I’m Insensitive and Tactless and Free to Prove It!
Sorry. This has nothing really to do with lies exactly, but this story just bothered me! There is a time and a place for everything, but a commencement speech is not the forum for a guest speaker to get on his soapbox regarding a divisive issue such as the war in Iraq and subject an unwitting audience to his political views! Freedom of speech still comes with a responsibility to have some respect and sensitivity to your audience and the occasion you are a part of. The parents and grandparents in attendance were rightly expecting a moment of pride and happiness for the accomplishments of their child or grandchild. Not an attack on their Country and Government! College is the time for open thinking and debate. But this event wasn’t a session of Political Science 101.
And yes, I would have thought it to be equally inappropriate if the speaker decided to focus his speech on deriding and discrediting all those who protested the war or who felt it was immoral.
An additional story about this incident provides a few more quotes from those involved. Hedges’ speech had absolutely no context or mention of the reason for this gathering: a college graduation! How arrogant do you have to be to agree to be the guest speaker at a commencement and refuse to even make a passing reference to the event, let alone gear your comments around it! He even makes a condesending remark afterwards in this article in which he infers that commencement-type of speeches are essentially beneath him! In another story I’ve read on this issue, it appears both the College President and Hedges are acknowledging what should have happened in the first place. Hedges says he would have directly told the school what he planned to say, and the President would have sought out a speaker with a less volatile topic. I’ve also seen mentioned that the New York Times may be looking to see if Hedges violated some aspect of a company ethics policy (just what the Times needs right now).
I still come back to the fact that, in the proper setting (of which there are many), this speech would be fine. I probably would even agree, to a point, with the general idea of how war affects people’s attitudes, group thinking and belief systems.
People are bombarded with strident messages on controversial topics all the time. No one will be any worse off by hearing one congratulatory/inspirational message on their graduation day! It was simply the wrong type of speech for the wrong occasion.
May 20th, 2003 at 11:00 pm
While I agree with the message and the setting, the time was inappropriate enough to compensate for this. What a jackass.
May 20th, 2003 at 11:12 pm
I really loved this link, though I had almost exactly the opposite reaction to it, especially after I listened to the mp3 file of the speech.
The hecklers in the audience apparently believe that they can “win” the debate by blowing freon horns and shouting the same phrase over and over again. They remind me of 4-year-olds stuffing their fingers in their ears and chanting “nonononononono…” Well, actually, such 4-year-olds have a more highly developed sense of civic responsibility than these folks. At least 4-year-olds don’t try to stuff their fingers in everyone else’s ears.
If I was in that audience, I would have really been looking forward to hearing someone as experienced and well-informed as Chris Hedges talk about these issues. And really pissed when a bunch of self-styled defenders of democracy decided that their fellow audience members couldn’t be trusted to listen to the speech and form their own judgements about it.
May 21st, 2003 at 7:23 am
I would put the blame on the audience if this was a lecture series and the speaker was being shouted down during his speech. Those in attendance would have known full well what the topic was about ahead of time. And it would have been the proper forum for discussing issues such as the war.
As I said before, a commencement speech is not the occasion for a topic that generates so much controversy and emotion on both sides of the issue. The event is suppose to be a celebration and moment of recognition for the students and their accomplishment, as well as a time a pride for the family members.
The audience reacted poorly, but exactly as you would expect in such a emotionally-loaded situation. It was a classic “two wrongs don’t make a right” example that could have been easily avoided.
And if the President of the school invited that reporter while knowing full well what he planned to talk about, then he should get some heat for introducing such a divisive topic in an inappropriate setting.
As I said, it’s simply about respect for your audience and the occasion. People seem to lose track of such simple courtesies these days. This speaker put his personal agenda ahead of that.
May 21st, 2003 at 8:22 am
I agree with John. And I hate the headline on the original story, “Speaker disrupts RC graduation.” It was the audience who disrupted it. And Mary O’Neill left the ceremony in tears? Poor thing. What a tragedy for her. Maybe she should be more concerned with the behavior of her fellow graduates, unable to even listen politely to opinions they don’t agree with.
May 21st, 2003 at 1:56 pm
Chris Hedges is a well known veteran war correspondent and has recently published a book about war. The President of Rockford College who invited him was well aware of who Chris Hedges was. So why the shock and awe when he addressed war?. Has talking about war become a taboo at universities? As the college President put it, (from the transcript) :
“My friends, one of the wonders of a liberal arts college is its ability and its deeply held commitment to academic freedom and the decision to listen to each other’s opinions. (Crowd Cheers) If you wish to protest the speaker’s remarks, I ask that you do it in silence, as some of you are doing in the back. That is perfectly appropriate but he has the right to offer his opinion here and we would like him to continue his remarks”. (Fog Horn Blows, some cheer).
It is ironic that Rockford College’s most prominent alum, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jane Addams, was booed off the Carnegie Hall stage for opposing US intervention in World War I.
Here is a link to the full transcript of Chris Hedges speech: http://www.rrstar.com/localnews/your_community/rockford/0521hedgesspeech.shtml