Synopsis:

Kevin Barrett responds to Governor Doyle's statement yesterday (Friday 7/7/06) that Barrett's recent letter to Doyle raises further questions about Barrett's ability to teach Islam 370 at the University of Wisconsin this fall.

Dear Governor Doyle,

Thank you for responding to my recent letter. I am sure most of your constituents get brief form-letter responses from you, so finding my letter the subject of a press conference and a major news story was quite an honor. (The letter is archived at http://mujca.com/governordoyle.htm; scroll down for my mock-questionnaire for UW teachers.)

I think you're basically a good guy -- I used to play pick-up basketball with you at the Nat, and I know you're a ferocious but fair competitor -- so I would like to explain that my letter was intended in the spirit of friendly satire, not mean-spirited sarcasm. I studied absurdist literature at an impressionable age, and grew fond of this style of saying serious things in a humorous way.

My headline "Lecturer Threatens Governor's Job" was a humorous "man bites dog" inversion of the story from a few days earlier, when the governor had threatened a lecturer's job on the basis of political views espoused on a radio program. As conservative professor Donald Downs has written, this kind of threat represents a wholesale rollback of the prevailing norms of academic freedom. The "Lecturer Threatens Governor's Job" headline was also intended to underscore the point that public officials are hired and fired at will by the people, and that it is the ordinary person -- the $8,000-a-semester lecturer in this case -- who should be hiring and firing the governor, not vice-versa. Effrontery? Unmitigated audacity? Sure. That's the fun of it. As I told Aaron Nathans the other day, there is no Arabic word for chutzpah, but I'm trying to invent one.

As for my questionnaire, that was intended to underscore the point that there is a very important debate in progress that touches on the issues raised in my questions. On one side of the debate are those who promote a mythical view of history designed to inculcate a kind of fundamentalist religious faith in American exceptionalism-- the idea that while other governments are corrupt, suffer coups d'etat and inside-job assassinations, have their democratic institutions undermined by plutocrats, use false-flag attacks to trigger wars of aggression, and so on, nothing like this could ever possibly happen here. On the other side are historians, journalists and intellectuals who are critically examining and debating the events listed in my questionnaire, and their implications for our society.

If you want the University of Wisconsin to function as a state church that inculcates fundamentalist religious faith in American exceptionalism, my questionnaire would be a good way to weed out potential heretics. If, on the other hand, you want the University to remain true to its tradition of "fearless sifting and winnowing" and its motto "the truth will set you free," people who raise questions about these issues, and debate them rationally on the basis of evidence, should be sought out and hired, not hunted down and fired.

While I have built up a loyal readership at MUJCA in part on the basis of my satirical writings, some readers have suggested that now that I am reaching a broader audience I should go easy on the satire and speak more straightforwardly, in a manner more in keeping with the conventional tone of academia. Their advice is well taken, and I apologize if my previous letter gave rise to misunderstandings and confusion. In particular, you should know that my speech and writings as a satirist and activist are completely different, in tone, style, and content, from my speech in the classroom.

I would be happy to meet with you, in public or in private, to discuss my teaching record and philosophy and my plans and syllabus for the fall section of Islam 370. I also hope to participate in scholarly debates about the evidence for and against the adequacy of the 9/11 Commission Report -- debates which I believe will sooner or later change your opinion, and received opinion in general, about this gravely important matter.

Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Kevin Barrett

Religious Leaders Outreach Program MUJCA-NET can help arrange for a 9/11 Truth outreach person to speak to a priest, imam, rabbi or minister in your area. We can also help arrange for a speaker to visit your church, synagogue or mosque and/or meet with members of your religious group (all religions welcome). We can also provide 9/11-related educational materials as finances permit. Click here for more information	Media Interview Requests MUJCA-NET may be able to arrange media interviews with, and guest appearances by, its founders, endorsers, and supporters in your area. It's an amazing story--Jews, Christians and Muslims uniting to fight for 9/11 truth and put an end to the bogus "war on terror" along with the escalating violence between the Abrahamic faiths. Click here for more information.
Eminent Theologian David Griffin Sparks 9/11 Truth Groundswell David Griffin, one of America's most eloquent and influential theologians, has summed up the overwhelming evidence for US government 9/11 complicity in in his bestseller The New Pearl Harbor. (Read Marc Estrin's review.) (Listen to Pacifica radio interview.) Dr. Griffin's follow-up book, The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions, demolishes the last shreds of doubt that 9/11 was an inside job, and the official story a transparent cover-up.	Day of Prayer for 9/11 Truth Jews, Christians and Muslims from around the world are uniting to pray for 9/11 truth every Friday afternoon. (Muslim congregational prayer occurs shortly after noon on Fridays.) Muslims are asking God to end the nazi-style persecution aimed at them, and related political violence perpetrated by all sides, by helping reveal the the truth about what happened on 9/11. All are invited to join. Click here to find out how.
Please Support MUJCA-NET MUJCA-NET needs your support. We are a non-profit organization and the scale of our activities depends entirely on your generosity. We would like to get copies of David Griffin's two 9/11 books (see above) into the hands of every religious leader in America. And we would like to push 9/11 truth onto the front pages of every newspaper in America. But we can't do it without your help. If you would like to donate to MUJCA-NET, click here.	Book-in-Progress: The Myth of 9/11 MUJCA-NET co-founder Kevin Barrett is writing a book entitled The Myth of 9/11: An American Muslim Speaks Out. Dr. Barrett, an Arabist specializing in the analysis of myth, literature and folklore, argues that the official story of 9/11 is a myth, both in the popular sense of an untrue story, and the scholarly sense of a founding narrative legitimizing a particular social order. Preview and comment on The Myth of 9/11.

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