Kepple: Bastion of Hate, Ignorance

I guess I knew what to anticipate when I picked up the Review, but I still cringed while I read Benjamin Kepple's "worst of Winter 1998." You claim to be the torch bearers of "balanced news coverage" as well as "sharp and pointed editorial commentary" and "sharp wit," but Mr. Kepple's comments were obviously not researched, weakening the argument significantly, and therefore resulted in something extremely offensive and unfunny. OK, so you might say that I would be biased for not being a conservative, but even by any conservative standard, this is journalism at its absolute worst.

How can he claim that sociology, women's studies, American culture and African American studies are "not real academic majors?" Does he think that people within those disciplines just sit around laughing about the obsolescence of the White Anglo ­Saxon Protestant male without any "real"academic discourse? Come on, give me a break. That simply is not true; it is the most insane stereotypical image of a liberal arts scholar that anyone without a brain can come up with. I would make a serious bet that he has never even taken any of those courses within the concentrations in question. How can he claim to be a valid critic without ever being in contact with any of those subjects on a substantial basis? Don't just make judgment calls by merely flipping through the LSA course guide: go talk to those professors and see what the courses are really about.

In spite of what Mr. Kepple gross misconceptions may be, liberal arts courses are NOT about extreme leftist, "kill the white pig" radicalism.

Many of the classes that he singles out strive not for "indoctrination" into the far left, but instead, a holistic balance of all angles is what is ultimately strived for. Is that not what academia has been all about in the first place? Many academic persuasions call for an economic (which Mr. Kepple seems to be all for) as well as a sociological and an ecological argument, which, despite what he may believe, cannot be dismissed. We cannot just look at how the building of a factory in Flint is going to boost the economy in the short term without looking at the public health effects from the decreased air quality, and the resulting fall of property values leading to a plethora of other socioeconomic ills; without an interdisciplinary approach, we may never figure out that the costs may very well outweigh the benefits.

Despite his comments, the Cosby Show is not the only valid television show featuring African Americans out there. Remember: not all families are upper middle class, and television programming has to address other demographic niches as well. Rich suburbanites living in the continental United States, like you and I, are not the only ones out there in today's society. Which is why African American courses as well as other sociology and anthropology courses are necessary in today's academic landscape.

Also keep in mind that the role of a women's studies course is not toindoctrinate people into believing that all men are evil. I can vouch for the fact that my women and the law class was the epitome of respectable academic discourse; during discussion sections classmates debated the abortion issue from both angles, with each being respectful toward the other. However, to believe that "capitalism, racism, imperialism, and heterosexism" have had no effect on the historically inferior status of women ignores history, and is purely delusional. Mr. Kepple may be uncomfortable with this, but if he is talking about truly wanting to be educated, those facts cannot be ignored. We all know that men are not implicitly evil, and it would be kind of stupid to believe so, but we have to keep in mind that our historical precedent is not exactly something we want to experience again, either.

Also, as a member of the MSA Environmental Theme Semester team, I resent the fact that he can, without any investigation, complain that the semester is "another useless, politically correct, no-account sham."

Obviously, no research efforts were put into this article. Unlike what he claims, environmentalism is not about "enviro-Nazi" doomsday talk mandating a return to pre-capitalism. Sustainability is about working within the preexisting system to allow for a sustained (hence the word) level of prosperity and social justice well into the future, not just in the short term for Fortune 500 company CEOs, through realistic policy changes that would maximize social benefit. Environmentalists do not just talk about how things are messed up, but we tend to take proactive measures that are not just a matter of liberal academic snobbery, but have significant real world significance as well.

I also want to stress the fact that despite his limited grasp of history, the citizens of the Allied nations are not the only World War II victims: the tens of thousands of Japanese who died during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were civilians. Please do not ever forget that. As a Japanese national (yeah, I'm an immigrant. Scary, eh? Remember, we're all immigrants), I was truly offended by that nonchalent comment made in one of the paragraphs. It is not just a PC thing: to say that the victims of Japan and the tragedy of Nicaragua are unimportant is ignorance at its worst. Dismissing the comments as editorial wit is a joke.

Without an interdisciplinary approach to things, we cannot claim to be real scholars. It is unfortunate that Mr. Kepple believes that traditional classes such as history and English are of significance; limiting the scope of academia is what I would think of as indoctrination into the realm of ignorance.

Reiko Ando
SNRE senior

Mr. Kepple Responds

It should be noted that my column is an opinion piece, and not simply hard news, which is what we endeavor to do on the front page and in much of the campus affairs section of the paper.

With that caveat, nowhere in my column do I ever defame the liberal arts. As a liberal arts major myself, I do not condemn the usefulness of History, English, Political Science, etc. However, I do condemn the psuedo­intellectual garbage that spews out of such so-called disciplines as Women's Studies thinly disguised as scholarship. Furthermore, I do not consider Women Studies, American Culture, etc. to be true liberal arts, but rather degenerate areasof study that have long since lost any modicum of professionalism or true scholarship.

Furthermore, nowhere do I state that The Cosby Show is the only decent show portraying blacks. I denote The Cosby Show along with All in the Family, I might add as good television, opposed to Keenan and American Bandstand hideous television. Surely a serious student would take a course different than this if they wanted to discuss race or ethnicity.

I also, for that matter, am surprised at the assumption that just because I am conservative, I happen to be wealthy. This is not the case for most conservatives, and to assume so is preposterous.

To assume that I have done no research on the Environmental Theme Semester simply because I criticize it is also preposterous. Indeed, I attended Ye Olde Wonderful Theme Semester Kickoff, along with examining much of the on-line (and off) documentation of the program. Much of the so­called environmental science is slanted, tilted, or in other ways biased to show that yes, indeed, the Sky is Falling. Indeed, many of the buzzwords used in your letter (social justice, for example) are indicative of the extreme socialism that many environmentalists would have us live under. And in fact, if you compare the platforms of the Green Party and the Nazi Party, there are some really striking similarities.

Lastly, I am outraged at the suggestion that the citizens of an aggressor Japan during World War II were somehow victims of the United States. I fail to see how the atom bombing which saved hundreds of thousands of American lives by doing away with the need to invade Japan is different from that of any other bombing conducted by the United States, or any other power for that matter, during the war. Indeed, far more Japanese were killed during the fire bombing of Japanese cities than any atomic weapon. And let us look at those which were victims of the Japanese during World War II.

· thousands killed during the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor

· tens of thousands killed and tortured during the Rape of Nanking in 1937

· thousands killed during the Bataan Death March

· God knows how many Chinese, Thais, Burmese, Vietnamese, and others killed during the 1931-1945 hostilities on the Asian mainland.

· The Chinese killed and mutilated while in the Nazi-esque clutches of Japanese "medical" units, which performed horrible experiments on them

· We can't, of course, forget the brutal subjugation of the entire Korean people by the Japanese from 1910-1945, nor the thousands of Korean women forced into prostitution for the Japanese army.

I find it extremely difficult to have any sympathy for any aggressor nation that conducted such barbarities against the rest of mankind. The use of the atom bomb against Japan might well be a subject to be ashamed of and regret had Japan not started the war.in the first place.

Benjamin Kepple

U-M Alum, Grad Student "Admires" Review

I read with nodding head and a great deisre to jump up and say "amen" (which would have been unseemly, at least, in the law library), your article, "Ben's Worst of Winter 1998." I am in a unique situation here at U­M. I am an LSA grad, 1976. I am also the mother of a current U­M junior, and a grad student in the School of Information. I look upon not only the current offerings, but the current requirements (re diversity), with alarm and concern, both as a parent and an alumna.

I am so sick of this need for undergrads to sympathize w/felons (a la American Culture 410 and the ever present "Free Mumia" flyers [I'm from Philly, apparently 'COP KILLER' doesn't mean anything in Ann Arbor]), thisdebasement of men in the name of raising women's self esteem, and the apparent inability for anyone of color to recognize that dead white men made not only valid, but continually valid, contributions to this country and culture has me concerned about the nature of 'education' at the university...

My son was warned (by me) not to take anything with 'women' in the title; the same was true for any black studies courses. I say this being a woman who was moderately active in the 'movement' many years ago, and as a black female. Being that my son is only half black and very fair skinned, I know from my own personal experience what it is not to be 'black enough.'

I am not paying $19700+ per year for him to be ridiculed for genetics and testosterone.

An aside, I also read your article about the MLK Symposium and agree that we at UM never see the likes of Walter Williams (a god), Thomas Sowell or God forbid, Clarence Thomas. When I was an undergrad we never had days off for legal holidays. What happened, and who took over who's office, that MLK day is a day off? I celebrated MLK day as I usually do, working, which I think is the what most people (especially blacks) should be doing. I was fortunate to have an education and a good job (attorney),partially due to forerunners such as Dr. King. What better tribute than to go to work that was unavailable to many in my parents' generation, instead of sitting home and watching Oprah? Or worse yet, going to some bitch and moan MLK Day 'celebration' to cry about "what the white man done to me."

I admire the work you and the staff of the Review are doing. What is your circulation on campus? These young people are so apolitical, I doubt they even know your publication exists.

Keep up the good work anyway,

Patricia Katopol
Michigan grad,
Michigan mom

Grad Student "Disappointed" by "Ben's Worst"

I'm not exactly sure how you did your research for your article of 1/21/98 regarding Ben's Worst. I was very disappointed to find such bad publicity for English 411. Unlike other courses I have taken here at the university,where I indeed agree with you that the instructor or ruling majority was trying to convince the others of their point of view, English 411 is a very valuable course that provides a comfortable and open atmosphere for discussing the students' and instructors' varying opinions regarding prison issues today.

I do not understand your aversion to pertinent present day realities that you mentioned in your other criticisms such as television, popular culture, race, gender, ethnicity and in particular, prisons. Perhaps these topics are not as elegant, traditional and European as you would like them to be, but they are very pertinent topics which affect people in our University and our society in very real ways.

There are many issues surrounding prisons (crime, funding, justice, government, safety, justice, death) that directly affect the lives of every student here at Michigan. As a teaching assistant for that course I encountered a number of varying opinions- many which caused my own to become better developed. I do appreciate your effort to make known some instructors' use of university classes to blindly divulge their doctrine without listening to students. However, regardless of your point of view on any of these issues mentioned above, I would hope you would not be so closed minded as to condemn a forum like English 411, a class that, at worst, offers a chance for our community to grow through a sharing of opinions.

Kristen McKee
Center for Professional Development

Bockhorn's Thought a "Dying Breed"

I am writing to respond to Lee Bockhorn's recent article on the Environmental Semester at U of M. More specifically, I'm responding to the allegations of property rights abuse by the hordes of screaming hippie environmentalist Naomi Wolf types (go team!).

Frankly, I find the author's lack of understanding of environmental science (and law) to be somewhat unfortunate, given his chosen topic. Conservatives frequently bandy property infringement as evidence of the evils of environmental law. However, does it ever occur to them that the history of environmental law has its roots quite solidly in Anglo­American common law? Many of the first environmental lawsuits are tort cases resulting from damage of private citizens' property by polluters. [...] It seems that this sort of property rights violation elude the thinking of many conservatives, who mistake "private property rights" for "let the wealthy do whatever they want". Case in point: Bockhorn discusses the failure of legislators to consider loggers when protecting the spotted owl. [ ... ] Further, the 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act creates a system of tradeable pollution permits, by which polluters may buy and sell the rights to pollute. There are a limited number of permits issued [... ]This provides incentive to pollute less, and is a clear (overstated) success of the use of market dynamics in cleaning up the environment. The narrow conception of property rights to which the author Bockhorn subscribes is that of a (hopefully) dying breed. The political,social, economic, and ecologic life of people everywhere depends on smarter policy considerations.

Chad Bailey
UM School of Public Health

This article was published in the 11 February 1998 edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 16, Number 7).
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