Lately, I haven’t had time to watch The O’Reilly Factor or any other shows on Fox News (not even the “Hannity & What’s His Name Show”). But the last time I watched Bill’s show he touched on one of my biggest concerns; namely, that defamation of character has replaced free speech as the principal way of resolving problems in America.
Unsurprisingly, I have a few examples I wish to share:
*Last summer, I ran a column about racial epithets. In the column, I defended a black friend whose dad was called a “coon” by a mutual friend. Shortly thereafter, a group of Minnesota students started an anti-Mike Adams internet group (on http://www.FaceBook.com), which, among other things, accused me of calling blacks “coons.” (Thankfully, some other Minnesota students started the “Mike Adams, the Real American Hero” group on Face Book, in part as a protest of the defamation).
Problem: You don’t like hearing a conservative decry racism.
Solution: Accuse him of racism.
*Last semester, a student did poorly in my class. He was one of the few students who did not do well as I had a wonderful semester with as great a bunch of kids as I’ve had in my career. But this one unhappy kid decided that the way to protest his grade was to log on to http://www.RateMyProfessors.com – I call it “Rape My Professors Dot Com” – and write a fictitious story about why did so poorly.
In a widely read public forum he wrote in great detail about how he did well on all of his tests. But, according to the poor victim, an unethical Dr. Adams graded him solely on personal factors. He also wrote publicly that I lied on my syllabus (by claiming that I did not take absences directly into account in factoring grades).
But there was one small problem. The kid never showed up to get any of his test grades. Therefore, he had no idea that his grade was simply the objectively computed average of all three test grades.
Problem: You do poorly in a class.
Solution: Log on to the internet and accuse the professor (by name) of a breach of ethics.
*Last spring, I offended some trans-gendered persons with a column called “The Old Rugged Cross Dresser.” Several of these fine citizens went to an internet chat room and concocted a tale about an extra-marital affair I’d had with some woman who presumably never had a sex change.
Of course, that story wasn’t true. The only extramarital affairs I’ve had were with Jessica Simpson, Anna Kournikova, and Jennifer Love Hewitt (simultaneously). And those didn’t count because I was only dreaming.
Problem: You don’t know the whereabouts of your penis.
Solution: Falsely claim knowledge of the whereabouts of someone else’s penis.
*Recently, I wrote a column in which I mentioned (offhand) that a group of hunters I was with gave a couple of hogs to a poor black family. Someone logged on to the column thread and accused my family of being in the KKK and voting for Ross Barnett.
Problem: You don’t like it when Republicans do nice things for black people.
Solution: Accuse them of hanging out with Senator Byrd and voting for segregationist Democrats.
*Last January, I got a call from a student’s advisor. The student had told her advisor in an email that I refused to let her make up an examination after she missed for a “legitimate medical reason.” This medical problem was one of those “woman’s problems” that men don’t understand. The student had been complaining to me all semester about her period, so I was “in the know.” In fact, one time she complained all period about her period in a run-on sentence desperately in need of a period.
Needless to say, the advisor (being much more familiar with periods) took the student’s side and seemed a little miffed with the man who never menstruated. But then I hit her with a bombshell: The student had missed close to 20 class periods that semester – presumably because she had 20 periods that semester – and had previously confessed that she overslept (the 11:30 a.m. exam) due to a “broken alarm clock.”
Problem: You are constantly drunk.
Solution: Blame it on PMS (Patriarchal Menstrual Sensitivity) Disorder.
And the stories just go on and on in the age of internet defamation. One day I’m impotent, the next I’m on drugs. According to some, I’ve even fathered a lesbian Senator’s child. But what is one to do about such falsehoods?
I’ll tell you what Mike Adams is about to do. This year, I’m going to pick just one person who fails to grasp the difference between free speech and defamation. And I’m going to make a very public example of him (or her) in a way that will make even cranky old Bill O’Reilly smile.
Stay tuned for the unfolding drama. You don’t want to miss this one.
To be continued…
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Mike S. Adams was born in Columbus, Mississippi on October 30, 1964. While a student at Clear Lake High School in Houston, TX, his team won the state 5A soccer championship. Mike Adams graduated from C.L.H.S. in 1983 with a 1.8 GPA. Mike Adams was ranked 734 among a class of 740, largely as a result of flunking English all four years of high school. After obtaining an Associate's degree in psychology from San Jacinto College, Mike Adams moved on to Mississippi State University where he joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. While living in the fraternity house, his GPA rose to 3.4, allowing him to finish his B.A., and then to pursue a Master's in Psychology. In 1990, Mike Adams turned down a chance to pursue a PhD in psychology from the University of Georgia, opting instead to remain at Mississippi State to study Sociology/Criminology. This decision was made entirely on the basis of his reluctance to quit his night job as member of a musical duo. Playing music in bars and at fraternity parties and weddings financed his education. Mike Adams also played for free beer.
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Upon getting his doctorate in 1993, Adams, then an atheist and a Democrat, was hired by UNC-Wilmington to teach in the criminal justice program. A few years later, Adams abandoned his atheism and also became a Republican. He also nearly abandoned teaching when he took a one-year leave of absence to study law at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1998. After returning to teach at UNC-Wilmington, Adams won the Faculty Member of the Year award (issued by the Office of the Dean of Students) for the second time in 2000.
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After his involvement in a well publicized free speech controversy in the wake of the 911 terror attacks, Adams became a vocal critic of the diversity movement in academia. After making appearances on shows like Hannity and Colmes, the O'Reilly Factor, and Scarborough Country, Adams was asked to write a column for Townhall.com.
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Today Mike Adams enjoys the privilege of expressing himself both as a teacher and a writer. Mike Adams is also an avid hunter and reader of classic literature. Mike Adams published his first book, Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel, in 2004. His second book, Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts "Womyn" On Campus, was published in 2008.
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