Remember when Senator Santorum said that having the right
to consensual gay sex was equivalent to a father having the right to rape his
daughter? How about when bestselling author and frequent Fox News guest Ann
Coulter expressed regret that Timothy McVeigh did not blow up the New York Times
Building or when she urged America to invade Muslim nations, kill their leaders,
and convert everyone to Christianity? I don’t think I have room to include all
the vile diatribes that have spewed forth from Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh,
Jerry Falwell, Jesse Helms, Michael Savage, and the rest of the hatemongers who
hold high political office or maintain widespread journalistic or religious
influence.
It doesn’t matter what I think about the statements made
about 9/11 victims in University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill’s essay,
although I do think they are severely flawed logically, rationally, and
ethically. I also think that Churchill’s various writings, particularly those
dealing with the struggles of indigenous peoples, for whom he has fought for as
much as any activist, are highly sophisticated, insightful, and inspiring.
But that doesn’t matter to most Americans and apparently
neither does free speech. The backlash against Churchill has exceeded the
appropriate criticisms and instead has threatened his professorship and his
right to voice his opinion. Governor Pataki of NY, Governor Owens of CO, the
Board of Regents, and hordes of pundits have demanded that he be fired and have
labeled him a terrorist supporter (if only he were the football coach at CU who
criticized the female player who made multiple rape allegations and who was
involved in sex party recruitment scandals, then he’d have hundreds of parents
and students defending him).
Professors and scholars at Wesleyan and in all academic
institutions should be terrified of voicing unpopular opinions. Academic
scholarship in this country takes a backseat to the party line and simplistic
platitudes about “democracy,” “freedom,” and “liberty.” The corporate media,
religious right, and political leaders seem to have a monopoly on hate speech -
as long as it doesn’t sound “un-American,” it’s okay. The criticism appropriate
for Churchill’s essay is nothing compared to the criticism that should fall on
the hypocritical, anti-civil liberty crusaders who may not agree with what he
says, and will fight to the death to deny his right to say it.