Friday, December 21, 2007

Princeton Anti-Gay Riots Just One Boy's Imagination or What Does Anscombe Mean?

That was interesting last week, the whole Francisco Nava story. One
morning I read the newspaper headline saying a Princeton student who
is active in a conservative anti-gay campus group was beat up by two
thugs about 2 miles from campus. University officials are quoted as
saying pretty much, "This happened off-campus, so we aren't going near
it. Not our responsibility. Talk to the city police."

Conservative groups were (rightly) irked by the university's stance
and blamed it on a pro-liberal bias. The student body watched in
silence with an attitude of, "He deserved it. I would never condone
violence, of course, but these things happen. He was asking for it."

The next day, the papers reported Nava's admission that he had staged
the event. He hadn't been beaten; he had beaten himself. Oh, so you
mean there aren't actually vicious anti-conservative mobs surging
about Princeton township? What a relief. The University's response?
"We are looking into disciplinary action against Mr. Nava." You are?!
His putative attackers would have been off the hook with you because
the event happened off campus, but for a conservative there are
special rules, eh.

Don't get me wrong. I think Nava's behavior has been ridiculous and I
certainly do not sympathize with his agenda, but the extreme double
standard is making us look bad.

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