Thread: The Unpatriotic University: Berkeley

I am placing this in General Discussion since it IS an old article. However, it is an interesting look at Berkley University, and also mentions a bit about some of the terrorist criminal activities of Mecha. - DQ

The Unpatriotic University: Berkeley
By Erick Stakelbeck
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 28, 2003

As Mario Savio spoke in front of the University of California-Berkeley’s Sproul Hall on December 2, 1964, carried by nervous energy and a restless mass of students who hung on his every syllable, he hadn’t a clue that immortality beckoned. Yet in the 39 years since that windswept day when Savio delivered an emotion-dripped speech denouncing University Chancellor Clark Kerr, "the operation of the machine" and "The Man" in general, he has gained an exalted, almost deified position in the eyes of the left. The Savio-led march into Sproul Hall and subsequent "sit-in" gave impetus to the Free Speech Movement (FSM) and became the blueprint for the widespread campus uprisings and anti-Vietnam protests that followed. Savio’s influence can be seen today not only in the halls of academia (his December, 1964 speech is still cited as a call to arms by campus radicals from coast to coast) but also in the socialistic worldviews of Phil Donahue, Howard Zinn and Ralph Nader, all of whom are on the Advisory Board of UC Berkeley’s Mario Savio Memorial Lecture Fund. Moreover, as we survey the present politically correct campus landscape, it’s obvious that Savio, who died in 1996, helped accomplish what was always the FSM’s real and primary goal: establishing a political power base at U.S. universities from which the Anti-American left could run amok.

In his book, Uncivil Wars, David Horowitz alludes to this unspoken truth, writing,

"The FSM was ultimately not a movement about free speech. It was about the right of the political left to agitate for its agendas within the confines of the campus itself…this was the real achievement of the FSMâ€â€

Hi Don Qixote. Great post. I've lived in Berkeley for years and I can tell you its a surreal experience. They have a "Mario Savio Free Speech" plaque in the main plaza, but whenever anyone tries to speak of subjects outside the confines of Politically Correct double-speak, the protesters come and shut them down with signs that say: "NO FREE SPEECH FOR FASCISTS." I guess it only counts as free speech if you agree with their speech.

They recently had a big demonstrations protesting agains the repeal of Affirmative Action on the campus. They blocked off the main entrance and put up a big sign that read: "WHITE MALES ONLY" because they felt that would be the end result of the loss of Affirmative Action. The demonstaters stood there very heroically, until somebody pointed out to the geniuses that UC Berkeley was 55% Asian.

Speaking of Affirmative Action, I just read an excellent book about the effect of Mass Immigration on American blacks -- the DEVESTATING effect on American blacks. And one of the points the authors made was that the repeal of Affirmative Action was a direct result of Mass Immigration. I don't want to get into the debate over Affirmative Action -- because its a moot point, and I can generally agree with the people that say its "reverse racism" -- but I still kind of support Affirmative Action, with certain reservations. Considering the dire situation of the black community in so many of our inner cities, I support any efforts to kick-start young blacks' lives and give them a helping hand, even if its by somewhat artificial means as Affirmative Action. How Mass Immigration killed Affirmative Action was, all these other minorities -- the burgeoning new Asian and Latino minorities -- claimed, with some justification, that it wasn't fair to them. And if there was a quota system for the black minority then there should also be a quota system for their minorities, too. So we ended up in this unweildy and absurd position where left-handed, bi-sexual Korean-Americans were claiming that they made up 5.7% of the community and yet only made up 3.2% of the City Hall clerks, or whatever. And it just got ridiculous. Of course, now in California, white people count as a "minority" too (48% of the population and dropping fast). So do we qualify for "minority" privileges, too?

But the point is: THis is a common complaint within the black community: That they opened the way for minority rights with the Civil Rights movement. And now all these other minorities are taking advantage of the opportunities they created and leap-frogging ahead of them. Whether this is true or not, this is the perception within the black community. I'm talking DEEP-SEEDED RESENTMENT. And I do think, because of some of the past injustices they've suffered, we as Americans do have somewhat (I said somewhat) of an obligation to try and "even the playing field" regarding the black minorities. Whether these other minorities -- these recent Asian and Latino immigrants -- deserve the same breaks, I doubt very much.