Read and analyse an article
2017/3/14 College students should resist – not silence – their political foes | Bill McKibben | Opinion | The Guardian
https://www .theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/10/college-students-resist-not-silence-political-foes 1/3
n e ws /o p in io n/sp o rt/a rts/life
C o ll e g e s t u d e n t s s ho u ld r e s is t – n o t s il e n c e –
t he ir po li t ic a l f o e s
Bill M c K ib b e n
Cam puses can be sites of pow erful protest and activism – if stude nts and faculty use som e care
Friday 10 M arch 2017 06.00 ES T
C
an n in ess is a virtu e, at least for organ izers. Wh en protest goes w ell – th e W om en’s
M arch es, th e airport d em on stration s – it h elps im m easu rably, lim iting th e right’s ability to
act or at least exacting a h igh price in political capital. B u t protest can go bad ly too, an d
w h en it d oes it gives th e bad gu ys a gift.
I sh ou ld h ave gotten a ch an ce to see th is close u p last w eek, becau se M idd lebu ry C ollege in
Verm ont, w h ere I teach , h ad a protest go m ostly sou r. B u t sin ce m y m oth er w as taken to th e
em ergen cy room early in th e w eek, I w as cam ped ou t in h er h ospital room , n ot on cam pu s.
Still, th e pictu re of events th at em erges from Facebook an d cam pu s ch at room s is fairly clear.
J ill A b ra m so n/J e ssic a V a le n ti/S te v e n W T h ra sh e r
Becom e a
Supporter 2017/3/14 College students should resist – not silence – their political foes | Bill McKibben | Opinion | The Guardian
https://www .theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/10/college-students-resist-not-silence-political-foes 2/3
It began w h en con servative stu d ents at th e college invited a m an n am ed C h arles M u rray to
speak on cam pu s. M u rray is a profession al troll – “M ilo w ith a d octorate”, as on e observer
d escribed h im – w h o m ad e h is bon es a qu arter centu ry ago w ith a vile book, T h e B ell C u rve,
argu ing th at intelligen ce tests sh ow ed black people less able. A cad em ics of all stripes h ave
savaged th e book’s m eth od ology an d con clu sion s, bu t back in th e d ay it w as on e of th e m any
bu lw arks of th e n ation’s u gly rightw ard an d racist sh ift.
So, m any stu d ents an d facu lty at M idd lebu ry w ere m ad th at h e w as com ing, as th ey sh ou ld
h ave been – it’s gross, in particu lar, th at stu d ents of color sh ou ld h ave to d eal w ith th is kin d of
aggressive in su lt to th eir legitim acy. B u t of cou rse, th at w as th e point for M u rray an d h is
en ablers at th e A m erican E nterprise In stitu te: th ey’re trolls.
T h ey w ant th ese kin d s of fi ghts, over an d over, as part of th eir cam paign to d iscred it acad em ia
an d m u lticu ltu ralism . A n d on ce som e stu d ents h ad m ad e th e invitation , th e d ie w as cast, if
on ly becau se A m erican s by an d large believe th at colleges an d u n iversities sh ou ld be open to
all id eas (an d th ey’re probably right to th in k so, if for n o oth er reason th an it’s h ard to im agin e
th e com m ittee th at cou ld vet w h at w as proper an d w h at w asn’t).
Co llege au th orities m ad e th eir sh are of m istakes in th e d ays th at follow ed : th ere w as n o real
reason for th e political scien ce d epartm ent to offi cially su pport M u rray’s visit, for in stan ce. B u t
oth er parts of th e college reacted th e right w ay: th e m ath d epartm ent, say, w h ich h eld a series
of sem in ars to d em on strate w hy M u rray’s statistical m eth od s w ere ru bbish .
In stead , it w as good h earted cam pu s activists – both som e stu d ents an d som e facu lty – th at
really fell for th e troller’s bait.
Som e began d em an d ing th at th e college can cel th e visit, an d oth ers th reaten ed to prevent h im
from speaking. T h ey failed at th e fi rst task bu t th ey largely su cceed ed at th e secon d : w h en
M u rray arrived on T h u rsd ay h e w as greeted by a w all of n oise, as protesters ch anted an d
scream ed h im d ow n .
Wh en ad m in istrators took h im off to a room w h ere h is rem arks, an d qu estion s from a
professor, cou ld be livestream ed , a few people pu lled fi re alarm s. Wh en th ey tried to ru sh
M u rray from th e bu ild ing, a sm all th rong, m any in m asks, blocked th e car an d sent th e
professor w h o h ad been escorting th e racist to th e h ospital w ith a con cu ssion .
T h e resu lt w as pred ictable: M u rray em erged w ith n ew stan d ing, a largely forgotten h ack w ith a
ren ew ed lease on pu blic life, in d eed n ow a m artyr to th e cau se of free speech . A n d anti-racist
activism took a h it, th e pow erfu l progressive virtu e of open n ess oversh ad ow ed by apparent
intoleran ce. N o on e sh ou ld be su rprised at th e ou tcom e: in A m erica, anyw ay, sh ou ting
som eon e d ow n “read s” bad ly to th e larger pu blic, every single tim e. A n d it is precisely th e job of
activists to fi gu re ou t h ow th ings are going to read , lest th ey d o real d am age to im portant
cau ses – d am age, as in th is case, th at w ill in evitably fall m ostly on people w ith few er resou rces
th an M idd lebu ry stu d ents.
O n e w ay of saying th is is – activism is a scien ce w ith fairly pred ictable ru les: h istory h as sh ow n
w h at d oes an d d oesn’t w ork. A n d w h at d oesn’t w ork is rage; w h at d oes w ork is d ign ity. T h at
sam e w eek in Selm a, th e R ev W illiam B arber (th e N orth C arolin a pastor an d lead er of th e M oral
M on d ay m ovem ent w h o is th e closest th ing contem porary A m erica h as to a D r K ing)
con fronted a sim ilar situ ation .
T h e state’s attorn ey gen eral, in th e Jeff Session s trad ition , cam e to an A frican A m erican ch u rch
to explain w hy h is proposed voter ID law s w ere a good id ea. It’s h ard to im agin e a m ore
obn oxiou s m an or setting: h e w as fi gu ratively spitting on th e graves of th ose w h o d ied in th e 2017/3/14 College students should resist – not silence – their political foes | Bill McKibben | Opinion | The Guardian
https://www .theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/10/college-students-resist-not-silence-political-foes 3/3
Sin ce y ou ’re h ere …
… w e’ve got a sm all favou r to ask. M ore people are read ing th e G u ard ian th an ever, bu t far
few er are paying for it. A d vertising reven u es across th e m ed ia are falling fast. A n d u n like som e
oth er n ew s organ isation s, w e h aven’t pu t u p a payw all – w e w ant to keep ou r jou rn alism open
to all. So you can see w hy w e n eed to ask for you r h elp. T h e G u ard ian’s in d epen d ent,
investigative jou rn alism takes a lot of tim e, m on ey an d h ard w ork to prod u ce. B u t w e d o it
becau se w e believe ou r perspective m atters – becau se it m ight w ell be you r perspective, too.
If everyon e w h o read s ou r reporting, w h o likes it, h elps to su pport it, ou r fu tu re w ou ld be
m u ch m ore secu re.
Becom e a Supporter M ake a contribution
Topics
Selm a m arch for voting rights. B u t th ey d id n ot sh ou t h im d ow n : th ey sim ply got u p an d exited
th e ch u rch to h old a w ell-atten d ed press con feren ce ou tsid e. (H ere’s typical coverage of th at
eff ort.)
M idd lebu ry stu d ents th at I’ve talked to w ere sad an d an n oyed th at th eir “voices w eren’t h eard”
am id st th e m elee. T h ey’re right to be sad : th e th ings th ey h ad to say abou t in clu sion , abou t
m argin alization , an d abou t th e d ebilitating eff ects of pseu d o-scientifi c racism w ere profou n d ,
an d m arked ly m ore interesting th an M u rray’s recycled bile.
B u t th ey w ere w rong to be an n oyed , any m ore th an people w h o clim b into a sh ow er sh ou ld be
an n oyed at getting w et. If you sh ou t d ow n a speaker, th at’s w h at people w ill rem em ber, period .
If th ey’d w anted to be h eard , th en th ey n eed ed , like th e R ev B arber, to be m ore creative.
Im agin e if th ey’d taken th e available seats, an d th en got u p an d peacefu lly left, n ot sh ou ting
bu t singing, or in pu re silen ce. Im agin e, on th e n ext cam pu s w h ere M u rray takes h is n asty road
sh ow , if stu d ents an d facu lty organ ize to sh am e th e college com m u n ity into boycotting th e
talk, an d in stead h old a teach -in ou tsid e. Im agin e if th ey d on’t take th e bait.
T h is kin d of d isciplin e is h ard w ork. I’ve spent m u ch of th e last d ecad e h elping organ ize
protests large-scale an d sm all; on e key part of th e plan n ing alw ays involves m aking su re th at
n ecessary anger d oesn’t tu rn into self-d efeating rage. T h at’s w hy th ere are train ings
beforeh an d , an d w hy people sign pled ges of n onviolen ce, an d w hy th ere are m arsh als from
w ith in th e ran ks to m ake su re people d on’t break th at d isciplin e.
Co llege stu d ents are com pletely capable of th is (it’s w ith seven M idd lebu ry stu d ents th at I
form ed th e clim ate cam paign 350.org, w h ich h as gon e on to organ ize m ore rallies in m ore
places th an perh aps any m ovem ent in h istory). B u t everyon e involved n eed s to take it for th e
seriou s task it is, u n d erstan d ing th at em otion is as m u ch an en em y as a frien d for activists.
T h ere’s n o easy version of activism , any m ore th an th ere is of physics or Fren ch or th e oth er
tasks college stu d ents seriou sly engage in . In fact, protest is probably a su bject, like fi rst aid or
h ow to u se th e fi re extingu ish er, th at college fresh m en sh ou ld learn .
B ecau se th ere are going to be plenty of opportu n ities to try again in th e years ah ead , sin ce
trolling is m ore or less w h at D on ald T ru m p an d Steve B an n on d o. T h ere w ill be m ore M ilos an d
m ore M u rrays. Wh en w e strength en th eir h an d s, w e w eaken fu rth er th e m ost vu ln erable
people on ou r plan et, be th ey im m igrants facing d eportation or sou th ern black A m erican s
facing voter su ppression law s or peasant farm ers facing rising ocean s. T h at’s n ot right or
w rong, th at’s ju st h ow it w orks.