Jewish prof forced to defend himself against anti-Semitism claims
Cameron Johnston, who has been teaching at York for more than 30 years, has been forced to respond to allegations that he made anti-Semitic remarks in a lecture on Monday afternoon after a student misunderstood his comments and began sending emails to Jewish groups and the media.
Johnston was giving his introductory lecture to Social Sciences 1140: “Self, Culture and Society,” when he explained to the nearly 500 students that the course was going to focus on texts, not opinions, and despite what they may have heard elsewhere, everyone is not entitled to their opinion.“All Jews should be sterilized” would be an example of an unacceptable and dangerous opinion, Johnston told the students.
He didn’t notice Sarah Grunfeld storm out. Grunfeld, a 22-year-old in her final year at York, understood Johnston’s example to be his personal opinion.
She contacted Oriyah Barzilay, the president of Hasbara at York — an Israel advocacy group on campus — who then sent a press release to media and other Jewish community groups calling for Johnston to be fired.
Johnston, who is Jewish, said his religion likely influenced his choice of words, why he used “this example of a completely reprehensible opinion” with historical precedent.
Reminds me of reactions to the Onion's Planned Parenthood article .
ReplyDeleteSigh... where ignorant armies clash by night.
A couple of years ago I was teaching a short story with the "n word" in it. I told students it was in there, told them that it was used in the story to show anger and intolerance, and that the character who said it was the "bad guy" in the piece.
ReplyDeleteDuring a discussion of the story, I read a section of text aloud that had the word in it.
"You can't say that," a student said.
I apologized for saying it, but I said, "I think the power of that word is important to us seeing these characters."
"But you're a racist if you say it," the same student said.
"I'm not a racist," I said.
"Then why did you say it," another student said.
The Toronto story about Professor Johnston makes me angry and also tired. Assuming his version of the event is true, I've seen the same sort of willful ignorance in some students. It's almost hypnotic it's so incredibly strange.
And I see it more and more.
Lordy, Reg. Have them read this passage from Huck Finn and watch their heads explode:
ReplyDelete"Then he got up slow and walked to the wigwam, and went in there without saying anything but that. But that was enough. It made me feel so mean I could almost kissed HIS foot to get him to take it back.
"It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a n-r; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way."
That and the bits about Huck resigning himself to go to hell 'cause he had helped Jim steal himself from "a woman who hadn't never done me no harm."
I've had students in class like the one described in the Toronto Star story.
ReplyDeleteThe ones I have known have been primed to be victims, engaged in a daily struggle to find offense when no offense is meant.
Obviously I don't know the people in the Toronto situation at all, but the description I've read of this event feels like something I've seen.
One of my favorite details is that the student in question is not even a registered student in the class!!! (Oh, and that it's a 500 student class. God help me.)
What a piece of work.
ReplyDeleteShe *may* have misunderstood? Yeah, sure, don't own up to your mistakes.
But it's insignificant? OK, so you really think it should still be a firing offense to make a valid point just because the wording makes you uncomfortable?
What a flippin' idiot!
ReplyDeleteA twenty-two year old in her final year and she still hasn't learned how to LISTEN!
This is not the fault of education, it's the fault of the parents. I assist in teaching Tae Kwon Do classes and see this all the time. All the students have to do is what we demonstrate, it requires no critical thinking or insight. We demonstrate a stance and say, "Right foot back.", and still we will have someone looking with a thousand yard stare put his (they seem to be mostly male) left foot back.
I'll point at his feet and repeat, "Right foot back. Right foot back. Right. Foot. Back." I have to get and hold their gaze before it sinks in.
Every now and then a parent thinks I'm too harsh with their little flake and I have to bite my tongue to keep from asking, "When do you think is a good age for them to learn to pay attention."
I had the same reaction as Stew.
ReplyDelete"Grunfeld said Tuesday she may have misunderstood the context and intent of Johnston’s remarks, but that fact is insignificant."
I guess if you already don't know much, then misunderstanding one more thing really is insignificant.
At times like this I just start to feel more and more that the world is almost too stupid to live in.
ReplyDeleteMy students have moved in this direction for the past 8 years. I can't do in a freshmen class what I once could. I don't know how I'll stop myself from eating poison if it gets much worse.
I'm with Stew and Ben. Dollars to donuts, she didn't even hear the "unacceptable" part, she was texting, heard the inflammatory example, and stormed out. And then when the disclaimer was brought to her attention, she was too pig headed to cop to the error and has to pretend it's wrong anyway. She's just being a stubborn jackass.
ReplyDeleteWho is going to save us from dangerously ignorant little girls like this?
ReplyDeleteContext, you see, didn't matter. What mattered was what SHE thought. And SHE thought it was offensive, and therefore the instructor should be fired. And as for copping to a mistake? She's too stupid and arrogant to do anything like that. Heaven help the people who have to work with her, or live with her, and heaven help us all that she has a vote.
ReplyDeleteWell, the words came out of her mouth too when she quoted them.
ReplyDeleteFavorite line:
ReplyDeleteGrunfeld also expressed skepticism that Johnston was in fact Jewish.
Is it a popular pastime now for Gentile proffies to pretend to be Jewish? That fad hasn't hit my campus yet.
Grunfeld will make an excellent fucktard proffie or administrator.
Well, when feelings are facts, there you go. I mean, come on, she's entitled to her opinion that a thing happened that didn't happen, isn't she?
ReplyDeleteBack when I was an undergrad, we read a story in a creative writing class that took place in the South in the middle of the century. I don't remember much about the story, except that it involved an old white woman who's visited unexpectedly by a young black boy, and she's not thrilled about seeing him on her doorstep. She uses a word or two, casually, that modern society wouldn't like. That's who the character in the story was.
ReplyDeleteOur prof asked us for comments about the story. Before we could really begin analyzing it, one woman put her hand in the air. "I didn't like it," she said, "because it was racist." She didn't say this angrily; she said it matter-of-factly. Then she sat back and smiled as if to illustrate that she had just given the right answer.
I gather from some blog comments that this particular campus has a history of real or perceived anti-Semitism, so that may partially explain the hair trigger. Still, yeah, this kind of thing drives me nuts. If we can't say "Some people believe Jews should be sterilized" because it contains the phrase "Jews should be sterilized," what the hell CAN we say?
Also, Sarah Grunfeld should be sterilized
ReplyDeleteRuby wrote: If we can't say "Some people believe Jews should be sterilized" because it contains the phrase "Jews should be sterilized," what the hell CAN we say?
ReplyDeleteYou can say, "Some people believe the opposite of believing that Jews should not be sterilized." Of course, with a recording device and some editing, that could ruin a career as well.
@Southern Bubba - Grunfeld also expressed skepticism that Johnston was in fact Jewish.
I don't know if Gentile profs now pretend to be Jews, but we could take counter-measures. Maybe we should have background checks and put stamps in everyone's passport and hang signs on office doors indicating whether or not they are Jewish. It could work according to purely "racial" (genetic) criteria like the Nazi laws or we could have a point system based on genetics, cultural activities, library books checked out, travel history, proximity of residence to a synagogue, facial and head features, bank account, dress, accent, education, etc. We could put Ms. Grunfeld in charge of the program.
Ugh. On a completely different scale, I had a student storm out and go complain because I allowed another student to write about, and then present about, the opposite of her viewpoint. Hers was that animal testing was fine and that every company should use it because that's what God made animals for. The other student was presenting about humane alternatives, without the religious viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteHer allegation? That I was attacking her religion. *sigh*
Sarah Grunfeld: Queen of the Derps
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anybody remembers, but a decade or so ago a (white) professor was in trouble for using the term "nigger" in class, there was a giant row, and the thing was forgotten inside of two months. This is the same, but stupider.
So, proffie makes a comment that's clearly anti-anti-Semitic. Snowflake, for whatever dumb reason (e.g., being dumb) decides to fight that remark. Does that mean Flakeface is an anti-anti-anti-Semite?
ReplyDeleteAlso, if context doesn't matter, I wonder what Flakie here would think of us failing her, even if it meant ignoring the context given by her passing grades. Let's see 'em dig their way out of that!
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ReplyDeleteOh, and how did we forget this little gem?
ReplyDelete"Asked directly by a reporter whether she believes Johnston is lying, she was unclear.
“Whether he is or is not, no one will know,” she said. “. . . Maybe he thought because he is Jewish he can talk smack about other Jews.'”
So, epistemology/philosophy of science basic training: can you ever empirically prove with absolute certainty, relying only on observation, what the actual laws or causes of a certain phenomena are? No. Can we prove that Obama's birth certificate wasn't forged? No. That the Agora in Athens wasn't built in 1850 by the British, with an elaborate history concocted after the fact? Also no. That we're not actually Yaro, sitting in our office at Miami of Ohio, wondering whether we should stop by the market on the way home to get some of that tea Mrs. Yaro so dearly loves? Ditto. Would we call you crazy if you believed any of these things? Yes, and rightly so. The mere fact that you can't absolutely prove what someone's inward beliefs are or aren't does not mean that you are justified in doubting them.
And, just as a cherry on our snowflake sundae, doesn't that last bit about "talking smack because he's Jewish" kinda presuppose that he is, in fact, a Jew, thus relying on a premise you've gone to pains to discount?
Snowflake Logic Fail.
Oy.
ReplyDeleteOy is right; this whole thing is like a "Seinfeld" episode Larry David rejected because it wasn't intelligent enough. It was a lot more fun when the UC Irvine Zionists invited Ambassador Michael Oren right after Israel invaded Gaza ("Operation Cast Lead") and the campus Muslim group heckled the Israeli mercilessly.*
ReplyDelete___________________
*Amb. Oren has always reminded me of an insurance salesman....they need a guy who combines the confidence (and scary wound) of a Moshe Dayan with the will of a Magneto from "The Amazing X-Men."