Ignorati Emeriti

Here is Nick Gier's response to the polite invitation from Daniel Schanze, WSU College Republicans President, to attend the screening of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" tonight.

From: nickgier@adelphia.net
Date: October 23, 2007 7:31:33 PM PDT
To: Daniel Schanze dschanze@mail.wsu.edu
Subject: Re: Documentary Invitation

Dear Daniel,

Thanks for the invitation, but from what I've read about this film I can only draw the conclusion that it is not a balanced account and will damage our government's attempts to win moderate Muslims to our side in the war on terror.

I will not recommend the film to my students or my friends. I will recommend that they attend all the alternative events that have been planned for the Week of Tolerance.

I've appended one column and attached two others that I've written on this topic. One of these might appear in the Daily Evergreen this week.

Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho

That's right folks, The proud professor emeritus who taught Philosophy for 31 years LEAPS TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE FILM IS BAD BUT HASN'T EVEN SEEN IT YET. Nevertheless, he is prepared to unleash "the full fury of progressive voices for tolerance on the Palouse" on the College Republicans for showing it.

My God, this is the clearest example I've seen yet of liberal elitist closed-mindedness, academic dishonesty, and sheer willful ignorance that Michael wrote about recently. Would you want this man teaching you or your child how to think logically and rationally?

Nick Fury, Agent of Intolerance

"The College Republicans appear surprised about why we find their outrageous film so objectionable, but by the end of the week they will have felt the full fury of progressive voices for tolerance on the Palouse."

- UI Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Palouse Moonbat-in-Chief Nick Gier on Vision 2020 today.

Boy, nothing says "tolerance" like "full fury."

And in the UI Argonaut today, Rula Awwad-Rafferty, UI faculty member and JUNTURA committee chair (JUNTURA "enhances student academic success and promotes the values of respect, understanding, and equality within a diverse university experience") stated, “I don’t think hatred ought to be tolerated anywhere. But you don’t fight hatred with hatred.”

Really? So if you can't hate Mohamed Atta and Osama bin Laden, is it okay then to hate George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld? How about Wal-Mart? How about conservatives and evangelical Christians? Because you sure see a lot of campus-sponsored and -approved hatred directed at all of them, especially from Gier, who has compared fundamentalist Christians to Jihadists, (from the below picture on his UI-based web site, we can tell which Gier thinks is worse.) This is Gier's "full fury of tolerance?"


By the way Nick, here's a hint for you. If you were to post a sacrilegeous picture of Mohammed like that in Iran, it wouldn't be Jesus knocking at the door packing heat, it would be the Revolutionary Guard.

If I were the CRs, I wouldn't worry. That gasbag Gier doesn't have enough fury to get out of a wet paper bag.

I'm Not a Wingnut, But I Play One on the Internet

"I thought I would stand here like this so you could see if I was really as big a son of a bitch as you think I am."

- George C. Scott as General George S. Patton, Patton, 1970

Like Elmer Gantry, I once again stood behind a podium at the University of Idaho this evening to preach the gospel of corporate America and the free market to poor lost college students who normally don't get to hear it.

UI Economics professor Steve Peterson had me speak to some 75-100 students as part of a "Riddles and Paradoxes" speakers series on economic growth and its interrelationship with environmental issues.

As always, I love to speak anytime (and at length) about growth and development on the Palouse. It was great fun, although the wireless microphone batteries were dead, so I'm a little hoarse after speaking somewhat loudly for over an hour. Thanks to Steve for the invite. I'd post my presentation, "The False Dilemma: Big Boxes, Small Towns," but I'm not quite ready to transfer over to Roadrunner yet and I can't upload anything else to my Adelphia web space (I'm holding on to Adelphia until the bitter end.) If anyone knows of a good, free file hosting site, please let me know.

A real surprise treat was meeting Duane Brelsford's youngest daughter, a UI student, after the presentation. We had a very nice chat. Luckily for me, I had good things to say about her dad, Pullman's biggest developer, in my presentation!

But special thanks to the UI student I spoke with who told me that the Moscow Civic Association/PARD types had warned him that I was a far right wacko. He said after hearing me speak, he could see that I wasn't like that at all. In fact, he stated, my arguments made more sense than theirs. I still remain hopeful that the vast majority of people out there will believe the truth if they could only hear it.

I'm just a person who believes in facts, common sense, the traditional values that made this country great, and calling things like I see them. People can apply whatever label to me that they like.

BBOC (Big Blogger on Campus)

“Did you ever think that making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.”

- Lyndon Baines Johnson

Today, I had the privilege to speak with Steve Peterson's Environmental Economics (ECON 385) class at the University of Idaho. My presentation was titled "Some Perspectives on Growth and Conflict Over Growth in Pullman and Whitman County" (Palousitics regulars should know exactly what those perspectives are.) The PowerPoint file can be downloaded here.

It was very enjoyable. I think I can say, with an absolutely unblemished record as a Cougar fan, that the UI campus is very nice. The students were great. They had some excellent questions and I could see some nodding in agreement but I'm sure others thought I was a crazy right-wing nut. Thanks to Steve Peterson (of "Moscow at a Tipping Point" fame and my favorite economist) for all his hospitality.

I have also had a lot of fun working this semester with a group of students in the WSU PR Techniques and Media Usage (PR 313) class. Hi guys!

The funny thing about all this is that I'm a computer programmer by trade who majored in International Relations. I would love to go back now and major in either Economics or Public Relations. Oh, well. This "old man" can still be a "silly shill for Wal-Mart" and advocate "saturated development" without a Ph.D. in either Sociology or Comparative Literature.