Yesterday afternoon, I spoke with a writer for the UNCW Seahawk student newspaper. He was interested in doing an article on my recent column, “How to Bomb a Gay Bath House” – a satirical column whose point was that in America political correctness causes people to pay more attention to imaginary threats against minorities than the real threats Muslim extremists pose to all Americans.
My paraphrasing of words from the very website linked to Kent State’s Julio Pino should have helped The Seahawk staff understand the point. Unfortunately, they did not.
In another conversation with the editor of the The Seahawk, I made sure he understood the satirical nature of the column. He gave no indications that he did not and assured me that the only thing the paper was running Thursday was a letter to the editor by a professor in Texas. I reminded him that it would be libelous to reprint any libelous statements by the professor.
But unfortunately, the editor was lying about his paper’s intentions. The Seahawk Staff was also running a “Seahawk Staff Opinion” piece called “Will Adams see the pitfalls of free speech.” They wrote the following:
Recently, Anne Coulter dropped the “F” word in a speech on North Carolina Democrat John Edwards. Coulter is learning the consequences of free speech, as she must decide whether or not to apologize for her national display of bigotry.
Meanwhile, a Coulter fan in the Department of Criminal Justice posted his opinions on his personal blog. Mike Adams feels that Coulter shouldn’t apologize. Moreover, he feels she should go further. Ideas include a “global war on homosexuality” Web site and instructions on “how to bomb gay bath houses” on the West Coast.
Adams is known for stirring up controversy. He has definitely done what he set out to do this time. But so did Coulter.
Just goes to show that you can’t learn from someone else’s mistakes.
The Seahawk editor’s dishonesty is not the biggest problem here. In fact, it is trumped by the intentionally defamatory effort to portray unmistakable satire as a real incitement to violence. But there is an even bigger problem.
The Seahawk intentionally distorted facts. I’m not talking about the mistaken belief that Town Hall is my “personal blog.” I’m talking about the reference to instructions on “‘how to bomb gay bath houses’ on the West Coast.”
Since San Francisco does not actually have any gay bath houses, The Seahawk thought it would be okay to change a crucial fact – making the reference to an entire region of the U.S. not just a city with no gay bath houses. In the process, they engaged in intentional and knowing defamation of character with clearly actionable “actual malice.”
The real question is: Will UNCW soon face the consequences in federal court?
I think you already know the answer.
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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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