The gang that couldn't think straight

KC Johnson has an outstanding post on the Gang of 88 and their attempts to clarify what they meant to say when they ran their ad.

The response of Professor William Chafe is interesting on many levels.

I am appalled at the way that bloggers who have targeted the ‘Group of 88’ have put words in our mouths, denied our individuality and [used] racist and violent language to attack us—including sending us e-mails and making phone calls wishing our deaths and calling us ‘Jew b-’ and ‘n-b-’.

As KC notes:

Quite beyond the unintended irony of accusing “bloggers”—as a bloc, stripped of their individuality—of denying the “individuality” of people who signed a joint public statement, Chafe’s claim is absurd on its face.

As a blogger who has written on the case, i wonder if i should be offended at Chafe 's statement? He is denying my individuality and putting [racist] words in my mouth. That seems wrong seeing as how: 1. i defended the Group of 88, 2, never sent any of them an email, 3, never encouraged others to send them an email, and 4, have a long-standing position against urging others to send emails to political opponents.

Come to think of it, i believe that Chafe's statement has hurt me deeply.

Oh well, i guess i'll just brush it off and work on beginning the healing process.

There are other whose individuality was denied; maybe Chafe wants to speak up for them.

For thirteen months the 46 lacrosse players have been condemned as arrogant, loutish, privileged, pampered, law-breaking jocks. Even after the charges were dismissed, there are those who continue to condemn them. As i noted yesterday, Seligmann, for one, in no way resembles this caricature.

So, has Chafe or any other member of the Gang of 88 ever spoken out against this denial of the players's individuality?

To tell the truth, i actually believe the Gang when they say their ad was not really about the alleged crime. In The Roots of Radicalism, there is an interesting quote from Mark Rudd about the New Left's mindset and methods.

Even Berkeley had a slogan that 'the issue is not the issue,' meaning that the real issue was not free speech on campus but thoroughgoing social change.

In Durham, the issue was not the alleged crime. That was just a handy club that could be used to bludgeon Duke into making changes. Not that it will take much to push Brodhead in that direction.

As for the three falsely accused men and their teammates? They were just collateral damage in the war against Duke by those who hate what it is today.