
Prof Suspended for Post Saying It’s ‘Admirable to Kill a Racist, Homophobic, or Transphobic Speaker’ | National Review
‘We have referred this to law enforcement agencies for further review.’


Michigan Professor Suspended for Post Saying It’s ‘Admirable to Kill …
archived 28 Mar 2023 02:29:54 UTC
By JEFF ZYMERI
March 27, 2023
A Michigan professor was suspended Monday for a post in which he said: “It is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.”

This came after the shouting down of Judge Kyle Duncan earlier this month at Stanford Law became a national news story. Whereas most have condemned the law students, including Stanford Law Dean Jenny Martinez [archive], the incident has provoked novel reactions from some observers. Professor Steven Shaviro of the Wayne State Department of English took to Facebook to post his views on free speech. A screenshot of his post can be found at the Volokh Conspiracy [archive].
“Every time protestors shout down a racist or transphobic speaker, they are indulging their own moral sense of validity at the expense of actually strengthening the very bigots against whom they are protesting,” Shaviro wrote. However, the professor did qualify his Sunday post by saying: “I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes.”
When the Wayne State administration learned of the post Monday, they suspended Shaviro with pay.
“We have on many occasions defended the right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we feel this post far exceeds the bounds of reasonable or protected speech. It is, at best, morally reprehensible and, at worst, criminal,” wrote Wayne State president M. Roy Wilson. “We have referred this to law enforcement agencies for further review and investigation.”
In Shaviro’s view, right-wing groups bring speakers on campus to elicit a reaction that discredits the Left.
“The protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes; the national and international press has a field day saying that bigots are the ones being oppressed, rather than the people those bigots actually hate being the victims of oppression,” Shaviro wrote in the Facebook post.
The exemplary historical figure in this regard is Sholem Schwarzbard, who assassinated the anti-Semitic butcher Symon Petliura, rather than trying to shout him down. Remember that Schwarzbard was acquitted by a jury, which found his action justified,” he continued.
Schwarzbad was a Jewish and Russian-born French poet, who in 1926 assassinated Petliura, the former head of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. The poet had lost family members in the 1919 pogroms and held Petliura responsible.
Shaviro’s Facebook post has now been deleted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Shaviro
http://www.shaviro.com/
http://www.shaviro.com/Blog/
Almost the entirety of his personal website and blog should be archived, with the exception of some PDFs.
Long story short, he's a nerdy Jewish Marxist academic who reviews films and books. He likes science fiction, is virulently anti-copyright, and he is/was a huge fan of Warren Ellis. He does not like Republicans one bit. If he did any significant post-2015 political sperging, it was probably on Facebook or his Twitter which is locked down rather than his 2003-2023 blog.

His recent Winter 2023 syllabus was the only one to contain a line like this:
Despite the fact that most of the films we will be discussing this semester were directed by white men, this class includes material related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.
Anti-Harry Potter-ism
A Note on “Cracker”
Testosterone Worship
Hereditary Succession
Blue Angels
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Meetups
Buffy
A Modest Proposal
Teletubbies
The Apprentice
Thirteen
Nader etc.
Jacki-O
Sympathy for Lynndie England
Ghostface, The Pretty Toney Album
archive.ph
Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004
Induce
The State of Literary Culture
Fahrenheit 9/11
Detroit
Please Don’t Kill Me
Republicans
Multitude
What Drugs is Bush On?
Irrational Exuberance
Nothing (George W. Bush reelected)
Race in the US Elections
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
archive.ph
Everything But the Burden (What White People Are Taking From Black Culture)
The Passion of the Christ
Insides (about his colon)
Creationism
Cognitive Dissonance
Free Speech (Anti-Muslim cartoons)
V for Vendetta
A McLuhanite Marxism?
k-punk on “Dis-identity Politics” (Response to V for Vendetta post)
archive.ph
Marx’s 188th
Why Porn Now?
Zizek/Hollywood
Sex + Love With Robots
Palin
An Issue That Won’t Go Away (Palin)
More electoral ruminations
A Note on Evil
Crisis (2008 financial crisis)
A Brief History of Celebrity (with special reference to Asia Argento)
archive.ph
Michael Jackson (dead)
archive.ph
Newt / Oulipo (poem about Newt Gingrich)
Work for Hire update (autism about academic copyright)
Sight and Sound greatest films poll
archive.ph
A Brief Remark on Zero Dark Thirty
archive.ph
Accelerationism discussion
More on Accelerationism
Spike Jonze’s HER
Accelerationism Without Accelerationism
archive.ph
Ray Brassier on Nick Land (pre-election Trump mention)
NFTs
Thoughts on transgression in the 21st century (intellectual dark web, Trump, etc.)
archive.ph
Grant Morrison, LUDA (total rejection of gender norms)

A Note on “Cracker”

Testosterone Worship

Hereditary Succession

Blue Angels

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

Meetups

Buffy

A Modest Proposal

Teletubbies

The Apprentice

Thirteen

Nader etc.

Jacki-O

Sympathy for Lynndie England

Ghostface, The Pretty Toney Album

Ghostface, The Pretty Toney Album – The Pinocchio Theory
archived 29 Mar 2023 08:46:45 UTC
Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004

Induce

The State of Literary Culture

Fahrenheit 9/11

Detroit

Please Don’t Kill Me

Republicans

Multitude

What Drugs is Bush On?

Irrational Exuberance

Nothing (George W. Bush reelected)

Race in the US Elections

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle – The Pinocchio Theory
archived 29 Mar 2023 09:08:27 UTC
Everything But the Burden (What White People Are Taking From Black Culture)

The Passion of the Christ

Insides (about his colon)

Creationism

Cognitive Dissonance

Free Speech (Anti-Muslim cartoons)

V for Vendetta

A McLuhanite Marxism?

k-punk on “Dis-identity Politics” (Response to V for Vendetta post)

k-punk on “Dis-identity Politics” – The Pinocchio Theory
archived 29 Mar 2023 09:55:49 UTC
Marx’s 188th

Why Porn Now?

Zizek/Hollywood

Sex + Love With Robots

Palin

An Issue That Won’t Go Away (Palin)

More electoral ruminations

A Note on Evil

Crisis (2008 financial crisis)

A Brief History of Celebrity (with special reference to Asia Argento)

A Brief History of Celebrity (with special reference to Asia Argento)…
archived 29 Mar 2023 11:18:07 UTC
Michael Jackson (dead)

New APPS Interview: Steven Shaviro
Today’s New APPS interview is with Steven Shaviro, DeRoy Professor of English at Wayne State University. Thanks for doing this interview with us, Steven. Let’s start with your personal practice of scholarly work. What are the pleasures and pains of scholarship for you? How do you experience...
www.newappsblog.com

New APPS Interview: Steven Shaviro - New APPS: Art, Politics, Philoso…
archived 29 Mar 2023 11:48:11 UTC
Newt / Oulipo (poem about Newt Gingrich)

Work for Hire update (autism about academic copyright)

Sight and Sound greatest films poll

Sight and Sound greatest films poll – The Pinocchio Theory
archived 29 Mar 2023 12:03:07 UTC
A Brief Remark on Zero Dark Thirty

A Brief Remark on Zero Dark Thirty – The Pinocchio Theory
archived 29 Mar 2023 12:10:35 UTC
Accelerationism discussion

More on Accelerationism

Spike Jonze’s HER

Accelerationism Without Accelerationism

Accelerationism Without Accelerationism – The Pinocchio Theory
archived 10 Jun 2017 22:01:27 UTC
Ray Brassier on Nick Land (pre-election Trump mention)

NFTs

Thoughts on transgression in the 21st century (intellectual dark web, Trump, etc.)

Thoughts on transgression in the 21st century – The Pinocchio Theory
archived 29 Mar 2023 13:06:53 UTC
Grant Morrison, LUDA (total rejection of gender norms)
