Clarification...

Author: Ben Gore '05

I would like clarify a few things about my submission in the last issue of The Middlebury Campus:

[1] Neither the title nor the photo of Hitler were my idea. Even the snarky Wall Street Journal blog, OpinionJournal.com, noted: "Accompanying the article is a thumbnail photo of Hitler, which is especially strange since even this author doesn't actually compare anyone to the Nazi dictator" - why people at the Wall Street Journal read The Campus, I don't know. I think Rudolph Giuliani is a part of a dangerous slide towards authoritarianism in this country, but he is certainly not a genocidal sociopath. The part of my writing this photo referenced is clear: "to many people who were not in the elite class, he was coming to be considered a fascist." This is an impression I received from conversations with New Yorkers and from my own reading, in the mainstream media, of his action. And though fascism is a specific form of authoritarianism, it has come to symbolize any form of authoritarianism in popular discourse.

[2] Amadou Diallo, one of the victims of police brutality I mentioned, was not Haitian. Abner Louima, the other case mentioned, was actually Haitian. Diallo was born in Liberia to Guinean parents and traveled all over West Africa, as well as south Asia and England, before emigrating to the United States. He was educated, in part at Cambridge and was hoping to pursue studies in computer science here. I apologize for this mistake.

[3] First, I don't care what you think of Giuliani. I and quite a number of other people, to judge from the response to my article, find him morally reprehensible and that means that he is controversial. And no, it's not because he's a Republican (and no, I'm not a Democrat). An almost universally respected politician such as John McCain would have been fine. Controversial speakers have a place here but that place is not commencement. That should be reserved for people we can all feel good about to send us on our way. Secondly, I was apalled that The Middlebury Campus, and now The Addison Eagle, printed the College's press release, nearly verbatim, as an article. Press releases, on video or in print, are propaganda. Their purpose is to let a reporter know your organization's position in advance of an article, not to convey objective information. I know, I've written dozens of them. Many journalists are lazy and use large chunks of press releases as articles. This is a clear cut example of deceptive and unethical journalism. The Campus is in general a good organization, which is why I was surprised by this.

There is an unavoidable tension at this institution between the organizational need to maintain a solid base of funding and friends in high places and the push to expand ethnic, economic and intellectual diversity on campus. In this situation, these two needs collide head on. I don't seriously expect the College to un-invite Giuliani, but I think they could [a] own up to their mistake and [b] invite someone in addition to offset the gross bias.