No More Pies
| By halperindavid - Apr 8th, 2005 at 9:49 am EDT |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
I agree with our intern Marcus -- stop throwing pies and other food at right wing campus speakers. It's violent, scary, and intolerant. It's also a waste of perfectly good pie. And you know that those guys will send their dry cleaning bills to your school, and your tuition will rise.
Pat Buchanan, David Horowitz, and William Kristol all have been hit in the past 10 days, and it's enough. The correct response to speech with which you disagree -- whether hateful, offensive, outrageous, distorted, or false -- is better, smarter speech: tough, serious arguments and heavy doses of the truth.
I like a good, loud stunt as much as the next guy. I also have provided legal representation and advice to Greenpeace more than once in the past few years when authorities tried to crack down in a harsh and unprecedented manner on bold but peaceful protest.
But throwing things at people's heads and bodies is violence. It weakens your case and strengthens your opponents.
David Halperin
Director, Campus Progress
Pat Buchanan, David Horowitz, and William Kristol all have been hit in the past 10 days, and it's enough. The correct response to speech with which you disagree -- whether hateful, offensive, outrageous, distorted, or false -- is better, smarter speech: tough, serious arguments and heavy doses of the truth.
I like a good, loud stunt as much as the next guy. I also have provided legal representation and advice to Greenpeace more than once in the past few years when authorities tried to crack down in a harsh and unprecedented manner on bold but peaceful protest.
But throwing things at people's heads and bodies is violence. It weakens your case and strengthens your opponents.
David Halperin
Director, Campus Progress
!
Comments are closed for this post.
bode well to criticize recent behaviour as
characteristic of the immaturity and illogic of
those one opposes by engaging in the same
behavior.
However I am a bit curious. Is there going to be
moral outrage over the fact that the pies used
were NOT in fact--as American as Apple Pie??
And perhaps most importantly, were any of the
airbourne pies of the French Silk variety?? If so,
we would have to put up with another week of
self-righteous conservative indignation and the
absurdity of wiping this delicious dessert's name
from the American lexicon.
Yes, as momentarily satisfying as it was to hear,
it is also true that throwing away such a delicacy
is morally and ethically just plain wrong.
Peace...
vitality
I actually don't think the positives outweigh the negatives, but I wanted to speak up for those out there who hold to the maxim "there is no such thing as bad publicity."