University Of Michigan: Where They Grow Big Fat Babies (Update Added)
[guest post by Dana]
“At the very core of our excellence is our longstanding commitment to build and nurture a campus community characterized by a diversity of people, heritage, academic disciplines and scholarly pursuits.” — Mark S. Schlissel, M.D., Ph.D., U-M President
So, Paddington the Bear vs. American Sniper: which movie do you think would be more welcome on today’s college campuses?
A scheduled movie screening of “American Sniper” at the University of Michigan was abruptly cancelled Tuesday after nearly 300 students and others complained the film perpetuates “negative and misleading stereotypes” against Muslims.
“The movie American Sniper not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim … rhetoric and sympathizes with a mass killer,” according to an online letter circulated among the campus community via Google Docs that garnered the signatures.
The signers were mostly students, but also some staff, as well as the Muslim Students’ Association and the president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, a Palestinian solidarity group at UMich.
So instead of screening American Sniper, the university showed Paddington the Bear.
The Center for Campus Involvement explained:
We have elected to pull the film from this week’s program and screen another movie in its place that we believe better creates the fun, engaging atmosphere we seek, without excluding valued members of our community.
“We deeply regret causing harm to members of our community, and appreciate the thoughtful feedback provided to us by students and staff alike.”
And from the university:
‘While our intent was to show a film, the impact of the content was harmful, and made students feel unsafe and unwelcome at our program’
Wah-wah!
The kerfuffle started when student Lamees Mekkaoui decided she didn’t like that the university would screen a movie that made her personally feel “uncomfortable” as well as one that endorsed anti-Muslim sentiments. So she began the petition drive to cancel the showing. Because nothing says open-mindedness and tolerance like shutting down a film just because you are a big fat intolerant baby.
Thankfully, not all University of Michigan students demand everyone fall in line and become intolerant, narrow-minded and fearful. Thus, a push-back petition made the rounds:
“The movie American Sniper is not about a racist mass murderer or a criminal,” that petition said. “If the University prevents a movie like this from being shown, it promotes intolerance and stifles dialogue and debate on the subject and goes directly against the atmosphere UMix purports to provide. As adults at a public university, we should have the option to view this movie if we so choose and have the opportunity to engage on the topics it presents to come to our own conclusions on the subjects. Students should be trusted to interact responsibly on a movie no different than any other film depicting the lives of the troops at war, such as Saving Private Ryan.”
The university is now stating that they will re-schedule the movie and that the screening will include an appropriate educational panel discussion. Attendants will also be on hand to pass out pacifiers to any big fat babies who might courageously show up to view the film.
–Dana
UPDATE: University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh is certainly not a big fat baby. He pushed back against the university’s decision and tweeted:
Michigan Football will watch “American Sniper”! Proud of Chris Kyle & Proud to be an American & if that offends anybody then so be it!
Further, not long after Coach Harbaugh tweeted, the university itself came out and said that they made a mistake in cancelling the movie:
It was a mistake to cancel the showing of the movie “American Sniper” on campus … The initial decision to cancel the movie was not consistent with the high value the (U-M) places on freedom of expression… spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the change of heart came after “further discussion”. “American Sniper” will be shown as scheduled
Thanks to commenter reff for the catching the updates.
Hello.
Dana (86e864) — 4/8/2015 @ 5:30 pmLamees is all about taking therapy dogs to the next level to where you won’t even need no pup you can heal yourself WITH YOUR MIND (!!!) (Lamees is the innovative hooch on the left)
feel sorry for dem pups I really do
but you can’t fight progress
happyfeet (831175) — 4/8/2015 @ 5:39 pmI understand that Sponge Bob Square pants is available. I certainly hope fainting couches are available in case it gets too intense.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 4/8/2015 @ 5:59 pmIt’s being reported elsewhere that the predominant group behind this censorship
were Muslims.
If that’s true then we know what’s really going on here.
I suppose a historical film about the middle ages would be halal also?
How are these students doing in their classes if they can’t face unpleasant facts?
jakee308 (49ccc6) — 4/8/2015 @ 6:07 pmOnly sociopaths think it is appropriate for public institutions to overtly support shooting people in the head from afar. No, check that: required.
Keep your sick ideology to yourselves….people are free to reject it.
Missile (1c0757) — 4/8/2015 @ 6:08 pmOk, let’s just ignore the poo-flinging monkey.
nk (dbc370) — 4/8/2015 @ 6:19 pmLeaders and best, my ass.
Mitch (bfd5cd) — 4/8/2015 @ 6:26 pmI find that Paddington promotes “negative and misleading stereotypes” towards bears, and should not be shown at the University of Michigan.
What administrator lets this kind of bigoted, hateful, and yes, I’ll say it: RACIST movie to be shown on the campus of the prestigious University of Michigan?
They’d never show a white bear living in a house with brown bears.
Smokey the Bear (1ad898) — 4/8/2015 @ 6:53 pmThis is called caving in to Greater Dearborn without admitting they are caving in to Greater Dearborn.
kishnevi (91d5c6) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:03 pmThis is the University where affirmative action took hold.
mg (31009b) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:08 pmSurprised?
nk, wouldn’t you bet that the p.f.m. thinks it is appropriate for private businesses to support gay weddings, nay, that they be required to do so?
kishnevi (9c4b9c) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:09 pmSo, the students who successfully banned the screening of “American Sniper” did so because they are anti-American bigots who stereotype whites as racist mass-murderers.
Or am I missing something.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:11 pmdope smoking bears
mg (31009b) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:13 pmaffirmative lawyers
vacation michigan
no worries
i totally agree with kishnevi in #9.
Also a main part of ‘Paddington’ is cruelty to animals.
so much for that showing of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ at UM.
seeRpea (bf1eb5) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:16 pmYes, definitely, kishnevi.
nk (dbc370) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:20 pmInstead of complaining about this, conservative students simply need to arrange for a campus screening of the film under their own sponsorship and dare the Muslim students and their allies to try to stop it. Let’s see how far today’s cowardly college co-enablers want to go to suppress free expression. Heck, the sponsors could probably even make some money from this, assuming they get a full turn-out at the event.
JVW (a1146f) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:29 pmI will presume that no one was going to FORCE unwilling participants to watch American Sniper, right? So, seeing the movie would have been a completely voluntary action on the part of the potential viewer, with no coercion involved at all????
{Deep sigh}
Maybe we should propose that our Centers of Higher Learning (such as U-Mich) set up TWO screening rooms: One (with warning labels about “triggers” and “potentially anxiety-inducing” and “viewer discretion advised”) would show the movie in question. The OTHER room (labeled as “safe space” and “no anxiety”) would show two hours of various kinds of trees –pine, oak, maple, magnolia, redbud, etc– where the delicate snowflakes could go to avoid being exposed to any uncomfortable ideas.
Do you suppose that would work for the little dears?
A_Nonny_Mouse (9613ac) — 4/8/2015 @ 7:50 pmAmerican Sniper killed whoat–100 muslims? ISIS slaughtered 1400 Iraqi Air Force cadets. Their mass graves are just being uncovered. 100 by the Sniper? That’s not even a good start.
As for the fellows in lace panties who would be offended–they have a simple solution. Just don’t go to the theater and watch the movie.
Comanche Voter (1d5c8b) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:02 pmThe University of Michigan is in phase one of the jihad. Stealth jihad; Islam claims to be a victim when accurately portrayed.
It’s all in the Quran and the Sunna.
One would think the idiots would have caught on after 1400 years of jihadists using the same, thin playbook. But if they could catch on, that would mean they’re not idiots. They are most definitely idiots, and useful ones at that. The exact same characters Muhammed collected about himself when he fled Mecca for Medina after the Meccans got tired of his double-dealing BS.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:10 pmMaybe we should propose that our Centers of Higher Learning (such as U-Mich) set up TWO screening rooms: One (with warning labels about “triggers” and “potentially anxiety-inducing” and “viewer discretion advised”) would show the movie in question. The OTHER room (labeled as “safe space” and “no anxiety”) would show two hours of various kinds of trees –pine, oak, maple, magnolia, redbud, etc– where the delicate snowflakes could go to avoid being exposed to any uncomfortable ideas.
Oh sure, but what happens if a pig goes wandering on camera and sniffs one of the trees? Imagine how that would rock the world of the poor Muslim students. Or what if one of the trees has a formation of branches that bears a vague resemblance to the Prophet’s Tenth Wife, Rayhana bint Zayd? That would be a colossal insult to the faith. No, I think that the safe space theater should just be a projection of pastel-colored screens for two hours. No popcorn and soft drinks, because that is fat-shaming and Pepsi used to do business in apartheid-era South Africa and still sells to Indiana.
JVW (a1146f) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:17 pmSome people are not going to like this! http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/04/08/after-university-canceled-american-sniper-showing-football-coach-harbaugh-made-this-announcement/
reff (4dcda2) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:33 pmwonder if she was paid to speak here:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/moroccan-cash-flows-to-clinton-foundation-116780.html?hp=t1_r
narciso (ee1f88) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:35 pmGood grief. I am so glad I attended college NOT in this current era.
And, hooray for Jim Harbaugh.
elissa (486444) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:39 pmAmerican Sniper was my daughter’s airplane book to Paris and back. If anybody was “uncomfortable”, she didn’t notice. She’s also doing a school assignment on it.
nk (dbc370) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:39 pmGood catch, reff. I’ll add it to the post.
What made the U of Michigan change it’s mind? Didn’t like being the laughingstock of the university system?
Dana (86e864) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:43 pmhmm, the rise of voices may have had an effect. Word is movie will be shown as scheduled.
seeRpea (bf1eb5) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:47 pmPaddington not cancelled either
If nothing else we can be confident that these aggrieved bossy busybody overbearing college programs will be turning out many fine candidates to serve as aggrieved overbearing bossy busybody future officers of condo boards and homeowners’ associations.
elissa (486444) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:54 pmelissa said “bossy”! harumph, another woman hater.
seeRpea (bf1eb5) — 4/8/2015 @ 8:58 pmThis is worth an eyeroll:
elissa (486444) — 4/8/2015 @ 9:20 pmhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3031354/America-real-terrorist-boys-best-Boston-Marathon-bombers-defiant-mother-rails-against-Dzhokhar-Tsarnaev-s-guilty-verdict-bizarre-rant.html
The Quran teaches that fitna is worse than murder. Hence Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s mother can believe her son is better than the people he killed.
This is what Islam teaches; that whoever drives a Muslim to kill by an expression of an opinion of unbelief or an opinion that promotes discord in the ummah is guilty of the crime, not the Muslim. This is especially the case when those people have sent an army into a Muslim land, as there is no worse mischief or discord one can sow than that.
This is why, in many Muslims’ eyes, drummer Lee Rigby was the guilty party in his own murder. Not Michael Adabelajo, who ran him down with a car in London along with his friends, then butchered him with a cleaver.
This is something to keep in mind as the people who produced “American Snipter” as well as those who tried to show it at the University of Michigan are already guilty of something worse than murder.
And for the sake of nk and everybody else who thinks I and others like me don’t draw a distinction between hating Islam and hating Muslims, most Muslims don’t know they’re supposed to think that way. Especially most Muslims in the west. They are good people who live far better lives than their religion commands them to live. Thank God.
But by being good people they are bad Muslims. Which is why Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is crucifying them in any territory he and ISiS wrests control of. And scripture is on his side, unfortunately for the Muslims who want to remain good people. His namesake did exactly the same thing in the apostasy wars after Muhammad died.
Steve57 (cd6f9a) — 4/8/2015 @ 9:23 pmIf nothing else we can be confident that these aggrieved bossy busybody overbearing college programs will be turning out many fine candidates to serve as aggrieved overbearing bossy busybody future officers of condo boards and homeowners’ associations.
This is a real problem, elissa. At college campuses across the country, the students who decide to spend their time mucking around in student council are committed leftists, who really think that its appropriate that students declare a position on the Israel-Palestine situation rather than sticking to more mundane tasks like student parking and whether the football tailgate party can have an over-21 beer garden. Right wing students tend to spend their time in more traditional pursuits, so nationwide it always appears that ever student is a leftist.
And yeah, they probably do grow up to spend time on condo boards. My condo board is a bunch of older women who have lived here forever and have either fully paid off their mortgages or are only paying a few hundred bucks a month, so they are hell-bent on constantly raising our homeowners dues so that we can install new flower beds and resurface their parking places. Democracy really can be a pain in the rear end.
JVW (a1146f) — 4/8/2015 @ 9:27 pmWhat’s worse is that those committed leftists end up running (and ruining) the country. They are so convinced of the positions on issues without necessarily having even been open to the challenge of debating or even entertaining an opposing viewpoint. The lesson doesn’t seem to be to develop a foundational belief and then critically look at and work one’s way through an issue and to independently arrive at a well thought out conclusion. Instead it seems the only requirement is opening wide when being spoon fed regular meals of standard lefty fare. Swallow and repeat. It makes people intellectually lazy and weak of character. Which might be the goal.
Dana (86e864) — 4/8/2015 @ 9:37 pmYep, very true Dana. It seems that an awful lot of the student politburo ends up interning for left-wing Congresspeople or taking jobs with Soros or Nadar-allied groups. They eventually go to law school then run for city council and whore their way up the Democrat party ladder by making nice-nice with all of the requisite interest groups. Finally, when some old Democrat politician is hauled off to jail or to the morgue, they slither into that seat and start plotting their upwards rise. The more stupid and useless of them just settle into a lifetime sinecure, until they too are hauled off to jail or the morgue. It’s depressing.
JVW (a1146f) — 4/8/2015 @ 10:01 pm“Missile” – your dishonest hate-file bike tells us all we need to know about you.
JD (c90ab3) — 4/8/2015 @ 10:19 pmThat does not seem like the University of Michigan I attended in the 60s. But, then, I was in engineering school which tended to face reality better than the lit school cloud heads.
{o.o}
JDow (770dee) — 4/8/2015 @ 11:16 pmPrediction: after the screening there will be an anti-Muslim incident at
the University of Michigan.
it will then be found out that it was staged or perpetuated by either a progressive or a Muslim.
seeRpea (bf1eb5) — 4/9/2015 @ 9:48 amI actually have to say that I thought this was mocking the weenies. Can’t take an adult movie about adult themes? Have a cartoon instead, you dribbling little babies.
Commander0 (aa249b) — 4/10/2015 @ 6:13 pmCongrats, Harbaugh.
JD (bccb81) — 4/10/2015 @ 7:01 pmBut still, Muck Fichigan.