Offending Books

Something to offend everyone. That's the job of any publicly-funded library worth its salt. I'm certainly offended by plenty of the materials in the library where I work. But I regularly order books and respond to reference questions that make my blood boil. When a patron laughingly asked me where she could find pictures of a KKK rally so she could get ideas for her Halloween costume, I assisted her. Certainly not gladly, but she got her pictures. I suppose there's someone in the world who would object to a library having any book that might help someone come up with such an offensive costume. I suppose I could argue that whatever books I handed this woman shouldn't be in the library because the whole transaction made me think unkind thoughts toward this woman. (It is unkind to want to smack someone upside the head, right?) Maybe that's stretching it. [Full Story]

Education and Action: Challenging the Pacified Approach

Almost everyone has an opinion when it comes to politics and social issues. But why is it that so many students make no effort to address the problems confronting our communities, state, and our nation? Some common excuses that come to mind - "I just don't have enough time"; "I'm already getting an education, isn't that enough?"; or "I'm just one person, what can I do?" - make no sense when we consider the incredible accomplishments average citizens have made over the last 100 years.

People complain, "Yes, I know our country has major problems, but what can I do about it?" I would argue that it is the corporate media that has driven this complacency into the minds of the public. The media teaches us, there may be some problems in society, but they will just naturally work themselves out if we leave them to the "experts". Winning the "War on Terror" for example does not involve holding the Bush Administration accountable or making some individual sacrifices, but instead shopping till you drop, buying more SUVs, and maybe reporting a "suspicious" neighbor or two on occasion. [Full Story]

Academic Freedom Under Fire

By John K. Wilson, www.collegefreedom.org

The attacks of September 11 shocked America, and the world. College campuses reacted to terrorist acts with rallies, vigils, discussions, and a wide range of debates about the causes and cures for terrorism. And sometimes the reactions of individuals included threats and hatred toward Arabs and Muslims, as well as censorship of those who opposed war. At other times, censorship on college campuses was aimed at enthusiastic supporters of war.

Yet the story told about academia in the media was often quite different. Conservatives claimed that the reaction to Sept. 11 in academia was yet another tale of "political correctness" run amuck. Jonathan Yardley wrote in the Washington Post, "While most of the nation has been roused to a revival of patriotism and stiffened resolve by the terrorist attacks and their aftermath, the thought police have launched a new onslaught on free speech and revived the anti-Americanism that was pandemic on the campuses in the age of political correctness. Now as in the not-so-distant past, speech on campus is free mainly for those with whom the thought police agree."(Nov. 12, 2001) Yardley noted the "violations of free-speech rights that have been committed on the campuses since Sept. 11, mostly against faculty and students who have had the effrontery to speak out against terrorism and in favor of the military action in Afghanistan."(Nov. 26, 2001) [Full Story]

Liberties Lost

Since early June, the military has been holding two American citizens incommunicado-without access to a lawyer, without charging them with crimes, and without the most basic right to civil jurisprudence: habeas corpus.

Jose Padilla is former gang member who was converted to Islam in prison. After taking the name Abdullah al-Muhajir, he allegedly joined Al Quaeda, and was arrested on May 8th after arriving in this country from Pakistan.

The Justice Department held him as a "material witness" for the 9/11 attacks. Padilla refused to cooperate with the investigation, and was scheduled to have a court hearing to decide his status on June 11th.

A few weeks prior to this hearing, another court had ruled that the Material Witness Statute would not allow the Justice Department to hold people indefinitely without charges. [Full Story]