[Peace-discuss] NG editorial on Mark Thompson

[Ricky Baldwin]

Brian Dolinar posted this to another list.  (Thanks,
Brian.)  The curt little "editor's note" would seem to
deserve more response from someone who was there.

Ricky

Guest speakers must be treated politely Friday
> March 30, 2007
> 
> Jim Dey's recent column about Mark Thompson, which
> included a reference to
> his behavior at Cindy Sheehan's recent speech on the
> University of Illinois
> campus, is at best misleading to the reader. Here is
> what I saw happen, and
> it as far from Dey's description of Thompson's
> having questioned Sheehan
> "aggressively."
> 
> After she was introduced, Sheehan was adjusting her
> microphone. Thompson,
> who had been standing in the audience videotaping
> the introduction, started
> speaking during the several seconds it took to fix
> the microphone. Once it
> was fixed, Sheehan asked Thompson to let her speak.
> He continued with his
> loud rant for a few minutes before he sat down. Dey
> is correct in stating
> that Thompson was hissed and booed, but only in
> response to his rude
> behavior toward a person invited to speak.
> 
> During the question-and-answer session, Thompson did
> ask a question/make a
> statement and left the room of his own accord. There
> was no police escort
> that I saw. (Police were in the vicinity, but only
> as a result of Thompson's
> disruptive behavior.)
> 
> Speakers brought to our community speaking about
> important issues would
> hopefully be "questioned aggressively." As was
> evident to any observer,
> Sheehan spoke to an audience filled with supporters
> and those who totally
> disagreed with her point of view. But the only
> person who attempted to
> prevent the free exchange of views was Thompson. For
> Dey, who has a special
> role in the marketplace of ideas, to portray
> Thompson as a victim is sad
> indeed.
> 
> WILLARD BROOM
> 
> Urbana
> 
> *Editor's note: Broom's assertion that there was no
> police escort is
> contradicted by both Thompson and a female UI
> student, who said a UI police
> officer, acting out a sense of concern for their
> safety, escorted them from
> the Natural History Building on the UI Quadrangle to
> Wright Street. A UI
> police report states that Officer John Wright, who
> was called to the scene
> because of complaints about Thompson's behavior, was
> concerned about their
> safety and walked with them to prevent any possible
> problem.*
> ------------------------------
> Find this article at:
>
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2007/03/30/guest_speakers_must_be_treated_politely
> Comments
> 
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> reserved.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
> 303 W. Locust St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
> briandolinar at gmail.com
> > _______________________________________________
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> 



 
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