Treason on the Campus: Portland Professor teaches anti-American course on "Enmification"

Portland State University ^ | July 9, 2005 | nwrep

[nwrep]

I am starting a new monthly series on Freerepublic.com titled "Treason on Campus." This will profile a new US Professor each month, and give a description of the classes they teach, their governing philosophy, examples of anti-Americanism, and any other relevant information I can dig up.

This series is intended to inform and educate readers about the socio-political propaganda carried out on American campuses under the guise of education, and help equip them to counter such destructive influences.
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Amanda Byron, Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution

For the first installment in this series, I have chosen Portland State University (Portland, Ore.) Professor Amanda Byron, a faculty member of the "Conflict Resolution Graduate Program" at PSU.

Among the courses she teaches are the following:

Introduction to Conflict Resolution

Enmification: The Art and Consequence of Enemy Making

Facilitation

Restorative Justice

Of these, the curiously titled course "Enmification" deserves some attention. Here is the course description from her website:

Enmification

The Art and Consequence of Enemy Making

Course Description: This one credit course will explore the United States’ fascination with the making of enemies. We will consider the various influences that contribute to a climate of ready hatred, considering the many political, social and economic motivations, as well as their ramifications.

Suggested Reading/Viewing:

Blazemore G. and Schiff, M. (2001). Restorative Community Justice: Repairing Harm and Transforming Communities. Cincinnati OH: Anderson Publishing.

Keen, Sam (1986). Faces of the Enemy: Reflection of the Hostile Imagination. San Francisco: Harper and Row.

Moyers, Bill (2004). Beyond Hate [Television Broadcast]. Washington, DC: PBS.

Reiber, Robert W. (1991). The Psychology of War and Peace: The Image of the Enemy. New York, NY: Plenum Press.

Zehr, H. (2002). The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Intercourse PA: Good Books.

Ms. Byron describes her personal influences and philosophies in an autobiographical section on her website. Excerpts follow:

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Autobiography

Growing up in atheistic household, I am always amused at how spiritually I define myself, and how diverse the spiritual influences of my childhood truly were. My mother is a secular Jew who came to the United States with her family, refugees from Germany during the Holocaust. My father grew up in the Methodist Church in Texas, but was greatly influenced by his Catholic Mother, and self identified as an athiest. My step-father is a practicing Buddhist, with Taoist leanings. I have chosen the Sufi path, on which I have been walking for over a dozen years. The initial lure of this path was the ecumenical nature of it, including practices from all of the world's traditions as an acknowledgement of the unity of all religious and spiritual ideals. I married a fellow Sufi, who grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Church studying Norse Mythology, and who has subsequently become a Muslim. When our son was born a year ago I discovered some of the inescapable bonds to my Judaism, which I am currently exploring.

I have been surprised to find that the story of my mother's life has had the most profound influence on my life, and on who I have become. This is ironic because the story I refer to is not one she tells. As with many refugees, from the Holocaust and from other wars and autrocities, my mother identifies with her successes and accomplishments -- not with the circumstances that victimized her people. I grew up believing that the terms "Jew" and "German" were synonymous (and, ironically in the face of today's cultural climate, that "Christian," "Texan" and "American" were also synonymous). I was taught differently when I was ten years old, babysitting for the Feldmans across the street. Perhaps other Jewish children learn about the Holocaust from their parents, I only know that I did not, which was of great concern to Mrs. Feldman.

I pieced together the story of my mother's adventurous exodus from Germany, and her family's subsequent struggle to learn a new language and culture. The emotions of the story were always downplayed, not wanting to make our history sound desperate or our selves sound like the losers. My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again. The pictures that were painted always showed my family with chins raised high, too sophisticated and too worldly for the circumstances that they happened upon. And God never found a way into any of these stories.

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As can be expected, Faculty members of the Conflict Resolution Program are activists in their spare time, and promote various leftist radical causes on the campus.

This department also sponsors the annual "War, Peace, and Media Conference", which will be held on July 8-9 this year on the PSU campus. This year's keynote speaker is Medea Benjamin, co-director of the radical anti-war group "Code Pink" . She will also be signing her book "Stop the Next War Now" at this conference.

[GSlob]

"Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution" - must be an euphemism for Marine Corps Sniper School.

[nwrep]

PING

[lilylangtree]

Egads! And this thing has access to the minds of our children is unbelievable! Holy Hannah! Ward Churchill is no aberration in education.

[SandRat]

Hey prof read this then shut up!

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands, which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

--Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776

[Mr. Mojo]

"Conflict Resolution Graduate Program"

I don't even know what that means. Are classical majors/programs like engineering, history, and economics still taught at liberal schools?

[bitt]

puke!

[hsalaw]

From Byron's "autobiography": "I have chosen the Sufi path"

She would have been better off choosing the STFU path.

[Logical me]

This sounds like a useful project. The radical professors should be exposed.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Don't think there's enough bandwidth.

[Restorer]

My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again.

Enjoy your delusions.

[M Kehoe]

This may be an interesting series. Maybe we could use your professor list for sedition trials? Is sedition still a punishable offense? Apparently not. Benjamin and Churchill are still running around free. McDermitt, Murray, Waters, Soros, oh never mind, too many to list...

5.56mm

[Mr. Mojo]

"I have chosen the Sufi path, on which I have been walking for over a dozen years."

Not surprising. Sufism is an Islamic sect.

[Fiddlstix]

Presented as a Public Service
Certain FReepers may need this

Click the Pic

[in hoc signo vinces]

Intellectual Idiot PING!

[Xenophon450]

Sometimes professors are some of the most ignorant people EVER. Its funny how much Arrogance a PhD will inject into people.

[daviscupper]

Thanks for undertaking this project. It is very important for tax payers and parents to realize what their taxes and tuition payments are buying. I am sure your efforts will surprise many who have not been on campus in the last twenty years. Be careful. I suspect you will come under heavy fire from those who make a living in the ivory tower. Wear your flak vest! Thank you and good luck.

[in hoc signo vinces]

"P"ortland "S"tate "U"niversity suck..Professor! So why don't you get a clue or STFU!

[Fintan]

As can be expected, Faculty members...are activists in their spare time, and promote various leftist radical causes on the campus.

 

And all on Mom & Dad's and the taxpayer's dime.

[Podkayne]

My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again

The author is living in an alternate universe. HA Ha - see the funny Nazis - and her mothers "adventurous" escape from Nazi Germany is so cute too.

[OSHA]

.... must be an euphemism for Marine Corps Sniper School.

LOL One shot, one conflict resolved.

Naw! Doesn't have the same ring to it.

[clintonh8r]

Great idea. You should try to get "Treason on Campus" picked up by the press in the towns where these colleges are, as well as somehow getting parents informed.

[Jim 0216]

Will you have an "add/delete" PING list? If so, please add me, for now. Thank you.

Please also try to investigate/infiltrate law schools, especially the more prestigious that contain law professors who, as quoted by Judge Robert Bork in his book "The Tempting of America", say that the U.S. Constitution is NOT the law. Of course their students are our current and future judges. Its no wonder why the judiciary and the US Supreme Court are so screwed up. The more dissemination of truth about these guys and their schools, the better. Thanks again and may God bless your efforts.

[Rabid Dog]

Put me on the ping list!

[Joe 6-pack]

"I have chosen the Sufi path, on which I have been walking for over a dozen years. The initial lure of this path was the ecumenical nature of it, including practices from all of the world's traditions as an acknowledgement of the unity of all religious and spiritual ideals. I married a fellow Sufi, who grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Church studying Norse Mythology, and who has subsequently become a Muslim."

Another mohammedan apologist....

[ozzymandus]

That is definitely the autobiography of a nut.

[Joe 6-pack]

"LOL One shot, one conflict resolved."

Anybody else wanna negotiate?

[squarebarb]

Please put me on your ping list, thanks. Thanks for doing this.

[MindBender26]

This is what taxpayers are paying for:

Media Violence; 4 credits CR 410/CRN44939 CR 510/44940 Tues/Thurs 10:00-11:50am

This course will explore the impact and influence that media has on cultural norms and ideals, with particular attention to the many ways that media promotes and reinforces patterns of violence and oppression. This course will introduce the concept of media literacy, inviting participants to discuss and deconstruct popular media message in film, video, television, radio, music, print and on the Internet.

Course content will also present research on the correlation between media consumption and early brain development, and the connection to changes in expected and accepted social norms.

Students will have the opportunity to creatively conceptualized non-oppressive media, and the class will explore means to advocate for social responsibility within the media industry.

In taking this course, students will become more educated consumers of their media diet, and more powerful activists for appropriate media education and direction.

Instructor:

Amanda Byron has a Masters Degree in Intercultural Communication and Program Administration and is currently on a leave of absence from the PhD program in Urban Studies.

Ms. Byron has over ten years of experience working with survivors of torture, and has been an active community organizer in the fields of violence prevention, and community development.

She is a trained mediator, specializing in Victim/Offender mediation, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Peace Institute.

WHAT A LOAD OF PSYCHO-BABBLE

[Redmen4ever]

Among the people we, the United States, have mades into enemies, are the Germans, who tried to wipe out this persons maternal line.

In this persons view, because we were "fascinated" with "enmifying" them, she is alive.

You would think she would be grateful, but, no, she doesn't think this way.

We should replace government schools with schools of choice.

[Chappaquiddick Crawdad]

"My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again."

And she still believes her mother, after all these years of "growing up"? SS guards were brutal; this is surely a tall tale.

[saquin]

My step-father is a practicing Buddhist, with Taoist leanings. I have chosen the Sufi path, on which I have been walking for over a dozen years. The initial lure of this path was the ecumenical nature of it, including practices from all of the world's traditions as an acknowledgement of the unity of all religious and spiritual ideals. I married a fellow Sufi, who grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Church studying Norse Mythology, and who has subsequently become a Muslim. When our son was born a year ago I discovered some of the inescapable bonds to my Judaism, which I am currently exploring.

A little confused, aren't we, dear?

[P-Marlowe]

Dictionary.com

No entry found for Enmification.

[Smokin' Joe]

Well, no better than this person stuck to the story of her life in her autobiography, (one paragraph in three--sorta related), no wonder it takes a graduate level course to teach something (conflict resolution) we learned by the third grade on the playground.

I really doubt I would survive long on the college campus of today (as opposed to 30 years ago) if this is any example of what passes for 'education'.

[Chappaquiddick Crawdad]

"Ms. Byron has over ten years of experience working with survivors of torture..."

So she's been hanging out with Gi'tmo detainees, has she?

[P-Marlowe]

Nobody beat up an SS Soldier and lived to tell the tale. Perhaps what this woman learned from her Grandmother was the Art of Prevarication.

[bigfootbob]

Check out the Young America Foundation and David Horowitz at Front Page Magazine. Both do an excellent job of unmasking the ugly left on our public college campus'.

Have you ever read any anti-American rantings from the Professor Robert Jensen from Austin Texas? Whew, you'd think he'd been lynched by now for spewing so much vitriol in Texas. He's a "journalism" teacher. See why the MSM is so messed up.

[hardworking]

"Conflict Resolution Graduate Program"
I don't even know what that means

Yep. Try hiring one of these graduates and see how much work gets done.... really prepares a young person for the real world I imagine....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More from Portland.

[McGavin999]

Has anyone noticed that all these people are whiners? The only success they have is from crying about their failures as human beings.

[Eaker]

My grandmother, who was 5 feet tall, told stories of getting into fist fights with SS Soldiers, proving herself to be the victor time and time again.

LIAR!!

This NEVER happened.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What an upbringing....but she needs to add this to her curriculum for an opposing view.....and a good course should consider all views:

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Unholy Alliance
by David Horowitz
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; ISBN: 089526076X
Hardcover - 256 pages (September 2004)

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. This Left, which once made common cause with Communists, has now joined forces with radical Islam in attacking America’s defenses at home and its policies abroad. From their positions of influence in the university and media culture, leftists have defined America as the “root cause” of the attacks against it. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance, writes John Haynes, the noted historian of American Communism, “is an insightful, brilliant examination of the mental world of the radical left. Horowitz shows how today’s radicals, unwilling to reflect on the internal flaws that destroyed Marxism-Leninism from within, have embraced an all-consuming nihilism in its place. This has led them to a hatred of American institutions and a solidarity with Islamic terrorists that makes the radical left more properly regarded as dangerous than loony.”

Unholy Alliance is an eye-opening book that should unsettle conventional assumptions and reveals why intellectuals and political leaders who applaud Michael Moore are no laughing matter. As Harvey Klehr, author of Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, writes, “The world Communist movement may be moribund, but its habits of mind and ideological fantasies have not disappeared. This is a fascinating and depressing account.”

Price: $19.01 - Click here to order:

[Lee E. Tallent]

And we are bombarded to save all our lives for our children and grandchildren's college education??????
When I started to college (in 1953)you could work part time at Krogers for a buck an hour and pay all yor fees, books and room & board; and the average professor made about $5000 per year, and really wanted you to learn Chemistry,Geology, English and trig. none seemed to focus on an agenda, except to encourage us to get an education.
Should we continue to pay those that teach our children to hate our nation. God Forbid !!!!! Let's shut then down !!!!!

[Chappaquiddick Crawdad]

Nobody beat up an SS Soldier and lived to tell the tale. Perhaps what this woman learned from her Grandmother was the Art of Prevarication.

Unless her grandmother's idea of proving herself to be "the victor" was getting gang-raped by members of the SS-Totenkopf and surviving to "tell" about it...

Ms. Byron may have been taught the art of prevarication by her grandmother, but it seems she's taken it to a whole new level: tergiversation, and hence sedition.

[sageb1]

Put me on your ping list! This is great!

[ItsForTheChildren]

My mother is a secular Jew who came to the United States with her family, refugees from Germany during the Holocaust. My father grew up in the Methodist Church in Texas, but was greatly influenced by his Catholic Mother, and self identified as an athiest. My step-father is a practicing Buddhist, with Taoist leanings. I have chosen the Sufi path, on which I have been walking for over a dozen years. The initial lure of this path was the ecumenical nature of it, including practices from all of the world's traditions as an acknowledgement of the unity of all religious and spiritual ideals. I married a fellow Sufi, who grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Church studying Norse Mythology, and who has subsequently become a Muslim. When our son was born a year ago I discovered some of the inescapable bonds to my Judaism, which I am currently exploring.

Geez... I really feel for the kid. Probably going to be another one of those who are constantly "exploring" themselves and accomplishing little else. Probably end up a professor (and I use the term loosely) just like mommy.

[Matchett-PI]

"Sometimes professors are some of the most ignorant people EVER. ..."

Since it is logical for us to hold certain presuppositions without scientific proof, we can assume that they have minds. And since they have minds, they can't pretend not to know what they, and all rational beings know.

"..Though it always comes as a surprise to intellectuals, there are some forms of stupidity that one must be highly intelligent and educated to commit. .." ~ Dr. Jay Budziszewski

[blackie]

Hang 'em High ~ Bump!

[MindBender26]

>"Ms. Byron has over ten years of experience working with survivors of torture..."

>So she's been hanging out with Gi'tmo detainees, has she?

Actually, it was NPR listeners and Dan Rather viewers.

[Busywhiskers]

Well...one more reason not to contribute to the alumni association of my old alma mater...as if I needed one.


PSU Class of 82