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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Thank God the police are protecting us from movie posters

One of the recurring themes of Cosmic Trigger 3: My Life After Death is the absurdity of PC though on college campuses.

Here's a real-life example of the sort of thing that amused Robert Anton Wilson. A theater professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout put up a poster on his office door of a character in the "Firefly" TV show, captain "Mal" Reynolds, saying "You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me. And you'll be armed."

If, without knowing the context of the quote, you are thinking "Gee, I wonder if my professor would be cool enough to be a Firefly fan" or "that's a poetic way of saying I won't talk about you behind your back," you don't think like a college administrator. The campus police chief removed the poster. When the prof put up another poster, protesting fascism, she removed it, too. She also reported the professor to the "threat assessment team."

Three top administrators then issued a statement defending the police chief's actions and stating, without a trace of irony, "This was not an act of censorship."

Email exchange between the police chief and professor is here.

I'm reporting Police Chief Lisa Walter, Chancellor Charles Sorensen, Provost Julie Furst-Bowe and Vice Chancellor Ed Nieskes to the stupidity assessment team.

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