Submitted by joe bee, Nov 30, 2006 14:13

You compare islam to leftist academics by alleging that they both decline to use "reason" in dialogue with their ideological opponents. However, the comparison ends there, as you don't expand upon this comparison. This piece is soley about Columbia university. What's more, you then fail to explain how the acdemic left lacks reason. As far as I can tell, you are merely griping about a difference of opinion. The next time you accuse those you disagree with of being unreasonable, please explain exactly why your side is reasonable, while the other isn't.

Speaking of reason, let's get to the crux of what you are trying to say. You disagree with anyone who is not acting in what you define to be the "interest of the liberal culture of America."

..."But as we know now, McCarthyism may need to be revisited. The tactics of the McCarthyites were deplorable, but the reality was that some of the people investigated were indeed secret communists who were not always acting in the interest of the liberal culture of America."

If the acts of McCarthyites were depolorable, then why would McCarthyism be revisted? And then, what part of McCarthyism needs to be revisited? That seems to me to be an utterly unreasonable statement. You want to root out those who are not "acting in the interests of the liberal culture of America"? Sorry, but rooting anyobody out because of their ideas (communist or not) is probably the most un-American thing possible. You desire a paradoxical society where un-American means can be used to achieve "american" ends. This is conceptually similar to using torture in Iraq to achieve it's freedom. It's like making a kid smoke cigarettes until they get sick to prevent them from smoking in the future. It's totally unreasonable.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.