Noted Here and There ...
Screening Teachers for Correct Thinking: Jacob Gershman,"‘Disposition' Emerges as Issue at Brooklyn College," New York Sun, 31 May, examines the screening of potential teachers by BC's School of Education for correct thinking on social justice issues. As you might imagine, our ubiquitous colleague, KC Johnson, makes an appearance as an articulate critic of the practice. Thanks to Margaret Soltan at University Diaries for both of these first two notes.
Dangerous Books: Human Events' list of the"Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries" is taking a lot of good humored hits from the Left. See, for example, Tim Burke's"Excuse Me?" at Easily Distracted and Jonathan Goodwin's"Worst Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries" at The Valve.
True and False Repentance, I: There's been a lot of discussion about W. Mark Felt's revelation that he was"deep throat" in the Watergate affair. Many of us think he played a heroic role in directing the Washington Post reporters to information that exposed conspiratorial obstruction of justice in the Nixon administration. But yesterday, I heard veterans of that administration, like Charles Colson, argue that Felt should have remained loyal to his chain of command, even though he knew that the chain of command was doing the conspiring. Apparently, even a prison sentence and being born again doesn't give sight to some of the blind. Wasn't it Colson who is remembered from those days as having said"If you get them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow"? It's that kind of tough certitude, combined with a clownish ineptitude, that got the Nixon inner-circle in such deep shit.
On the other hand, it's important for historians to think critically about hero-making and about whether right subsequent action compensates in some way for prior wrong-doing. Sherman Dorn reminds us that Mark Felt was deputy director of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover. He was apparently disappointed not to have been appointed to succeed Hoover as its director. As deputy director of the FBI under Hoover, Felt was in charge of COINTELPRO. For having authorized the very kind of break-ins and burglaries that would give Watergate its name, Felt was one of two FBI agents charged with COINTELPRO crimes. There are other historians of the civil rights movement who know a great deal more than I do about COINTELPRO crimes, but none of us forget that J. Edgar Hoover's FBI conspired to humiliate Martin Luther King into committing suicide. It was Felt's rival in the FBI hierarchy, William C. Sullivan, who directly ordered the creation of that notorious tape, but Mark Felt has much to repent.
True and False Repentance, II: Acephalous, a notorious pseudonymite, known to hang out at shady dives like Easily Distracted and The Valve, got a nod yesterday from Sharon Howard's History Carnival #9. Sez ‘e:"Random accolades from a professional historian ... is there anything a literary historicist covets more? (Hint: ‘No.')" We're glad to hear that recognition by historians steels Acephalous's nerve to come out of the closet and reveal his or her identity. Go, and pseudonym no more!
The Viking in Me: When I checked the Viking Name Generator, I got this result:"Ralph E. Luker from this day forward you will also be known as Eystein the Angry." Compliments of Alun's Viking Name Generator at Archaeoastronomy. The GORM Viking Name Converter named me Hrolf the Berserk. I think I'll stick with Ralph, so long as you understand that it's not a verb.
Viking's Cliopatria: Cliopatria is Guðríð Deathbringer and my colleagues here are: Þorbjörn the Forgettable; Gunnar the Gloomy; Þórarinn and Jörund, the ones we don't let steer; Ingibjörg Saxonsbane; Skeggi the Angry; Þorgrím the Mad; Úlf Doomslayer; Þorkatla the Drunk; Illugi the Angry; Þórarinn the Tone Deaf; Þorfinn the Violent; Gunnhild the Lousy; Þórarinn Doomslayer; Þorbjörn the Brave; Þorsteinn the Voracious; Þorsteinn Doomslayer: and Ingjald the Tone Deaf. Does this sound like the kind of people you'd want to be associated with? And it will not be considered a friendly act if you tell my editors that I took the time to do this!
Finally: Many, many thanks to Þorkatla -- er --Sharon Howard for a magnificent History Carnival #9. If you've not yet tasted of its delights, by all means do so. Take ... Eat ...