An article published on Alternet.org entitled
Michael Moore's Conservative Counterpart recently caught my attention. In it, Bill Berkowitz discusses the right wing's search for a documentary filmmaker who can effectively do for conservatives what Moore's films have done for the left. Apparently, the right has found its counterpart in one Evan Coyne Maloney, a documentarian who has yet to actually complete a documentary film. His project
Brainwashing 101, a film that sets out to trap liberal professors by planting Republican spies in universities across America, is now being financed by wealthy neo-cons.
Berkowitz writes:
Maloney is the 32-year-old director of the 46-minute film, Brainwashing 101. He, along with his two partners - Stuart E. Browning, the executive producer and primary funder of the projected full-length version of the film, and Blaine Greenberg - are offering a modicum of fame and a few decent prizes to students who catch their liberal professors injecting their own political opinions into courses where those views are deemed superfluous: Students can take down a pompous professor, become an instant celebrity (of sorts), possibly appear in a full-length documentary and win one of three decent prizes. . .
Maloney instructs conservative students to take detailed notes whenever a professor injects a political viewpoint into the classroom, "but only when it does not pertain to the subject matter at hand" and to "keep track of how much class time is spent on the political discussion." The student must also provide the name of at least one other student who can corroborate the "abuse."
Okay, I admit it. I'm a liberal. And a teacher. But should I have to worry every time I open my mouth to answer a question that some student, who may not like me because I assign too much work, is going to turn me in to school administrators, documentary filmmakers, or worse (the Justice Dept.)? I'm sure those of you reading remember the teacher who was fired during the early days of the invasion of Iraq simply for wearing a peace pin on a field trip. If a teacher can get fired for wearing an accessory, what will happen to those of us who bring political discussion to the classroom? Remember, the Nazi's went after the inteligencia with almost the same vigor that they rounded up the Jews.
The right has long used bullying and intimidation to squelch any sign of political dissent. Look how well it's worked with the mainstream press. They are so cowed by the neo-cons in charge that they no longer report even the most obvious abuses of power by the Bush Administration. Now they've turned their dirty tricks toward liberal academics. Yet, most teachers don't believe that the classroom is the appropriate place to campaign for our personal political viewpoints, and most of us do not do so. But should we be afraid of discussing current events and political topics in our classrooms altogether simply because a student may be looking to take us down? I don't know the answer, but I end with a warning: the next time you see a student glowering at you from his/her seat, possibly scribbling furiously, take caution. You could end up unwittingly starring in a documentary, or worse, standing in an unemployment line.