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| Fifth Column |
| NY TImes reporter booed from stage at commencement speech |
| 2003-05-20 |
| via Drudge - My how times are changing! New York Times reporter Chris Hedges was booed off the stage Saturday at Rockford Collegeâs graduation because he gave an antiwar speech. Two days later, graduates and family members, envisioning a âgo out and make your markâ send-off, are still reeling. Guests wanting to hear the author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter are equally appalled. And College President Paul Pribbenow is rethinking the wisdom of such controversial topics at future commencements. This is Pribbenowâs first graduation. Hedges began his abbreviated 18-minute speech comparing United Statesâ policy in Iraq to piranhas and a tyranny over the weak. His microphone was unplugged within three minutes. Voices of protest and the sound of foghorns grew. Some graduates and audience members turned their backs to the speaker in silent protest. Others rushed up the aisle to vocally protest the remarks, and one student tossed his cap and gown to the stage before leaving. Mary OâNeill of Capron, who earned a degree in elementary education, sat in her black cap and gown listening. She was stunned. She turned to Pribbenow and asked him why he was letting the speech continue. He said it was freedom of speech. Pribbenow later said when people stop listening to ideas, even controversial ones, it is the death of institutions like 157-year-old Rockford College. In tears, OâNeill left the ceremony. Her husband, Kevin, sat in the audience with their daughter and was as indignant as his wife. âThis is a ceremony. ... The day belongs to the students. It doesnât belong to a political view,â he said. Hedges, a war correspondent, criticized military heroic ideals that grow during war. The fervor sacrifices individual thought for temporarily belonging to something larger, he said. Hedges sympathized with U.S. soldiers. He characterized them as boys from places such as Mississippi and Arkansas who joined the military because there were no job opportunities. How about that open-minded eastern elitist attitude huh? âWar in the end is always about betrayal. Betrayal of the young by the old, of soldiers by politicians and idealists by cynics,â Hedges said in lecture fashion as jeers and âGod Bless Americasâ could be heard in the background. After his microphone was again unplugged, Pribbenow told Hedges to wrap it up. Get off the stage jerk Elinor Radlund of Rockford read Hedgesâ book on war and was horrified at what she said was the audienceâs rude behavior. She was indignant she couldnât hear the speaker. Elinor, of course, can't spell her name properly, either âThey were not behaving as people in an academic setting, where youâre supposed to be open to a great many ideas,â Radlund said. Pribbenow said Rockford College takes no political stance, but the job is to challenge students. He reminded audience members of the liberal arts collegeâs commitment to listening to other viewpoints. Spontaneous reaction led 66-year-old Gerald Kehoe of rural Boone County down the aisle in his first time to protest anything. He was hurt to hear a verbal attack on the country. He attended Saturdayâs commencement to watch his daughter graduate, the fourth from Rockford College. Rockford College political science professor Bob Evans said itâs a reminder of the âraw edges of emotionâ on the issue. A student who rushed the stage could face reprimand although he still received his diploma. âItâs important to go on the record that itâs inappropriate behavior,â Pribbenow said. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #18 Free speech for me, but not for thee" Well said ,Rex.Listen-up Doug(Said immedatly following a slap on the back of the head),"Freedom of Speech" cuts both ways.Hedges has a right to make an ass of hisself and the audience has a right to let him know he is an ass. Do you work for one of those Hollywood Fools,you know who I'm talking about.The one's who are whinning and crying about free speech,but don't believe I should excersise my"Freedom of Speech". Listen-up Liberial whinebaby,Freedom means I don't have to support assinine opinions,I don't have to listen to assinine opinions,and I damn sure don't have to buy an asshat's product. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2003-05-21 07:48:23 |
| #17 The audience's behavior wasn't unacceptable. Unplugging the guy's mike was though. That aside, the booing, walk outs, back turns, etc. are all standard procedure at liberal colleges when a conservative speaker is on the stage...it's happened many, many times. But there is a far bigger issue here. Hedges should simply NOT be making political speeches. He doesn't just represent himself. He also represents the Times and, as a newsman (not an OP-ED writer), it borders on unethical to be making public stands on political issues. This creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, i.e., how can you ever trust his reporting to be neutral (I didn't say unbiased) and fair? Practically speaking, Hedges probably didn't violate any written ethics code, but there has been a very long history in journalism, an unwritten code, that stipulates that reporters are NOT to be publiclly associated with any political cause, party, or individual. That's the rule I grew up with, but in recent years, like so much in journalism, its been eroded...and we see what that's done to mainstream media credibility. |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-05-21 03:12:24 |
| #16 Just saw that guy's picture on Fox News. He kinda reminds me of James Watt; their glasses are of about equal thickness. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-05-20 23:37:19 |
| #15 If we were living in a polite age, the audience's behavior would be unacceptable. But the left ruined that long ago. It is high time to give them a taste of their own medicine -- otherwise, its an utterly unfair fight. I call on conservative, moderate, and genuinely liberal students to do exactly what the lefties have been doing for a generation -- and that goes well beyond booing speakers. |
| Posted by: closet neo-con 2003-05-20 23:14:55 |
| #14 I agree with O.P: Congrats and best wishes to the Class of 2003, Rockford College! With BS meters that sensitive, I have no illusions about their future success. I am totally fed up with liberals acting as if their cause, their beliefs, are so damned important that they trump all considerations. The reaction of the crowd is just payback for the 1960's, when such behavior against speakers the students found "objectionable" was held to be acceptable, proper, and even honorable. The damned hypocritical liberals praised it then, but when it's turned AGAINST THEM, they squeal like the facist pigs they are. Filthy hypocrites. HYPOCRITES, I tell you douglas, you moralizing faker. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-05-20 20:51:39 |
| #13 After 4 intense years of studying, earning money for school and dodging riots and tear gas at UC Berkeley, I took my last senior final and got on a bird and out of that hell-hole. Went back once. That was enough. No commencement, no teach-in. Just my degree. They need to clean out my alma-mater with high pressure steam to get the rot out. Hmmm...sound a bit bitter.......hmmmm.......PTSD I guess. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-20 20:20:17 |
| #12 Just asked wifely person if she remembered hers. She did not except that it was long, mine also. I would bet they remember this one. Anomalus ps. ours was 30 + years a-go-go |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-05-20 19:51:01 |
| #11 This is encouraging; I think people are getting really, REALLY tired of hearing bullshit America-hating rants from leftists, and are becoming less timid about saying so. It's about time. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2003-05-20 16:07:02 |
| #10 "The audience's behavior was unacceptable." No, it is unacceptable to hijack these students'commencement day for political purposes and expect them to be held hostage. Good for the audience for not sitting still. The double standard of the liberals NEVER ceases to amaze me. Although all for "free speech" and "diversity of opinion", that isn't suppose to extend to countering the spouting of liberal ideology. |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-05-20 15:38:10 |
| #9 Pribbenow is an idiot of the 1st Order. He knew of the content beforehand, and defended it, while at the same time deploring the behavior of the students. The usual "Free speech for me, but not for thee" of the campus left and our fifth column press. Of course, he's regretting it now because the excrement hit the ventilation system. I say "Too late @$$h@t." |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2003-05-20 15:32:21 |
| #8 No Douglas, it was the SPEAKER'S behavior that was unacceptable. It is high time that the so-called institutions of higher learning remembered that they are NOT allowed to market to the rest of us while SIMULTANEOUSLY talking down to us. |
| Posted by: Flaming Sword 2003-05-20 15:23:15 |
| #7 "The audience's behavior was unacceptable." Unacceptable? Since when did freedom of speech become a one way street? This audience's behavior was mild compared to some of the heated exchanges of 100 years or more ago in America. They weren't all somber affaairs ala the Gettysburg Address. Then, as now, your freedom of speech does not mean I have to stifle mine. This forum was to honor graduates, not rail against the war and the military. Our freedom of speech clause prohibits the government from taking action against someone for what they say, as long as threats are not made. It does not stop the public from calling a loon a loon. |
| Posted by: Esoteric 2003-05-20 15:20:17 |
| #6 Douglas: Can't agree. Hedges was an idiot to use such an inappropriate occasion to spout off on his political views. If I were one of those students graduating after four years of hard work and dedication, I'd want to hear some practical advice, kudos, worldly wisdom, and general optimism to commemorate the day--not a verbal attack on the President and the military or a political diatribe. If Pribbenow knew of the content beforehand and allowed it to continue, he's an idiot, too. Hedges and Pribbenow should both know this is not the forum for such a politically charged rant--unless they were doing it for the publicity all along. That wouldn't surprise me. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-20 15:02:01 |
| #5 The audience's behavior was unacceptable. Freedom of speech doesn't include a requirement that everybody else listen if they don't wish to, and what's more, it doesn't immunize someone from suffering the consequences of pushing some viewpoint on a group that clearly doesn't agree with it. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-05-20 15:01:05 |
| #4 It's that darn rap music! I love it when our kids start thinking for themselves and REFUSE to accept this drivel as 'mainstream.' They (libs) simply fail to accept that they are wrong on the war issue and move on. This attitude is going to cost them dearly at the polls. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-05-20 14:54:55 |
| #3 The masses sure did seem pretty huddled on this occasion. Hedges' views are immaterial. The audience's behavior was unacceptable . |
| Posted by: Douglas 2003-05-20 14:42:59 |
| #2 What is it about the ingrained arrogance of liberals that they insist on seizing upon any and all opportunities (no matter how inappropriate) to lecture enlightenment to the huddled masses? |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-05-20 14:35:32 |
| #1 The masses sure did seem pretty huddled on this occasion. Hedges' views are immaterial. The audience's behavior was unacceptable . |
| Posted by: Douglas 5/20/2003 2:42:59 PM |