Ya Think?
There’s this today to print and hand to the next person who tells you that all university professors are liberals.
Professor James Tracy of Florida Atlantic University, whose motto is “Well, we never heard of you either”, has told the student newspaper that he has been called to a meeting with university big wigs over the conspiracy theory about Sandy Hook that he put on the Internet Machine in his blog called, most appropriately, Memory Hole (link removed because the site is infected with malware).
“I don’t know what there’s going to be. I don’t know if that would involve stripping me of my tenure and dismissing me, or what. That’s something that’s ultimately for them to decide.”
Last month, Tracy claimed the tragic shooting of 20 young schoolchildren in Newtown could be part of a conspiracy to push for gun control. He went so far to question whether the shooting even actually happened, or was just an invention of Obama and the media.
I am all about academic freedom, but also value mental health. I think this guy’s hole is way bigger than his memory.
Thanks to Brian for the heads up.
I’ve been a college professor since 1982. I’ve lived in Massachusetts, Alabama, Nebraska, Hawaii, Texas. In all those places I’ve known professors of a variety of political leanings. I remember being aghast when a Ph.D. told me the world was indeed only 6000 years old and carbon dating was faulty. And she was in a scientific field. We are like the general population. I get annoyed when we are lumped together and considered brainwashers.
1In the case of this person, I’m conflicted about what should be done. I’m a strong believer in academic freedom, without which we would be teaching whatever came down from the powers that be. Critical thinking and rational thought comes from academic freedom. Lose his job? Maybe not. Exposed for the total sleazy dork he is, perhaps. But if ideas are not aired they fester and breed in darkness, and explode when they can spread the most seed. And I have great confidence in students to know who is batshit crazy. They may be a bit naive and inexperienced, but they are not inherently stupid (on the whole!).
I must have patience. The Millennials will save us eventually.
OK, so I have an idea of getting the GPO to willingly sign off on an automatic weapons ban. Arm EVERY young black man in their districts with an assault rifle with a 100 round clips and let them walk the streets of every city, every town, and most especially the suburbs and white neighborhoods and I think the GOP will change their tune quicker than they can whistle Dixie.
2Jan,
3Great post. Thank you.
Betting: 10 to 1 the university Board will require this prof to undergo testing, not necessarily because they like the old guy but because the results will protect them in the near future agains “outrageous fortune.”
4The blog is titled “Memory Hole?” Shouldn’t it be “A*s Hole?”
Tracy is an associate professor of communications. It sounds as though he should not remain in that job since his lack of critical thinking and apparent indifference to the power of words makes him incompetent.
5I’m betting his next post will be to blame Obama for whatever the University does as part of covering up the conspiracy.
6Love the idea Gaygay and can we add Latinos?
Hippie in the Hollar.
7Apparently this fellow Tracy has never yet met a conspiracy theory that he wasn’t able able to swallow, hook, line and sinker. I do believe that teachers should be open to other ideas, but Gullibility is not a plus on the curriculum vitae.
8Gaygay, your post recalls the NRA policies of the past, when they were against guns for all. See a great recap here:
9http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/tony-norman/nra-wasnt-always-fired-up-vs-gun-laws-669460/
What is really unfortunate…. and don’t you know he knows it……. this guy….. has tenure???? There still has to be a way………..
No wonder Florida has gun laws that allow you …… to shoot an unarmed teenager by claiming that you, who had the gun, and the teenager who had Skittles….were in fear for your life.
Professor Tracey…… you are batcrap crazy.
10Maybe this professor thinks he’s working for the Ministry of Truth?
11@Jan: I like it! Unexpressed festering ideas are the food source of some shocking brain fungus that then affects pathetic troglodytes like Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes! Can you get a grant for a study??
12Come to think of it, I always feel the need to wash after being exposed to Faux Noise, and after mentioning Rush I need a full shower! Ewwww!
13In the mid 50s I was “taught” by an English Lit prof whose classes consisted mostly of explaining the commie menace and the role of Jews in working for the downfall of America. He had tenure so the University couldn’t get rid of him. He was sure as heck no liberal, but what I learned in his class was the exact opposite of what he was preaching. Outrageous stances such as his and that of Tracy often inadvertently do more good than harm.
14@IronCelt: Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
15@Eykis: thanks!
16@Aggieland Liz: A grant would be great, a help to getting *me* tenure! But I don’t know how I would fit it into a fashion merchandising slot. Although…a study on the goop Limbaugh wears might be interesting. Is it a function of his brain fungus, does the wife choose his clothes (she must be passive/aggressive), what similarities of dress are there among the crazies (do they all wear sweater vests or polo knock-offs), …you get the drift. Academics are always looking for the quick and dirty study! (No pun intended …or maybe it is!)
I like a good conspiracy theory as well as anyone but not to the point where I give them any credence. I’m appalled that any person in a position of responsibility such as a faculty member at a university could accept one, but not to the point where I think that someone like this should be subjected to an investigation and possible revocation of tenure and subsequent firing due to public outrage. One of the professors at our local university has been the target of outrage from a small and vocal group of inDUHviduals who accuse him of having fudged data despite the fact that multiple investigations have found those accusations to be baseless.
However, despite not being able to revoke tenure from someone like Tracy, it wouldn’t surprise me if his department decided that he needs a new office and his new one is a remodeled broom closet.
17My daughter had just started McGill University(Monteal) when 9/11 happened.
18She had never been exposed to people who had legitimate gripes with the US.
She walked out, with several other US students of a class when the Prof. and students became vocal and somewhat nasty about the US.
I emailed the President of the University of my concerns and received the nicest email back.
He sent me an email and then a letter arrived to all parents.
Stating that they too, had laws protecting speech, but that did mean that students should be bullied or harassed.
The professor and some students apologized, some didn’t.
But my daughter learned a lot from that class. She was challenged to learn the truth. She read newspapers that told many different stories that what we were told in the US.
She became a critical thinker and smarter.
All because her teacher did not like a lot of US policies.
Sorry, Montreal. not Monteal
19I believe in academic freedom. I also believe in Freedom of Speech.
Most of all… I think college professors should have at least a smattering of ……. (not only what they read on the internet…….. as “conspiracy theories”) unless “conspiracy theories” is their chosen field. And, what they teach..
I think they should have some common sense. I don’t think they should just throw out there whatever, and then have finals on it. How do you pass or fail this class?
I think before anyone enrolls in his class, they should be made aware that he thinks Sandy Hook was a government conspiracy.
If nobody shows up….. no harm ……. no foul.
I think if people knew …….. nobody would show up.
I know I wouldn’t.
20@Jan how about a treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of teflon coated tinfoil as a headwear material and the latest and most attractive fashions available? You could then design a tricorne to be marketed at gun shows and outdoors stores from coast to coast! Write a juried article on the results(it will sell like hotcakes! Offer a Kevlar model for hardeneded enthusiasts!) get it published simultaneously in The Journal of Marketing Strategies, Vogue, and Williamsburg Today!, get tenure, and retire to full time commenting at the Beauty Salon!
21While I am generally in favor of Tenure, I think it should be a rigorous process (something that might be impossible given Departmental politics–no matter the department). To have to pay your own money plus the Taxpayers’ money to somebody clearly out of his league, is problematical. A biologist who doesn’t believe in Evolution, for example, shouldn’t be teaching a science, much less be protected by tenure. That just does a disservice to all his/her students and doesn’t advance the field.
Tenure shouldn’t protect Free Speech that clearly is an embarassment to the institution, as I consider this guy’s brain droppings.
22@Aggieland Liz: What an idea! I’ll get to work immediately!
23Retirement. Full-time commenting at the Beauty Shop. *Sigh* A pipe dream. Unless I win the lottery!
I am not worried about his tenure. I am taking bets that he has a concealed carry permit.
24I had some bad profs when I was in university, but NEVER had a CRAZY one. I’m reasonably certain that I would never have gotten sucked in by such an idiot (I was raised in a VERY progressive family), but I sure knew a lot of my peers who would have been. There were plenty of them that believed every word every prof ever said/taught to them. I was often the odd man out when one of those bad profs was trying to teach something obviously wrong. I spoke out and was castigated for it, my peers, even the ones who KNEW what was being taught was wrong but were scared to say anything differently.
25Most profs get tenure eventually by publishing (frequently, that old saw, “publish or perish” really is true in academia), but they would have never gotten tenure by publishing the sort of crap this IDIOT is spouting.
Some professors can be crazy just like some people in almost any organization. I don’t mind this guy teaching, but I DO mind the thought that he may own some firearms.
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