Drexel University Professor George Ciccariello-Maher ventured onto Tucker Carlson’s show, where two debated another instance of liberal intolerance on college campuses and the professor's incendiary tweet regarding a U.S. service member being given a first class seat on an airplane. The college incident has been covered before. Guy wrote about how sociologist Charles Murray had his speaking event shut down at Middlebury. At Villanova last night, he was subject to the same treatment, being escorted out until the police could eject protesters from the venue. Professor Ciccariello tweeted two days prior to the event that students should do all that they could to stop the event.
Ciccariello said that campuses are places for rational debate, and that Murray has been described as a “white nationalist” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. There was a prolonged back-and-forth over the allegation that Murray burned crosses in his youth. Tucker said that he had never heard of this and pushed the professor to back up the claim to which Ciccariello replied that Tucker should use Google. An old New York Times piece that eviscerated Murray's book, “The Bell Curve,” as a “genteel way” of calling someone the n-word made a reference to this allegation.
Tucker also rehashed some of the racially charged allegations that Ciccariello has made in past works, namely applauding the killing of whites during the Haitian Revolution, and his support of white genocide. Ciccariello said that the concept of white genocide is imaginary, and that his call for one was meant as satire. It landed him in hot water with Drexel nonetheless.
They then moved onto another controversial tweet: the U.S. service member. Ciccariello tweeted this:
His explanation was that we shouldn’t send young people into war, risk their lives, and kill scores of others in conflicts that doesn’t expand freedom or makes us safer. He says that’s irresponsible. That’s not exactly answering the question. The recent bombing in Mosul that killed up to 200 civilians was a motivating factor for this rather incendiary tweet. Tucker asked why Ciccariello felt nauseous over the person risking his life and not someone who might have formulated the war policy. The Drexel professor said that U.S. troops need real support in health care and psychological treatment. They don’t need a first class seat on an airplane. He also said that women in uniform need to be allowed to serve without fear of being sexually assaulted. He also said having a better support structure, like the services he mentioned above, is how we support the troops, not by sending them into war. That’s fine, but again—he’s not answering the question. Why did someone who offered a first class seat on an airplane to an American in uniform make him want to vomit? It’s the same old anti-war rhetoric used by the Left, though I guess kudos to him for coming onto a show the he probably knew would be hostile. His views however are still appalling. Ciccareillo has since protected his Twitter account.
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Fox 29 Philadelphia had his statement about the tweet, noting that the real problem is the right wing media. Yeah—okay.
Two days after U.S. airstrikes incinerated an estimated 200 civilians in the Iraqi city of Mosul, I sent a personal tweet in reaction to what I considered a smug and self-congratulatory gesture by a first-class passenger toward a uniformed soldier. Maybe predictably, my tweet has since been fed into and misrepresented by the outrage machine that is right-wing media. Needless to say, my personal views expressed off-campus have absolutely nothing to do with those of my employer, Drexel University.I respect anyone who makes difficult and dangerous decisions out of economic necessity -- whether they are public school teachers, construction workers, economic migrants, or young soldiers. What I don't respect is a brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq that has not made our world any safer -- a war that has taken advantage of economically disadvantaged Americans, a war that has given the world ISIS, and a war that has wrought carnage like that seen in Mosul and elsewhere. The best way to support troops is not with symbolic gestures and first-class seats, but by bringing them home safely, by ensuring that women in uniform are not subjected to what is an epidemic of sexual assault, and by providing dignified medical and psychological care. Those who today claim to demand respect for the troops show little in the way of respect for how they are treated in and out of the military.
Drexel also responded:
The recent social media comments by George Ciccariello-Maher, Associate Professor of Politics and Global Studies at Drexel, were made outside the classroom, are his own opinion and do not represent the University’s views. Drexel is committed to and vigorously supports our ROTC students, student veterans and alumni who have served in the military. Our support for student veterans has helped us create an inclusive campus culture that honors service and Drexel’s deep connection to American military history.
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