Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Heard of the Hitler Poster Scandal?

I hadn't but was directed to here.

Seems that at Williams College, posters containing positive messages about marijuana and Adolph Hitler appeared inside at least seven campus buildings. A student admitted that she and a non-student friend were responsible and that their intent was to encourage dialogue.

Seems the posters imitated the Holocaust Remembrance Day posters with quotations from Hitler, commemorating his birthday, and the words "Remember" on top.

Dean N Roseman wrote: "We certainly understand the pain and distress that these posters inflict on members of the campus."

One pro-opinion went like this:-

If a college campus is not a suitable environment for free speech, but instead we hear only calls for self-censorship and lockstep obedience, what future can this generation offer? If students are so weak-minded that they are afraid of ideas, even hating any idea with which they disagree, but can only respond with anger and calling security for censorship instead of rational consideration or discussion, what have they learned for all of their time spent pursuing education? These are people soon to enter the adult world after spending years evaluating grammatical structures, molecular balances, and Renaissance art, yet they are unable to evaluate a flier sensibly?

Surely there are also students who still have enough youth left in them to laugh at absurdity, and enough self-confidence to not desire other ideas censored when they find them disagreeable.


Can't they find anything better to do on a college campus?

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