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DearProfessorMoglenAnOpenLetter 7 - 07 Apr 2010 - Main.JessicaCohen
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| | Dear Professor Moglen,
I am writing this letter because I think you provide a vital voice to the Columbia Law School community, and because the time you devote to students in office hours and the work you do on the wiki is more than commendable and should be more common. However, though you are one of the most engaging and dedicated professors I have encountered at CLS thus far, its not all just peachy. | | | One of the legs on which this class stands is that of the presumption of kinship. We are all descendants of a mitochondrial Eve, and to hide this fact is to give ourselves permission to oppress what Eben calls the other. Thus, we hear Eben's eloquent insistence on the humanity's collective right to a fair shot. We owe the same respect to the Afghan children who are killed by our bullets, to the crippled Bangladeshi computer student, and to the hardworking librarians at the Supreme Court. Even more than respect, it is incumbent on us, as lawyers, to advocate for those who will need us the most. We need to save Joe Stack from himself. | |
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< | It is curious to me, then, that this same respect is not extended to our kin who have been dealt a set of cards that have ended up to be most favorable to him or her. If we recognize that we are all kin, and that recognition demands a level of respect for everyone, it should extend to EVERYONE-- blood sucking capitalists deserve it just as much as misguided men who fly planes into buildings. | >
> | It is curious to me, then, that this same respect is not extended to our kin who have been dealt a set of cards that have ended up to be most favorable to him or her. If we recognize that we
are all kin, and that recognition demands a level of respect for everyone, it should extend to EVERYONE-- blood sucking capitalists deserve it just as much as misguided men who fly planes into buildings. | | | I find the name-calling offensive, rude, and demeaning to me as a student and as a person. It is the most resounding flaw in this class and every time Eben does it I cringe at how he is undermining himself and my admiration for him. Eben talks about the most oppressed groups of society with a level of empathy that is unmatched and that extends to his fight for freedom. I couldn't imagine him talking about stupid and lazy poor people, or homeless people who are idiots and morons. Unfortunately, I have heard him use these words with respect to people in his owner class. | | | @Art: This was ballsy. But unfortunately I think you shot yourself in the foot by stooping to the level - a low one, if I read you correctly - of saying that a professor is "pissing" on you. If nothing else, I think this class (and conversation) should make us try to know as much as we can about what we intend to argue - and to be able to take on the Ebens on the opposite side of the table. (There are a lot of morons out there.)
-- JessicaCohen - 07 Apr 2010 | |
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Also- I guess this is for Nona, but I think the name-calling makes us cringe (I'm talking about professors/the Dean and not students now) because it's those high-powered individuals to whom we are supposed to defer most. Why would Eben call a random poor (powerless) person "stupid?" We aren't up against them - nor are we living according to their rules. The crude name-calling - again not always justified - pulls the rug out from people we often don't question.
-- JessicaCohen - 07 Apr 2010 | | | |
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