Ben Philippe, an English instructor at Barnard College, has authored a book in which he described a fantasy of gassing White people.
In the book, titled, “Sure, I’ll be your Black Friend,” Philippe wrote: “When this race war hits its crescendo, I’ll gather you all into a beautifully decorated room under the pretense of unity. I’ll give a speech to civility and all the good times we share; I’ll smile as we raise glasses to your good, white health, while the detonator blinks under the table, knowing the exits are locked and the air vents filled with gas.”
It was a clear description of genocidal murder against White people.
Double standard on controversial writings
The controversial passage was discussed when CBC invited Philippe, who is Black, to be interviewed on “Q” – the network’s flagship arts program.
Guest host Talia Schlanger noted that, as a Jewish person, she was disturbed by the passage.
“I’m a Jewish person, and my grandparents survived the Holocaust. I can’t tell you how it felt to read that sentiment,” she said. “And I wanted to say to you that I’m so sorry that your experience of the world made you feel that way.”
Just like that, Schlanger essentially justified Philippe for writing the “gassing” passage on his book.
As of this writing, there’s no indication that Philippe is being subjected to criticisms or any form of investigation at Barnard. Perhaps, legal analyst Jonathan Turley was right when he wrote on his blog that “such writing should be protected as a matter of free speech and academic freedom.”
But Turley is also right that the incident raises another case highlighting the conflicting treatment by universities on such writings. Apparently, the same can be said with mainstream media. (Related: Racism theater: How the media, Obama and the racism industry are tearing America apart for their own selfish gain.)
“It is doubtful that even a fictional account discussing the gassing of minorities would have resulted in anything other than a rapid suspension and ultimate termination in many universities,” Turley wrote.
When controversies arise on the left, Turley pointed out, university administrators tend to quickly cite free speech and academic values.
The sharp contrast in how controversial speech is handled raises serious concerns over free speech and academic freedom.
Turley noted that faculty members denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and making other outrageous statements were largely ignored by universities.
However, professors and students are routinely investigated, suspended and sanctioned for countervailing views.
Some intolerant statements are deemed free speech while others are deemed hate speech.
Free speech deemed as hate speech
Late last year, Montreal’s McGill University faced an attack on free speech and academic freedom as eight student groups pushed to rescind the emeritus status of Philip Carl Salzman, a retired professor and well-known anthropologist, to retroactively punish him for opposing their views.
The groups declared in an open letter that free speech “does not exist outside of its social context” and that it has been shown to be “dictated by whiteness.” The example they cited was an article written by Salzman in which he expressed his opinion on the Middle East. (Related: The emergence of Orwellian newspeak and the death of free speech.)
Salzman wrote: “The Middle East is a place where doing harm and being cruel to others is regarded as a virtue and a duty.”
The groups also noted that in the article, Salzman condemned multiculturalism, immigration, gender parity, cultural equality, social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement while dismissing the existence of rape culture and systemic racism.
While conceding that Salzman’s article is editorial in nature, the groups claimed that the retired professor’s opinions were “presented as though they are objective facts.”
Salzman’s response shows the difference between dialogue and diatribe on campuses.
“It appears to have eluded the students supporting this petition that a university is supposed to be a place where opinions, views, and theories are exchanged and critically assessed. I would welcome critiques of my articles through argument and evidence and am prepared to defend my positions,” Salzman said.
“But these students have made no attempt to challenge my articles with contrary arguments and contradictory evidence. Their view appears to be that diversity of opinion about important subjects is unacceptable. Faced with opinions that they dislike, they attack the messenger rather than the message. And they move swiftly from accusation to sentence, without bothering to pass through argument and evidence.”
Violence hailed as activism
Meanwhile, good things happen when your views are generally accepted in the society.
In 2014, University of California at Santa Barbara Associate Professor Mireille Miller-Young was charged with one count each of grand theft, vandalism and battery in an incident involving pro-life activists who were holding signs in a free speech zone on the campus. She pleaded no contest to the three misdemeanor charges.
Miller-Young led her students in attacking a pro-life display, stealing part of their display and then committing battery on one of the young women.
Despite her shocking conduct and the clear violation of the most fundamental values for all academics in guaranteeing free speech, the faculty overwhelmingly supported Miller-Young and the university decided not to impose any meaningful discipline.
Michael D. Young, the university’s vice chancellor of student affairs, even issued a statement blaming the victims and practically defending Miller-Young’s conduct. She was “lionized for her activism,” as Turley put it.
To top it all, Miller-Young was honored as featured speaker at the University of Oregon‘s Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies in 2018. Miller-Young, who is black, discussed her work on black feminism, labor and sex work.
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