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  <updated>2008-08-07T15:58:33-05:00</updated>
  <entry>
    <title>Who Is To Blame For the Virginia Tech Massacre? The English Department, Of Course</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/who-blame-virginia-tech-massacre-english-department-course" />
    <id>http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/who-blame-virginia-tech-massacre-english-department-course</id>
    <published>2007-05-08T15:06:04-05:00</published>
    <updated>2008-08-07T15:58:33-05:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Kyle</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Culture War" />
    <category term="Eagle Forum" />
    <category term="Education" />
    <category term="Phyllis Schlafly" />
    <category term="Right Wing" />
    <category term="Virginia" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>That is, more or less, the <a href="http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2007/may07/07-05-09.html">question asked and the answer provided</a> by the Eagle Forum&rsquo;s Phyllis   Schlafly: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What was the   motive behind 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui's killing of 32 students and teachers at   Virginia Tech? Why was he consumed with hate, resentment and   bitterness?</p>
<p>Cho was an   English department major and senior. As a frequent lecturer on college campuses,   I have discovered that the English departments are often the weirdest and/or the   most left-wing.</p>
<p>A look at   the Web sites of Virginia Tech's English department and of its professors   reveals their mindset.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Schlafly proceeds to ask if Cho took   &ldquo;Professor Bernice L. Hausman's English 5454&rdquo; and then runs through a list of   books used and topic discussed in the class, saying they sound &ldquo;like just the   thing to confuse an already mixed-up kid.&rdquo;&nbsp; </p>
<p>So apparently, English 5454 was in   some way responsible for Cho&rsquo;s inexplicable crime &hellip; except that he probably   never took the class, considering that English 5454 is a <A title="http://www.english.vt.edu/grad/courses.htm" href="http://www.english.vt.edu/grad/courses.htm">graduate-level class</a> at   Virginia Tech and Cho was merely a <A title="http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/cho.profile/index.html" href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/cho.profile/index.html">senior</a>. </p>
<p>Schlafly goes on to selectively mock   various other classes offered by the Virginia Tech English Department in which   students are assigned books &ldquo;about an urban prostitute who finally kills herself   and [one] about a violent man who kills his girlfriend,&rdquo; while taking the   opportunity to attack several professors by name:</p>
<blockquote><p>Or maybe Cho   preferred the undiluted Marxism espoused by English instructor Allen Brizee, who   wrote: "Everyday, the capitalist system exploits millions of people. ... Our   role in the capitalist system makes us guilty of oppression!" </p></blockquote>
<p>Brizee did indeed write that as part   of an anti-capitalist rant&hellip; which he then <A title="http://athena.english.vt.edu/~hbrizee/marxindex.htm" href="http://athena.english.vt.edu/~hbrizee/marxindex.htm">explained thusly</a>: </p>
<blockquote><p>Whew, quite   a mouthful! &nbsp;&hellip; [W]hen studying Marxist literary criticism, we must place   ourselves in the mindset of the revolutionaries so that we can effectively   examine text as they would.&nbsp; Marxism has come a long way since the 1800s, and   Marxist critics today certainly take a less dogmatic approach to literature.&nbsp;   But at the same time, we cannot disregard the original dogma that sparked the   social movement that changed our world.</p></blockquote>
<p>Perhaps, in the future, Schlafly can   learn to scroll down the web page in order to avoid presenting quotes   ridiculously out of context.&nbsp; </p>
<p>She then concludes </p>
<blockquote>
<p>At the   campuswide convocation to honor the victims, professor Nikki Giovanni read what   purported to be a poem. On behalf of the English department, she declaimed: </p>
<p>"We do not   understand this tragedy,/</p>
<p>We know we   did nothing to deserve it."</p>
<p>Maybe others   will render a different verdict and ask why taxpayers are paying professors at   Virginia Tech to teach worthless and psychologically destructive   courses.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;We did nothing to deserve it&rdquo; say   those scarred by this horrible tragedy &ndash; but Schlafly begs to differ.   &nbsp;</p>
    ]]></summary>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>That is, more or less, the <a href="http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2007/may07/07-05-09.html">question asked and the answer provided</a> by the Eagle Forum&rsquo;s Phyllis   Schlafly: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What was the   motive behind 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui's killing of 32 students and teachers at   Virginia Tech? Why was he consumed with hate, resentment and   bitterness?</p>
<p>Cho was an   English department major and senior. As a frequent lecturer on college campuses,   I have discovered that the English departments are often the weirdest and/or the   most left-wing.</p>
<p>A look at   the Web sites of Virginia Tech's English department and of its professors   reveals their mindset.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Schlafly proceeds to ask if Cho took   &ldquo;Professor Bernice L. Hausman's English 5454&rdquo; and then runs through a list of   books used and topic discussed in the class, saying they sound &ldquo;like just the   thing to confuse an already mixed-up kid.&rdquo;&nbsp; </p>
<p>So apparently, English 5454 was in   some way responsible for Cho&rsquo;s inexplicable crime &hellip; except that he probably   never took the class, considering that English 5454 is a <A title="http://www.english.vt.edu/grad/courses.htm" href="http://www.english.vt.edu/grad/courses.htm">graduate-level class</a> at   Virginia Tech and Cho was merely a <A title="http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/cho.profile/index.html" href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/cho.profile/index.html">senior</a>. </p>
<p>Schlafly goes on to selectively mock   various other classes offered by the Virginia Tech English Department in which   students are assigned books &ldquo;about an urban prostitute who finally kills herself   and [one] about a violent man who kills his girlfriend,&rdquo; while taking the   opportunity to attack several professors by name:</p>
<blockquote><p>Or maybe Cho   preferred the undiluted Marxism espoused by English instructor Allen Brizee, who   wrote: "Everyday, the capitalist system exploits millions of people. ... Our   role in the capitalist system makes us guilty of oppression!" </p></blockquote>
<p>Brizee did indeed write that as part   of an anti-capitalist rant&hellip; which he then <A title="http://athena.english.vt.edu/~hbrizee/marxindex.htm" href="http://athena.english.vt.edu/~hbrizee/marxindex.htm">explained thusly</a>: </p>
<blockquote><p>Whew, quite   a mouthful! &nbsp;&hellip; [W]hen studying Marxist literary criticism, we must place   ourselves in the mindset of the revolutionaries so that we can effectively   examine text as they would.&nbsp; Marxism has come a long way since the 1800s, and   Marxist critics today certainly take a less dogmatic approach to literature.&nbsp;   But at the same time, we cannot disregard the original dogma that sparked the   social movement that changed our world.</p></blockquote>
<p>Perhaps, in the future, Schlafly can   learn to scroll down the web page in order to avoid presenting quotes   ridiculously out of context.&nbsp; </p>
<p>She then concludes </p>
<blockquote>
<p>At the   campuswide convocation to honor the victims, professor Nikki Giovanni read what   purported to be a poem. On behalf of the English department, she declaimed: </p>
<p>"We do not   understand this tragedy,/</p>
<p>We know we   did nothing to deserve it."</p>
<p>Maybe others   will render a different verdict and ask why taxpayers are paying professors at   Virginia Tech to teach worthless and psychologically destructive   courses.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;We did nothing to deserve it&rdquo; say   those scarred by this horrible tragedy &ndash; but Schlafly begs to differ.   &nbsp;</p>
    ]]></content>
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