Monday, December 12, 2011

X-Post: Another Day, Another Bullshit Gratuitous Mention By Dishonest Donald Douglas

In a post primarily discussing a college professor's run-in with two Muslim students that resulted in the professor's resignation, Dishonest Don appended the following:
"No doubt Walter James "Occupy" Casper III would be down with that "female Muslim student." The dude called for an investigation of Pamela Geller and berates conservative counter-jihad bloggers as racist. For pro-terror progressives like Racist Repsac3, the professor had it coming and he obviously deserved to be out on his ass, pounding the pavement for a job."

Why?

Who the fuck knows...

As I've said before, if you want to know what professor Douglas is up to, the best way is often to watch what he accuses others of doing. The man claims I'm obsessed with him... ...and yet he won't stop lashing out with these nonsensical, counterfactual, gratuitous mentions in posts about other subjects, regardless of whether I write about him--or the subject in question--or not. His fact free suppositions about what he thinks I might believe or maybe would do as regards the main subject of these posts (the strand of thread he uses to drag me into his posts and then lash out at me for whatever dastardly belief or action he's invented for me in a given situation) are not supported by anything but his own fevered, hateful imagination. In most cases I've never even discussed the topic at hand, and even when I have, Donald doesn't quote me, making it far easier to put his words and ideas in my mouth and then attack his made-up bullshit version of what "I" actually said...

I get it... Dishonest Don doesn't like me... Of all the people he's fought with over the last several years, I'm obviously the one he most hates, for reasons known only to Donald himself... ...but dragging me into all these posts based solely on what he guesses I might say or believe about the subject at hand does little more than make ol' Don look pretty desperate to lash out at me. And if he really is so desperate that he's willing to throw these wild drunken punches at me as these bullshit "W James would no doubt..." posts make him seem, I actually feel kinda sorry for the guy...
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Added, after doing a bit more reading:

As for the subject of the post itself--the resignation of the professor--there seems to be more to the story than Dishonest Donald Douglas was willing to offer.

The professor's blog, Christian Apologetics Project--listed on the syllabus for the class in question--lists Islam, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses as cults rather than as religions, and reads a whole lot like the average Pamela Geller screed where Islam is concerned. (And for the record, yes, I do believe that Pam Geller is a bigot. The only Muslims she seems to approve of or in any way support are former Muslims or dead ones. She opposes Muslim religious services for US soldiers on military bases, and even at the Pentagon.

I'm fine with folks opposed to the strain of Islam that creates and feeds terrorism... ...but I don't believe that every Muslim is a potential terrorist any more than I believe every person practicing any other religion is... There are millions of Muslims throughout the world, and the vast majority never had and never will have a single "terrorist" thought. Those who fight against mosques, footbaths, religious services, etc, strictly because Muslims will use them are bigots. Pamela Geller--and yes, some of her "anti-Jihad" blogging followers and fellow travelers too--are indeed bigoted against all Muslims (except the ones who converted and the ones who are dead, of course.)

This news story (non-Fox, not Con blogger) paint a more nuanced picture of the situation: TCC Disputes That Professor Was Forced Out For His Beliefs - CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

I don't know what actually happened... (That's what I was trying to determine by googling the story.) But even reading Professor Derengowski's account, it sounds like he's got piss-poor classroom management skills, although--if his account is to be believed--the Muslim students behaved badly, no matter their complaint.

On the other hand, if the professor was teaching the kind of things posted on his website--and again, note that he listed his blog as a resource on the class syllabus, making it more than just his personal opinions on his personal blog--I could see where Muslim students (and Mormon students, and Jehovah's Witness students, and atheist students, too) would have a legitimate complaint against him. And according to the news story above anyway, at least one Muslim student (seemingly not one of the ones who caused the disturbance in class, though the article could be more clear on that point) says he was.

Contrary to Dishonest Don's wild guess, I don't know enough about the story to venture much of an opinion on the whole of the story. Here's what I can say:

I think the professor was right to report the student's threat. One cannot be too careful.

I think the students were right to report what they believed to be classroom bias to college administrators. The e-mail the student sent around was more than likely over the top and inappropriate, though I'd have to know what it actually said to really judge--and no, I'm not willing to take the professor's characterization of it as Gospel truth. I have no problem with anyone on either side speaking out and pleading their case, and to whatever extent the e-mail was an attempt to persuade the other students in the class that Professor Derengowski was teaching in a biased manner, I don't have much of a problem with it... ...just as I don't have a problem with Professor Derengowski telling his side of the story on his blog, essentially trying to persuade others that he was in the right...

And perhaps it is naive of me, but I find it hard to believe that the administrators of the college were biased against him, too. I'm not saying they were right to reprimand him or require that he change how he teaches the course... but I am saying that unlike me (or Dishonest Don, for that matter), they had all the facts before them, and more than likely made a fair and judicious decision based on what they saw and heard.

I generally trust the officials we put in place to judge such things, and believe that even when they do get it wrong, that wrong will be set right further up the chain. I hope the campus police investigated the student's threat, evaluated the seriousness of it, and acted accordingly. The same goes for the college administrators who looked into the student's complaints of bias by Professor Derengowski. I don't know that they were right, but barring evidence to the contrary, I trust that they were, because that is their job. If they were wrong, I hope it gets fixed, somehow. (The fact that the professor voluntarily resigned might make that more difficult, however...)

In the end, Professor Derengowski felt he was being treated poorly and chose to leave... ...but from what I can tell based on what little evidence is available, that wasn't the fault of these Muslim students or some so-called "Terroristic Act of Jihad" (a designation which itself ought to tell the reader something about the professor making the claim--no matter how vehement, arguing with a professor in class, lodging a complaint with his superiors, or even circulating any kind of fact sheet, diatribe, or petition against him via e-mail, are hardly "terrorist" acts); Professor Derengowski made that choice all on his own.
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Another Update: The more I read, the more I see why our Dr Douglas feels an affinity for Professor Derengowski. Those interested need only follow this link to read the professor's epic 13 page ranting diatribe against the two students who complained about him, in his own words. It is unprofessional, unethical, personally motivated holier-than-thou pompous clap-trap of exactly the sort our Dishonest Don regularly engages in when attacking others on his own blog. (Luckily, Donald has so far managed to keep himself from attacking his own students... ...though if he felt himself backed into a corner as a result of a complaint against him, is there anyone who doubts he would, the same way he's attacked those bloggers who've had the temerity to disagree with him?) A professor who would write a post like this, no matter the reason, almost certainly lacks the temperament and professional ethics required to teach. (And if Dr. Douglas keeps spewing the hate for all who disagree with him the way he has been, it'll likely be just a matter of time for him, as well...) YMMV...

According to Professor Derengowski:
1) the student quoted in the CBS article above was one of the two who lodged the complaint against him, and
2) he quotes portions of the text of the e-mail the female student sent to her classmates in his 13 page diatribe--though, again a lot like Dr. Douglas, he edits it, and intentionally hides her supporting links. (In his post, the quotes are interlaced with his own responses to them, some of which are pretty far "out there..." If you want to get a picture of who Dr. Douglas is defending, I urge you to follow the link (the same one I added above) and read it all, in context.) Judge for yourselves:
“Good morning classmates…
"I am Emailing you all some information that you might find interesting, relating to our World of Religions teacher."
"After the other day in class, I couldn’t help but feel that he was teaching my religion of Islam in such a hatred and bias way…"
"And to my findings, he was…”
This man has been teaching our class in his point of view, in the way that he thinks it should be…”
“He is not being informative about religions, but rather creating a religious intolerance.”
“This is a philosophy class, he is supposed to be opening our minds and getting us to understand why other people believe certain things…”
“I’m sure some of you have felt that he does slander other religions’ beliefs and speaks ill of some as well.”
“I knew me and Muhammad were not crazy speaking up against how he was teaching.”
“It wasn’t the information and facts we were debating against so much, he was teaching it all wrong, and taking so many things out of context, focusing on the ugly things instead of teaching the actual religion itself…”
“I will let you all read what our teacher has written about Islam and Mormonism, the two religions he continues to speak out against in our class.”
"I will not be attending this man’s class again, and I will be showing the dean of our school."
"By the way… He gave us both zero’s on our quizzes we fairly earned 6/6 on that day in class, and an absence because we left a few minutes early…"
"We weren’t going to sit there any longer and allow him to slander our beliefs the way he was that day…"
"Enjoy:”
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Links:
* American Power: Professor Paul Derengowski Resigns from Tarrant County College After Muslim Students Launch 'Terroristic Act of Jihad'
* Christian Apologetics Project
* TCC Disputes That Professor Was Forced Out For His Beliefs - CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
* Tell Them the Truth
* Donald Douglas: "Conservatives have proudly exhibited bigotry against Muslim prayer before"
* What'd I Say?: In Reply: There were Muslims involved; Of COURSE Geller and Spencer Objected...

* Wingnuts and Moonbats: Investigate Pamela Geller...

* Jihad Against Tarrant County College Professor Paul Derengowski - Atlas Shrugs
* Jihad Against Tarrant County College Professor Paul Derengowski�|�Conservatives for America
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An American Nihilist x-post

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