On March 11th 2015, during a public lecture at the University of Sydney by a highly decorated retired British Colonel, Richard Kemp, a mob (presumably of students) aggressively disrupted the guest's speech; resisted the police's tentative efforts to remove them from the lecture room and, worst of all, Professor Jake Lynch waved money in the face of one of the attendees and obstructed campus security trying to remove these disruptive students (not shown in this video but the basis of a Change.org petition to have him removed from his position).
This bizarre behavior by an associate professor sets a dangerous precedent at a time when Israel/Jewish bashing on campuses is fast becoming an acceptable, even fashionable, norm. Campuses now are bastions of those who purport to seek "justice" ironically through demands to restrict free speech and assembly (of those who don't subscribe to their own bigotry).
In reality, however, these demands for "justice" ring hollow, as it seems truth has become the real casualty in an environment that espouses "political correctness" and "multi-culturalism" that, again, ironically, seems restricted to a select few fashionable causes involving sexual orientation, religious bigotry, self loathing (towards one's own culture), concealed racism, and the weather.
One can imagine the degree of outrage in academia and the media had, hypothetically speaking, a Christian Student's Association aggressively disrupted a Muslim Students for Palestine or Justice for ISIS event on a school campus. Why there'd be global (read: GLOBAL) outrage. There is no longer any balance. Only agenda driven vitriol, and a deliberate avoidance of, or an incapacity or a lack of curiosity to seek the truth by examining facts, carefully, objectively and from various prisms.
We live in a surreal world. Wherein far too many citizens, blessed to be born in societies that espouse tolerance and equality, prefer to act like useful idiots on behalf of more sinister forces, whose brilliant marketing of their "victim narrative(s)" compels said idiots to conduct themselves in reprehensible ways.
These same tools (like the lead female "protester," a young Australian female in the video), are unaware and seemingly unable to grasp the fact/reality that they are mere sacrificial lambs of bigoted people, who claim friendship with "the other" but seethe with a deep inner hatred for these useful idiots.
On a more personal note, I'm guilty of a huge mea culpa in that I endorsed the Lynch & Galtung edited book in a book review of another book on Afghanistan which was done at the behest of the journal's book editor. I was unaware of the anti-Semitic views of these academics. And regret not being more diligent in checking out their backgrounds. This is what academia has come to.
Nonetheless, I did find their thesis on "peace journalism" compelling (the need to approach examining the effects of war through various prisms rather than just body counts; the impact on the populace etc).
However,their disingenuousness lies in their empirical testing/case studies in which they distort the facts on the ground to present the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as brutes notwithstanding their painstaking efforts to minimize civilian casualties; while Hamas is depicted as some sort of noble freedom fighters, ignoring the truth/reality that said Hamas fighters use women and children as human shields in hospitals and schools, where Hamas stockpiles their missiles and assortment of weaponry in violation of international treaty. A well documented but ignored reality.
Theses are well and good. But an honest empirical application/assessment should be the goal of any journalist or scholar worth their salt.
Please sign this change.org petition which requests Prof. Lynch's removal for his egregious behavior:
ARTICLES ON THIS SUBJECT:
http://www.ithaca.com/news/anti-semitism-at-cu-gets-response/article_007e1aea-cd0f-11e4-b20c-8b88948dc581.html
http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-enough-is-enough-stop-pushing-anti-israel-bds-at-mcgill
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/03/16/the-bds-movement-can-be-traced-back-to-hitler/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/19/berkeley-s-swastika-problem-are-america-s-liberal-colleges-breeding-anti-semitism.html
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/anti-semitism-alive-and-well-on-new-yorks-college-campuses/2015/03/12/
To be Continued.
