Republicans Exploit Free Speech
I wanted to respond to James Cobb’s article “Free Speech on Campus” in the Feb. 14 edition of Flagpole. Cobb’s article does an exceptional job at laying out the modern history of this issue.
C. Vann Woodward, for those that do not know, was one of the most influential and respected historians of the 20th century. Much of his work is still used today by a number of academic historians. He is one of the historians that actually pressed American history into a study that includes far more voices from across the spectrum of race and gender. A man and academic whose work showed he cared about the voices of the oppressed and minorities.
However, there is one incredibly important fact that Cobb left out of his article. A fact that, seems to me, is being left out of nearly every article and discussion I have read or heard in the media surrounding this issue as it applies to the conflict in Palestine/Israel. None of the student groups that the right is calling out for punishment actually called for “a genocide against the Jews.” In fact it has been the complete opposite—they have been fighting to shine light on the State of Israel’s genocidal actions within the occupied Palestinian territories. This fact makes these University presidents’ stumbles over the questions they were asked in front of the congressional committee far more understandable.
The idea that state legislatures and governors, mostly from the GOP, are actually moving to fire university administrators and faculty because they are allowing student groups to air real and important grievances goes against the very fabric of what academia is supposed to teach. We are allowing monied interests, the donor class, to dictate school policy and limit free speech.
Most universities do have language in their policies that try to limit or prohibit any speech that advocates or encourages violence. Even this runs along the edge of our First Amendment rights, yet I do believe most Americans would agree that speech of this nature—screaming fire in a crowded theater—should be prohibited.
Yet what we are seeing today on a number of issues is the right trying to limit real debate on any number of issues, and then exploiting the First Amendment with inflammatory language on other issues. The left must get better at calling out the blatant lies of the GOP and the far right on these issues and continue to foster true and honest debate.
Sean Gillan
Athens
Thanks for Riley Coverage
Many thanks to Blake Aued for his comprehensive article on Laken Riley’s murder (Mar. 6). There is a complex ripple effect happening from her death, and I was so appreciative of Blake’s sensitivity in clarifying several points, including mention of the outpouring of grief also for Wyatt Banks, who died a few days prior. The quotes were helpful in understanding stances being taken, I especially appreciated the statement from the Athens Immigrants Rights Coalition—indeed violence against women is “a continuously present reality in our country and cuts across all ethnic or racial lines.” Thank you for also including the stats on crime in Athens. (In 2023 violent crimes were down 7%). Blake gave me what I needed to know on the national, state and city levels—all this in my neighborhood paper.
Kathryn Kyker
Athens
Support Medicaid Expansion
It is a perfect time to let state Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) know what a poor choice he made recently for Georgians. Voting against Medicaid expansion keeps many people unable to access health care. Monies are available to insure more people, particularly children. Cowsert does all of us a disservice by not supporting Medicaid expansion.
JR Buffalo
Athens
Vouchers Are Bad
People, let me put you wise about private school vouchers, putting aside euphemisms and the Establishment Clause. Back in the day, I helped many Georgia public high schools with military programs such as ROTC. And I’m a product of 16 years of private (religious) education. So I know what I’m talking about.
Our taxes should not be diverted from public schools to private (mostly religious) institutions. The funds to indoctrinate young trusting minds into the one true faith—whichever one it is—should be paid by the faithful, as our Founders intended.
Public schools promote reason, science and critical thinking to every student regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Private schools, not so much. So here’s my evidence-based counsel: Hey, politicians! Leave our public schools alone!
Duke Geddis
Athens
Trump Misunderstands America
For Americans, the future is always coming, shiny, amazing and prosperous. Our Founders were optimists. Every generation of Americans has held onto the idea that we’re getting better, moving toward the music of our better angels, fixing the bugs, hacking the new code and building a better tomorrow.
Donald Trump’s view is fundamentally pessimistic. It’s a picture of America in decline, of evil foreigners beating us at trade, of problems only a strongman can solve, and the idea that the amorphous “left” is winning all the battles. This isn’t Reagan’s sunny optimism; it’s depressingly small and limited in scope. The Trump Train stops in a podunk future that looks like 1930, not 2030.
Big, visionary, prospective leadership has always been informed by the bull-headed optimism that defines this country. We aren’t just passengers; we’re builders, dreamers, doers, fighters. No challenge is too big. No problem is too complex. Every time the world thinks we can’t, we do. “America, heck yeah” has become “Daddy, save us!” in the age of Trump.
Trump has trained his followers to believe in an America that is weaker, sadder and smaller than we really are. President Biden is optimistic about America, our rich talent and our amazing, messy, wonderful, ridiculous, crazy, passionate people. It’s too bad a central tenet of Trump’s view of the United States is to run down the people of this country and describe a nation so lost and weak it requires an authoritarian strongman. We don’t.
Peggy Perkins
Winder
Save the Okefenokee
The Okefenokee Swamp has always held a mythical allure, bolstered by tall tales and folk songs my father used to sing about it. So when my family had the opportunity to visit during the spring several years ago, we set out on a journey to trace our roots south and reconnect with nature.
We hired a guide to take us into the swamp, where we paddled under towering ancient cypress trees, around lily pads and through native marsh grass. A white ibis sailed ahead of us, its black wingtips pointing the way through the maze of veins that carry port wine-colored water to the heart of the swamp. We followed the song of a prothonotary warbler to a hardwood nest, where the pudgy little yellow bird was singing. We were delighted to find this increasingly rare species living alongside huge alligators.
The cycle of life is no more evident than inside the Okefenokee Swamp. Beautiful flora grows out of decay. Saplings spring out of dead trees. No plant stands alone. The swamp showed me that independence is an illusion. Our roots run deeper than our family trees even suggest. If you follow them far enough, you will reach the life-giving source. Mother Nature can be found in the heart of the Okefenokee.
Please protect the beloved Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge by denying permits to any strip mining operation in or around the swamp. Trail Ridge holds the water in the swamp and therefore cannot be mined without impacting its hydrology. The Okefenokee also helps us naturally fight climate change because it is a massive carbon sink. Although peatlands make up just 3% of land on Earth, they store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined.
Now that the Clean Water Act no longer protects wetlands, the decision to allow the Twin Pines strip mine lies solely with Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Jeff Cown. Georgia citizens love the Okefenokee. It is our Yellowstone, and has been nominated as a UNESCO world heritage site. Let’s protect what we love.
Ramsey Nix
Athens
Congress Should Fund Ukraine
A principal, perhaps the principal, duty of our representatives in Congress is to defend America. Yet several of our Georgia representatives are refusing to do so.
Russia is holding Americans as hostages; engaging in assassinations around the world; interfering with elections in the United States and Western Europe; has developed hypersonic weapons to defeat American and European defense systems; has created sophisticated electronic capabilities to disrupt essential utilities in America and Western Europe; and is engaging in a propaganda blitz to build fear and hatred of America, even blaming the USA and Ukraine for the recent brutal ISIS attack in Russia and declaring that NATO is waging war on Russia. Most dangerously, Russia is using every weapon at its disposal short of nuclear arms (and threatening the use of those) and a massive army in an all-out effort to conquer Ukraine, including massacres of civilians and indiscriminate mass destruction.
The heroic defense by the Ukrainians has exhausted Russia’s huge inventory of weapons. Now Iran and North Korea are providing weapons and ammunition to enable Russia to continue its attempt to dominate Ukraine as a prelude to continuing use of violence to restore Russia’s post-World War II domination of neighboring countries. We must wake up to the fact that Russia is waging war against America and the other members of NATO.
The refusal of several Georgia representatives to defend America is inexcusable. Our Georgia representatives in Congress must act now to approve the assistance desperately needed by Ukraine.
Bruce Menke
Athens
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
