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Reed College vs. The Dude Who Wouldn't Shut Up About Rape

Now I know how Joan of Arc felt
Now I know how Joan of Arc felt

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Last week, a news story out of Portland Oregon sent the right-wing “anti-PC” brigade into a state of gleeful fury: A student at Reed College was alleging that he’d been banned from class for challenging some commonly cited rape statistics.

“Dissent forbidden at liberal arts college,” a headline at Truth Revolt declared. “Apparently, feelings are more important than facts,” sniffed the National Review.

The New York Post devoted an entire editorial to this alleged outrage, declaring that the “real mistake” of the student in question, freshman Jeremiah True, “was to think Reed College is dedicated to the search for truth,” adding that

it’s time for Congress to start hearings on withholding federal funds from colleges that deny not just basic free-speech rights, but any semblance of intellectual freedom.

These bold defenders of “intellectual freedom” probably should have looked a little closer at True before hoisting him aloft as a free-speech martyr.

Because what he really seems to be is a troll — a real-world equivalent of the garrulous, irritating MRAs who fill any online discussion forum that will have them with bad-faith questions, personal attacks, and endless cut-and-pasted screeds, all the while doing their best to derail any discussion that doesn’t involve them and their pet issues.

As Mary Emily O’Hara reported yesterday in The Daily Beast,

True said he was booted from class because he questioned the concept of “rape culture” as well as the commonly cited “1 in 5” campus rape statistic. But Professor Pancho Savery, who asked True to leave his class, said that True had been disruptive in several ways that were making it hard for other students to continue their studies.

The disruptive behavior escalated, according to the college administration and reports from fellow students, to include yelling loudly in hallways to draw attention to himself, calling everyone who crossed his path a “n**ger” (True himself is biracial and identifies as black), posting inflammatory comments and name-calling online, and writing that he would “stake my life on this” and “I do not want to be a martyr, but I will do that if that is what is necessary to make a statement.”

Meanwhile, Robby Soave at Reason.com — a libertarian publication that’s generally happy to pass along stories of alleged academic intolerance — also reported that True was a bit, well, off.

He declined to answer any of my questions unless I agreed to write the n-word as the first word in my article about him. (I rejected this demand.)

And in a recent interview, as Soave notes, True confessed that he’s deliberately stirring the shit, admitting that he was

disrupting some events on campus, and just walking through the halls and calling people nigger. Because if they are actually going to accuse me of being sexist and racist, then I might as well act as an actual sexist or racist might. To date, I believe I’ve gotten 22 no-contact orders.

We’ve had plenty of these sorts of trolls here. I used to give them fairly free rein in the comments here, but after 5 years the novelty has worn off just a little bit. These days, I ban them when they start to get even a little bit tiresome. It’s really the only way that the commenters here who aren’t trolls can have any kind of real discussion of anything.

In the age of the internet, it’s basically impossible to shut anyone up. True may be banned from the discussion section in one of his classes, but he’s free to rant all he wants online.

And he does, posting long screeds on his Facebook page and on a Change.org petition calling on Reed College to allow him back into the discussion section he’s been booted from. He argues his case on Change.org with a bizarre and often histrionic 3500-word manifesto in which, among other things, he compares himself to Martin Luther King. Though he claims not to be an MRA, he declares his love for an assortment of antifeminist heroines beloved by MRAs:

I am a Freedom Feminist, and I believe in Dr. Christina Hoff Sommer’s message. I believe Karen Straughan. I believe Janice Fiamengo.

He wraps up his petition on a melodramatic note:

I may be a radical, but I prefer to think that I’m radical in the way that Martin believed Jesus was a radical for love. I believe so strongly in equality that I will put my entire life on the line to stop something that I am convinced endangers that equality.

No matter what happens. I love you, mom. I love you, dad I love you my dear, dear sisters. I love you my dearest friends. I love you all, and I will sacrifice everything for you. … I do not think I will make it out of this unscathed and I am sitting here writing this, sobbing uncontrollably. … I do not want to be a martyr, but I will do that if that is what is necessary to make a statement.

The problem isn’t that True is demanding free speech — he’s got plenty of freedom to say what he wants. It’s that he’s demanding a captive audience for his speech. Discussion sections in college classes are supposed give everyone in them a chance to make themselves heard. That can’t happen when one person in the room takes up all the oxygen.

I’ve been in discussion sections as a student and as a teacher. Part of the job of the instructor is to gently encourage those who are quiet to talk — and, as diplomatically as possible, to get those who talk too much to shut their trap once in a while.

Alas, some students, like True, don’t really respond to diplomacy; their instructors then have to resort to sanctions.

I never had a class with anyone as disruptive as True evidently is. But my time at Cornell University overlapped with that of a certain Ann Coulter — you may have heard of her — and one semester I ended up in an American history discussion section with her. And, as you might imagine, she would not shut up.

The professor, a gentle liberal fellow, was too diplomatic to really rein her in. So we ended up devoting a considerable amount of the semester to listening her drone on about her hobbyhorses — like her belief, which as far as I know she still holds, that Martin Luther King was essentially a Communist puppet.

But if she was blabby she wasn’t completely disruptive, and the experience for me was as amusing as it was irritating. That doesn’t seem to have been the case with True, who evidently went out of his way to antagonize virtually everyone in his class. That’s not free speech. That’s being an asshole.

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Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
9 years ago

“He has a bright future ahead of him as a raving hobo.”

Or Congressman. Let’s face it, we’ve heard worse from some of them.

AltoFronto
AltoFronto
9 years ago

“He has a bright future ahead of him as a raving hobo.”

Or Congressman. Let’s face it, we’ve heard worse from some of them.

I think you usually have to prove that you’re elite enough to graduate in order to get into career politics. Otherwise, you’re just another common or garden wing-nut.

talbotfish
talbotfish
9 years ago

Kirbywarp

I remember that time a new woman made her first comment here and didn’t know and used the “C” word. And she kept apologizing over and over and you just kept tearing into her..yeah ..that and your a little to much enjoyment with aggressive tone policing is why I personally rarely comment here and just read.

Just FYI. Have a nice day.

branston
9 years ago

i just feel the term mentally unwell is so broad and vague that they are not really diagnosing an illness. I was just chipping (probably unhelpfully) in. Like I say, I didn’t mean to upset (or derail), I love reading this blog and comments – it gives me hope after I read ‘Return of Kings’!!! On topic a bit more – I said something I knew would probably be unpopular and it was listened to, argued with and you explained your point to me – thats the way real free speech is pretty cool 🙂 but just so you know, I do not want to be a martyr, but I will do that if that is what is necessary to make a statement. 😛 (ps joke last sentence)

GhostBird
GhostBird
9 years ago

I’ve been keeping tabs on this as it’s developed. And I find myself torn by irritated amusement at this jack off’s arrogance, and worry that something else is in play that we can’t see. I feel like the other boot is going to drop in some way.

branston
9 years ago

hey talboltfish – I only saw your response after I posted, I was not trying to argue your point just in case you think my later message was a direct (or arsey) response! was just expanding on my earlier point 🙂

branston
9 years ago

sorry – talbot, not tabolt!

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

@talbotfish:

I hate saying anything. A lot. I hate the possibility of starting another thread of doom, I hate the high potential of putting my foot in my mouth and people secretly hating me, I hate that this isn’t a space where everyone is on the same page.

The only reason I say anything (on the rare occasions where I’m both commenting and feel like saying something) is because I want to try to take the burden off of other people, because it’s awful to be the person who has to bring the whole thread screeching to a halt just to say “folks, don’t do that.”

If you think I get any enjoyment out of policing, you are dead wrong.

And I remember the woman you’re talking about clearly. There were about three comments or so, one being my own, in response to her before she started talking about how everyone was so mean and she was going to leave. And I remember some folks (though I don’t remember who) making the same judgement you are now; that we mean regulars are joyfully pouncing on the smallest, most innocent mistake and driving a poor woman to tears.

The only difference between then and now is that then I could actually link to the comment in question, so everyone could read it for themselves.

But whatever.

If people hate me and think I’m too aggressive, or don’t comment here because they think I’m a big baddie that will attack them if they make one misstep, I can go. I really don’t want to, I love it here and I love the people here, and I don’t want to make a big scene reminicent of the thread of doom, but I also don’t want to comment if I only come across as a horrible person and am the cause of potentially awesome commenters not wanting to speak up.

M.
M.
9 years ago

that and your a little to much enjoyment with aggressive tone policing is why I personally rarely comment here and just read.

“Hey, conflating being an unrepentant asshole with having a mental illness/disorder/disability is really quite offensive and we’re all tired of having the same damn discussion about this in every thread” or “Dude, this is a feminist blog, please don’t that word” = “Tone policing”?

No, tone policing is “You’re all so mean! How can you expect to change hearts and minds when you’re just so mean? Meanie-meanie poopie-heads. Meeean.”

(Has another site sicced its members on us again? Or is the number of facepalm-worthy posts in this thread already just a coincidence?)

M.
M.
9 years ago

*Please don’t use that word.

Note to self: Please don’t miss words. =P

M.
M.
9 years ago

@kirby

HELL no, you’re one of the most awesome regulars here and I’m sure most of the others will back me up on that. Don’t let an actual tone policer get you down.

seraph4377
9 years ago

Kirbywarp – we’ve got a thread full of people who, after being told what kind of language is considered rude and hurtful around here, continue to go on and on about it. In the process of denouncing someone who did exactly that, no less.

Believe me, you’re not the one coming off as an asshole here.

BTW, I have a very, very vague memory of the thread you’re referring to, but my memory seems to match yours – usual trigger, several comments correcting, long bout of whining about how the regulars are so mean. Want to link back, or do you not want to bother any further with that shit?

Myoo
Myoo
9 years ago

@kirbywarp
I personally think you’re awesome, and I certainly don’t think you’re too aggressive.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

@M:

Thanks. 🙂 If I ever come across as confident or aggressive online, it’s because I’m basically trying to wear a hat that’s several sizes too large. I take shit like this personally because I really truly want people to like me, or at least not think ill of me, and if I say something that makes people say that I’m policing or too harsh, it makes me want to put the hat down and never pick it up again.

@seraph4377:

I would have linked to it if I could, but I couldn’t find it. I’d rather have it there for people to read and draw their own conclusions than have people base their opinion of me on Talbotfish’s comment alone, even if they end up agreeing with them.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

*sigh*

Thanks everyone… I guess next comes the accusation that the regulars are circling the wagons to protect one of their own…

GrumpyOldMangina
9 years ago

Kirbywarp — it is my impression that for an MIT dude, you’re remarkably tactful and lacking in arrogance. (snerk) You are definitely not the problem here. I have felt, on occasion, that people have snapped at a newbie a little too quickly and harshly, but the person who in my mind was the principal offender disappeared with the Thread of Doom. Since we definitely don’t want another ToD, I think we should let the matter fade away. A wise friend once commented to me, “The more you stir shit, the more it stinks.”

Viscaria
Viscaria
9 years ago

I remember that time a new woman made her first comment here and didn’t know and used the “C” word. And she kept apologizing over and over and you just kept tearing into her..yeah ..that and your a little to much enjoyment with aggressive tone policing is why I personally rarely comment here and just read.

Just FYI. Have a nice day.

I used to come here every day and comment, when I had the bandwidth. In the last
couple of years, my time and energy have been more limited. I have had to choose not to comment in threads I found interesting, because someone had said something that I didn’t have the energy to argue with, but that I couldn’t cosign by ignoring if I did comment. I have retreated more and more as a result. Thank you to Kirby and many others for doing the difficult work of making threads like this safer for people like me.

The claim that assholish behaviour is what crazy people do fails on content, not on tone.

Bina
9 years ago

While I fully agree that left-wing, PC, multi-culty wankers have done a LOT to stifle dialogue in higher education, and in life in general

Funny, I say the exact same thing. About RIGHT-wingers, who have done exactly that and more.

Maybe you should find a better target to hurl brickbats at, hmmm?

Viscaria
Viscaria
9 years ago

Multi-culty is quite something. Nothing stifles dialogue like having people from different cultures able to participate, I guess. Truly free dialogue draws from the full range of the white, Western, upper-middle class experiences.

M.
M.
9 years ago

@kirby

Hey, if they want to say that sticking up for my friends is “Circling the wagons,” let ’em; it’s not us it’d reflect poorly on.

ej
ej
9 years ago

I lurked here for awhile before I started commenting, so I was aware that ableist comments are frowned upon. Ableism was new to me then and I still have to consciously think about it when I post comments. It’s hard, but it’s something that I am willing to do because I want to be a part of this community.

I can understand how someone might make a mistake and we have seen commenters simply apologize for their mistake and move on. However, we seem to have had several people lately who don’t want to accept that standard of the community and who insist on telling us why their comments should be acceptable, even after they have been told that those kinds of comments aren’t tolerated here.

Joining this community (by commenting) means that you are willing to accept the rules and standards established by the community. You don’t necessarily have to agree with every rule, but you should abide by them if you want to stick around.

I agree with what everyone else has said. It’s distracting to have to call people out for ableist comments and it derails the conversations we could (and should) be having.

@Kirbywarp
I will join the chorus of people saying that we want you to stay.

GrumpyOldMangina
9 years ago

While I fully agree that left-wing, PC, multi-culty wankers have done a LOT to stifle dialogue in higher education, and in life in general

I am always taken aback by the idea that free speech, academic freedom variety, means that you should be free to hurl insults and slurs like monkeys flinging their poo. If you are going to have a rational discussion, you need to put an effort into understanding where the other person is coming from. It’s not a rational discussion if all you can think about is winning an argument; you need to be open to learning something from the other person. And that requires that there be ground rules and restrictions that mark certain rhetorical strategies as out of bounds. Without civility, nobody learns much.

M.
M.
9 years ago

(Anyway, I’ll drop that now, sorry – just, nobody bullies Kirby on my watch. =P)

Paradoxical Intention
9 years ago

@Kirby: Don’t let it get you down, man! I’m glad you’re here to speak up for those of us who can’t/don’t want to to avoid a ruckus or another ToD. You’re doing great.

Bina | March 25, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Funny, I say the exact same thing. About RIGHT-wingers, who have done exactly that and more.

Maybe you should find a better target to hurl brickbats at, hmmm?

I say the same thing, Bina. : / In fact, I believe that most college-educated folks tend to vote left in the first place.

Speaking of “stifling freeze peach”, did you hear that Fox News is freaking out about Google’s thought to rank its search pages based on accuracy rather than popularity?

isidore13
isidore13
9 years ago

Well… that multi-culty thing is… weird at best. And gross. But I have had a left-wing professor specifically exclude Fox News as a credible news source during discussion, but then allow and even use Huffington Post as credible news source. I’m not saying Fox News should have been allowed; I’m saying Huffington Post shouldn’t have been allowed for the same reason Fox News wasn’t.