College professors petition for Bill Ayers

[GRT]

saw an interesting article about this website today

http://www.supportbillayers.org/

His participation in political activity 40 years ago is history; what is most relevant now is his continued engagement in progressive causes, and his exemplary contribution---including publishing 16 books--- to the field of education. The current attacks appear as part of a pattern of “exposés” and assaults designed to intimidate free thinking and stifle critical dialogue. Like crusades against high school and elementary teachers, and faculty at UCLA, Columbia, DePaul, and the University of Colorado, the attacks on and the character assassination of Ayers threaten the university as a space of open inquiry and debate, and threaten schools as places of compassion, imagination, curiosity, and free thought.

what you guys think? liberal professors are liberal?

[_chuchu]

Global warming.

[Plow]

They have a point, but what are they trying to accomplish?

[GRT]

change public opinion of the guy i presume? as futile as that seems

i'm surprised to find how many professors from my school are listed.... or maybe i'm not

[archibaldcrane]

Eh, a couple of the Sterling Hall bombers (first terrorist bombing in America) still live in Madison, one of them owns a couple restaurants, which I eat at if I'm hungry. They actually killed a guy and were prosecuted and such, so I guess if I'm fine with them now 40 years later, I'm fine with the former domestic terrorist who isn't a murderer.

[Charla]

But I thought terrorism was evil and destroying the fabric of American democracy! Surely you can't condone allowing a TERRORIST to have a normal life!

(now taking bets on who tries to seriously argue first in this thread).

[Correction]

They gave Arafat the Nobel Peace Prize.

Learn for forgive and forget, motherfuckers.

[Kwijiboe]

Let's forgive and forget Bush.

[Charla]

Will he quit giving speeches? Cause that might be a good tradeoff.

[Olo401]

Let's forgive and forget Bush.

I'll gladly do both once the bar tab he ran up and then ditched us with is paid off..

[Kuya]

I understand that liberal is a curse word in the US for some, but be that as it may, stamp the label liberal on my ass because i agree with what i presume they're trying to do. It was 40 years ago, and while what he did was extreme, i stand at awe at how not only are these attacks being used as political rhetoric against some Democrat, it's also being used to slander any critical view of the status quo. People who believe in free speech have every reason to be troubled by the anti intellectual, liberal, and critic of anything as of late, disagree as i might with mainstream "left" liberalism of the US.

[Kuya]

Let's forgive and forget Bush.

That depends; has Ayers said his actions were too extreme/wrong in the past? Has Bush admitted that he tricked the US into a war or at the very least made a grave mistake? Let's of course ignore the attempts at adding more power to the executive, for simplicity's sake.

[Beckwin]

Bill Ayers did more for his country during the Vietnam War than John McCain did.

[Beckwin]

also if Bush turns into a Jimmy Carter 10 or 20 years from now I'd be willing to cut him some slack. ex-presidents have a lot of potential for humanitarian/charity stuff and I hope W takes proper advantage of it; he has a lot to make up to the world.

[archibaldcrane]

That depends; has Ayers said his actions were too extreme/wrong in the past?

No, he's even said he wished he had bombed more back then.

However, in the 40 years since he was active in the Weather Underground, he's become one hell of a professor and citizen. He's unrepentant (the government was attempting to illegally fuck him pretty hard back then, hence the reason he was never prosecuted) but...with...good reason?

[Kuya]

Well then, i guess he can't be forgiven, if you're inclined to view what he did was wrong.

[Charla]

People who believe in free speech have every reason to be troubled by the anti intellectual, liberal, and critic of anything as of late, disagree as i might with mainstream "left" liberalism of the US.

I see it as a cyclical thing. Anti-intellectualism and the glorification of the 'common man' is a relatively recent (meaning less than 100 years old) trend, and as a trend it will eventually fade. That will still leave us as a "center-right nation" (as Newsweek calls it), but hopefuly a very different one.

As for Mr. Ayers, if he was called an antiwar activist, protestor, or various other things, it wouldn't get nearly as much traction with the public's opinion. The single biggest reason he can be vilified now is because he can be defensibly termed a terrorist, which is currently an overpowered word (for very obvious reasons). He never apologised, and he appears to believe that he was right to try to end the war by any means necessary. To some, that itself vilifies him even more.

[Zosi]

No, he's even said he wished he had bombed more back then.

The quote I've always heard was that he said he wished he had done more to stop the war, not bombing specifically. Minor nit, but given that every little word gets twisted, it's important to at least keep the right words.

[Beckwin]

John McCain actually killed innocent people with the bombs he set off. Bill Ayers didn't.

[Dimmauk]

I heard that McCain also crashed 7 planes, and 1 car(supposedly he killed someone in the accident) when he was in the Navy. I wonder what else he will crash if he becomes President.