Kevin Barrett: Another Academia Nut

UW-Madison is harboring a nutjob instructor that rivals Ward Churchill and Arthur Butz in terms of disseminating lies and hate.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Thursday that it would launch a review of an instructor who argues that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks for its own benefit.

The instructor, Kevin Barrett, is co-founder of an organization called the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance, which claims the Bush administration planned the attacks to create a war between Muslims and Christians. He argues that members of the faiths must work together to overcome the belief that terrorists were to blame.

"The 9/11 lie was designed to sow hatred between the faiths," Barrett has written on the organization's Web site.

"Either we discuss the compelling evidence that 9/11 was an inside job, or there is precious little to talk about."

Your tax dollars at work...

In a written statement Thursday, Provost Patrick Farrell said the university would conduct a 10-day review of Barrett's plans for the fall course and his past teaching performance. He said Barrett's syllabus, reading list and past evaluations by supervisors and students would be examined.

"Mr. Barrett's statements regarding the events of Sept. 11 have raised some legitimate concerns about the content and quality of instruction in his planned fall course," Farrell said.

Yeah, that's putting it mildly.

The announcement came as word of Barrett's views spread through political Web sites. State Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater) was among a burst of critics calling for his dismissal.

...[I]t wasn't until he spoke on a conservative talk show hosted by Jessica McBride on WTMJ-AM (620) Wednesday night that Barrett prompted a public outcry in Wisconsin. He talked openly about his Sept. 11 beliefs and said he discussed them in the classroom.

Once again, talk radio comes to the rescue!

If not for those in the alternative media getting this information out to a wider audience, this story would never have been exposed to the public or received the attention it deserves.

Nass released a statement calling on Chancellor John Wiley to fire Barrett immediately.

"The fact that Mr. Barrett uses his position at UW-Madison to add credibility to his outlandish claims is an unacceptable embarrassment to the people of Wisconsin and the UW System," Nass said. "Chancellor Wiley must act immediately to end any professional relationship between Barrett and the UW. He needs to be fired."

I agree.

This isn't a matter of academic freedom. This is about a conspiracy theorist pushing lies and propaganda to subvert the government.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.), who is running for governor, released a statement that said: "Not a dime of either taxpayer or tuition dollars should be going to Kevin Barrett so he can tell students that September 11 was a creation of the government, and that the most murdering terrorist organization in the world is a myth created by the CIA."

Mark Green has weighed in. Now, I'm waiting to hear what Jim Doyle has to say about this.

No comment, Jimbo?

What's the problem? Feeling intimidated by the teachers' union?

But not everyone was outraged.

Mir Babar Basir, a recent graduate of UW-Madison who served as president of the Muslim Students Association, said he knew Barrett and agreed with his take on the attacks. He said Griffin drew hundreds of supportive observers when he spoke at the university.

"This is not just Kevin Barrett's idea," Basir said. "It's legitimate to think that the U.S. government was involved."

No it's not.

I suppose it could be considered legitimate to believe that the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks if you're so anti-Bush that you're eager to submit to that sort of brainwashing.

Frankly, I'm outraged that not everyone is outraged by Barrett's claims.

"When David Ray Griffin spoke, it was packed," Basir added. "Madison is fairly liberal. It's not surprising that a lot of people agreed with him."

WHAT?

"Madison is fairly liberal"?

That statement speaks volumes about where Basir stands politically. In addition, I think it's very telling in terms of his intellectual status. Rather weak, I'm afraid.

David Walsh, president of the UW System Board of Regents, said Barrett should be able to share his views in the classroom.

"Unless he's yelling fire in a crowded theater, we need to be careful to protect his academic freedom," Walsh said.

Do lies presented as truth belong in the classroom?

For example, in the name of academic freedom, should an instructor be permitted to teach students that the sun and the planets revolve around the earth?

Should an instructor be allowed to promote claims that the Holocaust didn't happen?

Another question: Would Walsh consider it acceptable for an instructor to share the view that homosexuality is a mental illness?

Would that view be protected under the umbrella of academic freedom?

No way.

The truth: Madison is cutting Barrett yards and yards of slack because he's teaching students to believe that the Bush administration plotted to slaughter Americans.

To be honest, I'm more disgusted with UW-Madison than I am with Barrett.

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Read just a sampling of Barrett's writings here and here and here.

Barrett is a prolific writer, spreading his crazy ideas all over the Internet. The written word, however, doesn't satisfy him. He advocates taking action against "fascism-complicit corporate and government entities."

The film United 93 prompted him to organize his "FASCISM STINKS" campaign.

Hollywood has gone far beyond the fever dreams of Joseph Goebbels with Flight 93, a propaganda film based on the 9/11 psy-op script. This film, like the bad-B-movie 9/11 covert operation itself ( http://mujca.com/worstmovie.htm ) was designed to whip audiences into emotional hysteria, and turn that hysteria toward the mass-murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and the elimination of freedom in the US and around the world.

Last night my eleven-year-old son accompanied me to the Madison, WI opening of Flight 93 at the Point theater, where we began handing very polite, low-key "question 9/11" leaflets to moviegoers (leaflets available for downloading from http://911truth.org). After a few minutes, a portly, scowling theater manager appeared and ordered us to leave the sidewalk in front of the entrance to the theater. The sidewalk, he stated, was private property (which it probably is, since the theater chain has privatized the entire block) and he ordered an underling to call the police. My son started crying, thinking we were going to be arrested. I lost it, and called the guy a fat Nazi and other choice epithets and left before the police got there. (Had my son not been collapsed in hysterics, I would have waited for the police and insisted on my Constitutional right to free speech.)

The question arises: How do we deal with non-Constitution-compliant corporations, officials and individuals in the current state of emergency? I think we need to enforce compliance with the Constitution by any means necessary.

ANNOUNCING THE "FASCISM STINKS" CAMPAIGN

It would be wonderful if free-speech-prohibiting businesses, agencies and individuals were made to pay for their violations of the Constitution. While I am certainly NOT urging anyone to mix together a gallon of eggs and drano, which produces the world's worst odor, unscrew the lid and knock over the jar in the aisles of the Point Theater and other non-Constitution-compliant chains at the beginning of Flight 93 before making a surreptitious exit, neither would I be displeased if something like this happened. (This definitely should not be done to theaters that are in compliance with the Bill of Rights and allow leafleting.)

Egg-and-drano spills in fascism-complicit corporate and government entities will drive home the message: FASCISM STINKS, AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO JUST HOLD OUR NOSES AND PUT UP WITH IT ANY MORE.

Possibly the most disturbing thing revealed in this account of his United 93 experience --

Barrett has an eleven-year-old son. He's indoctrinating his child with his anti-American lies, teaching him to distrust his country.

And UW-Madison is giving Barrett a forum to do exactly the same thing to undergraduates!

This certifed nut was hired to teach at a prestigious public university!

What kind of background checks does UW-Madison do on its faculty? Are they totally clueless about the individuals that they put into their classrooms?

If the truth about Barrett wasn't known when he was hired, that's bad.

If the truth about Barrett was known when he was hired, that's unconscionable.