The Harvard Social Studies Major's Fiftieth Anniversary Party...

Looks like it may be exciting!

You see, Harvard has a Marty Peretz problem. Here's Benjamin Sarlin: Harvard's Marty Peretz Problem.

Marty Peretz asks: do I have to pretend I think Muslims should have free speech?

This statement does two things:

1. It declares that Peretz believes that a billion Muslims should not have free speech.
2. It announces that any future declarations by Peretz that he thinks Muslims should have free speech are not to be taken seriously--are "pretense."

There are risks involved in a university honoring a guy who is out there with an unretractable statement that he thinks a billion people in the world should not have free speech rights.

As so often, the best thing on this is by James Fallows:

A Primer on Bigotry

Here is the Marty Peretz paragraph in The New Republic:

The New York Times Laments "A Sadly Wary Misunderstanding Of Muslim-Americans." But Really Is It "Sadly Wary" Or A "Misunderstanding" At All? | The New Republic: frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.

It is worth noting--as a matter of communication--that Peretz has written a paragraph that it is logically impossible for him to ever recant. He asks his readers whether he needs to "honor" "these people" and "pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the first amendment."

Thus any statement Marty should make to withdraw or amend falls under the shadow of his "pretend." Any withdrawal or amendment becomes a statement that "yes, I do need to pretend--but I don't mean it."

I did warn them...

Brad DeLong to ejdionne, jamie.gorelick, dfaust
show details Sep 6 (10 days ago)

I have to ask: Have you thought about the long-term risks?

Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 11:42 AM, XXXXXXXX XXXXX@fas.harvard.edu wrote:

a number of our alumni, led by Jamie Gorelick and EJ Dionne, have created an endowed student research fund in honor of Martin Peretz, who taught in Social Studies for many years. The fund will support undergraduate thesis research, special projects, and the kinds of intellectual inquiry that Marty encouraged in his students. It is a wonderful gift for our students..."

September 6, 2010, Marty Peretz wrote:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/77475/the-new-york-times-laments-sadly-wary-misunderstanding-muslim-americans-really-it-sadly-w The New York Times Laments "A Sadly Wary Misunderstanding Of Muslim-Americans." But Really Is It "Sadly Wary" Or A "Misunderstanding" At All?: "Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.

Yours,

J. Bradford DeLong