Thursday, August 23, 2007

Tyson's Effects

The Group of 88 has offered myriad defenses for its rush to judgment in spring 2006. Perhaps none, however, is more peculiar than the irrelevancy argument. The basics: 88 members of the arts and sciences faculty took out a denunciatory ad about their own students, but no one noticed it—and, therefore, it had no effect. Directing criticism against the Group, according to this reasoning, is inappropriate.

This line of argument requires people to ignore the Chronicle (which noticed, and criticized, the ad almost immediately); the lacrosse players (who also noticed, and criticized, the ad almost immediately); and the defense lawyers (who would cite the ad prominently in their change-of-venue motion. It also requires the suspension of common sense: even in normal circumstances, 88 professors (and, the ad incorrectly claimed, five academic departments) at the area’s most prestigious institution issuing a public statement (“in the most easily seen venue on campus”) denouncing their own students would be big news. And this, of course, was a case with unprecedented media attention.

Today’s post looked at the remarks of just one Duke faculty member (Tim Tyson), who followed up his radio interview with a similarly guilt-presuming op-ed in the N&O. In the comment section, the post almost immediately attracted the party line from an (as always, anonymous) Group defender.

Oh, goody! Another hard-hitting expose on ... someone nobody reads, no one cares about, and who is non-tenure track, who makes no decisions about anything besides his reading list, at the far periphery of his department. Way to go, KC! Next up, detailed write-ups of pot-sellers and housewares employees at Sears who fuel this angry mob!

As much as Group defenders would like to rewrite history, however, a contemporaneous documentary record exists. In this case, just like the words of the Group, Tyson’s comments attracted immediate attention. Here’s an early April 2006 quote from N&O reporter Samiha Khanna, author of the widely condemned (and almost wholly false) March 25, 2006 “interview” with Crystal Mangum.

I think Tim Tyson taught readers Sunday about a history not many were aware had occurred. Durham is a place of many new residents, people who may not have the institutional knowledge of the university's history in the community. We are trying to explore these notions as we follow up on the story in the coming weeks. In response to your specific question about Mr. Tyson’s piece—I haven’t seen an equivalent piece in other publications. Many people have spoken out about a history of sex crimes on college campuses, but not issues of race and gender on the Duke campus specifically. These are keys to thorough follow-up stories that we are working to document. [emphases added]

Though it would take a few weeks, the N&O eventually recognized the inappropriateness of Tyson’s analogies for the specific case at hand. By late April, Khanna (and with her, the Tyson line) was basically off the case, and the work of Joe Neff, Ben Niolet, Anne Blythe, Eric Ferreri, and Michael Biesecker moved the paper in a very different direction.

On campus, however, it was full speed ahead for the Tyson/Group of 88 mindset. And Khanna’s quote provides a useful reminder that at a critical juncture in this case, journalists (unfortunately, as it turned out) were treating the guilt-presuming remarks of Duke professors seriously.

66 comments:

Debrah said...

Glad you found that 2006 article. I posted it on the prior thread.

Anonymous said...

Please KC, stop with your pesky facts. They always seem to get in the way of a good narrative.

Anonymous said...

The last paragraph in Tyson's op-ed seems tragically ironic now that the facts are known. In his own words: "But all that is so much whining. Now we can only reach out in a spirit of healing to the communities that have been hurt. Now we can turn back to our teaching, put aside pedantry and cut to the heart of what education means: understanding that we are all human beings, that we are here to provide illumination and sustenance for each other, and that God and our highest human understandings all call us to better things."

Oh, if only the Klan of 88+ would "reach out to the communities that have been hurt" the most, and "cut to the heart of what education means..."

So Tim, when are you going to start walking the walk, and when are you going to call-out your fellow K88+ers to do the same?

Anonymous said...

As Howard Cosell would have said, "Down goes Tyson! Down goes Tyson!"...Keep on punching Professor...

Anonymous said...

KC said.... "As much as Group defenders would like to rewrite history, however, a contemporaneous documentary record exists."

Revisionist history is what the Klan of 88 are all about, it's what they live and breathe for. Suggesting that they not rewrite history is like suggesting that they stop breathing.

Anonymous said...

The "it did not cause any problems" line is naive. Faculty and employees in Arts and Sciences who voiced disagreement with the ad were subjected to angry denunciations, and in at least one case an employee was threatened with loss of employment for criticizing the ad.

If harassment is associated with a hostile work environment, and the environment is larger than an individual departmental unit, then many faculty were harassed.

That's not "no effect."

Anonymous said...

"Oh, goody! Another hard-hitting expose on ... someone nobody reads, no one cares about..."

And that people pay $50,000 to be taught by. According to your anonymous commenters Duke has an astonishingly high number of minor, marginal, unread, unloved and unimportant people on its faculty.

Debrah said...

Here's Timothy again at his expressive best!

Debrah said...

More soggy and illogical analysis from the ever-oily Timothy:

A blast from the past.

Anonymous said...

"The spirit of the lynch mob lived in that house on Buchanan Boulevard, regardless of the truth..."

Regardless of the truth.

Well, that defines the Gang of 88.

Anonymous said...

In the meantime lying Crystal Mangum is not prosecuted.

Anonymous said...

KC, at least you are consistent. Your reading comprehension is about the same as your so-called historical interpretations and analyses in your "academic" work-- both are awful.

Anonymous said...

Do blacks in England call themselves African-Brits? Do blacks in Holland call themselves African-Dutch? or African-Europeans? And do blacks in Brazil also call themselves African-Americans?

Imagine the notion of African-Chinese? Or African-Filipino?

Should those black Africans who live in South Africa be called African-Africans?

Just curious?
________________________________

Or does the notion of "African-American" depend upon writings of Tyson (and people like Tyson) for its substance and meaning?

The meaning of African-American surely does not depend solely on race ... the other day, while waiting at a bus stop, I met a young many who was born Ghana. We talked. It was a pleasant conversation (that included a comparison of cultural attributes.) He was a Black African who now lived in America, but he was certainly not an African-American.

I also know a white person who was born in South Africa but became a naturalized American citizen. That person properly refers to themselves as an African-American. But, I suspect that Tyson and others would reject that characterization, based on race.

Yes, to truly wear the mantle of African-American must surely depend on something else. Perhaps that something else is feeling that, as Tyson posited:

White men have been abusing black women for generations—you know, since the days of slavery. And this kind of sexualized mistreatment of people has been really at the heart of our racial caste system over the course of its history.

Not thinking, but feeling. It's good that Tyson uses the word "heart" to identify the nature of "our racial caste system." For feelings are certainly central to the notion that injustice is pervasive and a consequence of race. Feelings also buttress claims that opportunity is unavailable because of race. Feelings abound when power supposedly belongs to someone else because of race.

Yes. Feelings and the emotional content in the heart of black Americans as they view the past must surely be at the heart of "African-American"ism.

The facts, it appears, only matter when they are consistent with those feelings. Otherwise, perhaps they aren't even facts.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 1:34 said: "The "it did not cause any problems" line is naive. Faculty and employees in Arts and Sciences who voiced disagreement with the ad were subjected to angry denunciations, and in at least one case an employee was threatened with loss of employment for criticizing the ad.

If harassment is associated with a hostile work environment, and the environment is larger than an individual departmental unit, then many faculty were harassed."


I figured as much, and now I know I was correct. The same type of hostile environment - for both workers and students - exists here at my university, a Tier 1 State research institution. Step out of line re. the PC, pro-affirmative action, so-called "diversity is crucial" mantra and your job is likely to be history. Openly criticize PC dogma and you might as well pack up your personal belongings in your office at the end of the day.

Free speech and true diversity, i.e., diversity of ideas and thought: Where? Not in much, if not most, of the faculty and administration in the academy throughout the Western world.

kcjohnson9 said...

To the 2.47:

My sense is that ad hominem attacks are generally less effective than arguments supplemented by specific pieces of evidence.

Debrah said...

Timothy--the sensitive, iconic chronicler of the dispossessed is just serving his Lord, it could be said.

But he possesses no signifiant truths.

We all gotta serve somebody.

Debrah said...

To 2:47PM--

Oh, hi Timothy!

Just in time for a Dylan tune in your honor.

Anonymous said...

I think the ad claimed the endorsement of about 15 academic departments (and programs), not just five.
-----------------------------------

“We thank the following departments and programs for signing onto this ad with African & African American Studies: Romance Studies; Psychology; Social and Health Sciences; Franklin Humanities Institute; Critical U.S. Studies; Art, Art History, and Visual Studies; Classical Studies; Asian & African Languages & Literature; Women’s Studies; Latino/a Studies; Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; European Studies; Program in Education; and the Center for Documentary Studies. Because of space limitations, the names of additional faculty and staff who signed on in support may be read at the AAAS website…”

Anonymous said...

I think that the Ninth Commandment (Eighth in the Roman Catholic account) says for individual not to "bear false witness." It seems that Mr. Tyson, in the name of self-righteous commentary, violated that commandment more than once.

But, then, why am I not surprised at the incessant moralizing that came from this bunch of nihilists?

kcjohnson9 said...

To the 3.12:

Only five departments are in that list (the other ten are programs).

The difference is a significant one. For a department to endorse an ad (or to take any formal action) would require a department meeting and majority vote of its membership.

With programs, the guidelines would be less clear. For instance, the "Critical U.S. Studies" program. Could program administrator Caroline Light have signed off on the endorsement? Or, perhaps, the program's director, Mark Anthony Neal? Without access to the specific bylaws of each program, there's no way of knowing.

I doubt a majority of the faculty in many of these programs endorsed the ad, either. But since I can't be certain of the procedure, I've held off commenting on it.

AMac said...

Anon 1:54pm wrote --

"The "it did not cause any problems" line is naive. Faculty and employees in Arts and Sciences who voiced disagreement with the ad were subjected to angry denunciations, and in at least one case an employee was threatened with loss of employment for criticizing the ad."

Anon, can you offer any background, substantiation or links that might speak to this claim? Some Duke profs have said that they were busy with their professional lives and generally pay no attention to politicized stuff like the Listening Statement--a very different picture than the one you present. Did reactions vary from department to department?

Anonymous said...

I guess I dont get it: Isn't it inauthentic to have a white guy teaching in the Department of Afro-American Studies at a prestigious American University??! You mean to tell me they couldnt find a qualified Black Person to teach instead? Something seems fishy here.. who paid who off?

Actually, it does kind of make sense why Senor Tyson feels he has to outwhine the rest of the department when it comes to outing the oppressive white male presence on campus! After all, its a question of job security (non-tenured and all) !

Gary Packwood said...

Anonymous 1:54 said...

...The "it did not cause any problems" line is naive. Faculty and employees in Arts and Sciences who voiced disagreement with the ad were subjected to angry denunciations, and in at least one case an employee was threatened with loss of employment for criticizing the ad.

If harassment is associated with a hostile work environment, and the environment is larger than an individual departmental unit, then many faculty were harassed.

That's not "no effect."
::
You make an important point that needs more study.

Hostile work environment harassment is a crime and it is important not to sweep those facts under the rug.

Could you please provide more information so that efforts can be made to right that wrong?

Thanks You
::
GP

One Spook said...

Debrah writes @ 2:09 and provides a link to Tyson's former site at the University of Wisconsin.

The is an excerpt from Tyson's "Profile" at the site:

His most recent book, Blood Done Sign My Name, appeared in May 2004. It tells the story of a racial murder and black uprising in his hometown of Oxford, North Carolina, when Tyson was eleven and the father of one of his friends murdered a young black man ..."

Never mind that Tyson's friend's father was Acquitted of murder. That's just one of those pesky facts that "True Believers" prefers to ignore.

And of course Amazon and Publisher's Weekly reviews also term it a "murder" ... you know ... killing, murder, homicide ... those words are all interchangeable in the English language as spoken/written by True Believers.

This just slays me.

One Spook

Debrah said...

LOL!!

The ever-ready...Spook-on-the-spot.

Anonymous said...

Just a note: attacking your silly exposes is not the same thing as "defending" any or all of the people who signed the ad. I know you really, really, really want me to think that doing one is the same as doing the other--but they're not. I can think that the ad was a bad idea (which I do) and still think your entries about these folks are eye-rollingly bad. And I know you want to make rhetorical hay at calling Tyson "Duke faculty" without any qualifier, but in point of fact (as you well know) all universites have people who teach who are not part of their core faculty or graduate faculty (the tenure stream folk).

"And that people pay $50,000 to be taught by. According to your anonymous commenters Duke has an astonishingly high number of minor, marginal, unread, unloved and unimportant people on its faculty."

Why, yes, Virginia. Welcome to modern academia. You are shocked by this, why? This isn't Duke's problem--this is every US university's problem.

Anonymous said...

You will find that it not unlikely for individuals within the potbangers and Group of 88 to "stage" hate crimes or make themselves appear as a victim of a hate crime. It has happened with Academics before. Please click on following links in regards to Kerri F. Dunn, who taught at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California. She fabricated a hate crime and was charged criminally for it when it was discovered she had lied and done it herself:

http://www.isteve.com/Hate_Hoax.htm

http://chronicle.com/free/2004/03/2004031904n.htm

""Several hours before the Claremont administration held their night rally with thousands of black shirted student howling their hatred of "hate," the administration already knew that two eyewitnesses had stated that the Claremont professor Kerri F. Dunn had defaced her own car. Yet, they went ahead."

There were only roughly 4,000 students at the 5 colleges at that time. Thousands of students don't show up to anything, because "thousands" would be more than half of the entire student body. Which includes the usually apolitical Mudders and a more conservative CMC student body. The only way you could get thousands of students is if you offered either free weed or guaranteed A's (and preferably both)."


Like I said, you will find that individuals like Tim Tyson, Professor Chafe, H. Baker, and the others are quite likely to stage and/or fabricate "hate mail" or other "proof" that they are right and justified and that others are out to "get them".

kcjohnson9 said...

To the 4.07:

Since you comment anonymously, it's unclear to which previous comments you're referencing.

As for the line about the Group profiles, my sense is that providing specific examples--rather than employing denunciatory adjectives--is a more persuasive approach.

Anonymous said...

I'm Anon 1:54pm
replying to AMAC and Gary Packwood

Yes, it varied across departments. Many faculty were oblivious, for the usual reasons -- they teach no undergraduates, or run labs and projects full time. I'd guess a majority of the Arts and Sciences faculty dislike or regard as silly college athletics at the Division 1 level about as much as they dislike or regard as silly race/class/gender studies. Many faculty trained overseas are baffled, and bemused, by American obsessions with both college sports and "embracing diversity." In some of the departments "associated" with the ad, individual faculty members were pressured to sign it, and to sign the second ad if they had not signed the first. Nontenured faculty, and associate professors looking to move to full rank, were in very big binds in some departments.

Staff members were in some places at real risk; one I talked to was specifically told by a supervisor to stop speaking in a public forum or else he would be fired. (That person refused to file a complaint for fear of future job retaliation.) There were related issues associated with the FODU petition, as individuals identified themselves as unhappy with the Chronicle ad, and supportive of all Duke students. Administratively, some faculty were given to understand that views on the lacrosse case would play a role in nominations of faculty members to committees by the Executive Committee of the Academic Council.

I can't provide documentation in public, I'm afraid. Unlike KC, I have to live with these people for decades. Some people spoke to me, and to others, in confidence. Do I believe them? Yes, I do. It's possible KC may have some of this material in his book.

Anonymous said...

"The spirit of the lynch mob lived in that house on Buchanan Boulevard, regardless of the truth..."

Actually, it was right outside the house, banging on pots and pans.

Anonymous said...

"I doubt a majority of the faculty in many of these programs endorsed the ad, either."

Did they ask for a statement to be made that the ad was in error, as no vote was held? If not then they are, by default, allowing their names to be attached to the ad. Certainly they don't seem to consider having their names attached a major problem ....

Anonymous said...

1:54
Please document this intimidation if possible. Possibly North Carolina should follow Missouri.

If true, this would certainly explain the lack of apologies since then.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 1:54 stated: "The "it did not cause any problems" line is naive. Faculty and employees in Arts and Sciences who voiced disagreement with the ad were subjected to angry denunciations, and in at least one case an employee was threatened with loss of employment for criticizing the ad. If harassment is associated with a hostile work environment, and the environment is larger than an individual departmental unit, then many faculty were harassed.
That's not "no effect."

I always suspected many faculty were fearful to speak out. The only instance I know of harassment was the head of Womyn's Studies, Prof. Robyn Weigman, stupidly calling a professor racist for using the non-racist term "tar and feather."

I would like to know more specifics about the chilling effect the forces of diversity had on faculty at Duke and on some of the junior faculty among the 88, who may have felt pressured to sign the Listening Statement and its Clarification. A study of this chilling effect at universities in general would be worthy material for a book.

The comment by mb at 2:53--"Step out of line re. the PC, pro-affirmative action, so-called "diversity is crucial" mantra and your job is likely to be history. Openly criticize PC dogma and you might as well pack up your personal belongings in your office at the end of the day."--reflects the situation at many universities, private and state. And PC proponents are very active on search committees, seeking out more of their own, regardless of qualifications of non-pc or diversity candidates. And the administrators jump on board with these proponents.

Anonymous said...

"Never mind that Tyson's friend's father was Acquitted of murder."

Like O.J.Simpson?

One Spook said...

Anon @ 4:07 writes:

"And that people pay $50,000 to be taught by. According to your anonymous commenters Duke has an astonishingly high number of minor, marginal, unread, unloved and unimportant people on its faculty."

That's a decent point, and it is the UNLOVED ones who scare me the most. They tend to dress real freaky, act out, say and write really bizarre things, and in general live their adult life saying, "Mommy! Pay attention to me!"

(Channeling Gregory):

As a child, KC spent summers on the beach at Scarborough (97.34% White, 2000), ME. At age nine, using just a small plastic bucket and shovel, he constructed a dike that created a harbor large enough for the entire US submarine fleet.

Rickover, Hyman
Subs and KC USNA Press (1978)

Anonymous said...

Mr. Inman: Both sets of my grandparents immigrated (legally) from Scotland. From the moment they arrived in Wichita, Kansas, they embraced the American culture. There was never once any sense, any thought or any mention of the family being "Scottish American". My parents always took us boys to the annual Highland Games and we certainly read about and were told Scottish history but we always considered ourselves to be American. I was raised in a two parent household with definate rules and responsibilities. My parents worked hard and sacrificed to send me to university (white privilege I suppose)where there was no Scottish-American studies to be found. Perhaps those who seek to divide should think about directing their energies into ways to find a more common ground. I was always taught that "Victim" was an endless self fulling prophesy. These "professors" have an opportunity to really contribute something meaningful in the areas of useful knowledge and personal responsibility but they would first have to learn to practice what they preach. Sadly, expecting that would be as frustrating as trying to nail jelly to a tree.

One Spook said...

Anon @ 4:49 writes:

"Never mind that Tyson's friend's father was Acquitted of murder."

Like O.J.Simpson?


YES!!!!!!!!

Thank you for at once falling into my trap, hoisting your own petard, AND for making my point!

Now, please send my entire original posting AND your reply to Tyson and see if he gets it!

Spook

Anonymous said...

"After supper, my little sister Boo and I crept out of the house and down to the corner, where we huddled on the sidewalk behind Mrs. Garland's cement wall, across the street from the Teel house. Boo was seven years old, blond and freckly, by turns deferential and officious in the way of little sisters, and she went wherever I did, provided I let her."

QUESTION 1: Did Timothy Tyson write this or Harper Lee?

QUESTION 2: Who likes a remake of a John Lennon song better than the original?

(answers below)
_________________

I wanted to correct a mistake in my previous post. I likened Tyson to Bob Ewell from "To Kill a Mockingbird." That was imprecise. If given the opportunity, I would substitute "Walter Cunningham, Sr."

Tyson did not lie to cause the Duke lynching (Ewell); rather, he joined the lynch mob and became one of the more prominent lynchers in the street (Cunningham, Sr.).
_______________

ANSWER SHEET (Teachers' Edition):

QUESTION 1: Tyson.

QUESTION 2: Nobody (I would have also accepted "the re-maker's mother").
________________

Finally, if you have been offended by one of my parodies or posts, please accept my apologies (especially the religious). It is important, I believe, to understand the parameters of political correctness. When you see it is virtually indistinguishable from Scientology in many respects (the worst respects), then maybe we can move on to MLK's color-blind society.
________________

"A sufficiently advanced blog is indistinguishable from poetry." - Arthur C. Clarke (paraphrased) (make that very paraphrased) (hmm ... actually, nearly gutted) (not so much gutted as retaining the idea, but throwing in other stuff) (Yeah, that's it). MOO! Gregory

AMac said...

Anon 1:54pm/4:19pm --

Thanks for the follow-up, appreciated.

Anonymous said...

"Thank you for at once falling into my trap, hoisting your own petard, AND for making my point!"

Not at all. Glad I could help.

"Now, please send my entire original posting AND your reply to Tyson and see if he gets it!"

Probably not. If he hasn't got it by now, what are the odds?

Anonymous said...

I wonder what the 88 would say about:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294243,00.html

Anonymous said...

Prof. Johnson,

I understand your blog will soon come to an end and I would like to thank you (and all the commenters) for giving me quite an education. I've only been able to read your site once or twice a week but the clear writing, astute analysis and all the great comments and lame detractors have taught me more than I can express. I have especially enjoyed how the Gang o' 88 has been deconstructed (if that's the right word). What cowards.
How the Political Correctness gang can so easily whip themselves into a lynch mob frenzy and, yes, even stage fake "hate" crimes is a thing to behold.
It's now clear to me how the horrors in Stalinist and Maoist times went so far.
"...regardless of the truth", indeed!
I think "AMac" summed it up best a day or two ago: "Johnson lets a lot of people have their say, though much of what's written isn't worth reading. But thanks to this approach, some real gems have been published at DiW." A whole lot of gems, I'd say.
Thank you for opening my mind and giving me a real education in writing analysis, critical thinking and, most of all, the mind-poison that is Political Correctness.
Bless you all.

Anonymous said...

Recently, the African-American (read black) editor of the Oakland Post was assassinated on the streets of Oakland. It was done by someone wearing a mask or hood. The murder appears to have been gang related. No one seems to know anything about the murder least of all the police. It is one of those murders that it is better for no one, including the police, to know anything about. Time to send some pot-bangers and Group88 to the West Coast in defense of whatever passes for law and order in Oakland . . . that is send the pot-banger and Group88 to defend what is left of the law there. This is just another killing in Oakland to go with the dozens and dozens of killings that have occurred there this year . . . it reminds of Durham . . . sad.

Anonymous said...

Boy, is it just me or haven't there been a LOT more attacks on KC lately?

Every damned one 'anonymous' (the courageous little dears) and every damned one attacking KC because he (the horror! the horror!) printed the truth about the Gang.

Anonymous said...

Is there any wonder why Tyson has moved to Wisconson? Was he not in NC to right the wrongs?

Yo Tyson, where you at? Nothing to say?

Anonymous said...

the unfortunate defender you cited violated the first rule of commenting... never go unarmed into a battle of wits

Anonymous said...

to 4.08 pm

You can add Ward Churchill to your list of frauds.

Anonymous said...

You folks really do need to get a life, along with KC.

Reading the comments here is worth more than a few laughs, I'll give you that. But seriously, most of you are clueless.

Anonymous said...

Is Tyson a Communist?

mac said...

One Spook:
Channeling Gregory II:

KC was the inspiration for Devo's "Whip It," which was to be a prescient interpretation of what later happened to the 88, who found themselves "whipped" by Professor KC Johnson.

Timmy Tyson was not amused, and went home crying; Timmy's Mommy came back later and called KC a "great big bully."

To which he replied:
"Whip it" -(referring to bratty Timmy)- "whip it good!"

Anonymous said...

stephen @ 5:02

Thank you for your thoughts and heartfelt expression. You understand what I said. But then, we are of common heritage, albeit after the year 1603.

And never lose sight of your heritage. Yes, you are American, as were your grandparents the moment they adopted this country and its values. But you are also an American of Scottish descent -- and of that, one can be proud. One should never lose sight of one's heritage, for heritage grounds us in something greater than ourselves -- the toil and the struggle and the heartache and the hopes of all those who came before.

Lest you become to proud of the Scots (and God love them for their distilleries), my respect for heritage extends to all, whether European, or Asian, or African or even Antarctican ... my belief is that people who have peace with their own family and their past are more likely to have peace with others. It's those who are angry about their family and/or their past that have a difficulty with others.

And I thank you along another dimension, for now I understand that some do not feel American because they cannot or do not want to risk the adoption of a culture that is yet to be known. These are the cautious, the timid, the yet to be Americans who leave a foot planted in the memory of another life, another culture.

Anonymous said...

New Black Panthers

This is what the Klan of 88, Brodhead, the pot bangers, the MSM, and other race baiters must be most proud of inciting.

Shall we say, this may have been their finest hour.

Anonymous said...

"It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters."
-- Nietzsche

This aptly explains why the adoption of the race/gender/classwarfare movement meets with so much resistance.

Anonymous said...

Aristides quoting Eric Hoffer via Belmont Club...

"If a doctrine is not unintelligible, it has to be vague; and if neither unintelligible nor vague, it has to be unverifiable."

This is the language of the Klan of 88, though it is incomplete as it does not consider outright falsification.

Debrah said...

Below is a small article which shows how trite Tyson's discipline is. You could put his body of work into one sentence.

If not for the subject matter from which he has sucked the blood for so long---(maybe that's what inspired the title)---there would be no one to prop up such repetitious tales.

Many people have told this same story ad nauseum...as if there is something new to uncover.

In its redundancy, I marvel at what Tyson calls a book.

Tyson bleeds Christianity for all it's worth.

Debrah said...

Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy
By David S. Cecelski, Timothy B. Tyson
Summary

By David S. Cecelski
Timothy B. Tyson
Contributor John Hope
Franklin
Published 1998
UNC Press
History / U.S.
301 pages
ISBN 0807847550
Buy this book
UNC Press, Publisher

At the close of the nineteenth century, the Democratic Party in North Carolina engineered a white supremacy revolution. Frustrated by decades of African American self-assertion and threatened by an interracial coalition advocating democratic reforms, white conservatives used violence, demagoguery, and fraud to seize political power and disenfranchise black citizens. The most notorious episode of the campaign was the Wilmington "race riot" of 1898, which claimed the lives of many black residents and rolled back decades of progress for African Americans in the state. Published on the centennial of the Wilmington race riot, "Democracy Betrayed" draws together the best new scholarship on the events of 1898 and their aftermath. Contributors to this important book hope to draw public attention to the tragedy, to honor its victims, and to bring a clear and timely historical voice to the debate over its legacy.The contributors are David S. Cecelski, William H. Chafe, Laura F. Edwards, Raymond Gavins, Glenda E. Gilmore, John Haley, Michael Honey, Stephen Kantrowitz, H. Leon Prather Sr., Timothy B. Tyson, LeeAnn Whites, and Richard Yarborough.

Anonymous said...

2:47
Wow! You are really insightful.
Does your beloved "klan of 88" bleed much from the wounds of Professor Johnson's pen?

Anonymous said...

anonymous 9:45

I appreciate your helpful advice and insight. How do I get a life? And where do I find a clue? Is my pot too small? I am really sorry I missed the candle-light vigil but I stopped by the Platinum Pleasures Club for some field research on the employee's day-care facility. And I don't understand Tim Tyson's statement: "And so I guess I was there really because the women in the house that night were somebody’s daughter and somebody’s sister and somebody’s mother and somebody’s sweetheart. I think that we have to come together as a community and say that this is unacceptable on a number of different levels."

I am confused. Does he really mean that it was unacceptable for those women, in that house, to have been out dancing instead of mothering, sistering, daughtering or just being sweet? His comment seems somewhat sexist, don't women have a right to earn a living? Maybe the feminists could help us out here.

Anonymous said...

i can't believe you dissed gonzalez. its so beneath you . i mean, gawd.

it, like, ruins the blog like a bad researcher ruins a prestigous university.

its like exposing your total inability to analyze reality. i mean facts. or whatever.

Anonymous said...

"...then maybe we can move on to MLK's color-blind society."

MLK has not got tha license on a color-blind society brother. It's like clean water, most everyone wants it - steer clear of those that don't. Their bad for your constitution.

Anonymous said...

Gregory 5:29 pm

"It is important, I believe, to understand the parameters of political correctness. When you see it is virtually indistinguishable from Scientology in many respects (the worst respects)..."

I can't believe I'm about to do this but ... I gotta stick up for the scientologists. They may sue people based on legal theories of intellectual property I consider both incorrect and reprehensible, but they don't try to put people in jail for 30 years on false charges. They may harrass people, but they don't threaten to kill them that I know of. And to get them to come after you you have to actively oppose them - they don't go after random unbelievers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, the way some random white males who were in the wrong place at the wrong time became targets of PC.

Doctrinally, the Scientology belief system is as coherent as a hack SF writer could make it - being a competent hack whose problems were mostly stylistic, that's actually pretty coherent. PC is an agglomaration of mutually contradictory impulses, like Marxism, radical feminism, and support for radical Islam - no two of these can be reconciled, let alone all three, so even without contact with the outside world the PCists are in a constant state of cognitive dissonance and denial.

Your analogy with the professors KC has been profiling is an insult to the intellect and good sense of John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Tom Cruise.

Anonymous said...

The apologist who posted above @ 4:19 pm on 8/23/2007.

The positions that individuals like you and the other "professors" who felt their positions threatened therefore they had to sign and "appear" to provide support to the Group of 88 is morally bankrupt. That they took this position demonstrates only that they value their mediocre jobs over the truth, over the freedom on the young men who were innocent, over their non-existent integrity and honor, over simple honesty. They are immoral, dishonest and intellectually dishonest. They lack the capacity to understand and empathize with anyone who doesn't teach and suck up in the manner they do. The irony is that they hold others to such high standards they could never hope to approach. I find them disgusting. Take your escuses someplace else.

Anonymous said...

7:36

The Oakland journalist's killer was associated with a local Muslim group.

google it

AMac said...

Anon 10:52am --

You are wrong.

Anon 1:54pm/4:19pm gave no indication that s/he signed the Listening Statement. Responding to two specific requests, s/he described the atmosphere in certain signer-laden Duke departments as the malign nature of the Hoax/Frame became clear. If this explanation is correct, some non-core signers were successfully pressured to prevent them from retracting and apologizing. This would add to understanding the Hard Left's contributions to events.

Anon 1:54pm/4:19pm, you can contact me via the homepage of windsofchange.net if you want to pursue any of this further.

Anonymous said...

THE MOST EXPLOSIVE COMMENTS SEEN AT DiW


Anonymous said...
The "it did not cause any problems" line is naive. Faculty and employees in Arts and Sciences who voiced disagreement with the ad were subjected to angry denunciations, and in at least one case an employee was threatened with loss of employment for criticizing the ad.

If harassment is associated with a hostile work environment, and the environment is larger than an individual departmental unit, then many faculty were harassed.

That's not "no effect."

8/23/07 1:54 PM

Anonymous said...
I'm Anon 1:54pm
replying to AMAC and Gary Packwood

Yes, it varied across departments. Many faculty were oblivious, for the usual reasons -- they teach no undergraduates, or run labs and projects full time. I'd guess a majority of the Arts and Sciences faculty dislike or regard as silly college athletics at the Division 1 level about as much as they dislike or regard as silly race/class/gender studies. Many faculty trained overseas are baffled, and bemused, by American obsessions with both college sports and "embracing diversity." In some of the departments "associated" with the ad, individual faculty members were pressured to sign it, and to sign the second ad if they had not signed the first. Nontenured faculty, and associate professors looking to move to full rank, were in very big binds in some departments.

Staff members were in some places at real risk; one I talked to was specifically told by a supervisor to stop speaking in a public forum or else he would be fired. (That person refused to file a complaint for fear of future job retaliation.) There were related issues associated with the FODU petition, as individuals identified themselves as unhappy with the Chronicle ad, and supportive of all Duke students. Administratively, some faculty were given to understand that views on the lacrosse case would play a role in nominations of faculty members to committees by the Executive Committee of the Academic Council.

I can't provide documentation in public, I'm afraid. Unlike KC, I have to live with these people for decades. Some people spoke to me, and to others, in confidence. Do I believe them? Yes, I do. It's possible KC may have some of this material in his book.

8/23/07 4:19 PM

Anonymous said...

To Ralph Phelan @ 8:30 am:

Before I apologize to Scientologists for my posts, I want to see exactly how the two religions stack up. Which is more reasonable, Scientology or Political Correctness, "Correctology," as they like to call it. Here is my scoreboard:

1. The two religions share basically the same creation theory. The only difference is that the Scientology creation myth occurred earlier and involved the movement of a race to another planet (not across the Atlantic). Scientologists magically "audit" themselves to remove the harmful "memories" of a hurtful past. Correctologists use diversity and PC to magically "audit" others and force them to have "memories" of a hurtful past.

SCORE: Correctology 1; Scientology 0.

2. The two religions attack non-believers in the courts and on the streets. [You are correct to point out that the Scientologists are not as random or as vicious as the Correctologists]. Scientology has also not engendered group lynchings.

SCORE: Correctology 2; Scientology 0.

3. The two religions are faith-based. There is no science that can prove something that is based on hearsay. This is a tie.

SCORE: Correctology 3; Scientology 1.

4. The two religions each have their own rules and sacred words. [I would grant that the Scientologists have nothing quite as bizarre as "... and Queer Theory]. Also, Scientology rules and sacred words deal with THEIR OWN. Correctologists seek to do harm to OTHERS.

SCORE: Correctology 4; Scientology 1.

5. The two religions each have fundamental logical fallacies. But, Correctology contains the worst logical fallacy of them all, which is: Fight racism with racism.

SCORE: Correctology 5; Scientology 1.

6. The two religions have clergy who receive compensation for their ministrations. This is a push.

SCORE: Correctology 6; Scientology 2.

7. The two religions have celebrated and eccentric characters who put the religion in the national spotlight. Since the Correctology clergy put their religion in the spotlight for financial gain, it should take this criterion.

FINAL SCORE:

CORRECTOLOGY 7
SCIENTOLOGY 2

______________

I do owe Scientologists and Scientology an apology.
______________

"Scientists had long maintained that spoilage was the action of bacterium and fungi on food over a period of time. It turns out, spoilage is just K.C. Johnson getting bored with something." TALES OF THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE (Marvel Comics, Dec. 2006). MOO! Gregory