-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Ryan Rotella, a junior at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) said that his professor, Dr. Deandre Poole, of his Intercultural Communications class, asked students in the class to write the word “Jesus” on a piece of paper, fold the paper, and step on it. By the time FOX News & Commentary got to the story, “asked” had become “directed,” “step” had become “stomp,” and the “Stomp on Jesus” firestorm was manufactured. FAU reacted by apologizing to those who were offended, immediately placing Poole on administrative leave, and banning him from FAU’s campuses.
Poole was using an exercise from an instructor’s guide to a popular textbook, Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach, written by Jim Neuliep, a professor of communication and media studies at St. Norbert College, in Wisconsin. The instructor’s guide describes the exercise:
This exercise is a bit sensitive, but really drives home the point that even though symbols are arbitrary, they take on very strong and emotional meanings. Have the students write the name JESUS in big letters on a piece of paper. Ask the students to stand up and put the paper on the floor in front of them with the name facing up. Ask the students to think about it for a moment. After a brief period of silence, instruct them to step on the paper. Most will hesitate. Ask why they can’t step on the paper. Discuss the importance of symbols in culture.
Poole, under orders from FAU not to discuss the case, did say that he never told anyone to “stomp on Jesus,” but asked his students to step on the piece of paper. Poole said the one student approached his after class and said, “How dare disrespect someone’s religion?” while hitting his balled fist into his other hand. Poole claims the student said the “he wanted to hit me,” but didn’t. Poole reported the incident to campus security and filed a report.
Poole, a former Sunday-school teacher, identifies himself as “very religious” and says that Jesus “is my lord and savior.” Poole has received hate mail and death threats, including one threatening Poole, an African-American, with hanging. Poole is on a one-year teaching contract with FAU, and although FAU may not fire him, the non-renewal of his contract will send the same message.
Not one to miss out on an opportunity to pander, Governor Rick Scott called the assignment “intolerant to Christians.”
Christians have learned well from their Islamic brothers. Any slight to their faith, real or imagined, is to be met with the full wrath of the faithful. As Poole’s situation demonstrates, no slight is too insignificant, or too illogical. Like Islam, the only way Christianity can get the respect they think they deserve is through threats and intimidation. Like Islam, it appears that Christianity has given up any hope of achieving respect through persuasive argument.
H/T: Scott Jaschik, Scott Aikin, SunSentinel, CBS Miami, Scott Jaschik.
Religious people wanted to stomp on Jesus. When people are not like Jesus is with each other also stomp on Jesus. I would steadfastly refuse to comply with the stomping. Others would follow me. It was not religion that was stepped on. What was in the mind of people stepped on is the enemy of Jesus. They wanted to kill Jesus because the people began to follow Jesus when he raised lazerus. A person following Jesus would not give hate mail. Wrath is Gods light on judgment day. In the beginning God said let there be light. That was 4 days before the sun and stars were made. God can turn on his glory and have it off if he wants too. That is why Moses said show me your glory. The devil in the soul;s of people riot give threats giving hate. The Muslims are wrong. People masquerading as Christians doing the same are wrong too.
davidm2575:
I linked to a news report wherein the student said “step.” I also linked to an interview with the professor who also said he used “step.”
That’s because it’s not true, as linked references demonstrate.
Nal, I followed your links but I did not see any video that actually showed the student using the word step. Some of your links wrongly reported that he used the word step, and one said that the teacher wanted to make it clear that he did not use the word stomp. However, on YouTube, you can find video where the student clearly used the word stomp. The Fox News reports, as well as CBS and others, were based upon this video. You can see and hear him for yourself on this YouTube video. Follow this link: http://youtu.be/nmPDGL1XYlA
I think in light of this evidence, it would be irresponsible for you to stick by your story that Fox News changed his wording from step to stomp. It is not honest.
You’d be misdirecting your urine for one thing.
Here’s a hint: when a read a article, the author signs their work.
The debate above about this being an exercise in ‘symbolism’ is absurd. One could simply discuss why, or why not, someone would insult something dear to them, without requiring desecration of any symbol.
If I video myself urinating on the graves of Jonathan Turley’s parents, will he accept it as an “academic exercise” ? If it’s just about how we view symbols…come on, it’s just an exercise….pissing all over your mother’s grave…no real meaning…
Turley’s thesis falls apart in the title.
Demanding that a student violate their religious beliefs isn’t “Academic Freedom” because such an exercise doesn’t advance human knowledge or understanding. It’s just a stunt by a d-bag professor to slam religion. It would be just as offensive had he insisted that “Allah” be written on the paper.
Also, as someone brought up earlier, symbolism is an important part of faith, it actually is one of its cornerstone, hence churches and rituals, decorum and traditions, everything, including architecture and especially names, is symbolic. To the believer therefore, to step on the name Jesus, or Mohamed, or Moses, or God, is perhaps not to step on the person, or entity, but to breach the respect one owes to the person or entity.
Someone ought to write the name of the instructor’s child or lover, or mother, or country, and have him stomp on it. Perhaps he’d do it, but with a bit of hesitation am sure.
An interesting aspect to this is that I got the sense from reading the instructor’s guide that the instructor was suppose to lead a discussion about why some students would be hesitant to step on the symbol. In other words, wasn’t it suppose to be an exercise to show how symbols hold powerful meaning to people? They should have discussed why Rotella would not step on it and gain an understanding of the power that symbols have for some people. Instead, the exercise turned into a culture war with the idea that anyone who would not step on the symbol should be suspended from class.
Assuming Dr. Poole’s account is true, it wouldn’t shock me to learn that the student who wanted to hit him was also appalled by Muslims enraged by drawings of Mohamed.
Dr X, let’s see… you apparently think that a frustrated boy hitting his fist to his palm and verbally expressing his frustration and desire to hit the teacher is equivalent to a young man shooting Theo Van Gogh 8 times, then stabs the man multiple times and almost decapitates him, leaving two knives stuck in the body, one of which tagged a five page note to the body. Sorry, but I do not see the equivalency that you apparently see. Sounds like just more hate speech coming from you.
This, Davidm2575 is exactly my point, false equivalency. How can you compare a case of a benign reaction to a case of an exaggerated one? Once again let’s compare apples to apples, a muslim benign reaction for a christian benign one, an extreme muslim reaction for an extreme christian one. Perhaps let’s compare the murder of Theo Van ghog to the murder of an abortionist and a simple student threat to, well, a simple threat, not an insane murderous act.
The over reactions didn’t stop with the school administration and the media. Poole reported a student to security for pounding his own fist and merely saying he would like to hit the professor. There’s more than enough hypersensitivity to go around. All of these “he was mean to me” reports to security and police are just getting idiotic.
I think another factor here is that many parents think that their “children” were subjected to this exercise, not legal adults who are paying to have their horizons broadened.
“…Poole, an African-American…”
What was the point of this information?
The situation described is unacceptable to anybody, regardless of race.
Introducing race into the description of events suggests racism where none was demonstrated in the rest of the column – unless the author is the one trying to introduce race as an emotional issue.
Unfortunately, this is dishonest and misleading article. It is basically a biased hit job against Fox News and religions like Christianity and Islam.
In the Fox News report, the student Ryan Rotella is on video saying that the teacher said to STOMP on the paper. So the word STOMP originated with the student. It was not changed by Fox News. The student also never said that the instructor asked him. Rather, Rotella said that the instructor told EVERYBODY to write Jesus in bold letters on a piece of paper, and he says that he had them ALL stand up, and once they were all standing, the instructor said, “Stomp on it.” Given Rotella’s account, the word “directed” appears to be appropriate.
Also absent from this article by David Drumm is the fact that the student was suspended from class for not stomping on the paper. By quoting only from the instructor’s guide, the implication is that the exercise was voluntary. The suspension suggests otherwise.
Lastly, an unfair equivalency is made between people being upset about the student’s suspension and how radical Muslims react by beheading or blowing up non-Muslims. Another student expressing frustration and the desire to punch, while not to be condoned, is not even close to carrying out a violent attack. Christians are taught to use words and reason to fight evil in the world. They teach that their weapons are not material, and they have metaphors that correspond to material weapons. The offensive weapon of the sword is a metaphor for using the Word of God.
It seems to me that Mr. Drumm has a thin skin if he describes the use of words to bring to light what happened as “threats and intimidation.” Does he have not a single word of criticism for the student being suspended for not stomping on the paper?
Yellow journalism alive and well. Now we know how the Administration of this particular school would have reacted to McCarthyism … And so do they.
test
We see overreaction everywhere because of too many being uptight in our society — and the others for that matter.
It might work better to have Cheezus, Mudhammerid, and Squakins written on the paper … leave some edges for them to step on.
Hilarious OS!
Great article David. It always amazes me that the religious right will take a story and break one of the ten commandments to try to force their opinion on the public. WWJD?
The reverence that many people have for symbols has often amazed me. The experiment was a valid one and in no way disrespecting Christianity. Stepping on Jesus name is not stepping on Jesus and thinking it is represents the real disrespect. I feel the same way about the flag and the various laws regarding its usage.
OS, Great ballbust!
OS, I worked (for 1 whole day) as a photographer for one of those operations. I did not hear anything about how the sales people worked but was told that the $20 packages sold all went to the salesperson, the photog got $20 for shooting (I was expected to do 2 sessions an hour so the money was great – this was 1974!) and the proof passer got 10% of all additional sales. The owner told me he cleared $1000 per day per photographer!
I love what you did to them! car sales uses similar sorts of tricks and I love turning them on the seller, they are totally unprepared for someone who is prepared to play games.
I see why our anonymous professor is so paranoid.
“Christians have learned well from their Islamic brothers. Any slight to their faith, real or imagined, is to be met with the full wrath of the faithful. As Poole’s situation demonstrates, no slight is too insignificant, or too illogical. Like Islam, the only way Christianity can get the respect they think they deserve is through threats and intimidation. Like Islam, it appears that Christianity has given up any hope of achieving respect through persuasive argument.”
I’d say the difference between Islam and Christianity in this case is that the comparison pits people from largely uneducated, undemocratic countries, like Pakistan, Afghanistan, with Americans, whose constitution and democratic system, along with the exclusivity it claims for freedoms ,you’d think, would prevent something like this to take place.
Muslims in America have been subjected to any offense imaginable, from private and public entities to purported news outlets, all spouting relentlessly the message that Islam is dangerous, Muslims are untrustworthy and unamerican, It is here, in the land of democracy, that a Muslim cab driver, and army sergeant was attacked for his faith, and many others killed for their look and their faith. Yet, what have Muslims, here in America at least, done? Nothing more than write opeds, appear on tv shows, release statements…etc. When the (prophetic) cartoons were released and published, what did American Muslims do? The same thing they did when mosques were burnt to the ground, that is nothing!
If we slide back time and see it from a more global and historical perspective, and in light of the crusades, the inquisition, slavery …etc etc, we’d see that the wrath of the Christian faithful has had much more dire consequences for humans than the one of their Muslims brothers. It is therefore wrong to claim that the former learned from the latter. In
My point, in conclusion, is simply that the whole comparative argument between Christians and Muslims is a fallacy. One doesn’t bring in apples in an argument involving citrus, one brings in oranges, and perhaps lemons, or tangerines, or cuties, maybe limes, or grapefruits, or…you get my point. So compare American Christians to Muslim Americans, or Burma’s Buddhists to Burma’s Muslims, or Nigeria’s Muslims to Uganda’s Christians….but not American Christians, who should know better, to uneducated, unwashed masses living in ghettos without open sewers, who happen to be Muslim.
The psychology of symbolism is an interesting phenomenon. I remember reading a handbook for photo salespeople. This was for those low end photo studio chains one can find in some large stores and malls. The customer would come in to have their kid’s photos taken and order a package of photos they wanted and could afford. However, the studios were instructed to make a full large package with several large prints and many smaller ones.
When the customer came back for the photos, the sales person would pitch the larger, more expensive package. If the customer declined to buy, the sales person was instructed to start with the smaller photos and begin to tear them up, slowly, while the customer stood there. This tactic worked on most people. Seeing their child’s photos being ripped up was more than most parents could bear.
Naturally, after I read that, I had to try it out. Took one of the kids down to get a picture made and ordered one print. Sure enough, the sales person brought out the $100+ package. I declined it of course, so the guy said he would have to destroy the rest of the prints if I didn’t buy them. He began ripping them up one at a time, starting with the wallet size pictures. I stood there for a while watching him and finally said, “If you keep that up, it is going to take all day.” I grabbed a couple of the larger prints and tore them into several pieces. The look on his face was priceless. He had no idea he had just been the subject of a psychology experiment.