The Foundation
“A rigid economy of the public contributions and absolute interdiction of all useless expenses will go far towards keeping the government honest and unoppressive.” – Thomas Jefferson, In a letter to Lafayette
What did he/she say?
“Liberals have a double standard when it comes to political protest or even political parody. We have seen this unfairness for more than a generation.
During the youth rebellion of the late 1960s (and it was the youth rebellion of left-wing youths; most 1960s youths were conservative, and in 1972, the youth vote went to Richard Nixon), the yippies’ coarse and often criminal mischief was applauded by liberals as idealistic, heroic and amusing. At the time, it became fashionable among left-wing youths on college campuses to ambush “establishment” speakers at public lectures with a pie in the face, no matter how old or decrepit or unaware the poor lecturer might be. I cannot recall one pie heaver ever being denounced as a violent assailant — though all of them were.
Suspecting that a double standard was at work, I and some fellow conservative students at Indiana University in 1971 (they were my colleagues at the nascent American Spectator) held a debate, invited a faux Columbia University sociologist — professor Rudolph Montague (actually a grizzled Vietnam vet who had returned as an undergraduate) — to participate and, in the middle of his absurdist left-wing discourse, had a co-conspirator run onstage, call him “a goddamn communist” and assail him with a pie. Rather brilliantly, Montague shouted his apologies to the fleeing student — very liberal of you, Prof! Our intention was to demonstrate the double standard: Peaceful conservative forums get no media attention; disorderly forums (usually left-wing) do.
What we got was an even more brilliant demonstration of unfairness. When Indiana University officials called Columbia University to apologize and discovered there was no professor Montague, we were accused of a violent assault. As far as I can recall, we were the first pie heavers ever accused of violent assault. But can a thrown pie be a violent assault when engaged in by “consenting adults”? Somehow that does not seem right.” – R. Emmett Tyrrell, A Liberal Double Standard