The Minuteman

Crossing the Conservative Wires

By Robert Nathan Eberhart
From the February 2007 Print Edition

The left abandons free speech, again

The editorial board of the Golden Gate [X]press ran a piece on freedom of speech. It is true almost to the point of tired cliché that the left supports free speech in all cases, except those in which that speech disagrees with their own nakedly cynical ideology. After SFSU College Republicans caused a stir by stomping on flags representing the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, the Union of Palestinian Students, the Muslim Student Union, and campus administration reacted with predictable outrage, shock, and condemnation. The Golden Gate [X]press' editorial board has joined the chorus of self-righteous speech arbiters stating that "On a college campus, nothing is better than the ability to have freedom of speech, but if it crosses a line and insults another group, then it becomes inappropriate and disrespectful ... Yes, the College Republicans have their right to free speech, but it is not free speech if they are using it to blatantly go after someone else’s beliefs." The implications of applying this standard for determining whether speech is 'free' or 'not-free' would make it a crime for you to read this article.

 

News flash: Cal has a lot of Asians

In yet another example of the deft, analytical investigative reporting that we have come to expect from the venerable New York Times, writer Timothy Egan has discovered that Cal has a lot of Asians. In a piece titled "Little Asia on the Hill," the Times confirmed and broadcast for the nation what we all already know, that Asian students are steadily asserting their dominance over California's merit-based public education system. UC Berkeley, the highest ranked and most lauded university that does not use race to determine the makeup of its student body, has proven a boon for Asian-Americans. Of course, the left will lament the transformation of its once most beloved campus from a beacon of hope for radicalized political intellectuals to a serious campus based on intellectual rigor and merit.

Hell freezes over: Wal-Mart honors Berkeley

Berkeley has been chosen as the winner of the sixth annual Accessible America Contest given by the National Organization on Disability. Berkeley earned the honor by designing the nation's first universally accessible affordable housing development, a comprehensive transportation program, an outstanding emergency preparedness plan for people with disabilities, and a self-imposed tax to fund some of its disability services. We hope but do not expect that the crusaders for 'universal access' in the city council and the campus administration appreciate the irony of the fact that none other than Wal-Mart, a company treated with universal contempt among campus elites, is one of two principal sponsors of the award.

Hip-hop-ology

As academic disciplines from a massive variety of fields strive for distinction in a culture of diminishing funds and increased enrollment, one unique discipline stands out as a niche in a vast array of niches. Scholars here at Berkeley are increasingly looking toward Hip-Hop as a subject for their academic research, and those scholars are demanding recognition. Nothing else, currently, allows for you to talk about race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, politics, and the economy than hip-hop music and culture," claims Michael Barnes, a doctoral candidate in sociology with a focus on hip-hop culture in an interview with the administration's mouthpiece UC Berkeley News. While some scholars worry that the emergence of an ever-growing array of disciplines dilutes an education already sorely lacking in basic civic studies, math, and science, it appears that the current trend toward diversification in educational options lends support toward the idea of a Department of Hip-Hop in the not-too-distant future. If Berkeley liberals are held to account, surely equal educational resources should be granted to the scholars of a wide array of cultural trends. What about the Anthropology of Peppiness? A Department of Greek Life? Or even a major in narcissistic, vapid, self-gratifying pop culture? Oh, the places we'll go ...

Only in San Francisco

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the City by the Bay's old armory, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, "was recently purchased for $14.5 million by Kink, a Web-based pornography distributor."  The building, which once served as a military training center, will now be a fetish-porn dungeon.  What's more, it's in a "family-based neighborhood" that is home mostly to hardworking minority families -- but what else would we expect from the city that brought us the leather-and-assless-chaps Folsom Street Fair?

If you enjoyed this article, please consider supporting the Patriot