The Point(less): Goodbye, Comrade
Where we bid farewell to one of our main sources of inspiration.
It is with a heavy heart that we announce that one of our early—and still main—sources of inspiration, our beloved faculty staff union (FSU) Comrade, Vice President and communications officer, Jeff Melnick, is no more.
Don’t worry, he’s alive and well. He’s not even retiring. He merely stepped down from his role at the FSU to spend more time with his family or something.
Comrade, we here, at the Flickering Beacon are devastated by the news: you were the wind in our sails; you believed in us when no one else did; you even volunteered, without us asking, to give us a (somewhat thin-skinned) free publicity in our early days!
We are forever in your debt. You gave us so much to work with. You taught us…
That “attacks on Critical Race Theory” are a far right, white supremacy thing (and here we are, naively thinking that theories are made to be attacked and dismantled (or confirmed) as a part of the academic discourse, but apparently not all theories are made equal).
That any disagreement or mockery can be framed as an “attack”, depending on who gets “attacked” and how thin his/her skin is.
That obsessing over race and gender is fine. Calling out this obsession, on the other hand, makes you actively racist, homophobic and transphobic.
That academic freedom is very important, especially for a particular set of opinions. Never in a million years did we think you’d quote a true gem like “… these attacks will render public education unrecognizable: no tenure, no academic freedom, no teaching anything at all that might make a single student feel ‘uncomfortable’”. You almost stepped on our toes here, Comrade. For a second we thought you might have been our secret spy all along. We wonder whether you’d fiercely protect our freedom to say things that would make YOU feel uncomfortable. I guess we’ll never know now.
But it wasn’t all bad, you see. We even stood by your side on occasions. We really, sincerely did (see point 6 there). Even far-right white supremacists like us have hearts. Besides, the Kafkaesque charges of racism they pinned on you, using NPR as a hitman, could have easily happened to any of us. For us, however, Freedom of Expression knows no political affiliation, and we will defend your right to free speech regardless of whether we like said speech or hate it. Would you have helped us or hanged us to dry if the tables were turned? Again, I guess we’ll never know.
Time to say goodbye, Comrade. You may be gone, but not forgotten. Remember that if you ever get that itch again, and now that you have all this free time on your hands, there’s always a place for you here at the Flickering Beacon. Come join us on the dark side. We know you have it in you - you even tell Assistant Vice Chancellor jokes!
Lots of love from us, your secret admirers, here at the Flickering Beacon.
Guess the leopards ate his face, lol.