Dear Nathan, in response to your column of March 16, no, I don't feel shame that's always seemed like such a Puritan response. I mostly feel flattered. Who knew I would become the DCU poster girl? If I'd been aware that every letter I signed and every protest I went to was under surveillance I'd have paid more attention to my accessorizing.
But to move on to your more substantive points you suggest riddles and errors in my letter to the Herald Sun. My remarks were based on visiting the website advertised in the students for freedom ad (I decided to turn myself in and save my students the trouble). There I found numerous references to Mr. Horowitz as well as a basic blueprint for how to make political bias into a burning issue on your campus. It included suggestions for determining the political party affiliation of faculty and then publicizing it. It must have been a coincidence that a few weeks later just such a campaign was undertaken at Duke. Forgive me if I thought they might be related. I'm intrigued, however, why you feel this is a smear?
Later you mention that I protest against the US government. I must demur and say I protest policies of a faction within the government and on this point I am joined by members of the State Department, the FBI, the CIA, former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, even members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and George H. Bush, all of whom were also opposed to the attack on Iraq (and not the usual company I keep). In fact, I kind of like government. I went to public school, I ride public transportation and I learned to love books at my local public library. I rely on the Environmental Protection Agency to keep mercury out of my water, the Food and Drug Administration to keep mad cow away from me, the Forest Service to protect the wilderness I enjoy, the National Endowment for the Humanities to support art that challenges me, the National Science Foundation to fund my research, and even the cops to keep drunk drivers off the roads. (I'm especially keen on the local government of San Francisco that just married two of my best friends.)
It is this sentiment that forces me to disagree with your statement that I am certainly no conservative. The un-elected denizens of the White House are willfully, even gleefully, overseeing the wholesale destruction of the United States' governments ability to ensure the general welfare of all citizens, and threatening long-term ecological disaster.
Despite the awful detritus of United States' foreign policy to which I have borne witness for 20 years in my ethnographic work in Central America; despite the racism, sexism, homophobia and other ills this country bears; despite the face we invented Baywatch; I believe in what Ralph Ellison calls the principle of this place and these people. That is what I am struggling to conserve.
Unfortunately, many elected Democrats have gone along with this program. They are equally responsible for the untold numbers of Iraqi and Afghani dead and the thousands of U.S. casualties. Too, many are just as corrupt and bought off by corporations as many (but not all) Republicans. The two parties have also colluded to ensure that no third (or heaven forbid more!) parties are able to form, leaving a majority of US voters feeling that there is no alternative so why vote? Maybe these positions are based on passion rather than the logic you claim I lack, experience rather than analysis, but I'm happy to supply argumentation (and citations).
By the way, isn't it a bit disingenuous to call a joke what was actually an ad feminem attack on a fellow student in a public place (the graffiti bridge) at a time when professors at UNC were receiving death threats and there was a lot of tension surrounding the war? I did sign a letter (along with dozens of other faculty and students) in solidarity with that student and the letter did invoke the story of the Danes wearing yellow stars to protect their Jewish brethren. This story was meant to make the point that an injury to one is an injury to all. No, the US in not Berlin 1941, but it bears striking similarities to 1933, and to Santiago, Chile 1973, and Buenos Aires, Argentina 1976, just before those countries descended into dirty wars.
The point of learning history is to not repeat it. Sorry to have lost my light-heartedness, I find these deadly serious issues. I do, however, appreciate you applying so much energy to this in the midst of March Madness, reminding your fellow students there's a much bigger world out there.
The writer is an associate professor of cultural anthropology.
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