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OP-ED: Extreme rhetoric clouds shock debate
by Taylor Shiells
Op-Ed | 10/23/07
Posted online at 11:22 PM EST on 10/22/07
/ Last updated at 12:00 AM EST on 10/22/07
In addition to being wrong in their own regard, the actions of BSAJRC also threaten to set a dangerous precedent in the Brandeis activist tradition. Propaganda presents a great temptation for any activist group, as it garners an impressive response from students. However, any gains made by manipulating public sentiment or using scare tactics are made at the expense of the community's sense of trust.
Our University is one that prides itself on examining the objective truth of a situation, truth even unto its innermost parts. This motto is reflected well in groups such as Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, the members of which pride themselves, and rightly so, on presenting the reality of a the genocide in Darfur using objective evidence.
However, if BSAJRC succeeds in its campaign of emotional misdirection, the efforts of such groups as STAND to maintain our community standards will be in vain. We as a community will face groups more interested in manipulating us than informing us. At a campus as intellectual and critically minded as ours, such a paradigm would be tragic.
Whatever one's opinions are on aversive therapy, it is important that we do not, as a community, support BSJARC until they are willing to treat us with respect and lead with the truth as it is, not how they believe it will be most digestible.
The writer is a member of the Class of 2009.
Our University is one that prides itself on examining the objective truth of a situation, truth even unto its innermost parts. This motto is reflected well in groups such as Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, the members of which pride themselves, and rightly so, on presenting the reality of a the genocide in Darfur using objective evidence.
However, if BSAJRC succeeds in its campaign of emotional misdirection, the efforts of such groups as STAND to maintain our community standards will be in vain. We as a community will face groups more interested in manipulating us than informing us. At a campus as intellectual and critically minded as ours, such a paradigm would be tragic.
Whatever one's opinions are on aversive therapy, it is important that we do not, as a community, support BSJARC until they are willing to treat us with respect and lead with the truth as it is, not how they believe it will be most digestible.
The writer is a member of the Class of 2009.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Kenneth Mollins
posted 10/23/07 @ 12:09 PM EST
The allegations of the Brandeis Group against JRC are not only accurate but in large part they are not strong enough to detail the torture inflicted by Dr. (Continued…)
Matthew Brock
posted 10/23/07 @ 11:27 PM EST
As a member of BSAJRC, I am personally offended by these allegations that we used propaganda and scare tactics to confuse students into signing our petition. (Continued…)
Lev Hirschhorn
posted 10/24/07 @ 3:23 PM EST
Taylor Shiells' Op-Ed from last week's issue of [i]The Justice[/i] regarding Brandeis Students Against the Judge Rotenberg Center's rhetoric is a series of misconceptions about our group. (Continued…)
Eric Cina
posted 10/24/07 @ 6:28 PM EST
Taylor Shiells,
If you want to be a stickler on the meaning of the word torture, that's fine- we'll do that. Let's do it the old fashioned way. The Oxford English Dictionary defines torture as "the infliction of severe pain as a punishment or a forcible means of persuasion" or "great suffering or anxiety", as can be seen at http://www. (Continued…)
Jackie
posted 10/25/07 @ 9:41 AM EST
I take issue with your classification of the shocks as "mild".
The voltages and durations of the JRC shocks are public, so if you are as well educated as you claim, do the math or use Google to find what these shocks will do to a person's skin and nerve tissue. (Continued…)
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