Funny. Dr. Thorp didn't reply to me.
Anyway, here's his canned answer:
Thank you for your note. I’m glad you took the time to write because it gives us the opportunity to ensure that you have the complete facts.What a nitwit explanation. I guess stating you're prepared to defend yourself is a threat in the same way defending yourself is vigilantism.
It is not appropriate for a faculty adviser to threaten a student with a gun—-whether he’s kidding or not. This issue is not about the right to bear arms. It’s about a faculty adviser using poor judgment. And I agree with you. The people who put up the fliers also used poor judgment, but we don’t know who did that.
I am committed to protecting Carolina's tradition of free speech. Within three days, I had helped YWC identify three new advisers, each of whom has already agreed to work with YWC so that it retains its status as a recognized student organization. I also pledged to the group that we would reimburse their expenses to bring a new speaker to campus in October. The YWC has invited Bay Buchanan, former U.S. treasurer under President Ronald Reagan.
Sincerely,
Holden Thorp
[Via Carl B and Tony F]
"I’m glad you took the time to write because it gives us the opportunity to ensure that you have the complete facts."
ReplyDeleteTranslation:
"Thank you for contacting Pravda. You will now be told the facts you need to know. And what to make of them."
I found his version of "complete facts" to be more disturbing than the original reports. And I told him so:
ReplyDeleteMr. Thorp,
I am not clear on why you sent this missive to me. You had already demonstrated your irrationality; it was not necessary for you to reiterate your difficulty.
A general statement that one is capable of self-defense against initiated force is obviously -- to rational people -- not a threat of initiated force against some specific student.
You maintain that you don't know who posted the fliers; how then can you claim the professor threatened a specific student (i.e.- whoever posted the fliers)? This is an inconsistency I can only blame on deliberate falsification or irrationality.
Also, you make a point of telling me this is "not about the right to bear arms". Why would you raise that issue with me? I made no such claim; I raised no Constitutional issues. If I were to do so, it would be on First Amendment grounds (stifling the right to advocate self-defense). No, my point is that the leadership of UNC suffers from mental and professional incompetence, making it an institution that will not see any financial gain from me or mine. Your response, making a bizarrely outrageous claim and addressing issues I never raised, merely proves my point.
The initial reports of this incident were disturbing; your reply is more so.
Sincerely,
Carl Bussjaeger
When the "Big Change" comes, he better find a hole and crawl in it.
ReplyDeleteHow arrogant is this sonofabitch? He offers an excuse so lame that if it were a horse it would be shot, and he is so sure of his intellectual superiority to those who wrote him, that he expected it fly.
ReplyDeleteHolden Thorp, I shall remember that name and use it as an epithet when I witness gross stupidity.
Oh, and Carl, your response to his non-reply was excellent. Too bad the stupid sonofabitch won't be able to grasp the validity or logic of it.
ReplyDeleteTrue, straightarrow; or his dedication to the agenda will blind him. While I don't expect my letter to get the professor reinstated, I do like to remind these fools that we are paying attention. Pretty much the same reason I bother trying to communicate with my congressthings.
ReplyDeleteFolks... this is just the way things are in Chapel Hole, er, Chapel Hill.
ReplyDeleteIt is the most liberal town in all of North Carolina.
Tony F.
yep, Chapel Hill is a fantasy world to shield students from reality and indoctrinate. I spent 2 years there in grad school and the daily tarheel was a constant flow of stories about evil white men and feminist and minority events and issues. It was truly demoralizing to study there as a white male. I wouldn't give them a dime and would never recommend anyone going there.
ReplyDelete