LIVE, from Kingston Ontario! It’s… controversy!
Here are some of the best tidbits from “Professor’s letter draws fire” in the Journal. Let’s do a bit of deconstruction, shall we?
In her letter, AdŠle Mercier, a professor in the philosophy department, wrote that the scene she witnessed on Aberdeen Street on Saturday night “filled me with revulsion never felt before.” Mercier also wrote: “[I was disgusted] at the thought that I devote my life to teaching students who turn into numbskulls worthy of the Hitler youth at the drop of a beer keg.”
A wonderful way to start such a rational, intelligent letter. What more MAGIC does she have in store for us?
In an interview with the Journal, Mercier said she regrets that her statement caused offense, but does not intend to apologize. “It’s important not to interpret me as saying the events on Aberdeen Street are the same as the Holocaust,” Mercier said. “Who were the Hitler youth? They were just nice kids that stopped thinking, and it’s very dangerous to stop thinking because look at where it can lead.”
Apparently it can lead to blanket statements that grossly overestimate the horrors Queen’s students are capable of, or grossly understates the horrors of the holocaust. Whether or not she said it explicitly, she was drawing parallels where people sure shouldn’t be drawing parallels. Getting drunk and flipping a car is one thing; putting on a uniform and throwing up the zig heil is another.
“I was at the party for several hours, and I made a note of noting the ethnic variety of the kids at the party,” Mercier said. “I went there with the intent of noticing that and what the proportion of men to women was.” Mercier said she made the characterization in reference to the Toronto Star and Kingston Whig-Standard’s decision to put a photo of a black partier on their front pages.
So she went there for the purpose of condemning students and making racial/gender statements. She went there looking for an ethnic group to complain about. Well congratulations, AdŠle, you found one! And a special pat on the head for noticing that the kid in the photo was black! Even the Whig didn’t notice!
Mercier said she was moved to write the letter out of her commitment to students. “It’s not all and only Queen’s students who are like this,” she said. “You expect better of Queen’s students. I’m very dedicated to my students and I’ll be damned if I stand by … I consider myself first and foremost a teacher, and I consider it my duty to scold when I think scolding is appropriate. My students will attest—I think almost universally—I’m a very devoted teacher and there’s something parental about being a teacher and I was hoping my students would listen to me.”
Hey KIDS! You’re NAZIS! Now c’mere and hug Mama!
Dave said,
September 30, 2005 at 6:20 am
That’s usually the best way to win an argument. If I call someone a nazi (or something nazi-esque), I conjure such historical and emotional power that I can both vilify and score a decisive point.
Also, I’m glad to see the campaign to ethnically cleanse the Homecoming party scene is going swimmingly.
However, am I to infer that by Ms. Mercier’s comment about the male-to-female ratio that the rally was a sausage fest? Clearly the organisers went too far, since Hitler Jesus likes people to make white babies.
Anyway, Mercier’s a communist bitch.
Eve said,
September 30, 2005 at 6:29 am
I hear she has sex with terrorists on a regular basis.
It was a pretty even split between guys and girls, actually, so she couldn’t say anything about that. For every girl, there was a guy trying to get her drunk enough to flip a car with him.
…I’m not talking about cars.
Dave said,
September 30, 2005 at 6:58 am
Yeah. I was going to say… As a priviliged white, middle-class male, parties and neo-nazi rallies are often about getting laid.
Ha! Would she have cried foul (femi-naxi style) had there been fewer women? Do our moronic drunken brawls need to be egalitarian? Or was her point that the car flippin’ happened ’cause there weren’t enough black guys partying?
I hear she has a hammer and sickle shaved into her pubic hair. Osama told me.
Fraser said,
October 3, 2005 at 3:35 am
I’m in my reporting class right now, and just learned how to look up prof’s salaries.
Don Gibb, my reporting Prof. will make 103,040.48 dollars this year.
I went and looked up AdŠle Mercier sallary. Unfortunarly she has not broken the 100K mark and is therefore not part of the Minsitry of Finance’s records.
Though we do know that she makes less than 100,000 dollars… Thought you might be interested.