Oyster River Community Resource: Community Commentary: The Bully Pulpit

Community commentary questioning the basis and definition of what is acceptable behavior and acceptable response with respect to the community outrage over ORSCD board member Jim Kach's Twitter stream:

The Bully Pulpit is one of great power and greater responsibility. Professors at state universities have as much responsibility as they do power. They also live in a protected society that is in many cases immune from the realities of human competition which exist in real communities with all walks of life. It is here where money and street violence often dictate results where people function and the conditions under which the poor live, become educated, and work.

In protected societies such as state universities, there is no real challenge for someone who is legitimately concerned with equality and respect for all to blanketly criticize those who disagree with the quintessence of political correctness in Durham, N.H. It would be a challenge to speak out in rural Mississippi or even rural northern Coos County, New Hampshire. Liberal, politically correct speech in Durham is part preaching to the choir and part bullying with no fear of retaliation or debate.

It is worthy to teach one's children respect, but it is also worthy to teach tolerance. Homophobia to one is religious obedience to another. While the fourteenth and first amendment provide certain guaranties of freedom of expression and equal protection and while additional "hate crime" laws have been passed to eliminate bigotry against certain defined groups, there is a growing type of bigotry that is designed to eliminate all debate or discussion concerning certain sensitive social issues. This new form of bigotry is non-violent, Intellectual, anti-theistic, atheistic, and monopolistic. It is intolerant of history and comfortable in a setting that escapes intense economic competition that ultimately provides the funds to pay the salaries and benefit packages of public employees. It picks and chooses when, where, and what humor may be utilized and which victims are fair game, and which are not. It would be acceptable humor to reference former President George Walker Bush's actions as boorish, brutish, imperialistic or lacking in intelligence, but unacceptable to poke humor at the sitting President alleging a lack of intelligence, because it might be construed as racist.

The new bigotry has invaded the world of government. Many state agencies within New Hampshire have adopted sexual harassment guidelines. My favorite is that no court employee may comment on the clothing of another employee. I like your _____ (fill in the blank - tie, shoes, shorts or locket). The obvious attempt is to eliminate references to those sensitive areas which could create embarrassment, fear, or disgust. To avoid even entering the threshold of such topics, bureaucrats have chosen to eliminate all possible comment concerning clothing. The same mentality that established the foregoing prohibition is behind the platform that proclaims collective bargaining to be a fundamental right. If it is, then it is also a fundamental right not to collectively bargain.

What does this have to do with allegations that a school board member is unfit to finish the term to which elected, because of pre-election comments alleged to be either sexist, misogynist or homophobic, everything. It's the modern politically correct in vogue new millennium "witch hunt." I don't like what an elected official said and that those comments offend my philosophy of what vocabulary is acceptable. Consequently I'll attack the official submitting evidence of prior behavior in attempting to force removal or resignation. How convenient, the quest won't even involve analysis and review of the official's actions in performing the duties he or she was elected to perform.

Diversity is one of the buzzwords of the politically correct culture. In practice it is the process of broadening a culture with the infusion of more members from those groups heretofore least represented. As with bigotry, it works both ways. Members of a particular race, ethnic group, or gender should not all be defined by that particular means of identification. Thus, the object of the goal of diversity is tainted by over-generalization. A recent study of academic institutions actually disclosed there was such a high percentage of liberal-leaning faculty that any statistical studies might be biased by the high concentration of like-thinkers in any group compiling and analyzing the information.

Bigotry is a form of bias. There's a long history of intended and unintended social biases that have led to bigotry because many humans tend to choose to be in the company of those they are most comfortable with. True idealists must self-analyze their belief systems before acting to guard against a result tainted by bias. School Board members owe the public a duty to soul search, analyze all data, and consider available resources and funding before making decisions that impact students and families in their school district. They must then analyze their conclusion to safeguard against any bias or an agenda that contradicts available data and then act in the best interest of constituents.

Constituents owe themselves, their elected officials, and their families the same duty. Ultimately this is the process that should unfold to determine the current controversy. It should not be a "witch hunt."

Arthur H. K. Davis
UNH Class of 1968

Oyster River Community Resource

Monday, August 15, 2011

Community Commentary: The Bully Pulpit

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