February 11, 2005

Should We Even Bother?

Ann Althouse asked me if I'm helping Ward Churchill get the attention he craves. (I have a feeling she is quite adept in the classroom.) Unfortunately the answer is "yes." Next month, he'll march to Whitewater as the far Left hero challenging Red America, capitalists, conservatives, and all to the right of him. He'll be a possible martyr because newspapers, news channels, talk radio yappers, and weblogs are focused on him.

But Churchill is something that interests me. The only real rule I have on TAM is I have to write about stuff I find interesting. Churchill's interesting. Discovering that a man spouting hateful rhetoric is a tenured professor is interesting to me. Thus it's something I write about on TAM. But should I? Giving Churchill all this attention exposes his hateful, anti-American views to a wider audience. Until recently, no one heard of him and his "little Eichmans" essay that was written shortly after the Sep. 11 attacks. The world kept spinning with the public's ignorance of his views.

King Banian writes for those who believe in countering speech with speech:

If we believe, as I do, that the only answer to hateful speech is more speech, Churchill provides you with your opportunity to practice your faith. I hope you'll take it. It's hard work, of course, because the group around you may be hostile, and your nerves may be shaky.

At this point with all the publicity surrounding Churchill, I could simply state the question is moot. He already is getting tons of press, and TAM's small (but growing) contribution will add little additional awareness. It's not a satisfactory answer. So I'll open it up to my readers.