Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2001
I think I started something at the University of Dallas
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
I think I started something at my alma mater, the University of Dallas,
when I had Dr. Peikoff's op-ed advertisement "End States that Sponsor
Terrorism" published in "The University News" several weeks ago. Due to
some editing misunderstanding, they had neglected to publish my own guest
commentary in the same issue, though it was published last week. Being
curious if anyone had replied to either, I stopped by UD on the way home
tonight to pick up a copy of the paper.
While no one replied directly to either article, there were several
noteworthy editorials in that section.
The newspaper's staff editorial recounted the story of how Berkeley's
"left-wing students" attempt to censor Dr. Peikoff's article by stealing
the papers "to protest an ad run by the Ayn Rand Institute, the same ad
that ran in the Oct.17 issue of 'The University News'." "The theft is an
affront to the newspaper's right to freedom of the press and to the Ayn
Rand Institute's freedom of speech." "Such an action, even at a school like
Berkeley, reeks of the Soviet-era Bolshevik tactic of silencing the
opposing party." "Furthermore, it shows that the so-called peaceniks are
out of ideas."
In the previous issue, someone had written a commentary stating that we
should come to understand the Taliban, Afghanistan, and see things from the
perspective of Muslims (including why some of them hate Israel and America)
before we condemn them -- "we should reexamine our positions and the
evidence of their claims."
To which a Junior wrote back (in part): "Examine the claims of a man
rejoicing because America is filled with fear? Examine the claims of a man
who thought an acceptable solution to his grievances was the slaughter of
6,000 innocent civilians? The terrorists lost any right to present their
grievances (the legitimacy of which are *exceedingly* doubtful) when they
committed an act of war against the United States." She also praised Mayor
Giuliani's rejection of the Saudi prince's check!
Yet another guest columnist wrote in answer to the previous commentary (in
part):
"It seems you might say that we reaped what we sowed Sept. 11. But by
sowing an apology for the Holocaust [the formation of Israel], for what the
Jewish race deemed to be the West's failure to uphold their rights as human
beings, how do we reap the deaths of 6,000 people?"
"When all factors of contradicting passions, patriotism and grudges are put
aside, this mess boils down into one cold hard formula: initiation of
coercion equals retaliation."
"As for enlightened opinions, I happen to think that it takes a bit of
Enlightenment to wade through a turmoil of human emotional concerns to
reach such a black and white conclusion."
Now, since I looked in on "The University News" merely a week before
getting Dr. Peikoff's op-ed article published, that issue, and the
following issue, I probably can't entirely make the claim that I started
all of this; but the three issues I had looked at didn't contain anything
like the above. So I'm taking at least partial credit for inserting some
rational moral certitude into the campus of the University of Dallas
regarding 911.
Keep striking while the iron is hot, folks. We are fomenting an
intellectual revolution.
While they may not all come to fully understand Objectivism or to accept
it, our arguments are hitting home.
