March 20, 2009
Last night, Bill Ayers, the former Weather Underground protestor/blower-up-of-things, spoke at
Millersville
University
, a public university here in
Lancaster
County
. He was paid with public money that was taken from good folks here in
Lancaster
County
, given to the folks at Millersville and then handed to, the no doubt thankful, Ayers. This caused quite a hubbub, but nothing blew up. Interesting, isn’t it that Ayers opponents did not stoop to his tactics. It would have been hilarious if they would have. Can you imagine the irony of someone sending in a note to Millersville that to protest Ayers speech they had planted a bomb in the building, that they were not trying to hurt anyone, and that they would be open to coming to Millersville to speak next year—at half of Ayers honorarium? That would have made the evening a blast! (Sorry, I could not help it.)
A few observations are in order . . . .
First, I am not against Bill Ayers speaking. He, like me, should enjoy the freedom of speech given to us by God and protected by a long, long line of honorable men. I do not mind him speaking because I am not planning on listening—and neither should you. When someone puts bombs on someone else’s property, they should not be heeded about anything until they say, “I was wrong. Please forgive me.” If Ayers said this, I would at least hear this confession and apology and if he did good deeds and said wise things for a while, I might listen to him in the future.
My big problem is the arrogance of the whole thing—not by Ayers but by Millersville. They took tax money and handed to a guy who planted bombs at government buildings. If they did this with their own money, I would not have been upset—maybe disappointed—but not upset. The arrogance that it takes to purposefully offend the morality of the people paying your bills is audacious. The Ayers event needed tons of security because I suppose people were afraid that some protestors would act like the speaker used to act. More tax payer money went up in smoke. Of course, Ayers detractors did not plant a bomb at the event. Good people do not plant bombs to make a point. Millersville got noticed by proving, of course, that it is unworthy of notice or funding. Ayers pocketed my money. I thought about sending him a note asking for him to return my portion. Do you think he would listen more closely were the note attached to a box that had these words on it—DO NOT SHAKE UNLESS YOU ARE BILL AYERS AND DO NOT MIND THE TICKING SOUND. Of course, I will not do this. I will not because it is wrong—even though it would be fun—and because I would go to jail…before I got to speak at Millersville.
