BSO

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Feder Fiasco

Hecklers Ruin Free Speech Talk

 



Hey people, I just ten minutes ago came from the speech scheduled this evening at UMass by former Boston Herald columnist Don Feder on the issue of hate crimes and free speech. Ironically, the speech was unable to be delivered due to constant interruptions and insults from people in the audience who seemed to have come specifically to cause a disturbance.

I got a chance to speak with Feder for a few moments. He asked me whether I thought many people in the audience read the mostly conservative Boston Herald, and I had to be honest and tell him no. He kindly posed for this picture.





Security was tight, with police removing those who seemed likely to be disruptive before the speech began.





Campus media was on hand, shown here interviewing protestors. 





No sooner did the speech begin than all hell broke loose as some audience members picked up their chairs, turning them around before reseating, thereby symbolically and literally turning their back on Feder.





From there the situation rapidly deteriorated as Feder was repeatedly interupted by ridiculing laughter and insulting taunts, until the police no longer tried to intervene, perhaps fearful of sparking a riot. Finally Feder stormed angrily from the podium in disgust, but was convinced by UMass Republican Club members to try one more time to give his speech.





Feder tried again to speak several times but it was hopeless. He finally left the stage for good, not before at one point shouting angrily at the protestors, "Hurray for you, you won you Nazis!" The protesters replied by cheering and chanting, "Don't come back!" The whole scene was Orwellian.

I wish I could have gotten some decent video, but the outbursts were sporadic, perhaps because of the menancing police movements that would cause the protestors to suddenly fall silent before I could video anything. Many other people had cameras, so perhaps something interesting will surface on YouTube in the coming days.

Prominent Valley activists were in attendance. There on Feder's side were GOP Springfield City Council candidate John Lysak and fatherhood activist Mike Franco.





Also present was Northampton's David Beyer, a key player in defeating the Hamp panhandling ordinance. 





In all it was yet another embarrassment reflecting the difficulty UMass has in protecting free speech on campus, and is an incident certain to receive heavy play in the conservative media and beyond in the coming days.



Hampshire College's Proud Dead Legacy

 



Hampshire College in Amherst is a school with a rich history involving the Grateful Dead. In the 1980's the college served as an international clearing house for the trading of bootleg Grateful Dead tapes, and through the Hampshire College Grateful Dead Historical Society helped make Hampshire nationally known, at least in Deadhead circles. The head of the society was John Dworken (above) who got a degree from Hampshire in Frisbee throwing and went on to write an award-winning encyclopedia of Grateful Dead live shows. According to his web biography:

Johnny is a two-time world flying disc (Frisbee) freestyle champion. He holds the world's only Bachelor of Arts degree awarded for "Professional Flying Disc Education" studies from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.

For ten years, Johnny edited and published Dupree's Diamond News, an internationally distributed rock music magazine that, at its' peak, enjoyed a circulation of 35,000. He is widely recognized as one of the world's foremost Grateful Dead and Jam Band scholars. His award winning 1800+ page, three volume encyclopedia - The Deadhead's Taping Compendium: A Guide To The Music Of The Grateful Dead On Tape, was published by Owl Books.






For more than a decade Johnny served as the founding creative director of Speed of Light Productions, presenter of the world's most visionary multi-media light show Experiences. As Rabbi of the Phurst Church of Phun and as a minister in the Universal Life Church, Johnny officiates weddings and other such important life ceremonies for members of his extended community.

These days, Johnny dedicates many of his off hours to the study of alchemy and the directing of Mytheogenesis - a progressive think tank of philosophers, healers, and artists dedicated to creating widespread societal paradigm shifts in thinking and lifestyle through art and ritual. 

Johnny is a nationally renowned master of the tribal art of fire dancing. He specializes in dancing with unusual flaming props, such as platonic solids, and the choreography of large-scale fire dance ritual theater set to live music. For more than a quarter of a century Johnny has been a social and environmental activist, developing ways in which to transform the hard work of saving our world into a fun, attractive, graceful dance.




Here is the cover of issue Number Two of the Grateful Dead Historical Society newsletter published in 1981:





Here is an advertisement by Dwork himself begging for Dead and Hot Tuna tapes.





This is a cartoon explaining why someone might choose to attend Hampshire College, as well as an advertisement for a notorious local mystic: 





Now if Hampshire College could only get their graduate documentary filmaker Ken Burns to do a film about the Grateful Dead!


Cold Rain and Snow

Today is one of those uniquely miserable New England weather days when it is too warm to snow but the rain is like an ice bath. It was so raw out that even the usual circus in front of the Haymarket Cafe was absent.





One bit of good news in Hamp is the announcement that the gay store Pride and Joy has been purchased by out of town buyers.

 



Everyone was resigned that it would go out of business, so this is a pleasant surprise.

When I got to UMass today the football team was collecting bone marrow donors. 





My brother used bone marrow techniques combined with stem cells to escape an otherwise incurable form of cancer.

I stopped for a snack at Earthfoods in the Student Union, where I came across this photo and recipe abandoned on one of the tables. 








UMass, where you find the damnest things just lying around.

10 comments:

S.P. Sullivan said...

Tommy:

I wasn't able to make it to the event but I tried to cover it from afar.

If you'd like to give email me a paragraph or two summarizing your impression from the event, I'd like to throw it up on UMass 101 [blog.masslive.com/umass101]. I can be reached at "spsulliv [at] dailycollegian [dot] com"

Either way, I'll link back to you.

Andrea Murray said...

hey tommy,

that found picture from Earthfoods is Amanda, who works there. She also works at Club Helsinki is Great Barrington in the summer time, where I met her.

I am also betting the note was going to be or was on their bulletin board about their employees (funny kids!).

Also - ! Your coverage of the hate crime speech was great. I was in class and was pretty bummed I had to miss what was sure to be a big uproar. It's really unfair he wasn't able to speak - too bad the protesters weren't more sensible and didn't just wait to challenge him during q&a.

Great post - all of it - love the info on the dead head society founder. great historical fliers. Where did you find that stuff?

Anonymous said...

The campus left is so predictable, you know?

I'm sick and tired of the heckler's veto. I wasn't there at the speech, but the topic sure is interesting. Combatting "bigotry" is the left's license to do anything they want--including the suppresion of actual constitutional rights in favor of made-up rights such as the "right to a comfortable learning environment".

It's too bad that they managed to have their way again by behaving badly. Reminds me of Mike Adams in November 2006 and the incident with Ryan Sorba at Smith College.

http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/08a/born_gay_hoax/smith_0329/index.html

Don't get me wrong--I like to make the Left angry. But I'm sick of them purposefully shutting down events by acting like a bunch of wild hyenas.

Have any disciplinary actions been taken?

BEN DUFFY

Don Schneier said...

A political conflict can be either a Hobbesian war of private interests, in which case neither side has the Moral higher ground, or, more precisely, there is no such thing a Moral higher ground in the context. On the other hand, if the basis of contention is a Moral one, then the means by which the contention is carried out must be informed by that higher Moral standard. In other words, stooping to the techniques of a presumably Morally inferior opponent just drags one down to that level.

Bumr50 said...

Hey man! I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for discussing this, but I'm thrilled to see an old-school Deadhead on the right side of this issue! I'm more of a Floydian, but have more than a couple of Dead shows in my collection, and when I visit music forums I'm generally disappointed in the political discourse there.
I at times feel very alone when among the arts community.
If you or any other commenters here go to any forums that discuss fiscal conservatism and individual rights(and the responsibilities that go along with them), please feel free to e-mail me.
Your existence is encouraging!

Andrew Ian Dodge said...

The left have been doing this for a very long time. In the 80s I was on a campus magazine shut down because it "offended" people (ie it was from the right). This is that proudly goes on about its links to Lovejoy, a man killed for speaking out against slavery.

I agree that its kind of neat to have Deadhead who is also sound politically. I am fiscal conservative/libertarian who is a hard/heavy rocker.

Anonymous said...

Why should we let the bastards speak when all they do is lie and belittle others. LYING is not protected speech. They should be so lucky as to JUST be shouted down. We've had enough.

Don Schneier said...

Hey Anonymous, you are stinking up the joint. Everybody else, regardless of their view, speaks intelligently, can articulate ideas, but all you have are insults. You truly are a hate-monger.

Andrew Ian Dodge said...

I believe the coward behind the anonymity actually made a physical threat. How typical of the frothing left brigade.

Anonymous said...

"including the suppresion of actual constitutional rights"

How can an individual suppress a first amendment right that only applies to the government? I love it when people say "you are infringing my first amendment rights!" It's impossible for an individual to actually do that!