In case anyone needed a reminder, academia can be a haven for outrageous commentary on contemporary American issues and news.
First last week came the Florida Atlantic University professor peddling conspiracy theories about the Navy Yard shooting, keeping in step with a crackpot approach to evaluating the Sandy Hook tragedy and the Boston bombing. Then there was the University of Kansas journalism instructor who tweeted, “#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you.â David Guth (@DWGuth) September 16, 2013”
Over at Townhall.com, John Hawkins compiled a list of similarly nasty and shocking takes on current events throughout the years from college professors at U.S. institutions. Among the 20 he noted:
18) I think it is shameful that it is perceived as legitimate to solicit in an academic institution for support for men and women who have gone overseas to kill other human beings. I understand that there is a residual sympathy for service members, perhaps engendered by support for troops in World War II, or perhaps from when there was a draft and people with few resources to resist were involuntarily sent to battle. That sympathy is not particularly rational in today’s world, however. — Michael Avery, Suffolk University Law School
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13) If you go to the Republican convention in Florida, you see all of the old Republicans with the dead skin cells washing off them. Theyâre cheap. They donât want to pay taxes because they have already raped this country and gotten everything out of it they possibly could. — William S. Penn, Michigan State University
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3) The only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military…I personally would like to see a million Mogadishus. — Nicholas De Genova, Columbia University
