If you are an American, you are probably both unaware of and unconcerned about violence in Balochistan (aka Balūchistān). Whaaaat? Where?
Okay, it’s a far off place. Does “near the place where America recently and catastrophically withdrew its military” help? No? How about east of Iran and Afghanistan and north of the Arabian Sea? Still drawing a blank? Does "between the Sulaiman Range on the east and the Makran, Khan, and Chagai on the west" help? Come on, something in there has to ring a bell from junior high geography. How about the name Baloch? Isn’t that the bad guy’s name in the first Indiana Jones movie? Well, the Baloch people, also found in Iran, are one of the major groups who inhabit Balochistan, which has its counterpart in Iran’s Baluchistan. Somewhat tribal in nature, not industrial at all by western standards. No state university until 1970. Poor transportation network. Lots of sheep—the wool’s good, by the way. They grow some wheat and sorghum that they call jowl. Rice, too. But sheep are the focus, so textiles are important. Anyway, confused? Sorry I brought it up. Did I say there was no university there until 1970? Well, this land of shepherds didn’t have one until 1970.
I mentioned Balochistan because I was thinking that the recent violence between army outposts and rebels might be of concern simply because they are people with differences, even in a country with a limited cultural diversity. And in some very recent attacks, at least one soldier and four separatist rebels died. Surely and regardless of your unfamiliarity with the Pakistani province and its politics, you can empathize with the families of the dead. Couldn’t the differences be resolved peacefully? Who associates shepherds with violence? Did I mention Balochistan had no state university until 1970?
“Well, what can you expect from ‘people over there’ and in the Middle East? They aren’t like us,” you say. “Americans are a sophisticated lot. We’re civilized. We can resolve differences in a rational setting of debate. We've had universities since the founding of Harvard.”
Actually, there’s a link, and it has to do with the dark side of human nature, the side that just can’t get along with the other side and that seeks unity of thought through violence. A recent American story comes to mind, not surprisingly nowadays from the world of Academia, the supposed haven of differences. You’ve probably heard or read about the Hunter College (CUNY) professor who seems to have “gone berserk” over some students advocating their pro-life stance. (Then, again, if you haven’t heard about the Balochistan violence…)
So, here’s the story. Art professor Shellyne Rodriquez, miffed that students would sit at a table covered by pamphlets about abortion and pro-life, approached the table, did a bit of scolding, and then knocked the pamphlets onto the floor. To imitate Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi: “No free speech for you.” She said something about “triggering her students,” and that “this [The table? The pamphlets?] is violence.” To which, by the way, a student at the table said, “Sorry about that” and “This is about abortion.” But the story doesn’t end there. A NY Post reporter and his cameraman went to Rodriquez’s apartment to ask her about the incident. She opened the door, put a machete to the reporter’s throat, and threatened to chop him up. The two left, only to be followed into the street by Rodriquez, still wielding the machete. *
“Come on. Are you trying to connect the incident in New York with the violence in…what’s that…Balloonistan?”
Balochistan. B-a-l-o-c-h-i-s-t-a-n. Kind of…Well, consider that the product of the two encounters, the one between the separatists and the army and the one between Rodriquez and first the students and then the reporter involved violence—though no one died in the latter encounters. (Why, by the way, does an art professor in New York have a machete? Does she need to hack her way through dense foliage to get to class? Maybe that’s the instrument of her artwork…I can see hacking a log to sculpt a dog)
“Far stretch. There’s really no connection between the New York and Balochistan incidents.”
No, there’s a link. Humans who don’t get their way can behave very badly, regardless of their supposed level of civilization. Maybe the Baloch people are “primitive” and unsophisticated by New York Academics’ standards—though the academics might actually wear their wool or step on their carpets in their studio apartments. But reactions to differences are rather similar in both places and among both groups. It’s difficult for many humans to accept differences, and that especially applies to belief systems and, ironically, to academics.
So, the students at that table full of pamphlets believe that abortion in general is an evil, and Rodriguez seems to believe that the mere profession of that belief is “violence,” her term, not mine. And the irony is that the students she attacked verbally merely stood by while she berated them, just as the reporter stood quietly while she threatened to chop him up with her machete touching his neck. Hmmm. Bet, given the recent history of professors threatening students, she has her supporters. ** Bet there’s a group that sees nothing wrong in her threatening violence and stopping free speech from occurring on a university campus. And what of Hunter College of CUNY? Its professed mission includes seeking “students from all backgrounds.”
Seems that the Hunter College administration appears to have taken no action against Rodriguez's berating the students and throwing their pamphlets on the floor. But it did, probably because of the video and the possibility of a charge filed by the reporter, fire Rodriguez. I don’t know her, but if her actions against the students are an indication of her personality, then I might guess that her current emotion involves “fuming” and justifying. She’ll probably get support from the like-minded, the “sophisticated” academics who see free speech that is not conforming speech as a threat of, if not actual, violence.
The data change by year, but about a year ago, attacks on pro-life entities like Catholic Churches, pregnancy centers, and political organizations numbered over 100. *** Mind you, the professed purpose of these organizations is maintaining the sanctity of life and the support of pregnant women. If humans can attack other humans just because they support “life,” then how are the sophisticated New Yorkers with all their paved roads, fine restaurants, and many academic institutions different from the shepherds from Balochistan who only got a state university in 1970? Wonder how the Balochistani academics act when they encounter differences in opinion. Wonder whether the academics in that young university for shepherds--in contrast, Hunter College goes back about 150 years--perpetrate any violence against their students. ****
Is Academia in America a haven of differences where peaceful debate reigns? Or are all those mission statements proclaiming the virtues of difference just an attempt to pull the Balochistani wool over our eyes?
Shepherds and academics. Seems there is very little difference regardless of what in their hubris academics might believe.
*Emily Crane and Georgette Roberts. May 25, 2023, for the NY Post online at https://nypost.com/2023/05/25/nyc-professor-shellyne-rodriguez-surrenders-after-threatening-post-reporter/
**https://www.westernjournal.com/professor-faces-years-prison-allegedly-bloodying-face-anti-vax-mandate-student/ ; https://www.thecollegefix.com/professor-threatens-to-fail-student-who-balked-at-anti-trump-assignment-college-wont-say-if-it-punished-him/
***Jonah McKeown. July 21, 2022, for CNA online at https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251553/map-vandalism-attacks-continue-at-pro-life-centers-across-us
****Shah Meer Baloch. October 19, 2019, for The Guardian online at https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/22/university-vice-chancellor-stands-aside-over-blackmail-claims-in-pakistan Sadia Baloch (obviously, a common name and one shared by the article’s author) said, “We live in a tribal society and no girl would ever come forward to report harassment for fear of being killed in the name of honour. The harassers have used this fact to harass and blackmail girls when found mingling with male students, and threatened to send the compromising video footage to their families.”
Okay, it’s a far off place. Does “near the place where America recently and catastrophically withdrew its military” help? No? How about east of Iran and Afghanistan and north of the Arabian Sea? Still drawing a blank? Does "between the Sulaiman Range on the east and the Makran, Khan, and Chagai on the west" help? Come on, something in there has to ring a bell from junior high geography. How about the name Baloch? Isn’t that the bad guy’s name in the first Indiana Jones movie? Well, the Baloch people, also found in Iran, are one of the major groups who inhabit Balochistan, which has its counterpart in Iran’s Baluchistan. Somewhat tribal in nature, not industrial at all by western standards. No state university until 1970. Poor transportation network. Lots of sheep—the wool’s good, by the way. They grow some wheat and sorghum that they call jowl. Rice, too. But sheep are the focus, so textiles are important. Anyway, confused? Sorry I brought it up. Did I say there was no university there until 1970? Well, this land of shepherds didn’t have one until 1970.
I mentioned Balochistan because I was thinking that the recent violence between army outposts and rebels might be of concern simply because they are people with differences, even in a country with a limited cultural diversity. And in some very recent attacks, at least one soldier and four separatist rebels died. Surely and regardless of your unfamiliarity with the Pakistani province and its politics, you can empathize with the families of the dead. Couldn’t the differences be resolved peacefully? Who associates shepherds with violence? Did I mention Balochistan had no state university until 1970?
“Well, what can you expect from ‘people over there’ and in the Middle East? They aren’t like us,” you say. “Americans are a sophisticated lot. We’re civilized. We can resolve differences in a rational setting of debate. We've had universities since the founding of Harvard.”
Actually, there’s a link, and it has to do with the dark side of human nature, the side that just can’t get along with the other side and that seeks unity of thought through violence. A recent American story comes to mind, not surprisingly nowadays from the world of Academia, the supposed haven of differences. You’ve probably heard or read about the Hunter College (CUNY) professor who seems to have “gone berserk” over some students advocating their pro-life stance. (Then, again, if you haven’t heard about the Balochistan violence…)
So, here’s the story. Art professor Shellyne Rodriquez, miffed that students would sit at a table covered by pamphlets about abortion and pro-life, approached the table, did a bit of scolding, and then knocked the pamphlets onto the floor. To imitate Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi: “No free speech for you.” She said something about “triggering her students,” and that “this [The table? The pamphlets?] is violence.” To which, by the way, a student at the table said, “Sorry about that” and “This is about abortion.” But the story doesn’t end there. A NY Post reporter and his cameraman went to Rodriquez’s apartment to ask her about the incident. She opened the door, put a machete to the reporter’s throat, and threatened to chop him up. The two left, only to be followed into the street by Rodriquez, still wielding the machete. *
“Come on. Are you trying to connect the incident in New York with the violence in…what’s that…Balloonistan?”
Balochistan. B-a-l-o-c-h-i-s-t-a-n. Kind of…Well, consider that the product of the two encounters, the one between the separatists and the army and the one between Rodriquez and first the students and then the reporter involved violence—though no one died in the latter encounters. (Why, by the way, does an art professor in New York have a machete? Does she need to hack her way through dense foliage to get to class? Maybe that’s the instrument of her artwork…I can see hacking a log to sculpt a dog)
“Far stretch. There’s really no connection between the New York and Balochistan incidents.”
No, there’s a link. Humans who don’t get their way can behave very badly, regardless of their supposed level of civilization. Maybe the Baloch people are “primitive” and unsophisticated by New York Academics’ standards—though the academics might actually wear their wool or step on their carpets in their studio apartments. But reactions to differences are rather similar in both places and among both groups. It’s difficult for many humans to accept differences, and that especially applies to belief systems and, ironically, to academics.
So, the students at that table full of pamphlets believe that abortion in general is an evil, and Rodriguez seems to believe that the mere profession of that belief is “violence,” her term, not mine. And the irony is that the students she attacked verbally merely stood by while she berated them, just as the reporter stood quietly while she threatened to chop him up with her machete touching his neck. Hmmm. Bet, given the recent history of professors threatening students, she has her supporters. ** Bet there’s a group that sees nothing wrong in her threatening violence and stopping free speech from occurring on a university campus. And what of Hunter College of CUNY? Its professed mission includes seeking “students from all backgrounds.”
Seems that the Hunter College administration appears to have taken no action against Rodriguez's berating the students and throwing their pamphlets on the floor. But it did, probably because of the video and the possibility of a charge filed by the reporter, fire Rodriguez. I don’t know her, but if her actions against the students are an indication of her personality, then I might guess that her current emotion involves “fuming” and justifying. She’ll probably get support from the like-minded, the “sophisticated” academics who see free speech that is not conforming speech as a threat of, if not actual, violence.
The data change by year, but about a year ago, attacks on pro-life entities like Catholic Churches, pregnancy centers, and political organizations numbered over 100. *** Mind you, the professed purpose of these organizations is maintaining the sanctity of life and the support of pregnant women. If humans can attack other humans just because they support “life,” then how are the sophisticated New Yorkers with all their paved roads, fine restaurants, and many academic institutions different from the shepherds from Balochistan who only got a state university in 1970? Wonder how the Balochistani academics act when they encounter differences in opinion. Wonder whether the academics in that young university for shepherds--in contrast, Hunter College goes back about 150 years--perpetrate any violence against their students. ****
Is Academia in America a haven of differences where peaceful debate reigns? Or are all those mission statements proclaiming the virtues of difference just an attempt to pull the Balochistani wool over our eyes?
Shepherds and academics. Seems there is very little difference regardless of what in their hubris academics might believe.
*Emily Crane and Georgette Roberts. May 25, 2023, for the NY Post online at https://nypost.com/2023/05/25/nyc-professor-shellyne-rodriguez-surrenders-after-threatening-post-reporter/
**https://www.westernjournal.com/professor-faces-years-prison-allegedly-bloodying-face-anti-vax-mandate-student/ ; https://www.thecollegefix.com/professor-threatens-to-fail-student-who-balked-at-anti-trump-assignment-college-wont-say-if-it-punished-him/
***Jonah McKeown. July 21, 2022, for CNA online at https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251553/map-vandalism-attacks-continue-at-pro-life-centers-across-us
****Shah Meer Baloch. October 19, 2019, for The Guardian online at https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/22/university-vice-chancellor-stands-aside-over-blackmail-claims-in-pakistan Sadia Baloch (obviously, a common name and one shared by the article’s author) said, “We live in a tribal society and no girl would ever come forward to report harassment for fear of being killed in the name of honour. The harassers have used this fact to harass and blackmail girls when found mingling with male students, and threatened to send the compromising video footage to their families.”
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