Saturday, May 17, 2008

Free Speech And Rudeness

Of course it's legal, but is it good behavior? Can the people who did this really be proud of themselves in anything more than a juvenile way?

I can see armbands, but standing and turning your back on someone receiving a degree? And to have an assistant dean participate in this?

Contrast this to the time Jimmy Carter spoke to us at the Air Force Academy in 1985. He was a former president, and not a very popular one in military circles. When he was introduced we jumped to attention, and at the end of his talk we cheered loudly. And when President Clinton, no rock star to most military personnel, attended an Army-Navy Game in the 90s, he was given at least polite applause by those in the stands as he crossed from one side of the field to the other at halftime. I know--I was there.

The students in the linked article have shamed themselves, and they're probably too stupid even to know it.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I take it that no one on the Left will object if and when Barack Obama receives such treatment at a college graduation should he be elected President.

Unknown said...

So with your logic should we be respectful to everyone? Or just US politicians? Or major US politicians? Or what? I don't think anyone blindly deserves respect no matter who or what they are. People earn respect and from what I've read she seems to have earned many peoples disrespect. I can understand not wanting to be rude, but I would say someone fighting to keep rights from others is beyond the point where politeness should be expected.

Anonymous said...

I heartily disagree. Phyliss Schlafly is a political figure who was being honoured for her political work. Other people disagreed with that honour being given to her by their school and so they expressed that disagreement in a visible way whilst not disrupting anyone else's ability to participate in the event. They handled themselves well and they should be proud of themselves. Comparisons with how it is polite to behave towards your BOSS (as in the references to the presidents) are invalid.

Darren said...

Donalbain, you have a strange, well-honed ability at non-sequitur. Neither president I mentioned was my boss at the time I saw him, and President Clinton certainly wasn't the commander of everyone in the stands at Veterans Stadium. Yet, people were able to be polite.

Or, perhaps you and Ronnie both think that rudeness is acceptable if you disagree with someone's political views? Isn't that a tad bit self-centered?

Ronnie, when someone's *invited* to give a talk, you should be polite. Armbands are one thing, standing and turning your back to someone (which also blocks the view of others in the audience) is out of bounds.

Ellen K said...

If he holds true to liberal form, I would expect a President Obama to ignore the graduation ceremonies from the military academies in favor of Berkley, Yale and Harvard.

Unknown said...

I said nothing about disagreement, I said someone who actively works against someone else's rights. If practically anyone else from the Republican party or any other organization had been invited I definitely would have called the behavior rude, but you have to look at why a person is disrespected. This wasn't disagreement this was someone who actively worked against the rights of women, homosexuals, and tried to tell people how our country should be, without the freedom of choice.

Anonymous said...

There is no comparison between a President and Phyliss Schlafly. Trying to pretend that there is is the non sequitor. Phyliss Schlafly is a hypocritical political activist who many many people disagree with. She was being honoured for her political work, and so to counter the approval of that honour, people expressed their disagreement. They did so in a way that drew attention to their disagreement, which is pretty much the point of a protest. You simply disagree with their politics and so you are whining that they were "rude".

Darren said...

I can't believe the two of you are vigorously advocating what is clearly rude behavior directed to an invited speaker. Shame on you.

With attitudes like yours there can be no civil discourse. We'd all be booing or standing up and turning around or in some other way be interrupting every possible speaking engagement.

What would Obama say?

Darren said...

There are a lot of people who don't like this guy's politics, pseudo-science, and hypocrisy. I suppose the two of you would have supported a conservative protest to interrupt graduation?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356556,00.html

I wouldn't support one.

Anonymous said...

The speaking was NOT disrupted. She continued her speech uninterrupted. And yes, if you disagree with Al Gore then protest.

Darren said...

I guess I just have higher standards of decorum than you.

Ellen K said...

Never underestimate the stupidity of groups of people with an axe to grind. Whatever...their families will simply remember the day as the time when Susie and Junior acted like fools. Fun for all.

Anonymous said...

Or the day that Susie and Junior expressed their political views against someone whom they feel should not have been honoured by their university.

I guess I just have higher standards of political honour than you.

Darren said...

"Political" honor? I'm sure the commissars *love* that term.

Just admit it. You accept rudeness here because you don't like the recipient, but if you had liked the recipient, you'd be against it.

That's no honor.

Anonymous said...

OK.. thats a lie. So, this will be my last comment on the matter. If you scroll back up, you will see that I said very specifically that I would feel the same if someone protested Al Gore, who I like both personally and in his role as an advocate for action on climate change.

But hey, why bother with facts, when you can make a nonsense crack about "commissars".

Ellen K said...

Maybe things work differently where you are from Donalbain, but over here, we have everyone from the most recent benefactor to the former quarterback giving graduation addresses. As a member of the graduating class, you have the right not to attend, but you do NOT have the right to turn the ceremony into a circus for your own narrow benefit. That is what drives me nuts about ideologues of all kinds, they have this type of narrow vision wherein only their views matter and the views or needs of others are secondary. How about we simply set aside politics to celebrate a milestone instead of allowing someone to use it as a political forum?