Academia, Politics, Society

San Diego Professor Criticizes Those Wishing “War Criminal” John McCain Sympathy Over His Cancer

downloadAnother controversy over free speech was triggered this week on social media by an academic expressing hateful views.  Various people have called for San Diego State University Political Science Professor Jonathan Graubart to be fired after denouncing those wishing Sen. John McCain best wishes for his recovery.  Graubart called McCain a “war criminal” and said that he was “annoyed” by all of the expressions of sympathy for his dire cancer prognosis.  Others at the school supported and shared his views.

Graubart went on Facebook to declare “I find myself annoyed at the groundswell of good wishes for John McCain after his diagnosis of glioblastoma and have been thinking through why.” Professor Jonathan Graubart recently posted on Facebook about the Arizona Republican.  He added:

 

“McCain is a war criminal and, more to the point someone who as a politician has championed horrifying actions and been lousy on state commitment to public health. So dying or not, he’s a risible public figure (I have no idea what he is like on the personal level and don’t care).  But ultimately what troubles me is the urge to send such well wishes to an utter stranger as it reinforces the notion that some lives are more important than others. There are lots of people with glioblastoma and who have died from it (including my mother twenty years ago).”

Graubart’s comments are hurtful and hateful.  It is a reflection of the incivility that has taken hold of our social and political dialogue.  It is always sad to see a fellow academic rush to the bottom of our national discourse.  However, we have free speech and academic freedom to protect unpopular, not popular, speech.  Popular speech does not need protection.  Graubart is expressing his deep political and social viewpoint on social media. He should be able to do that just as his critics have a right to denounce his views.

The San Diego State University spokesperson said the university “does not have a social media policy for faculty and staff.” It added that “As a public institution, we do not and cannot regulate the private speech of students, faculty or staff. However, that should not imply the university’s endorsement of any particular viewpoint.”  That is precisely the position to take and, if the university applies its consistently regardless of the content of the speech, it would be an important act of restraint in favor of free speech.

Jonathan Graubart is an attorney who practiced before becoming a political science professor.  He received his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002 and his JD from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall in 1989.

I am “troubled” by Graubart’s statement that “ultimately what troubles me is the urge to send such well wishes to an utter stranger as it reinforces the notion that some lives are more important than others.”  Few people would view such expressions of sympathy in that way.  Moreover, Graubart makes clear that his political and policy disagreements with McCain is a core reason why he is so “annoyed” by those expressing basic humanity and concern over the news.  Politicians often become personifications for movements and groups even in their illnesses or deaths.  The coverage often brings needed attention to illnesses like glioblastoma for groups like the American Cancer Association.  However, the main reason for expressing sympathy is that he is a human being who is suffering.  Graubart’s historical reference to the Nazis only highlights the amorality of his views.  The answer to hatred is for people to transcend their differences and learn to embrace people as human beings — to identify with their suffering despite their differences.

Here is the whole statement:

I find myself annoyed at the groundswell of good wishes for John McCain after his diagnosis of glioblastoma and have been thinking through why. A great line from Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem comes to mind regarding the valuing of elite lives over ordinary lives:
“There are more than a few people, especially among the cultural elite, who still publicly regret the fact that Germany sent Einstein packing, without realizing that it was a much greater crime to kill little Hans Cohn from around the corner, even though he was no genius.”

This analogy should not be interpreted too strictly. McCain is certainly no Einstein and I don’t mean just on brains. Einstein had very appealing humanist instincts, as a socialist, antiwar, anti-imperialist, and anti-statist Zionist. McCain is a war criminal and, more to the point. someone who as a politician has championed horrifying actions and been lousy on state commitment to public health. So dying or not, he’s a risible public figure (I have no idea what he is like on the personal level and don’t care).

But ultimately what troubles me is the urge to send such well wishes to an utter stranger as it reinforces the notion that some lives are more important than others. There are lots of people with glioblastoma and who have died from it (including my mother twenty years ago). I would much rather read random good wishes to contemporary little Hans Cohns than to politicians.

250 thoughts on “San Diego Professor Criticizes Those Wishing “War Criminal” John McCain Sympathy Over His Cancer”

  4. One thing this incident has done is reveal who, among the regular posters here, is someone who should be assiduously avoided in meatowrld. Autumn, Jill, ‘Joseph Jones’, RJB: It’s been an education.

    1. yess DSS – I am glad to be part of the truth telling pantheon! McCain can go f*ck himself after causing so much misery.

      1. He hasn’t caused any misery outside the realm of his own household and some politicians who do not care for him personally.

        He’s a public official. He makes policy judgments. All policy judgments have benefits and pitfalls and all judgments are made under conditions of uncertainty. This is something you are incapable of learning.

    2. This is what tiny minded war mongering deep state supporters do. Blacklist and make personal attacks, because they have absolutely no evidence supporting their positions. If Susan were not so lazy and not such an imbecile, she’d study Lindsey Graham like a hawk. Now there is a man who has logical, calm, arguments supporting his war mongering. He can calmly take any argument against his position and reply to it with five minutes of hard facts supporting his war mongering.

      Susan, not so much.

  5. It would appear that Turley values civility above all else. One wonders if Hitler had ranted less, whether Turley, other than of course being “disturbed” and “baffled”, would have given him a pass on the Holocaust.

    1. LS –
      Corporate media has always given the traitor J.MCain and his equally guilty father (U.S.S. Liberty) a pass.
      There’s good reason why Vietnam MIA families loathe John McCain – whose treatment of certain women, e.g. first wife – is not unlike that of Newt Gingrich. One difference being that Newt’s present wife isn’t the daughter of a reputed Mobbed-up father.

      see: McCain’s Largely Unreported Treachery Against the US

      http://www.globalresearch.ca/mccains-largely-unreported-treachery-against-the-us/5567210

  6. YET, TAUGHT BY TIME, MY HEART HAS LEARNED TO GLOW FOR OTHER’S GOOD AND TO MELT AT OTHER’S WOE.

    Homer

  7. THE UGLIEST THING THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN IS A HUMAN BEING WITHOUT COMPASSION.

    unknown

    1. Turley didn’t post about the Republican representative who ranted she wished McCain would die. You’ve got to wonder why that is.

      1. Diana Orrock, GOP National Committeewoman from Nevada. It was posted in msm.

  8. The prof has unresolved issues around his mother’s death from brain cancer and how he perceives “some lives are more valuable than others,” and he vented on Facebook. So what? I’d rather know what people really think than not.

    What did people do to vent their opinions and frustrations before social media? It took a lot more effort to pen a letter to the editor and send it off hoping to be published than it does to bang out a post to social media.

    I wish McCain well, however, I now gag every time I hear someone say to a career politician, “Thank you for your service to the country.” Last I checked it was a pretty good gig hanging out in Congress for over three decades – so good that many refuse to retire and they keep hanging on to the good life it provides for ‘them’ – not the other way around.

  9. Some speak their mind regardless of logic. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

    Do people who go out of their way to get their plane shot down by the enemy deserve our sympathy or is only the right allowed to make such absurd reflections?

  10. Pingback: San Diego Professor Criticizes Those Wishing “War Criminal” John McCain Sympathy Over His Cancer – Freedom & Liberty Blog

  11. For those of you alleged Christians and Jews, who believe that words of prayer, openly expressed and which specifically wish a full and speedy recovery to John McCain, are insignificant, unimportant, improper or wasteful, perhaps you should crack open those Bibles and read Isaiah, 59:1–

    BEHOLD, THE LORD’S HAND IS NOT SHORTENED, THAT IT CANNOT SAVE, OR HIS EAR DULL, THAT IT CANNOT HEAR.

    I suppose that the Bible, however, to the learned professor in this article and to those who shamefully express joy and glee over McCain’s illness, eschewing the need to offer up those prayers and wishes for a complete and speedy recovery, dismiss the above-referenced quote as some ancient gibberish. For those, all I can say is that you do so at your own peril.

    Perhaps Billy Graham said it best, with regard to those so heartless that they only comprehend their own personal suffering:

    TEARS SHED FOR SELF ARE TEARS OF WEAKNESS, BUT TEARS SHED FOR OTHERS ARE A SIGN OF STRENGTH.

    1. bam bam I like the message of your posting. I try not to judge others particularly when I have not experienced the horrendous events soldiers went through. That is why I ask myself how anybody can express such hate for another human being. Senator McCain is affected by cancer and the only wish I have in my heart is that he recovers and returns to his senatorial position. How many of us even old as I am have either participated in those terrible wars that happened after WWII or being taken prisoner? I would like to see published the war participation of President Trump and of this professor to determine based on their personal experience whether they have enough knowledge to judge others. This reminds me of men elected officials who make decisions as to women’s real needs during pregnancy and giving birth. It is simple absurd! And it shows total lack of common sense! Maybe I should use another word to describe such attitude, IGNORANCE is much better, because IGNORANCE IS THE WORST ENEMY OF HUMANITY.

      2. He was known as the prince of war

        He has never been known as that.

  12. JT, Why are people supposed to like war criminals? It’s not hateful to state the truth and to act accordingly.

    Do you urge people to write their heartfelt sympathy to Erdogan because people say he’s a murderer? Should people have written love letters to Pol Pot? If they did, it was their choice but I don’t see why it’s hateful to criticize being in love with a mass murderer.

    John McCain is responsible for many deaths. I don’t see why I have to like him or pretend he isn’t a mass murderer. Everyone will die, including war criminals. Dying doesn’t give people a pass for their horrific crimes. The truth remains whether someone is dead or dying. Being unable to state the truth isn’t being a kind person, at least it’s not kind to the victims. Who counts more, the criminal or their victim.

    If you want to forgive him, please do but forgiveness proceeds from truth, not lies. This truth may make you uncomfortable but it is still true and there is nothing hateful about stating the truth. Saying that is siding with the perpetrator of horrific crimes.

    1. Another piece of evidence, in case you needed one, that Jill is a congenital liar with very disordered sensibilities.

  13. I think life is a lot like (or should be like) Indiana Jones fighting the Thuggee in the Temple of Doom movie: conflict with a opponent until you lock eyes with him when he is in peril. You have to stop regarding him as the other and reach out and help. Whatever you may negatively think about McCain, it should be set aside in his time of peril.

  14. I have zero sympathy for McCain. The sooner the gates of hell open to welcome that scum bag war monger and MIC supporter, the happier is Satan. Enjoy your eternity in hell, John. You earned it.

    That said, this campus fruit cake has no business decrying the results of freedom of speech.

    A lesser known fact about McCain is that one of the reasons that he is guaranteed a permanent place in the pantheon of false heroes is that his father, then a judge, personally guaranteed Israel suffered no punishment for their war crime of intentionally bombing the USS Liberty, resulting in the cold blooded murder of Navy personnel.

    I would not be surprised at all if there are streets and schools in Israel named after John and/or his father. Each time he visits there he is given a King’s welcome.

    And no, I don’t give a holy crap about Palestine, so save your drivel, Israel-firsters. The sooner Palestine and Sunni Islam fight Israel to the death, with one clear winner (preferably sans US picking the winner, obeying G. Washington’s warning to “avoid permanent entanglements,”) the better off is the rest of the world.

    Anyone who disagrees that “ME Peace” is an oxymoron is naïve, lying, or both, period.

    1. Now Patriot is posting under the pseudonym ‘Joseph Jones’.

      that his father, then a judge, personally guaranteed Israel suffered no punishment for their war crime of intentionally bombing the USS Liberty, resulting in the cold blooded murder of Navy personnel.

      His father was a Navy admiral, not a judge. His father was a Naval commander in no position to guarantee anything. Israel did not ‘intentionally’ bomb the USS Liberty, and there were no war crimes.

      1. DSS:
        The Liberty incident is the locus of all stupid for the anti-Semitic crowd. Both governments concluded the attack was not deliberate and the Israelis apologized and paid the families of the dead US sailors $6.7 Million. Hardly the actions of a belligerent.

        1. The reasoning process of these people has induced them to invent fictional incidents (one in the Sinai and one in the Golan Heights) that Israel was supposedly ‘covering up’ by bombing the LIberty.

            1. Certainly worked for the rethuglicans and any elected democratic president since Carter. Ask Hillary about her 25 years of RW attacks, mostly baseless. Not a fan of HRC but truthful – give it a try.

      2. You’re an idiot and a liar. I bet you $1000 to the winner’s favorite charity you just lied. I am not “Patriot” and would never select such user name.

        The Navy members on the USS Liberty would similarly call you a liar. I suggest readers do a simple Google search and believe the men on the ship, not “Susan.”

        Check the following and confirm another accusation Susan shall ignore: All US diplomacy with Israel is a US Federal Felony. Insane, you reply? Keep reading.

        The USA Congress and POTUS years ago signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT). All such USA Treaties equal the full force of the USA Constitution. The NNPT requires (not optional) that all signatories are FORBIDDEN from diplomatic relations with any and all nuclear armed non-signatories to the NNPT. This is an obvious ploy to force nuclear armed nations to sign the NNPT.

        Israel and India are both nuclear armed non-signatories to the NNPT. The only difference between the two nations is that Israel denies the existence of their estimated 200 nuclear weapons. All US diplomacy with India and Israel are US Federal Felony crimes. The fact the law is unenforced does not change the fact of the law and its penalties.

        Beyond the above eye-opener, there’s this: In G. Washington’s Farewell Address, he warned that “all foreign entanglements are temporary,” IOW no permanent entanglements with any foreign nation, including Israel. Jesus Obama, McCain, and most US politicians describe the US relationship with Israel as “iron clad” and other such eternal descriptors, in direct violation of GW’s advice.

        1. The USA Congress and POTUS years ago signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT). All such USA Treaties equal the full force of the USA Constitution.

          No, treaties are the equivalent of statutory law (and not readily enforceable by courts, btw)

          The NNPT requires (not optional) that all signatories are FORBIDDEN from diplomatic relations with any and all nuclear armed non-signatories to the NNPT.

          It does not require that.

      3. Thanks for correcting me on the judge item. McCain Jr’s father was John S. McCain, Sr, the Navy Admiral who authored the whitewash on Israel’s USS Liberty War Crime. In this case, McCain’s father made a judgement as if he were a judge, on alleged behalf of the US Navy, hence my minor error. What I said McCain’s father did is exactly what he did. He protected Israel from suffering and paying for their cold blooded murder of US Navy personnel in the line of duty. Survivors of the attack would call Susan a liar, as do I.

        Susan is a shameful, disgusting liar, an Israel firster of the first order.

        1. Joseph Jones – I would agree with you that it was a cover-up. However, Israel did pay for damages and reparations. However, it is not Susan, but DesparatelySeekingSusan. I think DSS is male. 🙂 However, that is just a guess.

          1. There was no cover up. It was perfectly straightforward. Israel mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship. How this SNAFU occurred has been delineated step-by-step by Michael Oren.

            For a normal person, the notion that Israel would have deliberately bombed an American vessel is baffling. The U.S. was a congenial (if non-aligned) power. How could that possibly be of benefit. It’s perfectly plausible to people who fancy the Jews are a source of motiveless malignity. More sophisticated detractors of Israel spin historical fantasies about massacres in the Sinai or some verboten operation in the Golan.

              1. And the proprietor’s interests are:

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        2. John S. McCain, Sr, the Navy Admiral who authored the whitewash on Israel’s USS Liberty War Crime.

          John McCain Sr died in 1945.

  15. I find myself disgusted with a whole slew of so called “professors” out there in the american dyispora. First, they think that their itShay don’t stink. Second, they are dumb and don’t know piglatin so they don’t know what I just said. Third, they think that “opinions” – their own ones- matter. I say: DMFLDM. Dumb Mudder Fu ers Lives Don’t Matter.

  16. While he criticizes the valuing of elite lives, he’s certainly lived a pampered life himself. He graduated from an elite law school (UC Berkeley) in 1989, and after practicing law for about 2 years, decided it wasn’t for him and returned the school at the Univ of Wisconsin-Madison; earning a Ph.D in Poly Sci in 2002. And then on to a cushy teaching career in San Diego. I wonder who paid for his lengthy, elite education? Rich parents, undoubtedly. He’s rather typical of his class, however. Rich kids attending elite universities, but wearing flannel shirts and bib overalls to class, to show their solidarity with the working class. What a farce!

    2. If he was allowed by the department in Wisconsin to noodle around for 11 years, he was indulged (or maybe he had no fellowship because he did not need one). I suspect he was not a registered student that whole time.

  17. McCain wouldn’t have made it to fly in Vietnam if his Dad was not an Admiral. He was a drunk, party animal, and irresponsible. He was shot down and suffered torture and prison for five years after slaughtering who knows how many innocent Vietnamese. He married rich and with his Dad’s and wife’s connections parlayed his war stories into a Senate seat. He has never exhibited anything extraordinary other than representing some long lost perverse meaning of America. Therein lies the rub. McCain represents people. The US is a country made up of all sorts. Ali is ten times the hero for refusing to kill people that posed absolutely no threat to him or the US. McCain didn’t go to war for his country. He went to war for his own identity. McCain lived a life of a warrior, at the expense of who knows how many innocent lives. Kind of like some countries, in the past, present, ?future? Social evolution can be viewed as a panorama of national mindsets. Way down in the bottom is Islam and other religious based societies. Then there are the colonial powers vying for first place, of which the US is the predominant one, and then there are those countries that tried, evolved out of that base mentality, and now are attempting to simply live free and do better. But, hey, we’re number one….

  18. Jonathan: I agree entirely with your post, but have this one caveat; I think those who are in academia should publicly display at least some measure of common sense and human decency. Yes, I know they have the right of free speech, but McCain has innocent family members that could be hurt by such comments. Having an aggressive brain tumor with a poor prognosis is terrible. IMO, gong through the emotional turmoil and physical pain of cancer treatments that are likely futile in the long run is much worse than sudden death. We all live under a death sentence, but his is more certain and more proximal. John McCain didn’t start the Viet Nam war. Many men were drafted, against their will, to “go and kill the yellow man”, quoting Bruce Springsteen. Blaming John McCain for what he did in service to his country is wrong. Blame those who thought it was a good idea in the first place.

  19. There are lots of people with glioblastoma and who have died from it (including my mother twenty years ago).

    It would appear the professor has not made it through the grieving process over the loss of his mother. The fact his empathy is limited by politics should concern any parent considering paying tuition that benefits this professor’s student enrollment numbers.

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