The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is an ACLU like group that specializes in free speech and other rights within universities and academia. They are a group of liberals, libertarians, feminists, and conservatives focused on one thing: free speech.
They could be our reality based answer to David Horowitz.
So when FIRE discovered the University of Delaware's diversity training included statements like, "[a] racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality." why was it that no prominent left wing bloggers mentioned it? (None appeared in this technorati search when I performed it.)
People have a pretty good bullshit detector, but when we remain silent and allow the rightwing to attack and grab the moral high ground, can we be surprised to learn of slogans like "there's no hate like liberal hate", or sentiments that liberals are too politically correct and do not support free speech are helping move people into the Republican column?
As FARK headlines it, and as the FIRE's pdfs make the case, "Dear white people. You are all racists. Every one of you. Sincerely, the University of Delaware"
Part of Delaware's mandatory diversity training taught definitions like this one:
"A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination. (This does not deny the existence of such prejudices, hostilities, acts of rage or discrimination.)
I assumed it was taken out of context. So I looked at the PDFs (available at FIRE's site). And it wasn't.
Free speech is not a conservative issue, and we shouldn't let it become one. But when we on the left fail to support organizations like FIRE that's what happens. We provide the ammunition for fucktards like Horowitz, Hannity and Limbaugh to shoot us with.
We should be supporting organizations like FIRE, and free speech feminists like Wendy Kaminer (ACLU and FIRE) and Nadine Strossen (ACLU).
When Horowitz et. al., say there is no such hate as liberal hate, they should not be able to point at the right wing blogs that blogged about this and say, "where were the left wing blogs?"
People aren't stupid. Most people probably would think Horowitz, Limbaugh, et. al., are fucktards, but incidents like this are quite convincing that liberals don't really care about free speech issues.
By the time it's blogged at Hot Air, and gets down to FARK, without being blogged in the liberal blogosphere, we've lost and the Limbugs have won.