Clemson prof calls all Republicans 'racist scum'
If you're a student at Clemson and a Republican, you might want to avoid assistant professor of human-centered computing Bart Knijnenburg's class. Chances are, taking the course will bring down your grade point average.
That's because Professor Knijenbyrg has a decided bias against Republicans and Trump supporters, as he made perfectly clear in a series of Facebook posts.
"All trump supporters, nay, all Republicans, are racist scum," Assistant Professor of Human-Centered Computing Bart Knijnenburg wrote in a recent Facebook post.
"All republicans? Yes," he confirmed in the comments section. "Your complacency made this happen. Pick a side: denounce your affiliation, or admit you're a racist."
Some individuals questioned the broad accusation, one of whom chided Knijnenburg that "We must be careful not to generalize as this is arguably the root cause of the extreme right's existence," adding, "I've always looked up to you, as my 1st yr mentor but also for passing on the idea to study abroad. But it saddens me a bit to see this coming from you."
"You should come live in the south for a while. It's exhausting," Knijnenburg replied. "The republican ideology of 'everyone is equal and nobody deserves a handout' is naive at best, covertly racist at worst. I truly believe that turning a blind eye makes you complicit in what is happening now."
"This society is aggressively structured to make cis white males succeed, at the expense of minorities," Knijnenburg continued, though he didn't stop there. In another post, Knijnenburg equates President Donald Trump, Trump voters, the GOP, and Steve Bannon to "Nazis," the "KKK," and the "Alt-right," declaring that they are "all racists."
Additionally, Knijnenburg explicitly endorses violence in one post, stating, "I admire anyone who stands up against white supremacy. Violent or non-violent. This needs to stop, by any means necessary. #PunchNazis"
We've come to expect this kind of moral preening from professors. But lumping all Republicans in with the racists is not only factually wrong, but dramatically stupid. The professor's comment brings to mind the quote from Sgt. Buster Kilrain, the tough Irish sergeant of the 20th Maine in the film Gettysburg. "Any man who judges by the group is a pea-wit. You take men one at a time."
Knijenburg is apparently incapable of doing that, which makes him unfit even to teach needlepoint. Speaking approvingly of violence against his political opponents should get him fired. No doubt, he will claim "academic freedom" to spew his hatred.
What makes the professor's comments so chilling is that you know that many of his colleagues both at Clemson and at universities around the country believe the same thing but don't have the guts (or stupidity) to put it in writing. Thankfully, Knijenburg has revealed himself to students, parents, and administrators as a biased partisan who couldn't possibly be objective with students who disagree with his radical views. The sooner the school dismisses him, the better.
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