College removes flag display over threat of protests about including Vietnam's
By RED EMMA/ANDREW TONKOVICH
UC Irvine lecturer who taught many years at Irvine Valley College.
.....Wait till they find out that evolution is taught at Irvine Valley College. The creationists, too, will threaten to put a headlock on the community college president, taking a page from the playbook of angry citizens who browbeat him last month. The school's chief administrator acquiesced to threats of disruption, protests, who knows, what—flag waving?—by local activists who didn't like the school's display of the state banner of communist Vietnam.Andrew Tonkovich
.....Responding like some confused King Solomon, the chief administrator instructed staff to not only remove the objectionable standard of the evil regime but all 144 of the colorful flags of the world which for 10 years had hung cheerfully enough from the second-floor atrium of the Student Services Center. This in Irvine, Orange County, California, USA. So, under cover of darkness, absent announcement, maintenance crews removed the entire "It's a Small World"-style display of banners and set the stage for more of, well, less.
.....Soon enough the campus could expect to be targeted by Darwin-hating religious fundamentalists, and might now expect the brave president, a one-time geology teacher, to again "consult" with members of the college's Academic Senate, as he claims he did in the case of the flags, and decide, in order to play it safe, to eliminate not only discussion of evolution, but all science classes: botany, biology, anatomy, astronomy, physiology.
.....Which will no doubt encourage other groups to demand that history teachers using textbooks with actual photographs (of Vietnam, say, Ho Chi Minh or perhaps even, yes, the Vietnamese flag) replace these with, well, nothing at all.
.....Or, responding to pro-war types who object to political-science teachers using the Los Angeles Time's "Other Military Deaths" column, he might reasonably be expected to remove newspapers and news racks from campus.
.....Stay with me. That action could, of course, cause anti-choice activists to demand that the school nurse cease handing out family planning literature, condoms and birth control, which means good-bye to aspirin. Finally, some group might discover that the school library contains bibles and "Fahrenheit 451" and works by Mark Twain and Toni Morrison, prompting librarians to remove not only those particular books, but, in a sublimely proactive Fahrenheit 451-esque move, get rid of all texts.
.....Slippery slope? Reductio ad absurdum? Maybe. But recall that this little public college in affluent, educated South Orange County once famously warned instructors not to talk about the Iraq war in class. At the time, its chancellor offered no restrictions on discussing the Civil War, Spanish-American War or War of 1812. Go figure.
.....Still, there's clear precedent at Irvine Valley College for just removing whole topics, discussions, whole cloth. Which makes good sense.
.....After all, not flying the Nazi or Confederate flags has certainly stopped racism and anti-Semitism. Not teaching about human sexual reproduction has certainly reduced teen pregnancy. Not acknowledging slave labor in China or Haiti or, yes, Vietnam, has improved labor conditions with these U.S. trading partners. And burning American flags has stopped imperialism and spread international goodwill, right?
.....Let's give flag-haters the benefit of the doubt and call them human-rights activists. They correctly abhor the policies of Vietnam, of which the flag is a symbol. But if removing a symbol would help anybody in Vietnam, or anywhere, then we should, indeed, remove it and all flags including, yes, our own. I'm with the IVC president there, though I'll bet for different reasons.
.....Instead of flags, we might hang up the U.S. Constitution (while we still have it). Or display a roster of those proud U.S. corporations doing business with oppressive regimes worldwide, including Vietnam. Or go the other route, my own preference, and hang 'em all: the old South Vietnam flag, right next to that of the nasty current regime. And the flags of the former USSR and Rhodesia and the Duchy of Prussia, too, alongside the Cross of Spain and the Upper Voltan tricolor and the flag of the Ottoman Caliphate, a pageant of color and history, benevolence and brutality. More flags, not fewer.
.....We might consider these banners toward educating ourselves about our rich, difficult history. In learning, after all, less is not more. -RE
22 comments:
Agreed - a dangerous precedent is set when a public education insitution can be bullied - and acquiesces under cover of darkness and silence.
There will be those (plenty of them!) who say it doesn't matter and what else could we do - but perhaps they don't understand what it is we're supposed to do here and why.
You mean your college president STILL hasn't said anything - or done anything?
You mean your college president STILL hasn't said anything - or done anything?
In her fifth grade history class, my daughter is taught that Quakers were branded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but not that they were hung. Where does it end?
Brilliant writing, as always.
Bravo! Hang the flags back up, and have the easily aggrieved and offended shove it.
It made sense to take down the flags. What did not make sense is to (a) fail to communicate with the larger college community about the issue and (b) leave the impression that the objecting group's threats WORKED.
The latter needn't have happened. The college could say: since you are threatening us, we were forced to take down the flags. But we've made no decision yet. Please explain to us why you are entitled to engage in extortion?
Not only did the group's threats worked - they worked so well that the college president is too afraid to say or do anything.
Yes, a situation was defused - but only temporarily.
Nice piece, RE; much appreciated.
Maybe you can get Hanoi Jane to donate her commie Vietnam flag to the college.
That's right, whatever you do - don't think - just react.
Does JF have a commie flag? That I would like to see.
Who's JF?
Jane Fonda, of course. These days, she seems to wave very different flags, none of them communist.
I "confiscated" an Iraqi flag from an abandoned Police Station in Karbala, Iraq in 2003, during combat patrols of my first tour in Iraq. And, having urinated in both the Tigris and the Euphrates on several occasions, I can make myself available to speak (President forbid!) about the war in Iraq. If Iraq was not one of the original 144, and if "God, Country, President," (in Arabic) is not too offensive, I would be willing to loan my flag for the remainder of my tenure at IVC.
Or, I can instead string it from my backpack in between classes, as a silent one-man tribute to (insert meaningful political statement here) ...
Why's his name Emma? or is Red his first name?
"Red Emma" is and has been this fellow's pseudonym in Dissent, going back at least ten years.
The name refers to the famous leftist Emma Goldman.
One of my pseudonyms used to be "Big Bill," a reference to union organizer Bill Bill Haywood.
At Dissent, we love history.
It is becoming increasingly obvious folks at the Dissent don't know the facts and don't much care about the facts. That is too bad. This stuff is starting to read like the tripe at newstands everywhere. Will we next hear that Britany Spears is carrying Fuentes' baby? Will Dissent readers be able to discern fact from fiction?
Red Emma is a putz, and a leftist putz at that, in need of a good circumcision.
Off you meds, 4:06 and/or 9:14?
Uh, isn't Brittney carrying Don Wagner's love child? that's what I was told.
I was told that the rumor was that Ms. Spears was carrying Goo's love child. Oh Lord will that make for one ugly baby!:-)
Trust me, chances are we will never hear anything from Rochmore (sp?) simply b/c he's a spineless wimp. God forbid he stand up & do the right thing.:-)
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