>>It invites violence against them and their families.<<
You may well be correct, but isn't it always the case that ideas have consequences?
Pipes thinks we are at war with a certain ideology, and he thinks that there are apologists for this ideology who are teaching it to students who are too young, naive and ill informed to understand what is happening.
"Outing" the opposition, as you suggested, is what McCarthyism was about, but it turns out that McCarthy was right about some things. McCarthy has been made into a scary puppet to brandish at your opponents, like Hitler, or "hypocrisy" -- it's supposed to stop debate.
"Outing" the opposition during times of war has a long, checkered history -- think of fifth columns and Quislings. If we have the academic equivalent of Tokyo Rose and Lord Haha taking refuge behind the tenure system, we should at least know about it.
So, should they be safe to tell lies to our children? Because that's what you're arguing. No accountability.
Yes, it's unpleasant to contemplate, but the alternative is also unpleasant to contemplate. |
