T'aint Funny, McGee

For John, BLUF:  We need to give others some space; to not expect them to hew to some narrow way.  And, we need to be watching to see if Russia is stirring our pot, generating hate and discontent.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Russia-linked Twitter account helped Drexel professor’s ‘White Genocide’ tweet go viral, prompting university investigation

This posting to the web site of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education—FIRE is by Mr Adam Steinbaugh, 20 October 2017.

Here are the first two paragraphs:

Last week, Drexel University placed political science professor George Ciccariello-Maher on involuntary leave and barred him from campus, citing a “growing number of threats” directed at him over his personal political views.  (As of yesterday, he was allowed to resume teaching his undergraduate courses — but only by “synchronous online instruction.”  In other words, via video.)  Ciccariello-Maher’s suspension was the culmination of months of outrage over his tweets, beginning with a tweet that first drew anger from white nationalists before the mainstream media picked it up — with, apparently, help from @TEN_GOP, the “Unofficial Twitter of Tennessee Republicans,” which, it turns out, was actually operated by the Russia-based and Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency.

In other words, Drexel University launched an investigation into a professor’s off-campus speech, then suspended him, after a Russian “troll farm” helped send his tweet viral.

I have some sympathy for Professor George Ciccariello-Maher.  I too have said things that I thought were clever or funny, only to find that the rest of the world has no sense of humor, no interest in the absurdity of much of life.

My other thought is that we should give applause to the Russians at the Internet Research Agency.  They invented @TEN_GOP and then used it to foment hate and discontent in these United States.  They are good at what they do.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff