Apparently, J.D. Hayworth has finally decided to take a stand. In particular, he seems to be taking a stand against the worst kind of people: the kind who disagree with him.
At a faculty "teach-in" against the war on Iraq, Columbia Prof. Nicholas De Genova said some things that made Hayworth angry. This anger has caused Hayworth to write a letter to Columbia President Lee Bollinger asking that De Genova be fired.
De Genova is accused in that letter of calling for "a million Mogadishus" - referring to the killing of U.S. soldiers in Somalia - and saying, "The only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military."
The quotations drawn from De Genova's speech are truly inflammatory, even if he did try to temper them in a March 31 letter published in the Columbia Daily Spectator. In that letter he argues, "Iraqi liberation can only be effected by the Iraqi people themselves, both by resisting and defeating the U.S. invasion, as well as overthrowing a regime whose brutality was long sustained by none other than the U.S."
Whatever De Genova said or wanted to say, maybe Hayworth has finally picked the right target. Nothing can justify calling for death and violence, and all people of conscience should see war and the mass killing that accompanies it as an affront to the most basic human values.
Still, one has to wonder about Hayworth's motives. The current war would be hard pressed to find itself a better supporter than our own favorite sportscaster turned politician. For example, when discussing the United Nations, Hayworth asked "whether the United Nations will live up to its charter or whether it will be reduced to an empty international theater of the absurd."
It's good to see such level-headed, calm rhetoric when the nation is facing important choices involving whether or not to go to war. Hayworth has such an uncanny ability to cut through the irrelevant life or death issues by substituting inflammatory language for real arguments.
Sound at all like a certain professor whom Hayworth has decided to target? Hayworth says that other representatives are "lining up" to sign his letter. But isn't that what politicians do? Isn't it pretty much in a politician's job description that one should "line up" to grandstand when people like De Genova say unpopular things?
De Genova is certainly substituting provocative language for reason to make Hayworth and people of his ilk extremely angry. However, Hayworth ought to realize that this puts him and De Genova in the same category.
Instead of making a case that might justify bringing the horrors of war to the world, Hayworth demonizes our enemies in Iraq and any nation or institution that opposes our doing whatever we want.
In truth, Hayworth is no different than most of his contemporaries in Congress. Even if some "liberals" show some support for De Genova and academic freedom, they would just as quickly pounce on a professor who tried to argue that white people were inherently smarter than members of ethnic minorities.
Judging by television coverage of this war, being rabidly pro-American seems to be hip right now, and Hayworth is happily riding that bandwagon. However, now more than ever, preserving intelligent public debate requires stepping back from both extremes and looking for intelligent, balanced arguments.
Maybe De Genova is just preparing to leave his university and run for public office. If he managed to get elected, at least he could spend time with people who care as little about making sense as he does.
Benjamin Thelen is a philosophy and political science senior. Reach him at benjamin.thelen@asu.edu.
