← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · neoclassical
Thread ID: 16954 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-02-24
2005-02-24 22:41 | User Profile
Stirring up the Mob
Ward Churchill's controversial remarks and the events that followed them should be of interest to all social activists and students of culture. On one hand, his statements on events such as the cause of 9/11 are correct, but the truths he states break taboo and have brought him great trouble. On the other hand, his rational discussion of cause and effect is sabotaged by delving into fringe topics where he spins a mix of inconguent ideas in order to appeal to the rabble and impressionable college students lost in a haze of Marxism. One need only to look at the supporters his press conferences attract to realize that he appeals to anarchists, rebels, and other human garbage who flock to a loose collection of childish complaints, petulant whining, and vague discontent of a largely self-inflicted variety.
The reaction of the system to Churchill's ideas is where the best comedy appears, as should be expected in a nation that permits free speech only to those who agree with the prevailing media opinions. Though he has tenure and tenure exists to give professors liberty to investigate topics freely and critically, his opponents declare that his opinions make him an unfit teacher because he openly disagrees with what television personalities and even the president say when they explain the war against Arabs, 9/11, and other topical events.
"Whatever else can be said of them, the men who struck on September 11 manifested the courage of their convictions, willingly expending their own lives in attaining their objectives." - Ward Churchill
After lawyers advised the University of Colorado that Churchill could not be fired for expressing his views, they began digging for a technicality that could be used as a valid justification. Immediately they seized upon challenging his claim that he was 1/16th Cherokee Indian, though in other cases the authorities tell us that race is unimportant or doesn't exist. It's important to note that whenever convenient to attack its opponents, the system is pragmatic rather than consistent in its use of arguments and standards.
Rhetoric and Affirmation When Churchill isn't making weird constitutional interpretations claiming that your free speech is limited by his higher right to not be offended, he takes up the banner of American Indian civil rights and wants all land on which they once lived returned to them, despite their war losses. Taken to its logical conclusion, this same thinking would restore all worldwide borders to pre-history status, thus providing equality by removing the idea of "losing" implied in historical discussions of populations that in fact lost wars.
Churchill shows real skills in his use of illogical idealism to boast of "change", "revolution", and forced "equality" as his core rhetorical technique. In equating many things he dislikes to Nazism, he invokes Godwin's law and discloses a paranoia that sees Nazi ghosts everywhere, sixty years after that political party ceased to exist.
It can be tempting as an activist to use Churchill's method of shotgun argumentation: mention a few facts for credibility, break taboos to get media coverage by explaining what others lie about, then scatter several disjoint statements that will attract support from special interest groups and the dejected so you have a following when the media storm hits.
However, this is both disingenuous and ultimately ineffective. Stirring up a crowd is no great feat; putting on a show for monkeys is a common event that has no lasting impact beyond the performance. The mob assembled to hear an affirmation of their fragmented and inconsistent views has no real ideology and is only looking to be stroked. When upset, they might yell or hold signs with a catchy slogan, but will take no action beyond making inconsequential complaints.
Real activism must be rational, internally consistent, and without interest in appealing to petty interests because we are concerned with appealing to the values of eternity and not the whims of the day.
[url]http://www.nazi.org/community/columns/lindstrom/[/url]