Ann Coulter’s book “Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right”. I wish that someone could hold these liberals accountable for what they do, that someone could publicly ask them “Have you no sense of decency?”
The Anchoress » More free speech suppression by the “tolerant” says:
[...] But it’s a big leap to go from “I don’t much like this guy,” to “let me try to destroy his academic career” [...]
byrd says:
Apparently a bigger leap for some than for others.
Maureen says:
Wally is a total douchebag.
The irony of him accusing Paul of being threatening and then threatening him is perfect. I love it.
benning says:
And is anyone going after the professors in this? There are free speech orgs that will nail these cowards to the legal wall. Has anyone emailed Mike Adams? I’d bet he’d love to sinkhis teeth into this one!
The Politburo Diktat » Blog Archive » Saturday Morning Surfing and Blogging says:
[...] I followed the blog kerfuffle about one of Bitch’s commenters reporting Paul Deignan to his advisor. Beth summarizes. [...]
Rerum Novarum says:
Miscellaneous Threads for Reviewing…
Lefty Professors Crush Dissent (Beth Cleaver)
The above situation is not one that is surprising -indeed it has been a problem at colleges for a long time.{2}
Beth also has a fundraising project for the troops called Project Valor. Anyway, drop on…
UnapologeticAtheist says:
Just wanted to point out a few nuances you seem to have missed in your argumentation here:
1. Paul mentioned his PhD candidacy at Purdue as a way of underscoring his authority in the argument. This seems to have incensed Wally, who referred to himself as a “real professor” in return, as a way of highlighting the fact that Paul’s use of his title in advance of receiving it was just douchebaggery. Dr B on the other hand never, as far as I have seen, uses her title as anything more than a running joke. In other words, I suspect strongly that Wally didn’t care so much about Paul’s Republican leanings as he did about his use of the PhD title as a lever in an argument.
2. Wally claims to have done what he did because he received a hostile email from Paul, and combined with his tone against Bitch PhD in the blog comments, he worried that the guy’s manner was not indicative of the societal expectation of those who hold PhD’s. He says he forwarded the email to the guy’s professors, instead of posting it for public consumption. If there was no email then of course contacting the professors at Purdue was definitely douchebaggery on Wally’s part, but it’s a huge huge HUGE stretch to call it “indicative of the left”.
3. I’d like to point out that people, myself included, routinely disagree strongly with Bitch PhD on her blog, and she is never anything but polite about it so long as our tone remains respectful. Claiming this is a surpression of dissent ignores the way in which she has replied quite politely to those who have gone to her blog over this issue and (ACTUALLY politely) disagreed with her on everything from her summary of Alito to her position on abortion.
4. You say Wally sought to harm Paul’s career, but that seems a bit of an interpreitation that all-too-coincidentally favors your predisposed view of leftists. Another way to look at it, in lieu of having seen the email exchange yourself, is that Wally wrote to Paul’s professors so they might help coach him on the use of professional and respectful tones a hostile exchange, so that he might be a BETTER and more effective PhD in the future– which is, after all, the point of graduate school.
With these things in mind, don’t you think perhaps that you’re being a bit harsh in your rush judgements of things involved in this case?
Beth says:
1. “Paul mentioned his PhD candidacy at Purdue as a way of underscoring his authority in the argument. ” Sorry, but I didn’t and still don’t read it that way AT ALL. I guess we’re just going to have to agree to disagree on that one altogether.
2. “If there was no email then of course contacting the professors at Purdue was definitely douchebaggery on Wally’s part…”
Hostile email? I’ve exchanged emails and comments with Paul on previous occasions when we disagreed. Never were any of them hostile. If you look through Paul’s comment threads at his site–and find comments he’s left on others (Google), you’ll see that hostility and douchebaggery/vile comments would be wholly out of character. I am not privy to emails exchanged between Paul and Wally, but I’d be willing to bet money that Paul did nothing that was hostile or nasty.
3. I still think she was crass for deleting and banning Paul for his attempt at debate. You can argue that she didn’t like his tone, and that’s fine. If I take issue with a commenter’s tone, I’ll call them on it BUT as long as there is an actual discussion, I don’t ban or delete. There are plenty of left-wingers who read and comment here who DO get frustrated at my stubborn conservatism and have said things just like Paul said to BPhd. But like I said, I can live with it because 1) accusations like that don’t bother me since they’re bullshi’ite, and 2) as long as there’s civilized discussion, I’m ok with it. Maybe she needs to toughen up. Maybe he struck a nerve. I don’t know.
4. Here’s the clincher: “You say Wally sought to harm Paul’s career, but that seems a bit of an interpretation that all-too-coincidentally favors your predisposed view of leftists.”
I actually did exchange emails with Paul, and he said Wally DID contact his advisors, and, I quote: “No, he actually called. That’s the reason I am forced into a lawsuit. I am, in fact, looking for academic jobs and this threat unanswered and unretracted would be devastating.”
As far as my opinion of leftist professors go, I only go by my own experience and by what others like me have experienced. I was one of those students who’s changed majors and (because of my military career) changed schools numerous times. It’s not a myth. The truth is, if you are majoring in a social science and have strong right-of-center opinions, you either keep your mouth shut, or you’re disrespected and miserable. I even actually dropped a class because one professor (in an humanities class) said “I can’t believe YOU signed up for this class!” on the first day, when I had her for a second HUM class. And she wasn’t saying it like she was impressed at my liberal approach to debate, to say the least–more like “what the fuck are YOU doing here in my classroom?” I don’t need that shi’ite. I’m not even saying my grades suffered–they didn’t. I just don’t need the bullshi’ite that one has to endure to get through it. Why make education unpleasant? To keep conservatives out of the classroom? To keep conservatives from getting a college education?
To this day, I still haven’t finished my degree, because I wanted to major in a social science but I just don’t need the additional bullshi’ite. Life’s too short. Say what you will about my choices, but they’re mine and I’m happy with them. I can get, as Good Will Hunting said, the same education for $1.50 in late fees at the library (or at least the cost of buying my own books). So I don’t have the piece of paper. I’m just as happy (if not more so) without it.
Spam word: BOWL. As in, “Fuckit, Dude, let’s go bowling.” The Big Lebowski :wink: