Jean Rohe Why I Spoke Up (at New School ) where McCain gave speech.

[rodeodance]

Shortcut to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-rohe/why-i-spoke-up_b_21358.html
Jean Rohe

05.20.2006
Why I Spoke Up

............The rest is a blur. I didn't have a high school graduation, so I was kind of looking forward to the whole ceremony of it, but all I remember is suddenly being in a robe, walking down the aisle of the MSG Theater to the cheers of my friends (who, incidentally, had no idea what to expect) and then I was on stage staring out at thousands of people and trying not to vomit. Eventually I spoke, and everyone loved it. And McCain spoke and we all had a bit of déjà vu. Then some other people spoke and I tried to pay attention but I couldn't stop gawking at the protesters in the audience. And just before the end of the ceremony Bob Kerrey asked if I wanted to walk out with McCain. I said that would be OK. Kerrey led me over to him as the recessional music began, and I took McCain's arm. "I'm sorry, man," I told him, "I just had to do it." He mumbled something about it being alright, but I think he probably would've rather not had me there. It really wasn't his fault that he got invited into a pit of very well-educated vipers, and it really wasn't my fault that I did what I had to do in the situation. Had he been speaking at something other than our graduation, or had he spoken about almost anything other than his life and his position on the Iraq War and Darfur it might have been OK. But what did he expect? Campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination at the New School is like trying to catch fish in a swimming pool. It was just totally out of place. Many thanks go to the people in the audience who managed to capture with a few yelled and widely-quoted phrases, just exactly what was going on there.

I suppose I've written enough already, none of which has been particularly journalistic. But I do feel that I need to respond to a couple of things that have been floating around in the news. It's been noted in several columns that anti-McCain sentiment coming from the left may actually help him to garner support from the conservatives by giving him the opportunity to paint us as extremist liberals, so we should all keep our mouths shut. I say we need some "extremist liberals" if we're ever going to get our democracy back. Others have said that he's a moderate at heart and that we should let him continue pandering to the religious right so he can get the vote. Once he gets into office he'll show his true colors and be the centrist he always was. I don't buy that. People who truly care about human beings don't vote for an unjust war, among other things, simply as a political maneuver. Enough said.

More importantly, I feel obligated to respond to one thing that McCain told the New York Times. "I feel sorry for people living in a dull world where they can't listen to the views of others," he said. This is just preposterous. Yes, McCain was undoubtedly shouted-out and heckled by people who were not politely absorbing his words so as to consider them fully from every angle. But what did he expect? We could've all printed out his speech and chanted it with him in chorus. Did he think that no one knew exactly what he was about to say? And it was precisely because we listen to the views of others, and because, as I said in my speech, we don't fear them, that we as a school were able to mount such a thorough and intelligent opposition to his presence. Ignorant, closed-minded people would not have been able to do what we did. We chose to be in New York for our years of higher education for the very reason that we would be challenged to listen to opposing viewpoints each and every day and to deal with that challenge in a nonviolent manner. We've gotten very good at listening to the views of others and learning how to also make our views heard, even when we don't have the power of national political office and the media on our side.

I think we must remember that as big as this moment may seem to me today and perhaps to other supporters who are reading this article, this is a very small victory in a time when democracy is swiftly eroding under the pressure of the right wing in this country. We all have much work to do, and for the most part the media do not represent us, the small people who don't hold any special titles but who feel the weight of our government's actions on our backs each and every day. I never expected to get the opportunity to speak the way I did yesterday, but I'm so glad that I did. I hope that other people found strength in my act of protest and will one day find themselves in my position, drawing out their own bravery to speak truth.


Here's my commencement speech:

If all the world were peaceful now and forever more,......

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. OVER AN HOUR AND NO REPLIES!!???

Ya'll should be ashamed

K & R for this brave young voice. :bounce:

[Demit]

3. ashamed of what? being asleep at 1 in the morning?

She's a bright articulate young woman & I applaud her decision to speak.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. It's only 10pm on the Left Coast...

sshhhh! go back to sleep. :)

[slor]

2. Maybe there is hope for the...

future.

[Vidar]

5. Good for her!

[Loge23]

6. The WSJ calls it "Days of Rage"!!! must read!

Ms. Rohe hit a nerve with her brave stand. It's people like her who really drive progress simply by seizing a moment. It has captured the attention - and ire - of the wrongright. The following is from an editorial in today's WSJ - always entertaining but today's was a howler!

"Rude college kids and left-wing professors are hardly a new story. But the ugliness of the New School crowd towards Mr. McCain reveals the peculiar rage that now animates so many on the political left.
""The senator does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded", said Jean Sara Rohe, which makes us wonder what ideals, and manners, she learned at home." The editorial then continues with Ms. Rohe's succinct observation about the "havoc" caused by this administration.
Editorial: "Speaking of havoc, Ms. Rohe spoke only blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center."
The editorial continues with a lament about Ned Lamont's strong showing against right-wing fave Joe Lieberman in CT.
The finale: "We doubt all of this will help Democrats with the larger electorate, which whatever its doubts about Iraq does not want a precipitous surrender. Americans haven't trusted a liberal Democrat with the White House during wartime since Vietnam, which is where the seeds of the current antiwar rage were planted. The great mistake that leading Democrats and anti-Communist liberals made during Vietnam was not speaking up against a left that was demanding our retreat and sneering at our war heroes. Will any Democrat speak up now?"

I would gladly link it but the WSJ jerks block access to the online even to print subscribers.
We spend a lot of time with like-minded folks either here or in daily life. Many of us have acquaintances or family who think like this editorial. It's hard to believe, but they're out there!