Pub Philosopher on Clare College
Pub Philosopher is all over the Clare College thing, with useful links. For instance to a notice from the Senior Tutor:
Because of the publicity that has arisen, I strongly encourage you to return any copies of last week’s Clareification so that I can destroy them. Please post them as soon as possible through the slot in the outer door of my room, E5.
And…what will you do if I don’t? What will happen to me? What, exactly, does ‘strongly encourage’ mean? Is that meant to sound as threatening as it does sound? Or is it just mean to sound like concerned caring urgent advice?
PP provides also more loony tunes from the Cambridge Evening News and from the Local Cadre of the People’s Outraged Offended Insulted Party.
He emphasised Islam was not a violent religion, but like Mr Mumtaz, said he believed muslims in Cambridge would be outraged by the publication. Mr Arain also praised the quick action of Clare College in condemning the publication, and added he believed justice would be done through the college’s disciplinary system. He said: “What this person has printed is highly offensive and it has caused abhorrence and distress to many people. This person must realise what he has done and take responsibility for it and come out and make recompense for it.”
Understood. Because if person X does A, and many people opt to feel ‘abhorrence’ and distress and offendedness, then X must make recompense to those people. No need to inquire into whether the people have any genuine or valid or sensible reason(s) for feeling all that abhorrence. Well let’s all do that! Let’s give up the usual business of life and just buckle down to feeling abhorrence and demanding recompense, in the time we can spare from making our own recompense for all the abhorrent things we ourselves have said and done. Goodness, won’t life be fun in those days!
Let’s be honest, Oxbridge Colleges have reacted in this way to things a lot less controversial.
Keep up the good work on this one O.B. ridicule is such a powerful weapon and you use it so well.
Nothing on eBay yet… That’s weird.
Nice one, OB. And good to see you over on MediaWatchWatch. I wrote to the Cambridge Evening News yesterday, not only sounding off about the nonsense itself but making the point that a non-bylined news story should not be making comments, such as the one made by the inclusion of the word vile, not in quotes or even scare quotes. The place for epithets is in feature articles with bylines and the paper’s leader columns (not bylined, of course, but patently opinion). The old saying that comment is free but facts are sacred has never been so important. So-called newspapers are getting away with murder.
As for our not ‘offending’ these sensitive souls, OK, matey, next time you or one of your brothers wants to say that, say, gay people are evil, please come to me first to ask if I as a card-carrying poufter might be outraged by your intended statement. If I say yes, will you then not make your intended statement? Of course you won’t, you cretinous prat, you seething heap of festering wombats’ testicles, you vile squelch of kangaroos’ innards, you … Oh, dear, I’m getting carried away. I do hope you’re not offended.
I suggest a strong write-in campaign…..
The relevant officials at Clare College are:
As many people as possible should write to these persons, in protest at their disgraceful behaviour, in censoring free expression of criticism of religion.
( Politely, of course )
Here are the relevant persons:
The Master, Professor Tony Badger:
master@clare.cam.ac.uk
The Senior Tutor, Dr Patricia Fara:
pf10006@hermes.cam.ac.uk
Students’ Union President, Calum Davey:
cd361@cam.ac.uk
Thanks, GT – three emails now off. Spread the word. The more they get from the likes of us, the better. Oh, in mine I’ve asked for a copy of the magazine. I wonder what they will say if/when any of them replies by way of refusing my request, as they surely will.
Oh, and at http://www.varsity.co.uk/contact_us/ you will find a means of contact that paper, which carries coverage of the story. I haven’t been through it to see whether (a) it has a letters-to-the-editor slot and, if so, (b) whether it carries letters from non-uni people, but I’ve sent them a copy of my email to the three that GT has supplied contacts for above and told them they can do as they wish with it. For those who have time, it’s another way of getting one’s views to a few more people at Clare.
Thanks, all, for comments and addresses.
Anyone actually seen the publication? Would love to get hold of one. My take
here
OB, what would be the point of asking for “genuine or valid or sensible reason(s) for feeling all that abhorrence”? Better to ask whether the feelings justify the *actions* subsequently taken.
[W]hat would be the point of asking for “genuine or valid or sensible reason(s) for feeling all that abhorrence”?
A strong reaction is an indicatior that something may be wrong. Hence, where there is a strong reaction it is worth looking to see if an injustice has been/is being committed – if there is a wrong to right.
Asking ‘whether the feelings justify the *actions* subsequently taken’ sounds inverted to me. It should be a matter of asking whether the injustice justifies the subsequent actions; the nature and strength of the visceral response is (generally, anyway) irrelevant to what actions should be taken.
galileo, what an odd question. What an extremely odd question. When you encounter people who are angry or upset, do you not want to know why? Do you simply take their anger or upsetness at face value and as automatically self-justifying? Have you never for instance encountered someone who was upset simply because of a misunderstanding – which when cleared up was no longer a source of upset, so that everyone was content?
What a bottomlessly peculiar question. My mind boggles sometimes.
Sure, OB, but I don’t think the Cambridge muslims quoted are under an illusion as to what’s appeared in the Clare magazine. My point is that, after all the possible misapprehensions have been cleared away, if you asked them why they are angry you wouldn’t understand the answer. And neither would I. Or rather we would just say that those circumstances would not make us angry.
It’s a mind-boggling, bottomlessly peculiar situation.