Occupy Atlanta gets another Icon
It was just a matter of time . . . before Jesse Jackson showed up in the "Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement," here in Atlanta.
Although Jackson personally did not take part in the night time march last weekend, he did deign to offer his pearls of Historical Perspective to protestors and reporters gathered at his feet. Said the Icon, "'This is the cup running over. The people can't take it anymore.'"
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution dutifully recorded the Historical Event: "protestors were voicing dissatisfaction with banks" (yeah, I hardly earn any interest on my
interest-bearing checking account), "with government policies that favor the rich" (just a teeny-tiny bit of that Solyndra "loan" would have helped out the Dissident Prof greatly), and with "Washington gridlock" (during my last trip there my cab driver had to go way around the city because some presidential motorcade had blocked streets). Oh, wait! You mean the AJC doesn't want MY opinion?
But now the peaceful protestors are knocking police off their motorcyles here in Atlanta and trampling down 78-year-old women in Washington, D.C.
The Daily Caller has footage from the protests over the weekend as Americans for Prosperity gathered for a meeting at a D.C. hotel--something the Occupiers didn't approve of. Nor did they approve of Michelle Bachmann's right to make a speech, so they shouted her down..
(This is beginning to look so much like a Patrick Buchanan speech on a college campus.)
It's a good thing I was out in the open air when I covered the Occupy Atlanta because as Jack Kemp reports in American Thinker, the Fulton County Health Department confirms that occupiers who were occupying the homeless shelter after having been kicked out of Woodruff Park were exposed to tuberculosis.
The Historical Moments of the Occupy Atlanta Movement from park to homeless shelter, and then to foreclosed home in Gwinnett County were recorded by the AJC. As protestors were unceremoniously escorted out of the park, the paper recorded the event:
“Ladie Mansfield, one of the protestors, said the group decided to save the city money as a way of making a statement. [Now we're talkin'!]
‘There is a bigger message,’ Mansfield said. That is that there are better ways to spend money than arresting peaceful protesters and the city should be sending police to neighborhoods where they were needed.
"The protesters quickly folded or dragged more than 25 tents, tables and sleeping bags out of the park as police waited by the dozens at the north end of the park to walk in and start arresting people.”
(This reminds me of an evening one summer when my cell phone conversation in Pine Lake park continued after the sun had set. I too was so cruelly ousted by a Pine Lake policeman, who reminded me of the sign regarding curfew hours.)
The AJC continues:
“The mixed group of protesters included students and working people, mothers and the homeless. Their grievances included foreclosure and bank bailouts, greed, wars and lack of political representation.”
J. Edgar Hoover in his book, Masters of Deceit, notes of demands by Communists and their front groups:
“Some demands are always present and seem innocent enough, such as those for higher wages, lower taxes, and better housing. But . . . communists don’t really care about genuine social reforms. They serve to arouse people and to cause tension.”
The kiddos in school will likely only hear about Communist "witch hunts" by J. Edgar Hoover and Eugene McCarthy, though.
In fact, if their teachers are subscribing to the New York Times lesson plans, they probably will be getting deeply involved in discussions about the Occupy protestors' complaints about greed and wars.
Middle school students (by the looks of the students in this photo from the lesson plan) are asked to analyze inane protest sign slogans, recall other similar protests, analyze how police response has "exacerbated tensions," etc. Numerous references point students back to the New York Times' own material, including the ponderings of their own staff pontificators, whose columns require a higher degree in Deconstruction to parse out. Anxious to maintain appearances of educational legitimacy, the editors tell teachers how this lesson plan meets "standards."
From the Department of Redundancy: The Chronicle of Higher Education reports Occupation protests on campuses of Berkeley and Harvard. Why not just take a class in the humanities? 99% of the class material is already about greed and wars and social justice, and you don't have to bother setting up a tent. Apparently, though, young people still enjoy the adventure of field trips. On these pages, Tina Trent reports on a college student gaining classroom credit from the University of Alabama (a public school) for particpating in the Occupy Wall Street protest.
In so many ways, as Tina points out, our tax dollars are going to support this anti-free market activity. Alas, I am not part of the 99% of the professoriate that has the luxury of simply discussing my favorite politics or hobbies in class, or sending students off on excursions while I attend to activities more enjoyable than grading papers. (Banish the thought that I could send students to Tea Party rallies.)
We need him now.
This week my students read and discussed "The Speech," Ronald Reagan's 1964 speech for Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign that launched his own political career. To boot, they also read Goldwater's speech explaining why he did not vote for the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Goldwater is routinely cast as "anti-civil rights," and, of course, racist, with most historians and teachers never bothering to consider his actual record on civil rights, nor his principled Constitutional stance against the bill. George Schuyler, whom I mentioned last week, was a Goldwater supporter. Although I was way too young to vote and not yet a naturalized citizen, in my heart I was a Goldwater girl. Had I known about him, I would have looked up to him just for his strong law-and-order stance as my Rochester neighborhood was racked by riots.
Speaking of George Schuyler, I am reminded of my wonderful opportunity to study at the Alexander Hamilton Institute this summer. I learn that as this independent institution strives to uphold freedom and high standards of intellectual inquiry, the college down the road continues to employ those who would better serve as street performers at the Occupations. A few months ago, I wrote a blog post for Minding the Campus about a fellow whose academic specialty was writing pornographic poetry and who is now teaching at Hamilton College.
No More Tweed and Chalk-Dust Professors at Hamilton College
Most recently, Hamilton College brags about Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Crystal Endsley being "featured artist" at the "gallery space AAI" in Philadelphia in October. Endsley's spoken word performance "centered on themes of identity and achieving unity through social justice," we are told.
You can watch her "perform" her piece "I am" here on YouTube. "I am," she raps, "the flame, that star, that fulfillment of destiny," etc. "Do not promise me diamonds. You cannot turn for real into a scam. . . . I am that star." Hmm, I wonder what she thinks of Goldwater's speech. What is her take on the constitutionality of Titles II and VII?
Obviously, if you want more than narcissistic doggerel you have to look far and wide among the professoriate. So I give you some recommended reading from friend and colleague at Grove City College, Paul Kengor. In "Two Septembers: When Wall Street Erupted," Kengor compares the anarchic, and increasingly violent, current protests to those in 1920 when the protestors' bomb in front of J.P. Morgan killed 38 and injured over 400.
Ed Kaitz, who apprently does not enjoy the perks of tenure, nevertheless offers an insightful analysis in American Thinker that compares current developments to Plato's recountings in The Republic. Kaitz has it right: after the mob protests and demands for participatory democracy, things degenerate into chaos and anarchy. The situation then offers the perfect opportunity for tyranny--the ultimate dream of radicals, where dissenters are put into concentration camps. (Larry Grathwohl, FBI informant, describes Bill Ayers participating in a discussion with other members of the Weathermen about what would be done with those who resisted after their Revolution succeeded. The vast open spaces of the American Southwest would be set aside for re-education camps for recalcitrant extremists. Most recently, Ayers has been giving motivational speeches to Occupy Wall Street protestors.)
The retired education professor lectures on protesting
Speaking of American Thinker, friend and mentor, Fred J. Eckert has a thoughtful piece on the firing of General Peter Fuller for his inappropriate (though true) comments about Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. As Fred points out, this is something that the President and Secretary of State should have done, but failed to do. (How many ways can we count. . . .)
For Veterans Day reading, again I suggest Paul Kengor's essay about a World War II vet Frank Kravetz and the book about his life. And to learn about the origins of Veterans Day read Anita Folsom's blog post here.
Dissident Prof, not being a follower of sports other than the political sparring televised 24/7 on our airwaves, nonetheless, is compelled to report that one of the 99% left-wingers of humanities departments sees a bright spot in the terrible Penn State sex abuse case. Official spoil-sport, angry, Marxist blogger at the Chronicle of Higher Education, Middlebury College sociology professor Laurie Essig sees an opportunity to overturn another vestige of the patriarchal, capitalist System: she asks hopefully, "'Can we get rid of Sports on Campus Now?'" She hopes so because sports represents a "long-dominant ideology" of "muscular Christianity," meaning that fit "middle-class bodies . . . deserve to lead the economy and polity." Here comes the display of professorial credentials: "The Muscular Christianity movement, so beautifully embodied by Teddy Roosevelt and the YMCA, was central to the rise of the Bourgeoisie."
Hmmm, wonder how many athletes are at the Occupy Wall Street movements? Maybe professor Essig does have a point. Which of course just means that we need to emphasize sports more. As a red-blooded naturalized American citizen from a former communist country Dissident Prof supports all efforts that support the Bourgeoisie.
So here's to you, sports fans. Cheer on! I send you, and our veterans, on this Veterans Day, a toast.
