It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything political (mercifully, I’m sure) but after coming across a little ditty from Campus Reform entitled Prof says Otto Warmbier ‘got exactly what he deserved’, I felt compelled to share my take on it.
For those who do not have the time or interest to read the article, it contains a screen cap of University of Delaware professor Kathy Dettwyler’s reaction to the tragic death of Otto Warmbier along with a brief rundown and a short snippet from her RateMyProfessor profile. Ms. Dettwyler essentially uses Otto Warmbier’s death as a platform to babble on about her disdain for rich white kids and generalizes all of her more affluent white male students in a way that is not only inflammatory but incredibly unrepresentative of said group. The amount of hate and vitriol spewed by Ms. Dettwyler in her reaction is repulsive, of course, but in all actuality is more common among college and university professors than one could possibly imagine.
Having been a college student for a lot longer than I care to admit, I was both appalled and at the same time not at all shocked by the statements made by Ms. Dettwyler. As a veteran of the academic circuit, I’ve come across similar statements on multiple occasions.
For example, a portly Government professor I had in Junior College who would spout gleefully about the virtues of abortion before menacingly trying to convince the entire class that they should carry Plan-B everywhere they go when they transfer to university because they “will get raped” (not might, not may, WILL!).
In similar fashion, I also had a Spanish professor had who blamed all of he world’s ills on white men, white privilege, Americans and “heteronormativity”. . .only to later have the audacity to posit to our class in conversation that he had no idea why the number of men, especially white men, are shrinking in number on college campuses.
And lest I forget, numerous professors who were a bit more covert and Marcusian in their anti-white, anti-male, anti-western bias but I don’t have time to mention all of the said remarks. For brevity’s sake, I’ll just narrow them down to “weeeelllll. . .eh. . . .(so and so White/American thing) is the reason for (XYZ problem)”, “Global warming denial is racist” or “Pinochet Bad! Guevara Good! grrr. . .”
As shocking to some as these remarks by Ms. Dettwyler may be, I think they should be used as a sobering reminder to parents with college aged children to keep tabs on what the professors at their child’s future university are going to teach them and what their current professors are already teaching them. Parents should do tons of research before finding the gulag university best suited for them. They should also not be afraid to dig deep either, even if it may hurt whatever feelings they have about their own alma-mater should they choose the legacy route for their kids. Parents should take an active role in making sure that their kid receives a valuable education (hopefully one that ends with a STEM degree too. . .wink, wink) and an education that uplifts them instead of driving them into hating their own existence. Heed this warning parents, or else one Christmas you’re children will return home looking like this:
Anyway, just my two cents. . if you give me $.48 more I can get a frozen burrito.
God bless y’all,
– TDM