return of the blacklist

[barbara100 at jps.net]

I don't think the ACTA authors make a very good point for themselves quoting
all those professors.  I just read over 100 of them, and I only found one
I'd disagree with.  It's a great compilation of quotes, though.  Now I wanna
go read "The Shakespeare File: What English Majors Are Really Studying
(1996)".  I bet that's a kick!




----- Original Message -----
From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2001 8:22 AM
Subject: return of the blacklist


> http://www.counterpunch.org/dprice2.html
>
> "[...] The ACTA recently produced a 38 page pamphlet that in many ways
> reads like a prototype of a neo-McCarthyist blacklist for our new hot war
> (see: http://www.goacta.org/Reports/defciv.pdf). The pamphlet, "Defending
> Civilization: How our Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be
Done
> About It" compiles 117 quotes from respected American academicians
critical
> of current US policies. These quotes range from gentle questions
concerning
> the propriety of specific actions, to radical critiques of American
> policies and practices, but theses quotes lead the ACTA to make the charge
> that "college and university faculty have been the weak link in America's
> response to the attack" of September 11th.
>
> ACTA Chairwoman Emeritus and national "Second Lady", Lynne Cheney, is
> quoted on the pamphlet's cover endorsing the need for Americans to study
> the past-though the envisioned past she'd have us study is clearly
> compartmentalized in ways that serve hegemonic interpretations of the
> current crisis. Cheney tells us that "living in liberty is such a precious
> thing" as the pamphlet compiles a list of Americans whose liberties the
> ACTA would like to see reduced. But Republicans like Cheney are not alone
> to blame for this pamphlet designed to threaten those who would actually
> practice academic freedom. Besides Cheney the remaining members of the
ACTA
> governing board are two of Cheney's NEH colleagues (Jerry Martin & Anne
> Neal) and two conservative Democrats Joseph Lieberman and Richard Lamm.
>
> The pamphlet has a few tantalizingly strident quotes such as the widely
> publicized (and later apologized for) quote by University of New Mexico
> historian, Richard Berthold that "anyone who can blow up the Pentagon gets
> my vote", but most of the quotes are moderate in their view and tenor. In
> fact, one of the remarkable things about this pamphlet is how relatively
> tame or even common-sensical many of the quotes are. For example CCNY
> sophomore Nuriel Heckler's observation that "we don't feel military action
> will stop terrorism, but it will lead to racism and hate," or Jesse
> Jackson's statement that we should "build bridges and relationships, not
> simply bombs and walls." To the ACTA such moderate suggestions are too
> much, and must be shouted down. [...] "