The Lowest Conceivable Standard…
…belongs to Bob Kerrey, president of the New School:
I now speak in defense of the behavior of my students – the minority who protested and the majority who did not. On the surface, some of the tactics of the protest were rude, noisy, and disrespectful. Less obvious, however, was the self-restraint that prevented the protestors from behaving in a fashion that would have shut down the commencement or made it impossible for Senator McCain or me to continue. Though many in the audience – including Senator McCain and I – were offended by the heckling, at no time were we in danger of not being able to proceed.
“…[A]t no time were we in danger of not being able to proceed.” Hmmm…so anything short of a student takeover of the entire building is fair game now for commencements. That must be wonderful news for the families of graduates everywhere.
Kerrey then totally loses any sense of perspective:
…[S]tudent protests are a necessary and essential part of democratic free expression. Did we not love the brave and disrespectful students at Tiananmen? Did we not applaud the determination of the student led movements that helped bring down the dictators that ruled Eastern Europe in 1991? Have we forgotten the critical difference students made in reversing an unlawful election in Ukraine or in driving the Syrians from Lebanon or who still seethe in discontent under the religious law of Iran’s mullahs?
I beg your pardon? Heckling McCain in the same breath as these momentous events? What tank did Jean Rohe face down? What threat of death or imprisonment? Or, as the MinuteMan puts it so eloquently:
…[I]t must be delightful for the New Schoolers to have their President pandering so, but I hope they have learned enough to realize that no, when you are in the heart of New York City surrounded by thousands of like minded progressives, standing up to a solitary seventy year old man is not Tiananmen.
Yeah, I know he nearly beat the victim to death, but he didn’t actually, you know, kill him, so I think we ought to go easy on him.
The student protesters risked nothing. They knew they were in an environment that welcomes and encourages that sort of cretinish behavior – as is now amply demonstrated by Kerrey’s note. They knew, or believed, that their behavior would raise their status among their peers. Kerrey goes so far as to conflate their churlish behavior with the protests in Tiananmen Square and Eastern Europe. Oh how proud and strong these protesters must feel! Why not compare them to purple-fingered Iraqis’ and the protesters in Lebanon?
Sickening.
Yeah, speaking of purple things, they should have worn band-aids with black P.O.W. marks on them to mock the man who actually served his country overseas…that would have been oh so less sickening. I mean, come on, they spoke, that’s it. How is freedom of speech sickening? Or is the sickening act the self-importance they are emanating afterwards?
By the way, the rhetorical device is called “hyperbole”, in case anyone’s wondering. It’s overused lately, but in this case I think it is an adeqaute device used to substantiate their activities. And, while we’re there, why do their activities need to be substantiated?
Mike, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from criticism, both about the subject of the speech and the manner in which it is employed. No one’s suggesting these students should be locked up in the slammer (which is important to remember when Bob Kerrey starts stroking egos and comparing his students to those in China, Eastern Europe and Labanon).
I’m saying what they did is obnoxious and childish, and it’s just as obnoxious and childish as that band-aid business with John Kerry. So if you thought that was annoyingly sophomoric, I’m glad to see you joining me in thinking this self-important reaction at the New School graduation was annoyingly sophomoric too.
You’re absolutely right, but as it turns out, those young kids are quite closer to actually being sophomores and children than grown men and women at the (nationally televised) Rep. Convention…hardy har har.
Definitely true, but that doesn’t make the graduates’ behavior any less obnoxious. And it certainly doesn’t excuse Bob Kerrey’s standard of “Well, the building wasn’t set on fire, so…”
Crap, at least it made their graduation slightly memorable. I honestly have no clue who spoke at my graduation. I was too excited to be starting my job. Joke was on me though as I didn’t fully understand one of my professor’s famous quotes, “Hey, don’t be in such a hurry to get out of college. All you have to look forward to is 40 years of work followed by a most certain death. Enjoy college.” Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 (actually it really ought to be better than that, more like 20/10 or 20/5).
But, yes, if someone at my school would have done that, I would have thought to myself “Ok, enough already, let me sleep through his speech and we can get this day over with”. But, once again, she couldn’t have spoken for more than 5 minutes…so what? Someone else a few more? Big deal. McCain’s speech is enormous. Talk about obnoxious if you’re sitting in the seats waiting to get your degree…
Tip O’Neil spoke at mine – now THAT was memorable.
Clarification: I found the students behavior obnoxious and offensive (calling Kerrey a war criminal, for example). The ‘sickening’ remark is directed at the comparison of these pampered students to real people who put their lives at risk to speak and demand freedom. That’s all.
You know, I only regard Ann Coulter as an entertainer, but it never fails to surprise me how often I am reminded of a certain remark she made in How to Talk to a Liberal (paraphrased): Liberals refuse to stay on topic. Say Saddam Hussein should be removed from power, liberals will bring up CIA-backed coups that occured 50 years ago. Or, for instance, say that goofy college kids heckling John McCain isn’t quite on par with the protesters at Tienanmen Square or Berlin in 1989, and they bring up events at the RNC.
Now, if someone who had been wearing a purple band-aid at the RNC in 2004 had called the kids immature, then you’d be justified in bringing up the incident to expose their hypocrisy.
But you’re still missing the point entirely. This isn’t about stupid kids making fools of themselves (or stupid delegates making fools of themselves); it’s about someone comparing these stupid kids to true heroes.
And, Aaron, when speaking to a Republican, you ought to be aware of the inevitable bait and switch. Bringing up events at the RNC was to speak to a specific point made by the first commenter. Then, the rest of the comment spoke to the topic. Do you not find it ironic how your whole first paragraph doesn’t speak to the topic at hand and you accuse me of doing the same? Who mentioned Ann Coulter? Hardy har har. I can play this game too.
Who cares if Kerrey compares them to true heroes? He was one of the ones insulted but substantiated their voice by saying it takes normal everyday people at events just like these to keep everyone in check, even if they are naive college punks who have no idea how the world works.
Also, it never fails to amaze me how Republicans claim Ann Coulter is an entertainer and then go and cite her as some sort of gospel speaking saint. Color me not surprised.