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Raising The Level Of Discourse
So, anyway,
they're mocking Our Graduate Student
and dismissing him as a "flat-earth Neanderthal".
That was part of their MYTHOLOGY
that made them feel good about themselves.
The shallow, FAKE, liberal fascists
felt that they were more advanced than everybody else.
That made them feel good about themselves.
So, If anybody disagreed with them
or criticized them,
they just responded that the critic
must be backward, stoooopit, and unenlightened.
And, so, they could continue feeling good about themselves.
They really had quite high self-esteem, you know.
Now, Our Graduate Student could clearly see
that the issue just wasn't that complicated.
Slavery EXTREMELY BAD
Bein' a white female in the U.S. REAL EASY BY COMPARISON
Any frikkin' flat-earth Neanderthal, any caveman,
coulda told you THAT !
But Our Graduate Student realized
that he'd have to disrupt their mental schema
by creating Cognitive Dissonance in their minds
(such as their minds were).
He decided to create Cognitive Dissonance
in the minds (such as their minds were)
of the shallow, FAKE liberal fascists
by lifting the Level of Discourse
to a level beyond their reach.
"Who are the intellectuals ?" he reflected.
Mailer, Vidal, and Buckley came to mind.
"Yes, yes, that's good," he thought.
Two left-wingers,
one a macho bully who scorned women's libbers,
one a glitzy intellectual
with the fashionable bisexual credentials,
and one right-winger,
the staid conservative.
Mailer he was familiar with.
He had struggled through some of Mailer's long writings
and found them to be, well, real long. Interesting, too.
Vidal he knew nothing about, really,
except that he seemed to be one of those
New York City literary types,
and that he and Mailer had hostile exchanges.
Now THAT would make for diversity!
All Our Graduate Student knew about Buckley
was that he was
The Standard Bearer of The Conservative Movement.
Even more diversity there!
So this whole Newsletter Writing venture
did turn out to be an
incredible learning experience
for Our Graduate Student
in many ways.
We have already shown
how he was learning what it was like
to step into the limelight
and speak out
with a politically incorrect, unfashionable viewpoint.
Scorn, mockery, threats and intimidation,
being hauled before the president for a browbeating,
censorship...you name it.
MLK spelled it all out
in his Letter From A Birmingham Jail.
"All right," decided Our Graduate Student,
"I've already quoted the black guy.
Now let's do some white guys."
(the quota was working out quite well, too,
for those of you into proportional representation,
one black guy and three white guys (four including Our Graduate Student)
roughly paralleled the black/white population proportion in the U.S.!).
Our Graduate Student had learned a lot
from re-reading the "Letter From A Birmingham Jail".
MLK had spelled out, delineated, and listed
for Our Graduate Student
what Our Graduate Student was experiencing
as a result of speaking out at that state university.
IN ESSENCE, IN IT'S VERY NATURE,
it was EXACTLY what MLK had experienced
when he presented his opinions
that upset so many applecarts.
When Our Graduate Student read
MLK's descriptions of the various factions
that he was encountering,
Our Graduate Student's jaw almost dropped.
"My God !" he realized,
"those are the same kinds of factions I'm encountering !"
It was the human experience.
"All right", reasoned Our Graduate Student,
"I transcended the puerile level of discourse
of the shallow, FAKE liberal fascists
by engaging in dialogue with MLK.
"Now let's listen to some white intellectuals."
It was fertile ground.
From that enterprise,
Our Graduate Student's two most salient memories
were a quote by Vidal
and a humorous, insightful
verbal portrait of Mailer by Vidal.
The quote by Vidal went like this,
"Tolerance. A TOLERANCE WHICH, IN ITS EFFECT,
IS NOT ENTIRELY UNLIKE TERROR."
It was perfect.
It hit the nail on the head
as far as describing the effects
of political correctness.
American society had reformed
a great deal throughout the 20th Century -
civil rights, universal suffrage, gay rights.
Views and positions were legally protected now
that formerly were simply not even tolerated.
But, now, in 1982,
these views and positions
had become immobilizing and terrorizing.
State university presidents
shook with fear
when a young man
sat at a typewriter
and voiced his dissent like Snoopy,
like Oliver Wendell Holmes.
What of the Normal Rockwell photo
of the young man
standing up and speaking out at the Town Hall meeting?
Wasn't THAT what America was about?
Wasn't THAT Freedom of Speech?!
Why risk danger fighting for this country
when you can't even have a cup of coffee
at the lunch counter in your hometown,
when you can't attend the local state university
without being harassed, scorned, and mocked
and then threatened and censored for protesting
that outrageous and offensive behavior?
Terror?
Yes. the state university's president was terrorized.
The attorney dean of students was terrorized.
They, in turn, terrorized the faculty advisors.
Was Our Graduate Student terrorized?
No. Our Graduate Student was not terrorized.
He just said, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUck u."
The other salient memory
was another piece by Vidal.
It was called
"Norman Mailer: The Angels Are White"
You see, Mailer and Vidal
were always sniping at one another,
criticizing one another.
So, Vidal compares Mailer
to a literary character,
possibly from 'Dante's Inferno',
whose feverish, exhausting search for truth
had left him exhausted, spent, and mad.
(FIND THE QUOTE)
"Who, having gone WHEREVER,
and seen straight through
to the heart of the mystery,
had been driven mad
and when he returned
could only babble in a whisper
"The Angels Are White!
The Angels Are White!"
"Mailer has spend so much time and energy
trying to get your attention," said Vidal,
"that when he finally gets their attention,
he is spent, with nothing more to say."
Oh! How Our Graduate Student related to those passages!
The attacks!
The mockery!
The threats!
The betrayals!
The obstructionism!
The effort and time and expense it cost just to speak and be heard!
The drama!
The cowards!
The exhaustion!
The madness!
At times Our Graduate Student
was so exhausted,
it was only by guts and will he could continue.
"Another Newsletter to produce !"
"What will I say now ?"
"How many different ways can you explain
that 1 + 1 = 2 ?"
"How many different ways can you say
that 2 + 2 = 4 ?"
"They should know that already!"
"What is it I really need to say here?"
"What is it that they REALLY need to hear?"
The answer came.
"I know."
"I know what they REALLY need to hear,"
FUCK YOU TOO !"
And he said it, loud and clear.
Our Graduate Student spit it in their faces,
FUCK YOU TOO !"
you shallow, FAKE, liberal fascists.
I Don't Blame Him.
That's What They Were Saying To Him
By The Way They Treated Him !
That's right.
These liberal fascists know what they're doing.
They know the difference between right and wrong.
They just think the rules don't apply to them.
They think they're above the rules.
They think they're entitled.
They think their shit don't stink.
But, EVERYTHING about them stinks!
That's Right.
They Definitely Think AND Feel That They're Entitled!
That's Right.
They were yelling,
"dumb ass" at Our Graduate Student,
and he responded,
"DOUBLE DUMB ASS ON YOU !"
just like Admiral Kirk.
But, you know,
they weren't ALL dumb asses.
They were't ALL despicable, loathesome, hypocritical
shallow, FAKE, liberal fascists.
Not ALL of them.
Some were just timid and fearful.
It was just like MLK delineated
in his Letter From A Birmingham Jail.
There were liberal, moderate, and radical blacks.
There were liberal, moderate, and radical whites.
There were blacks who were content
with the status quo of jim crow.
There were whites determined to smash it.
There were ALL kinds.
That's what you encountered
when you took on a leadership position
like Our Graduate Student did.
And there the ones
who disappointed you.
This brings up a good time
to talk about the story
of establishing THE MLO,
The Men's Liberation Organization.
That Was The Name
Of Our Graduate Student's Student Organization ?!
You Betcha !
Up Against The Wall, Motherfucker !
OK
So, anyway, Our Graduate Student
wanted to respond and create a dialogue
in a legitimate and proper manner,
so he established a student organization
for that purpose,
and chose a name
that was appropriate
for the times and for the situation.
Everyone was seeking liberation from us white men.
Well, so, guess what ?
We, were gonna seek liberation too.
Liberation from everybody blaming everything on us
ALL THE TIME
ABOUT EVERYTHING,
liberation from white-man bashing
that was going on ALL THE TIME
on the campuses,
liberation from the kinds of abuse
already described
that Our Graduate Student
had been putting up with.
So, there's all these pink flyers
all over the campus with,
"sisterhood is powerful"
on them.
Our Graduate Students
makes blue flyers with,
"Brotherhood Is Powerful !"
on THEM.
Problem is,
it turned out that
sisterhood was powerful and
brotherhod wasn't.
Let's talk about bill harris
(at least, I THINK I got the first name right).
Our Graduate Student got the required paperwork
and went around the cafeteria
and got the required number of students to join.
Then he reserved a meeting room
and put up flyers
announcing the meeting
to get the organization going.
He advertised it at "The Organizational Meeting"
and only two people showed up.
Who?
Two professors.
From the education department.
Or, rather, I should say,
from one of the education departments.
There are several education departments
on that campus and, I suppose then,
on most campuses.
It's quite a bureucracy, education is.
Quite a bureaucracy.
So, anyway,
Our Graduate Student
reserves this meeting room,
much bigger than a classroom,
much smaller than an auditorium.
He sits at the front table,
all alone,
and waits.
Two professors show up
and sit in the back
and ask Our Graduate Student a few questions
about the Organization
and they agree to join.
Eagerly.
One was a department head (bill or ed harris)
and they agreed that the other one (cotton johnson)
would become the Organization's faculty advisor.
In the brief conversation
they had with Our Graduate Student,
they expressed a bit of outrage
at the behavior of the females
throughout the education building
and all its education departments.
Apparently, they were as rude and insulting
and offensive as they could be to white men.
It's Good They Showed Up.
Yes, Our Graduate Student
was surprised that NO ONE else showed up
at all.
Another SILENT GENERATION
too busy playing pool, I guess.
Our Graduate Student
had been a bit concerned
about how he would handle the leadership
of the meetings
if large numbers of students showed up.
He's really a mild-mannered guy
who thinks before he speaks.
Not a rabble-rouser
like abbie hoffman and jerry rubin.
He actually prefers to state his opinions
in writing
and digest others' opinions in written form
because he believes ideas
presented in writing
are more carefully thought out
and more rationally presented.
But, he didn't have to worry
about leading a large crowd
of impressive, overpowering speakers.
These two professors
weren't at all intimidating.
Their auras were rather weak,
it seemed to Our Graduate Student.
Or, perhaps it was that
Our Graduate Student's Aura
was very strong that day
in that place
on that occasion.
He was in his spot,
where he belonged.
"They stood there, huffing and bobbing on the mat,"
Our Graduate Student thought
as he later sought the words
to describe those two professors.
Perhaps that is a bit unfair,
but not entirely.
It's a quote from "The Lord Of The Rings."
So How Does This Play Out ?
All right, anyway, I've already told you
several times, about how
Cotton Johnson, the faculty advisor,
got called up to the president's office,
and got stared at real hard,
and got his ass chewed out
by the attorney dean of students ?
Yeah, We Know That Story.
All Right,
well, there was an earlier meeting with harris.
Harris sends Our Graduate Student a message somehow.
I can't remember how.
Maybe it was a phone call
or a note delivered.
Anyway. Harris says to please meet him
outside the education building.
So Our Graduate Student
walks over to education building
on the appointed day and time.
He's thinkin',
"maybe we'll meet there
and then go and have lunch or coffee and chat."
So, Our Graduate Student walks over there
and he sees harris standin' there
talkin' to somebody,
obviously not a student.
Looked like another professor, maybe.
So, Our Graduate Student approaches,
and he's not invited to join the conversation,
so he steps off the path, underneath a tree,
far enough so he couldn't eavesdrop,
but close enough to be clearly seen,
and he waits for their conversation to end
or for them to invite him to join them.
You see, Our Graduate Student
was brought up real good.
Appropriate.
That's the word for Our Graduate Student.
Appropriate.
As Appropriate as they come.
Polite, Good Manners.
All that and looks too!
So, Our Graduate Student is thinkin',
"This'll take 30 seconds or so
and I'll be invited to join
or harris will excuse himself
for his prior appointment with me."
So Our Graduate Student waits and waits
and eventually harris walks over and says,
"i don't share your anger.
i don't share your anger,"
and leaves.
harris was just bailin' out
from pressure and fear.
So Was harris mad?
Fuck "was harris mad?"
How about, "Was Our Graduate Student Mad !?"
You're just as bad as that
attorney dean of students.
That's what he said
when he was throwin' a tantrum
outside the president's office,
waving Our Graduate Student's blue flyer all around,
"if i was cotton johnson, i'd be mad as hell at you."
The liberal fascists got it backwards on purpose.
It's called chutzpah.
(QUOTE RUDD HERE)
They chickened out
and left Our Graduate Student holdin' the bag.
So That Was It?
Well, the guy harris was talkin' to
was African American.
That probably meant something in their minds,
but Our Graduate Student played it
just like he would have with whites
or people of any color.
If your boss tells you to meet him somewhere
and you find him talkin' to somebody when you get there,
you approach so they know you're there,
and then you step to the side until they're done
or until they invite you to join them.
But who knows what was going on in their minds?
Maybe it was some kind of test they concocted up in their minds
to see whether Our Graduate Student
would talk to a black guy or not.
Who knows?
Liberals, like most people,
just interpret everything the way they want to
reality be damned.
Our Graduate Student has already established
his racial credentials.
He wasn't mad at the blacks there.
He was at war with the FAKE liberal fascists
who had declared war on him.
Well, about 4 years later,
in 1986, Our Graduate Student enrolled
in the education program there
and took a class from harris.
Just a routine, required class.
They make you take a lot of classes
and jump over lots of hoops
to get the teaching license.
Just feedin' the monster, the bureaucracy, you know.
Many of those classes are just like goin' to traffic school.
Well, It Must Have Been A Dramatic Meeting, Though!
Please!
Is attending traffic school dramatic.
Our Graduate Student just
had to get his card punched. That's all.
It was up to harris to apologize to Our Graduate Student,
and it still is.
harris owes Our Graduate Student an apology,
not the other way around.
And he still does.
OK
Very Easily.
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OK
Very Easily.