For DIW readers in the Berkshires: Tomorrow afternoon Group of 88 stalwart Grant Farred will give a talk on the lacrosse case entitled, “Public Secrets, Public Scandals: The Event of Duke Lacrosse.” The talk is scheduled for 4.30pm, at Griffin Hall, Room 3,
One “public scandal” of this case, of course, was Farred’s behavior—the Literature professor published a pre-election op-ed accusing hundreds of Duke students of “secret racism” for the offense of . . . registering to vote in
Given that Farred’s talk seeks to expose “Public Secrets,” it would seem that he would be eager for as much publicity as possible. Yet it is my understanding that he rejected a request for his talk to be taped.
I would invite anyone who attends the talk to take notes, which I will post.
[Update, 9.25pm: JinC has some suggested questions for Farred.]
53 comments:
You would think these people would be apologizing for what they have done, but instead they are looking for ways to justify their actions by deconstructing their own statements. Unfortunately, there are only two possible explanations for the listening statement: 1) they rushed to judgment and forgot that that in this country you are innocent until proven guilty, or 2) that the statement (incredibly enough) had absolutely nothing to do with the lacrosse case and was simply making the case that Duke is full of racists. Unfortunately, these two positions can be summarized as 1) dumb and 2) dumber.
If Farred truly believes that Duke is full of racists, he should resign, explain why he has done so, and go teach somewhere else. Of course, he would then have to give the prestige and the salary of teaching at this supposedly racist institution, which is not so easy to do.
Thanks for continuing to follow and expose these Duke professors. Will the Duke board of trustees ever do the right thing in this case?
The dummy will probably just talk himself into a deeper hole.
If they just apologized for there actions there is a chance that it would just blow over. They are keeping the story alive by trying to justify the unjustifiable.
FYI digital recorders are very small and silent and can record undetected for transcript purpose.
I trust that someone will tape his talk.
I am sick and tired of those people. They are a complete embarrassement to Duke University. I can not believe someone with authority hasn't stopped them from talking. That is what the rest of the country is talking about still, not that there was a party with underage drinking, but a university that hung there very own students out to dry!!!Shame on them all!!!!!
There is absolutely no doubt he will obsess over the subject of victimization.
He is a victim.
Mangum is a victim.
The rest of the gang of 88 are victims.
I expect he'll say numerous broad generalizations about "oppressed black women being forced to take off their clothes for privileged white males".
********* APB *********
All posters and kibitzers who visit here, send e-mails to your network and your news shows of choice.
Send e-mails to Bill O'Reilly, Tucker, and any show that has shown reason and objectivity covering this case in the last year.
Let them know that Farred will be speaking and that they should send someone--it's only about a 3 hour drive from NYC--to Williams College.
Meghan Kendall would be a good one to send.
If cameras and the media are not allowed...since Farred is a typical Duke Gang of 88 fascist...then students can be interviewed and asked questions by the media on what was said.....and get their feedback.
The only way that people like the Duke 88, Bob Ashley, and others who refuse to conduct themselves like civilized human beings are going to pay is by constant scrutiny and illumination......embarrassing them for all to see.
Beat them to death with exposure of their indecency.
GO!
Debrah
Although I would love to follow in the brave footsteps of others involved in following the hoax and am in the area on a weekly basis attending my daughter's lacrosse games; unfortunately work takes precedence. I suppose with heightened awareness a disguise may be necessary. Just what does one wear to an "angry studies" get together. I'm afraid my business suits may be a bit too formal and khakis and a polo shirt may suggest an inappropriate idealogical bent. I hope someone can attend and report back.
I appreciate KC notifying us of supposed “public” occasions in which members of the Group of 88 will speak and I hope others can continue this function in the near future.
So “he [Farred] rejected a request for his talk to be taped.” Who is he to reject such a request? Surely, it is Williams College that is providing the venue for this presentation. Does Williams College say that his talk should not be taped? An answer to this question would be enlightening; perhaps there is still time to pose the question to the administration of this august institution.
I find it interesting that while free with his own public and absurd claims of “secret racism,” Farred suddenly becomes gunshy when faced with the possibility that his supposedly public remarks would be recorded. I guess the occasion must be just another teach-in on the case and Farred shares the evident aversion of his fellow travelers in the Group of 88 to public scrutiny of his views.
Diesel
Anonymous 3:23 said...
...Just what does one wear to an "angry studies" get together? I'm afraid my business suits may be a bit too formal and khakis and a polo shirt may suggest an inappropriate idealogical bent. I hope someone can attend and report back.
::
Your outer garments will not be especially important but I do suggest that your under garments follow combat regulations from our armed forced in Iraq.
Under Armour is highly recommended.
http://www.underarmour.com/
::
GP
Carolyn says:
Farred inadvertently exposes himself when he describes racism as a "ghostly presence".
I googled 'ghost' and came up with an interesting revelation about them. Because you can not see them, feel them, touch them, etc., the only 'proof' they exist is in the mind of the believer - a mind which regards everything and anything as 'proof' of that belief.
No wonder Farred won't let his talk on racism be taped. How can you tape a ghost?
Farred must not have a lawyer yet.
PS: it would be wise for
any of the accused to have
someone in attendance to
surreptitously tape the
comments.
Tapeing is so "yesterday." Recording something only memorializes the facts, and everybody knows that facts are irrelevant. It is the emotions that count, and if you don't feel what I think you should feel, then you don't get it, and you don't count.
So a) don't expect that a verbatim transcription of what transpires is relevant to the acolytes of the Religion of the 88 and b) don't be so arrogant as to think that your heathen opinion is any more so.
Remember, all that they are teaching/preaching is faith-based. You cannot argue with a true believer.
Is it new in academia that public programs and lectures cannot be taped?
Newspaper Headline:
Secret Talk at Williams by Professor Proclaiming Secret Racism
The Stuff You Learn
Yes, Grant Farred is speaking at Williams College.
http://www.williams.edu/
Grant Farred and Mark Anthony Neal have been visiting speakers before in 2006 at William College
https://www.williams.edu/
africana-studies/Fall2006Image.htm
"We do not yet know what we have inherited": The Politizen of "Terror Australis," Grant Farred, Duke University. Sterling Brown Visiting Professor of English and Africana Studies. Griffin 6 at 4:15 p.m.
"Looking for Leroy: HomoThugs, ThugNiggaIntellectuals and 'Queer' Black
Masculinities," Mark Anthony Neal, Duke University. Griffin 6 at 4:15 p.m.
There are many Duke Ph.D.'s at Williams College.
Duke is mentioned as the most Gay Un-Friendly School in the USA (2003) and a T-Shirt was developed in response.
http://www.williams.edu/MCC/fine.html
Katie Couric will deliver the college's Commencement address on Sunday, June 3.
And Finally, the phrase 'Nobody Does It Better' is used to describe their athletic program. That sound familiar?
http://www.williams.edu/athletics/
This is old home week for Anger Studies folk and Broadhead
::
GP
I got tossed from Duke's "Shut Up and Teach?' event for bringing in my video equipment. I guess Lasch, Lubiano, Neal, Wallace, and Nelson didn't want the rest of the world to know what was going on at their pep rally. After stashing the video equipement in the car I came back. The AAAS dept. did make a video and refuses to release it. There is an unauthorized partial audio recording floating around out there.
These people learned their lesson after the "Listening" and "Clarifying" adds put them on record. They are now too cowardly to allow themeselves to be accurately quoted. Without audio they can always say "I never said that".
So GP, the explanation for Farred's presentation is that Williams College is basically a farm team for graduates from the Duke Angry Studies program? The Duke AAS connection may also explain why they don't want anyone taping the presentation--there is precedent at Duke!
Diesel
I hope everyone had a chance to see, on an obscure cable channel to be sure, the ACC championship game in lacrosse. Duke beat Virginia - it was a solid and convincing win, technically an upset. The stands in Durham were full: the game drew the kind of supportive crowd that Duke's football team gets to see only at "away" games. While the lacrosse team is winning the race to the top, it appears that some faculty members are still hotly engaged in the race to the bottom. May the best team win (oh, wait, it already has)...
For people going to the event, I'm sure Farred will toss out the old canard about the evil white men asking for African Americans to degrade themselves by dancing for them. Perhaps you should bring the AG's report where the AG confirms they asked for white dancers. Maybe there will be a chance for questions.
That's a pretty horrid list of topics to finish up a season with.
I do hope that you can get someone there. I'm 3 hours out but tomorrow is a workday. I can do something like this at Dartmouth or the schools in Boston but Williams would be tough.
Question - perhaps one of the readers with a legal background can enlighten us. If this is a public event, can Williams or Farred prevent the media from recording it?
Orson Buggeigh
He, like the rest of the group of 88, are truly too stupid to heed the old saying: "When you find yourself in a hole the first thing you should do is to stop digging". His speech will re-affirm the fact that he is truly deserving to repeat it in civil court.
Duke University does not get it. The place has been exposed as a sewer, yet the rats continue to take the victim status. What amazes me is that even thought the AG has exonerated the three young men, representatives of Duke University continue to rub their noses in fake rape charges.
Aside...
This was published in the NCCU Campus Echo. You really have to wonder how such people can hate so deeply that they have no capacity for truth...
http://tinyurl.com/2anmlu
Don't forget that gang88 members are the true victims: Their syllabi got scrutinized.
Y'all do know that many of the non-iPod mp3 players have recording capability? They should be easy to bring into the session for surreptitious recording.
Diesel 6:59 said...
...So GP, the explanation for Farred's presentation is that Williams College is basically a farm team for graduates from the Duke Angry Studies program? The Duke AAS connection may also explain why they don't want anyone taping the presentation--there is precedent at Duke!
::
That is pretty much my read on the situation.
If you are going to create petroleum engineers they have to go someplace to work...if they aren't especially skilled at driving a Taxi. Same with these folks.
I'm still researching the farm team hypothesis and it appears that they only go to universities and colleges with one half Billion Dollar endowment or higher.
Also, the university or college will have a liberal arts designation.
Tonight I am looking for the association of such colleges.
In America we have an association for everything :-)
It looks like half of the graduates go to law school, or nursing school, Public Health training or become journalists.
::
GP
Re:
"Question - perhaps one of the readers with a legal background can enlighten us. If this is a public event, can Williams or Farred prevent the media from recording it?"
It may be open to the public, but the place is private property. Therefore, they can probably place whatever restrictions they want to place on attendees, such as No Smoking, or No Food, or No Concealed Handguns, or.... No Recording.
Durham Lawyer
"truthtelling"
I never said that...LOL
You would really have to be a loser if you couldn't figure out a better way to spend your time than to attend a talk on any subject by Grant Farred. That goes triple for a talk on the lacrosse case, on which Farred has absolutely nothing to say that is worth listening to.
Regarding that truthtellling march (what an ironic name): That those demented idiots would actually have the gall to make a stop at the lax house shows there is no morality with that group. Time to sue the pants off Ubuntu, Sam Hummel, Serena Sebring, Manju and the rest. At this point it would be immoral NOT to sue them.
I hope someone goes to the talk. Not sure they would be a loser, but would sure in the fight to expose these dopes.
So, there seem to be basically three schools of thought among the rush-to-judgment/bigot-agenda clan.
1). Did you say something about the lax case? Because I sure didn't say anything! What? I didn't! You don't have any screen captures of my blog, do you? This could be called the joint Marcotte, Lafsky, Jesse Jackson method.
2). Here is how to understand what I've said about the case ... well some of the things. I've left out everything that was factually incorrect, obviously racist or blatantly ignored the presumption of innocence. I'm guessing that this guy, as well as most of the G88, Nancy Grace, Broadhead and the majority of the media will take this tact.
3). Something happened! SOMETHING! Those boys aren't angels! Look! Someone said something racially charged to the dancers! AAAAAAHHHHHHH! White privilege! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Haven't heard from Chan Hall in a while. So, we'll just call this the Vicky P. modus operandi.
ONE QUESTION IS EASY:
professor, will you make a copy of your PHD dissertation available for factual checking to the DIW audience?
this is especially appropriate now that you and the group of 88 have demonstrated a lack of fact scholarship in signing the manifesto against dukes own students...in fact will all professors make their Phds available for inspection ?
11;13
remember this isnt anout national security, and GINSBERG did publish the pentagon papers....THE NATIONAL MEDIA will be forced to get tjis story
The group of 88 should be individually sued --- somehow held accountable by the law, on the national stage.
In grant Farred's upcoming talk, I predict he will be announcing candidates nominated for the soon to be famous "Duke Hoax Hall of Frame".
Without stealing the "Farred Out" one's thunder, the obvious candidates will include Michael Nifong as the most corrupt AG on the planet, Crystal Gail Mangum as head fictioneer and liar without equal, Sgt Gottlieb and Linwood Wilson as lead frame-up artists misrepresenting DPD, the New York Times and the Herald Sun for their tireless, persistent, and unyielding devotion to perpetuating The Lie, Wendy Murphy and Nancy Grace as the talking heads who through thick and thin, never let a fact get in the way of their tireless contributions to The Frame. The medical profession's entry will include Tara Levicy as "THE most inSANE nurse/sista eva".
Duke U. will be more than aptly represented by its spineless wonder, Bill "paramecium" Brodhead, supported by a bevy of fantacists now renowned as the Group of 88.
There are others too numerous and agenda-driven to list here, but it is expected that all major co-perpetrators of to The Hoax will be duly noted and enshrined. A special Jiffy Lube award is to be given to an as yet to be named special contributor. To borrow from and ancient rime: "A splendid time is guaranteed for all."
Questions for Farred:
1. When did you realize the case was unquestionably a hoax, and why did it take you so long?
2. When nationally-funded voices with histories racial violence and of lying about white defendants come to Durham and condemn, curse, and threaten Duke students -- as in the lacrosse hoax, what should be the response of Duke faculty?
3. There is now a huge gap in the trust that white students have for Duke faculty and administrators. What can be done to heal that wound?
4. Would you support a Center for the Study of Contemporary Interracial Rape on campus so that the true facts of this crime can be publicized? If not, why not?
5. We know of your concern for justice for the issue of slavery. A few years ago the African nation of Ghana apologized for selling millions of fellow blacks into slavery. Meanwhile, more than 300,000 white men died to liberate American slaves from bondage. Do you support Duke's policy of continuing to give preference in admissions to the descendants of the enslavers at the expense of the descendants of the liberators?
5. A related-question: To celebrate the lives of the men who fought to end slavery in America, would you support preference in admissions or a scholarship fund for descendants of Union soldiers -- or at least for the descendants of Union soldiers who died to end slavery?
Another question:
7. Has this latest hoax about white-on-black crime heightened your awareness that black people lie about white people and that most blacks believe those lies?
Another question for Farrad.
How did the North Carolina's prosecution of interracial rape accusations differ between 1806 (during slavery) and 2006?
Ans: None (only the races were reversed)
Having been a student of Prof. Farred's and worked closely with him, I would like to make a few comments, also with the understanding that I grew up in rural North Carolina and have been a Duke student now for 4 years. Prof. Farred is an academic, and, as such, he wrote an academic text even when he published "secret racism..." His writing of every article and book is conditioned by extensive work in fields of post-colonialism, deconstruction, and political philosophy. When words such as secret, such as phantom come up, when ghostly presence is written, such words are informed by Prof. Farred's understanding of these terms as used in numerous philosophical and literary texts. What is a phantom or a ghost? Look back to Hamlet, then Marx, and move forward to Valery and Derrida? What is a secret? I doubt that Prof. Farred thinks secret without thinking gift without thinking justice without thinking... The list goes on. It would be a mistake to read Farred's writing and not be aware of the horizons which intersect at every point. Should Prof. Farred have written this specific article and published it in this specific place for this specific readership? Maybe that was the mistake, to publish what is, in my reading an academic work, for those who, for one reason or another, are not schooled in continental philosophy, literary criticism, contemporary political theory, etc...
There has been much reactionary commenting and action regarding the clearing of the three players of all charges. Much of this reaction has been anti-Group of 88. Well and fine. Academics should be careful when writing texts for non-academics. At the same time, if we could get past the polemics, the Group of 88 makes an important point about what is wrong at so many colleges. Having lived here, I can say that the Duke culture, maybe exemplified in its parties, does exhibit discourses of racism and sexism. It is certainly more than once that I have heard racist comments, even from those wearing Duke Lacrosse shirts and those little armbands to support the players. If you have any doubt about the potential for sexual assualt on this campus, read Saturday Night, which is a collection of stories of Duke women about sexual assault and sexual violence on campus. It is not pretty. And it is not only here. I speak with the knowing five different friends of mine, girls, who were raped at parties at several universities. Only three were able to come forth. Only two men were arrested. The Group of 88 must be listened to. Did they make mistakes? Has Farred published and spoken in ways which might be better left in the ivory towers of academia? Yes and Yes. But we cannot ignore, merely for being reactionary, the problems which exist. Forget who is talking. Look at who's hurting.
I speak with the knowing five different friends of mine, girls, who were raped at parties at several universities. Only three were able to come forth. Only two men were arrested. The Group of 88 must be listened to. Did they make mistakes? Has Farred published and spoken in ways which might be better left in the ivory towers of academia? Yes and Yes. But we cannot ignore, merely for being reactionary, the problems which exist. Forget who is talking. Look at who's hurting.
There's an easy solution to these problems.
Don't associate with such men. Don't go to such parties.
Carry a gun.
Problem solved.
re: 5:49 PM
[for one reason or another, are not schooled in continental philosophy, literary criticism, contemporary political theory, etc...]
Some people have to live real lives to support those that don't.
[There has been much reactionary commenting and action regarding the clearing of the three players of all charges. Much of this reaction has been anti-Group of 88. Well and fine. Academics should be careful when writing texts for non-academics.]
Academics, prosecutors, media personalities, newspaper editors, students, police, etc.
[At the same time, if we could get past the polemics, the Group of 88 makes an important point about what is wrong at so many colleges. Having lived here, I can say that the Duke culture, maybe exemplified in its parties, does exhibit discourses of racism and sexism. It is certainly more than once that I have heard racist comments, even from those wearing Duke Lacrosse shirts and those little armbands to support the players.]
We only have your anonymous hearsay anecdotal evidence here throwing stones here.
[If you have any doubt about the potential for sexual assualt on this campus, read Saturday Night, which is a collection of stories of Duke women about sexual assault and sexual violence on campus. It is not pretty. And it is not only here.]
Have these stories been verified by anyone? Or can anyone just write anything that they want to on that site?
[I speak with the knowing five different friends of mine, girls, who were raped at parties at several universities. Only three were able to come forth. Only two men were arrested.]
We hear of men that have been falsely accused as well. Do you go out of your way to support the falsely accused?
[The Group of 88 must be listened to. Did they make mistakes? Has Farred published and spoken in ways which might be better left in the ivory towers of academia? Yes and Yes.]
Cooper talked about the decent thing to do when you make a mistake and you harm someone. And that's the right thing to do, even when you don't cost others three million dollars. If the Group of 88 could get this case so wrong, why do you think that they wouldn't screw up just as badly on the other stuff that they do?
[But we cannot ignore, merely for being reactionary, the problems which exist. Forget who is talking. Look at who's hurting.]
Did you ask this question when the Duke Lacrosse players were charged? Have you thought about the problems that Reade addressed in his letter about those falsely accused? And convicted?
To Anonymous at 5:49: Did Crystal Magnum author any of the stories about sexual assault that appear in"Saturday Night"?
She's got some great ones.
Anonymous at 5:49: what if a black, poor Durham man was racially profiled and wrongly arrested and then disparaged by the community and the faculty, and the defense was, well, there is a "culture" or "endemic problems" of black urban males committing crimes, so it is understandable that the faculty rushed to judgment and refused to apologize once the wrongly accused was cleared. You would be incensed, as you should be. Please don't apply a double standard here. Whatever problems there are at Duke do not justify making sacrificial lambs out of three innocent men so that a rogue proscutors and media and professors with an agenda can score points. Generalization based on group characteristics is not any more acceptable just because your generalizations apply to those who are generally empowered.
As a Williams alum, I am ashamed that my school is providing a forum for this individual. I look forward to any reports of what he actually says.
"Maybe that was the mistake, to publish what is, in my reading an academic work, for those who, for one reason or another, are not schooled in continental philosophy, literary criticism, contemporary political theory, etc..."
KC seems to have solid academic credentials and he didn’t “understand” the article either.
You seem to be saying that only a small minority of people would understand Farred’s comments. This is undoubtly true. Overly complicated sentence structure and over using buzzwords is no substitute for research, logic and clear communication.
If you do have a complaint say it as clearly as possible and then be ready to support why you are being singled-out.
“Look at who's hurting.”
Everybody hurts now and then it is part of the human experience. Minorities don’t have a lock on suffering.
For the Farrad Youth leader at 5:49 PM:
Let me get this straight: You think Farrad is "smart"? Smarter than us? You think if we didn't read Heideger and Husserl, we can't understand Farrad? If we can't expound on the Hegelian dialectic as a mode of logical development with properties of necessity engendering further properties of necessity, that maybe we're "too dumb to understand Farrad"? If we're ignorant of the "European tradition" of Kierkagaard, Kant, Hume, Neitzsche, Sartre, etc., then we shouldn't criticize Farrad?
Here's a clue, lad: There are doctors, lawyers, scientists, and engineers who comment here. Their IQs are higher than Farrad's by at least one standard deviation. And in the middle of the intellectual spectrum, we also have academics commenting here. At the lowest end, there is a pseudo-intellectual like Farrad.
If you think Farrad is "smart", ask yourself: "Self, how smart does one have to be to write words that accurately express his thesis to his intended audience?"
Actually, here's a better question to ask yourself: "How long did it take me to realize the lacrosse case was a complete hoax, and why did it take me so long?" (Fair disclosure: it took me almost 24 hours after I first heard the allegations, and I'm ashamed it took that long.)
I'm not even going to address your regurgitation of the 88's false "meta-narrative" of "white privilege". You're too far gone for anyone but yourself to bring you back into reality.
But I will leave you with one of the great maxims of philosophy, as expounded by a famous white-male:
"Stupid is as stupid does."
Try applying that to your hero.
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