Video: Psychotically angry military veterans and the academics who must tolerate them
posted at 8:28 pm on April 7, 2009 by Allahpundit
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A special treat from Penn State’s instructional series on how to cope with “Worrisome Student Behaviors.” It seems our heroine’s been saddled with one of those ill-educated military types and, try as she might to reason with him, his bestial rage keeps getting in the way. Whatever is she to do? Watch and learn, my friends, in case you too are confronted by one of these menacing ne’er-do-wells.
Incidentally, this comes from the PSU College Republicans’ YouTube page. Why not just watch it at the PSU link up top? Funny thing: There are four videos in the series but this one, uniquely among them, doesn’t play. It appears to have been disabled for some reason. I wonder why.
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csdeven on April 8, 2009 at 5:57 AM
Well said
whiskeytango on April 8, 2009 at 6:49 AM
hmmmmmm. wonder why they chose a military type? Interesting new “formal” level of condescension. New tactic against a philosophy they seek to marginalize? How revolting.
I have seen plenty of rage in classrooms. Funny…they’ve been the stoner types.
Mommypundit on April 8, 2009 at 6:49 AM
I totally agree.
Mommypundit on April 8, 2009 at 6:51 AM
I have friends going for doctorates and graduate degrees. They each have a Professors that critique their papers noting appropriate changes they should make. Guess what the suggestions usually will be? ‘You should add more minority and female perspectives.’ ‘You should add more about the environmental impact this will have.’ etc., etc. ALL of my friends add the requested information EVEN when they don’t believe in it. They know to do otherwise will get them a reduced grade. This video is why they would never speak up and say anything about it. It’s simply pointless. Bottom line: academia gets the answers it wants not open research and debate. The cards are always stacked against. In the end, it ends up where your ‘manufactured’ doctorate thesis gets bonded and printed in book form so it can be cited for political legislative policies.
Sultry Beauty on April 8, 2009 at 7:24 AM
I went to Penn State. I love the university… but they are liberal. I was called “babykiller” and sneered at wearing my ROTC uniform (and this was in the mid 90’s). Sad?, Yes. But it doesn’t surprise me.
Just another example of niave college kids who think they know everything… and the raging liberal professors who fail to teach them there is a difference between the way the world “should be” and the way it actually “is”.
BadBrad on April 8, 2009 at 7:45 AM
Ditto!
I’ll tell you what this video is really about,, if it hasn’t already been said by some else here. It’s about shutting mouths!! The message is clear and simple,, if you disagree and speak up, we’ll get you!
I would even say this is evidence they do fear veterans! they fear their passions, their convictions, their commitment! Vets are not like the rest of their class! they are real men and women! Professors prefer to deal with little boys and girls! When a man shows up,, not just a man,, but an actual warrior! A conservative is bad enough,, but a warrior?? A defender of the flag?? They want their little boys and girls to spit on the flag! they want them to become little radicals they can send out to tear down what these warriors have been defending in battle! They can’t deal with such people! so they have to try to silence them!
To the Vet: “If you disagree with our message,, if you refuse to go along with our lies, if you stand up for Bush, the war, conservative principles, etc. We will brand you a lunatic! We will paint you a psychopath and a racist! The class will see you as dangerous, stupid, backwards,, a threat, someone in needed of therapy, medicine or hospitalization!”
To those in the class who might have similar convictions as the Vet: “If we’d do this to a vet, what do you think we’d do to you!”
To all the other numbskulls: “Get em!”
JellyToast on April 8, 2009 at 7:59 AM
So threatening to have someone fired for perceived bias is considered dangerous and threatening now? ok
aikidoka on April 8, 2009 at 8:06 AM
I’m not sure why they used a veteran as their stand in for a potentially violent student, but this IS a critically important lesson for TAs to learn (especially females) due to the strange power dynamics of TAs with their students. I have to say in my TAing days I didn’t have many military vets, I did have ROTC students who were ambitious and smarter than alot of my students who didn’t have discipline they had.
I HAVE had students who confronted me in the way the “veteran” does in this class, but normally they were super ambitious students who felt they “had” to have an A to make it into law school or something. But I’m not even sure why this film is dramatizing a situation rather than merely instructing TAs on the best way to de-tensify a grading matter by:
1. Making sure from day one to emphasize you have NO stake in anyone’s grade, you merely believe in objective standards for all.
2. Encourage students to identify themselves by their student ID numbers, rather than their names on midterms/papers. Every month I posted a sheet with all the Student ID numbers so people could keep up with their grades.
3. Form a good rapport with your students as individuals. As anonymous as they are on grading assignments you need to make sure you know every name in your section. And for TAs there is absolutely NO excuse for not doing that as you have smaller classes (now you may have THREE smaller classes in a semester, but I still remembered all mine). If you form a good rapport it becomes much harder for someone to think you’re purposefully being malicious.
4. Be open and self deprecating about your political beliefs and DEMAND that students offer alternative interpretatiosn of the subject matter. This was particularly important in history classes as history is the art of interpretation.
Everything that goes wrong in this video is the result of the TAs failure to create a learning environment where people simultaneously recognize that we’re all different, but that everyone’s philosophy has merit. The power of your analysis/skill in writing is what determines your grade and grading should be as anonymous as possible.
DeathToMediaHacks on April 8, 2009 at 8:18 AM
My daughter, who is an alumnae of Penn State, married a military man after she graduated from college. He was an Apache Crew Chief stationed at Fort Bragg.
He was one of the first to go to Afghanistan and stayed for a yr. He almost stepped on a land mine there. They now have a son who is 4 and he has been a loving, caring father. He has never been violent to anyone.
Penn State is a liberal college set in a liberal town. This goes over the top though and may warrant an e-mail sent to Graham Spanier. I thank God their liberalness didnt rub off on my daughter.
becki51758 on April 8, 2009 at 8:29 AM
Just imagine how terrible it must be at the service academies…
/sarc
Send_Me on April 8, 2009 at 8:33 AM
Institutional discrimination against the military, against conservatives, and against Christians is now fully politically correct. It’s what good liberals do nowadays.
This “instructional” video could’ve used any typically marginal student as an example, but they chose to send a message about the war and our veterans as an added bonus in their instructional series. PLUS…extra credit for the producers: violent white man threatens woman!
Pathetic, manipulative, and hateful.
Redhead Infidel on April 8, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Yet another university to add to my daughters “universities that mom won’t pay for” list.
It’s a long list….
CarolynM on April 8, 2009 at 8:47 AM
There’s only one problem with your accusation: white male warriors are not protected by political correctness.
Nevertheless, you unwittingly raise an important point about PC: Is it possible that PC has simply progressed so far, and put so many other groups (whether angry, meek or otherwise) off-limits, that the only safe group left to mock/ridicule/patronize/demonize, whether the allegation is basic illiteracy or a propensity for bullying, is white male warriors?
The use of the “veteran” as the operative example may show a desire to take a dig at the troops; it may also suggest this is the way all ex-military white men are seen by academia; but I suppose it’s possible the university could have hit upon using the “veteran” merely as a way to avoid running afoul of the PC police.
This brings to mind a thought experiment: In Nazi Germany, say there was an enterprising propaganda maker who *didn’t* harbor an animosity toward the Jews. Could he/she have used another group from contemporary life to make a similar type of instructional film, or was the political climate such that any choice other than a Jew would have been criticized? And, if criticized, would the criticism have stemmed more from the fact that the chosen target was from a protected group, OR that the target was not a Jew?
White males – especially those devoted to preserving Western civilization, though not exclusively – are fast becoming the 21st century equivalent of the European Jew. And the fact that the two groups often overlap ought not be ignored either.
Am I neglecting to add “conservative” to the description? Hardly. There’s nothing particularly conservative about the “veteran”, nor does liberal bias form the basis of his complaint. His only crime, as it were, is implied by what the naked eye can see.
RD on April 8, 2009 at 8:58 AM
Can uz puur, stoopd vets haz Lib edukamaton now?
Halp us Jon Kerry!
catmman on April 8, 2009 at 8:58 AM
A quick counterpoint to why I seem to harp on whiteness as a defining characteristic of this group, as opposed to all military or conservatives: I’m not suggesting these positions are rational. In fact, they are not. But I see these groups treat women and minority conservatives/military differently than the majority. They are often attacked more as “traitors”, as mutant life forms, than as a true part of the Big Bad Collective, the progeny of the authors of the Original Sin.
Where some see no differences worth noting, I see profound differences that provide some insight as to where these people are coming from. In many ways such people are racists of the most vile and unredeemed sort (though they spend their lives in a constant, escalating state of anxiety — thank you Dr. Zero — trying to prove to themselves and others that they are not).
RD on April 8, 2009 at 9:08 AM
The problem is, the actress can hardly contain her own getting turned on, whether it’s due to the fantasy of the faux-situation itself, or perhaps just the fact of starring in a video. It’s insulting and vaguely unsettling, her not even taking her student or his issue seriously, or even mustering the ability to at least act like a responsible professor.
logis on April 7, 2009 at 11:46 PM
Hear, hear.
RD on April 8, 2009 at 9:13 AM
oh but her personal belief DO matter if she can’t see that she is indoctrinating her students. Been there, done that. Had a pro-homo, leftist ADJUNCT ‘professor’ do this to my son who was not a vet and the class was….Theatre, an elective.
Calypso Jones on April 8, 2009 at 9:20 AM
Great catch.
Interesting. Would you define yourself as a prime example of that student in the video? Why don’t you write about it on your blog.
I clicked on your blog link but all I found were posts of the most contrived sort. But maybe you can enlighten us further.
RD on April 8, 2009 at 9:24 AM
Interesting that they didn’t show the professor telling the Dean that “of course she thought the military were brain dead war criminals” and apparently was conveying that mindset to her class.
I’m curious – did they have a video addressing how to deal with your possibly more common inadequate ill-prepared student – or just the one with the angry stupid vet?
katiejane on April 8, 2009 at 9:24 AM
*sigh*… OK…. true story…
I needed to take a Theatrical Writing class at a So Cal JC to fill an undergrad requirement. The instructor was a complete tool who felt his interpretation was gospel. I questioned a lot of his assertions (I was older than the other students) and he hated it.
The instructor wanted to fail me. I went to his office and I said that I’d keep my mouth shut if he would just give me a “C”. I did and he did. Nice lesson to teach a college student, huh?
the_souse on April 8, 2009 at 9:31 AM
AP-
The video hasn’t been just disabled, it’s be removed from the site:
http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/caps/wsb/vignette_b.html
ViperPilot on April 8, 2009 at 9:41 AM
A message on the billboard in front of Aldine high school in Houston, Texas.. “WE be bad”.
Johan Klaus on April 8, 2009 at 9:47 AM
Well the liberal view is that all vets have PTSD.
ALL of us.
sonofdy on April 8, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Anyone ever walk on campus through a gauntlet of Greenpeace types?
I go to class after work, so I am dressed professionally. They usually ignore me. But, one day I was off work. Went in my grubs and a baseball cap and they started getting in my business. I told them Greenpeace was a terrorist group and I loved global warming.
That left the brainwashed imbecile’s mouth agape.
James on April 8, 2009 at 10:00 AM
The student points out that the teacher’s sermonized about the military in her classroom, and then she acts utterly astounded when he says she might be biased.
I’m guessing that was a real professor. Otherwise, the actress would have to be intentionally trying to make her character look like a self-righteous moonbat.
It would be perfectly natural for a teacher who’s genuinely trying to indoctrinate her charges to cultivate that kind of sarcastically asinine affectation. But I seriously doubt the University would specifically give an actress that direction. Even if they might, deep down inside, want to do that – they would have no need.
logis on April 8, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Guess you haven’t been paying attention.
mr.blacksheep on April 8, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Well of course cowards would be afraid of people who are trained to fight. Doesn’t matter that we are also taught restraint and following orders the overriding factor is that they are cowards and military personnel are not.
LincolntheHun on April 8, 2009 at 10:17 AM
When I returned from the military in the sixties and went back to the univerisity, I had a professor who was like this lady. She hated the military. We constantly would argue and she would give me low grades. I had a PE class just before her class and I would sometimes come into class late, because I would take a shower after my PE class. She confronted me one day when I was one minute late. I explained why I was late and she said that she did not care. The next time that I came to class, I came in without taking a shower, sweating, stinking, wearing old tennis shoes. I never heard another complaint about being late and subsequently received all A’s in her class.
Johan Klaus on April 8, 2009 at 10:20 AM
I went to an engineering school. Freaks like that would have lasted about ten seconds.
Of course, that was in the 80’s — back when the Universe meant something.
logis on April 8, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Well done!
Loxodonta on April 8, 2009 at 10:27 AM
I’m curious since discovering we’re in the same field. Did you ever write test curriculum for Microsoft?
DarkCurrent on April 8, 2009 at 10:29 AM
I went to the PSU site…
Not one gang banger type, sullen black kids.
Why not?
They exist.
benrand on April 8, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Like a scene from SNL, rehearsed and played. A class with that many cameras and the vet never looks to the camera????? Come on! What kind of message do you think they are giving here? Some of the posts here see through the scene as pure BS and I agree.
mixplix on April 8, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Is it me or does the guy that the woman is describing sound like 90% of the ‘conservatives’ here?
capitulus on April 8, 2009 at 10:55 AM
I PRAY someone will build a website and provide a venue for students to post ACTUAL QUOTES from Professors or College Instructors that indicate they are preaching their left leaning political opinions in class.
It would list the University or College, the Class, the Instrutors name, the quote and the date. That way individuals or parents can consult the site and make the determination as to whether they want to spend their hard earned dollars on attending or paying for their child to attend.
NOTHING SPEAKS LOUDER THAN MONEY.
IlonaE on April 8, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Liberals have a need to constantly validate their silly ideals
Bevan on April 8, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Well, here’s the good thing. If it’s like most poorly produced public university instructional videos, no one will pay attention to it anyway. Now if any big name rapper had done the video, then we would have something to worry about, it might have gotten about 10 seconds worth of play by the average college student.
flytier on April 8, 2009 at 11:03 AM
It’s you. Cognitive difficulties are a very special part of being the idiot God made you.
DarkCurrent on April 8, 2009 at 11:07 AM
You really are a bomb thrower aren’t you?
I would like to remind you that it is not the conservatives that hand out grades just because somebody worked hard. It is not the conservatives that expect somebody to give them a grade they did not earn. These are purely liberal ideals and this video is portraying it backward as always.
The conservatives have long criticized schools for giving out good grades if the work is flawed. Effort counts, but performance mans you have to also get it right, not just try hard and fail. If our colleges were grading on the conservatives methodology you would see much lower grades across the board. We wouldn’t have the problem this guy has, because he would not have gotten out of school with poor grammar.
As usual, the liberals are playing turnabout. They project themselves with the conservative values and put the liberal values on the conservative person. This has been a dishonest and disgusting tactic by the left to use PR to doctor their image for many years.
Hawthorne on April 8, 2009 at 11:10 AM
That video is almost certainly meant to teach instructors, not students.
Hawthorne on April 8, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Whenever I encounter these creatures I just say, loudly, Vive la Frawwwwnce. They never get it – it’s hilarious.
(for the younger set, French navy divers sunk the Rainbow Warrior back many years ago)
lonesomecharlie on April 8, 2009 at 11:27 AM
Yawn… This vid is just boring. Just your basic very lame vid clip that takes up a certain amount of training time in some course. These things suck on their face and I dont see any super offensive political agenda. (either way)
I really wish folks would quit yelling at the passing clouds when there are plenty of real things to yell at/about.
bigskinny on April 8, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Nope…. just user guide stuff for Microsoft, really very minor stuff… back in the very early SMS days.
Only test writing I did was for the Navy, for a six month long SatCom class…
Romeo13 on April 8, 2009 at 11:32 AM
That was hysterical! A super treat for me especially, because I am both a veteran at a state school AND my name is Matthew! It’s hilarity all around. The best part is how it allows those teachers who hate the war/military to treat their students like garbage and not feel bad about it. I only hope she can take the stress of him threatening her job. Oh, the horror!
Living4Him5534 on April 8, 2009 at 11:34 AM
Oh? Because they pulled the video. Gone. Because of complaints, presumably.
PC doesn’t just work the way yo want it to; you can’t make fun of lots of groups because it’s insensitive.
If anyone says anything remotely bad about the military or even uses a veteran in a situation where the veteran is the antagonist = OUTRAGE. Video pulled, because of complaints.
I guess it’s only PC when the left does it, huh.
Proud Rino on April 8, 2009 at 11:38 AM
100% A+ you are the winner.
Proud Rino on April 8, 2009 at 11:39 AM
LOL! PR declaring winners – tragic comedy!
DarkCurrent on April 8, 2009 at 11:53 AM
JoePa would not approve of this. I just know it.
Candy Slice on April 8, 2009 at 12:20 PM
And why should the teacher/professor’s opinion of the war even be brought up (by her) in a writing course? How would this scenario be played out if a teacher/professor brought up her negative opinion of Islam while failing an Arabic/Muslim student? The teacher/professor probably would be fired regardless of the student’s inability to write coherently.
Candy Slice on April 8, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Everyone forgets that these white male warriers are the ultimate example of standing up and protecting the rights of women, homosexuals, Jews, Christians, blacks etc.
These warriers need to stand up and ask outright to their villifyers just exactly what have they done to benefit any marginalized group, besides blow hot air?
I have three kids headed to university, and like a previous commenter stated, the list of universities we will pay for is shrinking quickly.
caygeon on April 8, 2009 at 12:27 PM
It would play out very differently. But, generally speaking, most grad students are going to be (or will be perceived to be) liberal types, and they are more likely to run into conflicts with conservatives who believe (accurately or inaccurately) that they are being graded unfairly because of political bias.
I had something like that happen to me once with a liberal TA. My suspicion was not that he was trying to give me a lower grade because my paper was “conservative” (as he perceived it), but that his biases affected the way he graded. I complained and got my grade changed once the Department head read my paper and realized I had been screwed.
Proud Rino on April 8, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Good gracious. The PURPOSE of college is to challenge ideas, engage in intelligent discussions, etc. That’s what college is supposed to be. If you go to get your own narrow worldview confirmed to you, just skip college. We have too many people going to college these days anyway.
Proud Rino on April 8, 2009 at 12:32 PM
As long as the Liberals keep up the attacks, the Conservatives are kept off balance and less able to properly come up with the positive solutions to their personal challenges in life. This looks like just another piece of discriminatory condescension by the Left to keep the veterans from rising up to be a force to be reckoned with. It worked during the 60’s and 70’s; why shouldn’t it work here?
Viet Nam Veteran, 1966/7
DL13 on April 8, 2009 at 12:35 PM
The antiwar movement worked SO well in the 60s and 70s, Democrats didn’t even feel like they needed to win the White House without a resignation (Carter) or a third party candidate (Perot) until 40 years later.
Proud Rino on April 8, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Cheesy. I’d have said something like, “wull shucks ma’am, I only joint da miltry cuz I’s jes’ a po’ dirt farmer wif nuffin’ goin fer me. Mebbe you kin he’p me out wif’ the grades and such so’s I kin succeed an stuff.”
Otis B on April 8, 2009 at 12:39 PM
I’s real sorry ’bout goin’ over dere to fight fer ya when it was all poplur an stuff.
Otis B on April 8, 2009 at 12:42 PM
I agree that he comes across a bit whiney in tone, but isn’t that exactly what he does. He says he is going to get her fired. It was not a threat of physical violence. It was a description of what he intended to do — report her inappropriate behavior (repeated unfair grading due to her political bias) to her superiors so that she can be removed from a position that she is clearly unfit to hold. Whether his perception of the situation is accurate is another question, as is whether he would be successful even if he were right!
tommylotto on April 8, 2009 at 12:42 PM
I have three kids headed to university, and like a previous commenter stated, the list of universities we will pay for is shrinking quickly.
caygeon on April 8, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Did you read what you wrote Rhino?
I WANT my kids to attend a university that freely exchanges ideas without bias, or fear of scholastic punishment.
Apparently a lefty indoctrination IS free exchange of ideas to you. My kids will have had 12 years of left wing education before setting foot in a university. Is it even OK to spend a few paltry minutes a week discussing our family values with the kids, or should I stop that immediately too?
caygeon on April 8, 2009 at 12:50 PM
You nailed it. Congrats!
Sir Napsalot on April 8, 2009 at 12:50 PM
The message in this video, which the university believed to be a useful representative example of real life, is certainly relevant to discussion on a political blog.
And yet you have felt the need to comment repeatedly.
DrMagnolias on April 8, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Have they applied to Bob Jones University (BJ U among friends)? I heard the Foreign Language Department has scholarships available if your kid can speak in tongues.
capitulus on April 8, 2009 at 1:23 PM
You make me uneasy too you little snot.
Mr. Grump on April 8, 2009 at 1:24 PM
Imagine this…
Advisor: “You’re having trouble with him again…that Gangsta’ Rapper?”
Prof: “Yes, he really makes me nervous”
…[later in class]
Student: “Yo’ b**ch! Why you on my case? I be makin’ good grades in other classes. They don’t give me shizzle! You just be hatin! I’ll show you. I’ll pop a cap in your a$$! There aint nothin wrong wit’ my grammar.”
gregbert on April 8, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Clowns should be either funny or scary
DarkCurrent on April 8, 2009 at 1:35 PM
it is. political correctness has a particular etymology and meaning.
the term came about as part of the orthodoxy-enforcement vocabulary of the comintern. it was later resussitated earnestly by progressive academics and theorists in the west.
it’s meaning is roughly to signify those thoughts which are not in angular consonance with the present consensus onm the trajectory of materialist historisism.
political correctness thus operates to collapse meaning under a single token and eliminate complexity which is nongermane to specifically leftwing means and aims.
in this fashion, political correctness encodes the rule that capitalists are racists and that racists are capitalists. this must be given as a constant via the application of political correctness because for leftism to be correct in final, definative terms, the naturalistic tendency to participate in free exchange must be established to proceed from conditioned abnormalities of the human mind.
the video instructs professors on dealing with a student who is axiomatically politically incorrect who is disputing the nessesarily correct, negative assesment of his intellectual efforts. it prescribes pre-emptive alienation of the student with regard to his standing with the expanded authority structure and tactful imposture with the student himself.
so, in this case, the video itself is an instructional on the politically correct handling of an “incorrect” confrontation with authority.
the response to it is simply the naturalistic response of people with ordinary sympathies, and cannot be described as political correctness at all.
and… you’re still on this? are you still floating that red herring about the video being substantively about grammatical errors?
lol!
eh on April 8, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Which is awesomely ironical considering the nature of “questioning authority” so endeared to by the left.
Otis B on April 8, 2009 at 1:39 PM
You guys are crazy, you are totally missing the point, everyone knows you can’t win a war, and anyone who thinks you can is crazy. The only answer is flowers, wear some flowers in your hair, oh, and git high….* )
Observation on April 8, 2009 at 1:47 PM
If I had that professor in college she would have been crying after I embarrassed her in class over her stupidity. I have done it to several professors before. Some of them the good beta male type.
Hawthorne on April 8, 2009 at 1:54 PM
only as a pose, of course. we don’t even have to bring up progressives given absolute power. we can see now how dramqatically progressives in our presense have reversed, uterly, their poitioning on the relationship between dissent and authority. you know, like stefanie miller calling for bush to be executed and such.
or this guy, who is ready to bloody his own hands in the guts of any “traitor” who speaks against obama.
eh on April 8, 2009 at 1:55 PM
@ RD
Are you trying to make a point?
Daemonocracy on April 8, 2009 at 2:00 PM
It’s bizarro-world, to be sure.
Rebel Against Authority! Question Authority!
Oh, wait, now that we’re in charge, um, well, rebel when we tell you to and what we tell you to rebel against.
“Adults are in charge now” indeed. Just look at the teacher in that video all quivery-lipped. Yeah, she’s in charge. A year ago she was out protesting against the war, and now she’s in charge of a guy who would have died for her and she can’t handle it.
Silliness.
Otis B on April 8, 2009 at 2:09 PM
I have three kids headed to university, and like a previous commenter stated, the list of universities we will pay for is shrinking quickly.
caygeon on April 8, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Have they applied to Bob Jones University (BJ U among friends)? I heard the Foreign Language Department has scholarships available if your kid can speak in tongues.
capitulus on April 8, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Your education slip is showing, cap. This example of generalization and hyperbole is what I want my kids to dismiss as weakness of argument and absence of fact. In our house the bar is actually high, instead of the kids.
caygeon on April 8, 2009 at 2:10 PM
Death to Media Hacks,
good advice, I am not sure about step 4 though.
rob verdi on April 8, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Yes it’s the whining that proves it to be an exercise by liberals to disparage vets. A Vet would simply walk it up the line with no complaints.
csdeven on April 8, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Conservatives are objectivist by nature; that means we hate to BE wrong. Liberals are subjectivist by nature; that means they hate to FEEL wrong.
That is why the two factions take diametrically opposite approaches to dealing with discord. Conservatives actively endeavor to test our ideas against others’. Liberals feel that this process is mean-spirited and inequitable — and they are entirely right about that.
Liberals seek something called perceived concensus. As long as they they have that, they feel they can literally do no wrong. But whenever something threatens that warm cozy feeling, they panic – and with very good reason.
logis on April 8, 2009 at 4:22 PM
I just sent this to Penn State’s VP for Educational Equity, the VP for Student Affairs, the Director of Veterans Programs, and the Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, the office that produced the video –
FWIW, I worked 30+ years as a college administrator.
Hudson on April 8, 2009 at 4:30 PM
I love you (in a platonic, share-a-blog kind of way).
DrMagnolias on April 8, 2009 at 4:45 PM
I guess Penn State received bad reviews about the video, because I got a quick reply from Dennis Heitzmann, the Director of Counseling and Pysch –
Hudson on April 8, 2009 at 5:04 PM
Letter I sent:
As both a veteran and an alum of Penn State, I take extreme offense to the Student Affairs video regarding angry veterans. Had any student organization produced or published this video, I would have no comment. To produce a clip like this under the auspices of the University, however, represents nothing shy of an assault on those who have given the most.
The blatant attempt at stereotyping all veterans reveals the true mindset of the university. Had a black inner-city man been used as the antagonist in this example, Penn State would have been subjected to the angry cries of ‘racism’ and prejudice. Those offended would have been entirely justified. I refuse to believe that those in Student Affairs were not aware of this eventuality.
It appears then, that Penn State chose to attack a group they believed would not respond. By choosing to portray US veterans as violent and confrontational, the university has advanced an ignorant stereotype. If the university would avoid stereotyping a racial minority, I must ask why it would show such willingness to stereotype a different minority group.
By choosing to advance an empirically inaccurate position, Penn State has angered and humiliated thousands of honorably discharged veterans. This anger will surely manifest itself through the withdraw of donations and advocacy against the university. I know my checkbook is not the first to close and Penn State must be aware that it will not be the last. If for no other reason than the fact that it is bad business, Penn State owes the veterans community an apology.
On behalf of the hundreds of veterans currently paying tuition and the thousands of alumni who have served, I respectfully request a formal apology from Penn State University. The decision made by the university to publish a video disparaging every member of the Armed Forces as out of control and violent has cost Penn State more than donations.
Penn State has now shown itself to be unfriendly to veterans. Regardless of any statements on the university webpage, this video will circulate to those who are considering attending what I – until recently – considered the best place in the world. Instead of encouraging those I’ve served with to attend Penn State, I will advise them of the university’s thoughts towards the military. I will not be the only one.
It is clear that no one in the Office of Student Affairs has ever had any contact with those who serve. Their depiction of the student frustrated with his grades could have related to anyone. Only by specifically mentioning the student’s veteran status was it made clear to the viewer. Why then is it even relevant if not to make a political statement?
The Office of Student Affairs would do well to remember it is university policy to not discriminate based on veteran status. Does Penn State truly believe no one will form an opinion based in part on this video? Claiming – as the video does – that veterans are angry, uncontrollable individuals will most assuredly affect how some choose to view the military. From the university’s definition, stereotyping a group or making negative statements about a group is discrimination. How then does Penn State defend this video?
I have never been ashamed of Penn State. After seeing this video, however, I’ve realized that the university does indeed have a political agenda. For years, I have opposed the idea that liberal professors were attempting to further their individual beliefs in the classroom. I maintained the attitude that each was entitled to their own private beliefs. Seeing my alma mater label all veterans as unstable proves my naïveté. There IS an agenda.
My emotions have run from anger and frustration to overwhelming sadness. Penn State has made me ashamed to be a Nittany Lion. So much for the Alma Mater.
I am withdrawing my membership in the Alumni Association and will no longer contribute to the university in any way. I will not donate money or time to an institution that has chosen to slander me and all who have worn the uniform of what should be a grateful nation.
v/r
Troika37 on April 8, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Pretty sure BJU is dispensatinalist, you silly poof.
TexasDan on April 8, 2009 at 5:45 PM
I take it conservatives like to make stereotypes as well.
Proud Rino on April 8, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Your stereotypical handle notwithstanding.
TexasDan on April 8, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Yes, the problem with military veterans is that they never learned to deal with criticism and always talk back to their supervisors. At least in the fantasy world of academia.
In the real world, vets are much more likely to just suck it up and refuse to beg for a better grade.
Penn State is taking the bad behavior of spoiled civilian brats and attempting to apply it to military vets. It’s a form of slander.
This kind of slander happens all the time in HR training films. I recall being forced to watch a corporate ethics training video a couple years ago where all the ethical villians in the series of dramatized cases were white males and all the ethical heroes were female or minorities or both.
These things are so politicized and tedentious that they are a joke.
Tantor on April 8, 2009 at 6:21 PM
I guess there is no acting school at Penn State.
RobCon on April 8, 2009 at 6:34 PM
That’s not a stereotype, retard, it’s a definition.
I have to hand it to you though: you got closer than usual this time. You see, the “stereotyping” is actually the exact opposite of what you said; it’s the part where people try to pile up lists of political positions under the two banners of conservative vs. liberal. That’s doing it backwards. Those terms are not definable political affiliations; they are merely catch-phrases people use to pick a side. Everyone’s positions on various issues are a function of his fundamental worldview, not the other way around.
logis on April 8, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Entering a political discussion while intentionally denying your political affiliation isn’t ’stereotyping;’ it’s called ‘propaganda.’ (And, for future reference: liberals pride themselves on that.)
logis on April 8, 2009 at 6:59 PM
sounds about right, if the issue was “angry vet” they could have as easily had a black female no?
sven10077 on April 8, 2009 at 7:02 PM
This is the first thing I thought of. Has anyone forwarded this to the coach? If you want something done at Penn State, take it to him.
Rogue Traveler on April 8, 2009 at 7:22 PM
What I find hilarious is that she says nothing in response to his assertion that she’s been “pretty open in her class about her feelings about the war”. Doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. (Of course I’m open about my feelings about the war; I’m your teacher. I can do that all day.) This is the same crap I put up with for four years. Can’t believe I paid for it. No state school for my kids. Period.
warriorlawyer on April 8, 2009 at 7:26 PM
I thought she looked shocked – “shocked, I tell you!” I commented on the acting before – if that’s what this was.
This doesn’t look at all professional. I’m assuming these bits were put together entirely by the staff, and this is some teacher at the school who basically wanted to do her own little performance art and work through her issues about some incident, where she gets to playact herself as the hapless, put-upon victim.
It’s really too bad that liberal women always seem to have these problems when they’re around conservative men. I’m not sure what you call that — is there a word that means “pathetic”, “annoying” and “hot” all at the same time?
logis on April 8, 2009 at 8:56 PM
How many stories have we heard about lib professors actually giving bad grades to and harassing conservative students in classes?? More than a few.
So,, looks like their trying to be pro-active in the defenses. “I’m not harassing you,, you’re just acting like that psycho on our re-education video!!”
JellyToast on April 8, 2009 at 9:10 PM
It has been my experience that volunteer solders (used loosely, known more Marines than Army types) are on average smarter than teachers.
darktood on April 9, 2009 at 6:12 AM
Logis, Please rethink the “retard” put-down. My son has Down syndrome and he in no way, shape, or form resemblant of the backward thinkers who like to dazzle us with their uninformed world view.
My son brings so much to this world, I’m not sure we can agree that is the case with some of the commenters here.
caygeon on April 9, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Damn she was one ugly liberal. At least the Military dude was hot!
Lets face it, no liberals are ever biased in how they treat others.
Now all you redneck bitter racists conservatives need to stop clinging to that and accept the fact that you all deserve lower grades.
You can get extra credit by renouncing capitalism, embracing the peace loving religion of islam and contributing 70% of you income to the new administration because we are going to get it anyway.
Also you must accept abortion rights and abort 1 baby for every female member of every conservative family every year to prove it…preferably in a late term pregnancy abortion….film it for youtube or it didn’t happen.
BillaryMcBush on April 9, 2009 at 11:03 AM
This is the reason I’m sooo glad that Marcus Latrell(don’t know if I spelled that right) didn’t kill those turds that murdered his dog. If he would have shot those a-holes, the liberal blogs would be screaming about “angry military veterans”. (Thank you Marcus. And I’m sorry about you’re dog.)
If it’s on the campuses, it’s on liberal’s minds.
amynorw on April 9, 2009 at 11:21 AM
It is interesting that Penn state let it out that a teacher would actually state their beliefs and opposition to a war! Gasp!
I wonder if they will have one on handling the angry black student or the upset gay?
She said she had not done anything. That was the student’s point. She hadn’t done anything!!!
I had teachers like this. They did not teach, It was basically a correspondance course that you had to show up for 3 times a week.
NTxOkie on April 9, 2009 at 11:35 AM
The video is nothing but a pile of BS in order to make the college/university/adjunct professor feel good about thenselves. To pretend to themselves and the public that they do not indoctrinate their captive audience. THEY have the power, THEY coerce the students. DON”T tell me any different. In our case, the adjunct professor would not rethink her failing grade for an elective in Theatre class…They were going to get their way until they found out that we wholeheartedly had determined to pursue it thru legal means and already had the lawyer who was chomping on the bit to bring charges. I have NEVER seen a college student display aggressive behavior to an employee of the college. It would mean instant dismissal and worse.
Calypso Jones on April 9, 2009 at 11:42 AM
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