On bullies, Baltimore and more
When officials step on a podium to make a statement to the media, you can pretty much count on one thing. Whatever the occasion, bureaucrats will begin by blowing their own horn. They have a compulsion as well as a real gift for patting themselves, and often each other, on the back.
The precipitating event may be an earthquake, a shipwreck or a riot, such as in Baltimore last week. It doesn’t matter. The spokesperson may be a police, military, or city hall-type; the performance will be the same. The first thing you’ll be told is that the various bureaucracies in charge are fully trained and committed. They’re all professionals, who co-operate with one another like a hive of honeybees. Before the spokesperson gets anywhere near the substance of whatever the bureaucracy’s news or information may be, he or she will treat us to a declaration of officialdom’s dedication and diligence. Bureaucrats will unburden themselves of a litany of their own virtues, along with the virtues of all bureaucracies that may share credit (or blame) with them. All this will unfold at a leisurely pace before the assorted mayors, governors, police chiefs or their delegates get around to (or avoid getting around to) answering questions about the oil spill, mud slide or high school massacre for which the news conference has been convened in the first place.
Last week it looked for a moment as if the commanding officer of the Maryland National Guard, Maj. Gen. Linda Singh, might break with this tradition. She did two stints before CNN’s cameras without mentioning that her organization was one of “professional excellence.” The modest commander didn’t succumb to saying it until her third appearance. I suspect it’s some kind of a record.
I wonder if it ever occurs to the denizens of bottomless bureaucracies swimming around shoals of natural or man-made disasters like schools of blowfish, how ludicrous they look and sound. Imagine an airline captain rolling for takeoff suddenly grabbing a mike to inform passengers that he and his crew are dedicated professionals. Or a high court judge interrupting a jury address to display the gold medal he won at law school. Other than in a Monty Python skit, you’ll only see government officials doing this. They evidently worry that we may not take their dedication or professionalism for granted. I suppose they know best why.
Okay; I wanted to get this off my chest. What I’m writing about today is something entirely different. It’s a Maryland story, too, but has nothing to do with the Baltimore riots. Then again, after I finish telling it, you may conclude that it does.
Here are the facts. Student Entertainment Events, SEE for short, is an independent student group on the campus of the University of Maryland. They had a film, American
Sniper, scheduled for screening early in May. The Muslim Student Association on campus (MSA) brought to SEE’s attention that MSA regarded Amer
ican Sniper as anti-Muslim. SEE’s response was to promptly cancel the May screening, promising instead to re-schedule it sometime in the fall. This, SEE explained, would give everyone time to prepare for a full panel debate following the screening.
The way SEE turned itself into NO-SEE upset a number of people. Press reports talked about the failure of the University of Maryland to uphold the right of free expression. In the words of university president Wallace D. Loh, contained in a letter sent this week to the university community: “We were deluged by phone calls and messages from across the country, almost unanimously outraged by the cancellation or postponement. Members of our faculty, staff, students and alumni, as well as members of our State’s legislature, voiced their dismay with UMD’s abridgement of this constitutional right.”
This reaction wouldn’t have disturbed many people who value free expression, but President Loh has a more nuanced view. He did stress in his letter that “a fundamental commitment of any university is to the principle that ideas and opinions that any of us might oppose or find unwelcome or even offensive should be openly and vigorously discussed, not suppressed.” However, he added that it “is also the responsibility of a university to nurture — via education and outreach — an ethos of civility, inclusion, and mutual respect.”
This being so, President Loh expressed his admiration for both the protesters and those who yielded to them. “I take tremendous pride in the conduct of our students,” he wrote. “MSA members were right to speak up for what they believe in. They deserve our admiration ... I also applaud the student leaders of SEE for listening to the concerns of their fellow students. Their decision to reschedule the screening so a constructive dialogue could be held marks the exercise of free speech and a sensitivity to campus values of respect and inclusion.”
Two student groups on campus, the College Republicans and the College Democrats, saw a different solution. They simply rented a theatre themselves, and arranged a screening of American Sniper for Monday, May 4, to be followed by a panel discussion.
President Loh had a good word for them, too. “I am proud of our College Republicans and College Democrats,” he wrote. “Working together, despite differences in philosophy and doctrine, is a laudable example for us all.”
Well, I suppose that is one way to look at matters, and President Loh evidently does. Changing one’s schedule or venue is undoubtedly more civilized and sensitive than protesting or rioting à la Baltimore. I wonder, though, how civilized and sensitive it is to pressure, perhaps intimidate, people to change their schedule or venue in order to see a film of their choice. I don’t find whining or bullying particularly sensitive. If you don’t like other people’s choice of flicks, I suggest the sensitive thing to do is to stay the hell away. Go and watch a flick you like. If you don’t like any, make your own flick.
It’s just as well that I’m not the president of a post 9/11 university.
I wonder if politicians, cops and soldiers realize how ridiculous they look when they tell us how professional they are