Colorado State University Shames Itself
TownHall | Dennis Prager | October 9, 2007
On Sept. 21, 2007, the editorial board of the Colorado State University student newspaper decided to publish a four-word editorial. Apparently finding the traditional mode of expressing ideas — arguing a case in a few hundred words — too demanding, they instead wrote four words: “Taser this … F— Bush.” Needless to say, they spelled out the F word.
The “Taser” referred to the police using a stun gun on a student at the University of Florida who refused to relinquish the microphone to other students at a speech at the university given by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. (How George Bush is connected to the use of a Taser on a left-wing student interrupting a speech by a left-wing anti-Bush senator was never explained by the editor.)
When universities were governed by people — either liberals or conservatives — who valued civilization i.e., before the contemporary left took over the universities, such an “editorial” was inconceivable. It would have been regarded as the work of moral and intellectual idiots whose political philosophy, to the extent that they had any, was anarchism.
But not today. It cannot be stated often enough that our universities generally are run by fools who are breeding a generation of fools. There are, of course, many exceptions, but these exceptions have little impact on the deconstruction of civilization and the breeding of anti-intellectuals taking place at our universities.
The more one knows about what happened at Colorado State University the more this grim assessment of our universities makes sense.
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1 comment Monday 15 Oct 2007 | Blog-Editor | Culture war |
I agree that the University has shamed itself and failed it’s students, but perhaps for different reasons.
There is an argument to be made that the Bush administration has moved to curtail personal freedoms in a manner threatening to our democracy. The last six years have indeed seen ominous increases in spying on innocent Americans, police brutality directed at unarmed antiwar protesters, restrictions on freedom of speech and protest, warrentless wiretaps and incidents of unjustified use of the taser weapon by police. People have been roughed up and beaten for wearing anti-war T-Shirts and forcibly removed from public events. If the link between Bush and the Taser incident isn’t clear to Prager it’s because he is trying to isolate those events from their context and background. Bus’s declaration that “You are either with us or you are with the terrorists” was a declaration to authorities of open season to beat and harrass anyone who questions his policies.
Colleges and Universities, however are supposed to elevate their students by teaching them how to analyze and articulate concepts and ideas. The university student newspaper should be a showcase for the skills that student’s are supposedly btaining. It’s publications should reflect a thoughtful and intellectual tone. The mono-syllabic, offensive scatology utilized by the CSU newspaper editors is not acceptable as a form of communication to be employed by people with college educations discussing an issue of public policy in an official publication.
The University also allowed the student newspaper editors to fail themselves. They failed to communicate the reason for their anger or persuade their audience to support their position. A thoughtful, well written editorial clearly explaining Bush’s alarming pattern of behavior and the threat it poses to our democracy would have been much more compelling, effective and appropriate.