Fiat Lux

Orcinus has an update on the ongoing mess that C-SPAN is making out of trying to cover Deborah Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court With David Irving”. he also points to an article at Salon (sorry, registration and/or watching a commercial required) whith this nice graf:

Sooner or later, every Jew who perceives anti-Semitism as an encroaching danger gets described as hysterical or paranoid. The flattering self-deception at the root of that reaction is a way of consigning anti-Semitism to the past, of saying, “Surely we’ve become more civilized than that.” “History on Trial” makes the case, as did “Lying About Hitler,” that we have not become so civilized we are above tolerating David Irving.

Indeed. I also note the following news item today:

A professor who taught history this semester at Fairleigh Dickinson University made disparaging remarks about blacks and Jews on an Internet broadcast and is an active member of a group that calls itself “America’s Nazi Party.”

The university last week relieved Jacques Pluss of his classroom duties, but not because of his white supremacist views. Officials at the Teaneck campus said he missed too many classes.

Pluss said his membership in the National Socialist Movement, the largest neo-Nazi organization in the country, did not color his teaching. The derogatory remarks were made during a Web cast he hosts called “White Viewpoint” on the organization’s site.

On the one hand, I recognize that is it somewhat suspect to fire a professor for holding unpopular views. That’s an approach too easily abused. But still, the fact the that University had to fire the guy for missing too many classes instead of because he’s a racist, anti-semitic bigot is just a little nuts.