tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post3168473430057824131..comments2024-03-12T14:31:50.264-07:00Comments on Bits and Pieces: Will Colleges Self-Censor?Harry Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17088418333536732728noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-33729230596372922962013-11-10T12:10:38.850-08:002013-11-10T12:10:38.850-08:00My argument (linked by Harry Lewis above under &qu...My argument (linked by Harry Lewis above under "Plenty has been written") is that many of these ventures will hasten not explosive conflicts or scandals, although they well may, but, more often, an all-too-smooth convergence of what The Economist magazine calls American and Asian "state capitalism" -- a convergence in modes of surveillance and suppression that is already underway in American universities at home as well as abroad. <br /><br />A year ago a Yale student group asked me to give a talk in which I caution that "self-censorship of fear" (fear of the state or a corporate employer) meshes easily with what I called the "self-censorship of seduction" that's common on elite American campuses -- the kind of self-censorship that students practice almost enthusiastically if they think it'll get them closer to Power in one form or another. In the talk, I mentioned students in Stanley McChrystal's class on "Leadership" in Yale's Jackson Institute -- a class which its students decline to discuss or describe to anyone who hasn't taken it:<br /><br />http://www.washingtonspectator.org/index.php/Blog/entry/yale-singapore-and-the-business-of-liberal-arts-a-galloping-culture-of-self-censorship.html<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-12527826709853730282013-11-10T10:21:42.870-08:002013-11-10T10:21:42.870-08:00The "arrangements" abroad strike me as o...The "arrangements" abroad strike me as obviously reprehensible, but the weakness I find in all these discussions is the apparent presupposition that all is quite well with respect to freedom of expression here in America. In reality, we have our own "arrangements," with members of the academic community either benignly shrugging their shoulders in the face of oppression or even, on occasion, actively participating in it when their own interests are at stake. Here are a few examples:<br /><br />1. Prosecutors press charges against Aaron Swartz, driving him to suicide, after he seeks open online access to thousands of articles freely available in many a public library.<br /><br />2. Prosecutors in the nation's cultural capital, with the cooperation of several NYU officials, instigate a witch hunt against an academic whistle-blower who sent out emails mocking a well-connected university department chairman for his alleged plagiarism. See:<br /><br />http://raphaelgolbtrial.wordpress.com/<br /><br />At the ensuing trial, the accused is prevented from introducing any evidence that his accusations (first made by an Israeli journalist in 1993) were true, on the grounds that "neither good faith nor truth is a defense"; but the prosecution is allowed to argue that the accused made "false accusations." According to New York prosecutors, "the allegations of plagiarism are false." This claim by government prosecutors does not seem to trouble anyone in the academic community. Nor does it seem to trouble anyone that the judge who presided over this persecution was specifically selected by the prosecutors.<br /><br />3. Prosecutors, again in the nation's cultural capital, hunt down and arrest an artist who created fake "NYPD drone" ads, an obvious act of political satire. See:<br /><br />http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/2/3718094/street-artist-nypd-drone-posters-arrested-surveillance <br /><br />4. Authorities arrest and prosecute individuals who write anti-bank slogans in chalk on the sidewalk in San Diego and elsewhere.<br /><br />5. A journalist, Barret Brown, faces over 100 years in prison for posting a link on the Internet. Other whistle-blowers are notoriously persecuted. We read about these things in the newspaper, but there is no sign whatsoever of any concerted movement to stop it in the academic world.<br /><br />Is this the humane America of our ideals? The line between democracy and fascism is very thin, and one worries that a combination of various factors (e.g., hypocrisy, back-biting, cowardliness, arrogance and indifference to suffering) has resulted in negligence at home while we naively proceed with our "arrangements" abroad.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05773663235313874763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-43196914440677700732013-11-10T07:40:37.404-08:002013-11-10T07:40:37.404-08:00My own experience with Chinese translations is int...My own experience with Chinese translations is interesting. "Excellence Without a Soul" was translated in its entirety by ECNU press. They did a superb job, which I know because the translator worked with me and I had a native Chinese speaker at Harvard check every word. I had nothing to do with the translation of "Blown to Bits" by Posts & Telecom Press. When I received a copy, I was curious to see how the chapter on Internet censorship was handled. It seems to be missing in its entirety! I can't read the text but I can identify the chapters by the illustrations, and the illustrations from that chapter are not in the translation.<br /><br />Since that chapter is only 30 pages out of a 350 page book, I suppose I could say that more than 90% of the book is now available in China and I should think that is a great thing for China. Instead I am resolved to read my next book contract more closely and to retain editorial control over my translation. I respect my friend Ezra's different choice, but it is not one I would wittingly make.<br /><br />I am glad things are going well for Yale-NUS. But the two halves of your post are dissonant. The first suggests that some censorship is OK because getting something published is better than getting nothing. The second part says that censorship does not exist at Yale-NUS, even self-censorship -- a remarkable assertion: nobody thought but decided not to say something out of fear of the reaction. The fact that you claim to know that makes me skeptical about the rest of your cheerful account, though I have no doubt it has in fact been a very nice experience for all.Harry Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17088418333536732728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3116442395849122822.post-73726050624858100362013-11-10T06:57:47.340-08:002013-11-10T06:57:47.340-08:00Dear Prof. Lewis,
I read this post with great int...Dear Prof. Lewis,<br /><br />I read this post with great interest. I wonder what your take on your colleague Ezra Vogel's decision to accept censorship of his biography of Deng Xiaopeng in China is. <br /><br />“To me the choice was easy,” he said during a book tour of China that drew appreciative throngs in nearly a dozen cities. “I thought it was better to have 90 percent of the book available here than zero.”<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/world/asia/authors-accept-censors-rules-to-sell-in-china.html<br /><br />Is this not a compromise? What would you say would be "the difference between deference to authoritarian power and ordinary academic horse trading" in Vogel's case?<br /><br />We're heading into our last week of classes at Yale-NUS in Singapore. I'm happy to report that we've had no cases of internal or external self-censorship. We've hosted the outspoken local blogger Alex Au, the parents of the slain gay teen Matthew Shepard, and next week Cherian George, the professor who was denied tenure at Nanyang Technological University, is coming.<br /><br />We're teaching Augustine's Confessions in Literature and Humanities. My colleagues are reading the Buddhist classic Questions to King Milinda in Philosophy. And in Comparative Social Institution they're talking about race and politics. <br /><br />The intellectual and political life of the college is flourishing.<br /><br />sincerely,<br />Andrew Hui<br /><br />Yale-NUS CollegeAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02595637616117891892noreply@blogger.com