Delaware State U. won’t interfere with free speech of professor spreading Ebola conspiracy theories

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

By Abby Phillip September 26 at 10:57 AM

Delaware State University said it won’t interfere with the free speech rights of a tenured professor who wrote a wildly speculative article in a Liberian newspaper in which he claimed that the U.S. government manufactured the Ebola virus and spread it in West Africa under the guise of vaccine testing.

“The university is not going to abridge his First Amendment rights to give his opinion about the issues of the day,” said Carlos Holmes, a spokesman for the school, where Cyril Broderick is an associate professor in the agriculture and natural resources department.

The article in question — headlined “Ebola, AIDS Manufactured By Western Pharmaceuticals, US DoD?” — appeared in a major Liberian newspaper, the Daily Observer, earlier this month.

“Reports narrate stories of the US Department of Defense (DoD) funding Ebola trials on humans, trials which started just weeks before the Ebola outbreak in Guinea and Sierra Leone,” Broderick wrote. ... Officials at the university first became aware of Broderick’s article on Friday, after The Post reported on its contents, Holmes said.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/09/26/delaware-state-wont-interfere-with-free-speech-of-professor-spreading-ebola-conspiracy-theories/?tid=trending_strip_2

---

America, where Congress shall make no law preventing you from being crazy.

Here's the original WaPo article:

A professor in U.S. is telling Liberians that the Defense Department ‘manufactured’ Ebola

By Terrence McCoy September 26 at 3:17 AM

....
And now, in what may plant further seeds of mistrust and suspicion, a major Liberian newspaper, the Daily Observer, has published an article by a Liberian-born faculty member of a U.S. university implying the epidemic is the result of bioterrorism experiments conducted by the United States Department of Defense, among others.

His DSU website: Cyril Broderick, PhD

[Shrike47]

1. They shouldn't limit his speech, they should fire him because he's crazy.

He could still speak all he likes.

[candelista]

21. And what are your qualifications for making this judgment?

Is it based solely on his beliefs about Ebola? Then what is crazy about what he believes? Don't just say that a belief is "crazy." Refute it.

[alp227]

33. It's crazy because his opinion has zero evidence.

So little basis in reality it's not worth refuting.

[snooper2]

36. Being alive as a human for many decades yes the guy is a nut

He should be arrested for terrorism charges as he is inciting fear and causing more problems by having this posted in that publication.

[Bragi]

43. Seriously?

He's an idiot, not a terrorist. Get a grip people.

[Aerows]

41. Because Ebola has been around for centuries

and it is just now getting widespread media play in the last 3 decades because there were limited communications technologies in Western Africa before that time?

[SkyDaddy7]

71. SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!

DAMN!! The guy is not only a 1st class NUT he is the definition of a terrorist!!

[Blue_Tires]

56. FWIW, those two nutbar professors in Fla. who swore up and down

that Sandy Hook was an Obama-created hoax with Hollywood effects just so he could install martial law and grab guns both kept their jobs, and their comments/actions were measurably worse...

But university is about contemplating controversial, unthinkable ideas (even the bullshit ones)...The prof is daring any student to prove him wrong, and I'm betting quite a few will accept the challenge...

[Bragi]

2. Good decision

The solution to free speech is more free speech.

[seveneyes]

4. Try yelling fire in a crowded building

This ignorant fool is doing same. An intelligent staff would fire him immediately.

[Bragi]

5. Funny you should make that point

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025584010

[candelista]

24. How is it like that? Will there be an immediate "stampede"?

Because that's the criterion for limiting free speech--a clear and present danger to persons or property.

[seveneyes]

28. Several died from ignorant attacks while trying to help curb Ebola in Africa

This nitwit "professor" is adding more ignorance to the ignorant and it will get more aid workers killed by the ignorant people that suspect the aid workers of "spreading" Ebola. Clear enough?

[Bragi]

47. Really?

A nutbar tenured proof babbles nonsense in Delaware, zillions of people debunk him, and this causes medical workers inLiberia to die! Very imaginative indeed. Clear enough?

[seveneyes]

50. Yes, really

"Delaware State University said it won’t interfere with the free speech rights of a tenured professor who wrote a wildly speculative article in a Liberian newspaper in which he claimed that the U.S. government manufactured the Ebola virus and spread it in West Africa under the guise of vaccine testing."

He babbled nonsense in a Liberian newspaper, not just in Delaware. Clear enough?

[freshwest]

63. That may be why; and terrible; but Africans, AA's, and POC have a history of suffering from being

used as unwitting guinea pigs who didn't expect the evil visited upon by them by doctors. Prime example, alhough there are others, is Tuskegee.

This is a part of a resistance to authorities many have learned. A person may be a scientist such as this guy is. A click on the link to his page shows his credentials.

Some POC have had good reason to suspect any Western or American 'help' as there is a long history of a conspiracy to deprive them of their life and health, to clear the land.

Biological warfare is not a new thing and has been used for many centuries by all kinds of people. It will take a lot of good will and belief to overcome it, and perhaps that will not happen in our lifetime.

[seveneyes]

64. Western or American 'help'

If the intent of Western or American 'help' was to distribute death and destruction, they would not need to send in sacrificial lambs to die doing it under the guise of 'help'.

The people that killed those trying to help them were ignorant and this dumb MFing "professor" is trying to get more of them killed.

[freshwest]

65. Still talking in your context in the present time. Do you grant them the right to mistrust us?

Last edited Sat Sep 27, 2014, 12:45 PM - Edit history (1)

I say that is their right, but killing the aid workers was not their right. If this guy is part of that, it makes him culpable for their deaths, but not legally.

We have people in this country who are listening to people with the freedom of speech here who will not go to a doctor, period. And people who are almost driven to death with fear of vaccines, food, water and chemtrails. We are not so different than them, and the people selling this to the American people are making money, in fact are no doubt saying Africans are being given Ebola by us.

Fearmongering has become a mainstream media industry. I'm not going to get too excited over this one guy. He's not the only source of this. Here's an African one:

Nigeria: Patrick Sawyer, Ebola and the 'Illuminati' Connection

http://allafrica.com/stories/201408250977.html

American source, quoted on a Philadelphia website, that will scare Americans:

Conspiracy Theorist Joins Dick Morris And Gary R’Nel And Shares Views On Ebola Outbreak, Claims It Could Be Airborne

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/08/06/conspiracy-theorist-joins-dick-morris-and-gary-rnel-and-shares-views-on-ebola-outbreak-claims-it-could-be-airborne/

THAT is from CBS! And from the king of CT:

So the People of Sierra Leone Believe the Ebola Outbreak Is a “Government Conspiracy,” Do They…

http://www.prisonplanet.com/so-the-people-of-sierra-leone-believe-the-ebola-outbreak-is-a-government-conspiracy-do-they.html

These American sources tell people we're being given cancer when we get a flu shot!

From the UK, stories of two women in hospitals, one in London and another in NYC, and the problem convincing Africans to get treatment:

...Deep fear among patients and their families saw some trying to escape hospital, he said.

'Ebola is a new disease in Sierra Leone and when the first cases emerged, many people thought it might be a government conspiracy to undermine certain tribal groups, steal organs or get money from international donors.'

This links to widely held scepticism about Western medicine and traditional beliefs and practices.

'Relatives don't get to see what happens to patients when they are isolated, so some expressed fears that they were being taken away to be killed by doctors...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2715647/Whats-shocking-Ebola-patients-look-die-British-doctor-working-Sierra-Leone-describes-horror-deadly-disease.html#ixzz3ETZUnnfo

At worst, he's indulging his own theories, based on his degrees and whatever else is going on inside his head. I wish that he was not saying this, but he can't be stopped, no matter how mad it makes us. I would like him to be stopped, seveneyes.

It's legal, just as Infowars cheering on the cop killers in Nevada. Just as Fox was cheering on Bundy.

I am simply suggesting to you that he may believe what he says and so do many Africans. Some of them claim that AIDS is from WHO vaccine. We can't talk to them directly.

Even if you don't care for the links here, please take a moment to read the details of how Obama has sent 3,000 personnel to Nigeria for the good:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110225557

Please don't take it out on me because you are upset at what this man is doing. I don't feel he has the right... but he does. It's like this question on another issue:



The interpretation of courts on the Constitutional right of media and others to lie in elections or in any other way, makes this possible. A lot of people are going to get hurt. From the UK piece, the sufferers look normal until the end. That is very deceptive.

To be extra clear, I don't approve of what this guy is doing, but the law and the school says he can. Do you have a solution, a way to get this guy to stop this?

The only think I can think of is to discredit him in the media scientifically, to have experts convince him to make him rethink what he is doing.

EOM.

[seveneyes]

67. Thank you for the information

I don't know that I have a solution to preventing his kind of misinformation but a good first step would be to get him out of a trusted position of higher learning. Maybe even get him some help with his obvious problems.

I think what set me off was the support for his inanity and spreading dangerous misinformation. i understand where you are coming from and respect your input.

[tabasco]

3. Stupid ass article

Only the government can interfere with anyone's free speech rights.

[Bragi]

6. Academic free speech is different.

No government involvement required/.

[Ikonoklast]

37. It's not his area of expertise.

That jackass is a CT nutbar, and his speech will cause others that listen to him to die.

Fuck that guy.

[Bragi]

42. No-one will die from his bs

That's because others have the freedom to dispute his arguments and expose him as a fraud. Thats how free speech solves problems caused by free speech.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

53. He is spreading this lie in Liberia!

ugh

[Ikonoklast]

60. You obviously haven't been paying any attention to what's currently going on in Liberia.

Reality says you are dead wrong.

[Bragi]

68. I'm following events

The issue here isn't whether there is misinformation and ignorance about Ebola in the affected countries. The question here is whether what an ignorant statement by a prof in Delaware could be much of a factor in spreading miss information. My view is that what he says is of little consequence in those countries. He should be laughed off the stage by knowledgeable people, not censored.

[Ikonoklast]

72. His views were published in Liberia, where disinformation like this causes real harm.

Question: Do you think Fox has no power in this country because what they spew as fact is totally refutable because the truth is easily found?


Same difference, real harm is being done by assholes like that guy. Your view on the matter doesn't jibe with the reality of what the people in Liberia believe is happening to them, and who is causing it.


Same harm is done by anti-vax assholes

[Bragi]

73. In response

Question: Do you think Fox has no power in this country because what they spew as fact is totally refutable because the truth is easily found?

I don't think that, but nor would I order them to stop broadcasting.

Same harm is done by anti-vax assholes

They do harm, and should be debunked, but not censored.

Why? Because free speech matters. It matters because you can't have true democracy without free speech.

[dsc]

9. and just whom to you think runs Delaware State University

[jeff47]

10. Delaware State University is a public university

as a result, it is part of the government.

[candelista]

25. Doesn't matter.

Tenure rights apply in private universities too.

[jeff47]

31. That's nice. But the person I replied to was railing against

people claiming the first amendment applied.

DSU is a public university, so it's part of the government and the first amendment applies.

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. Doesn't that professor know we're too busy creating and maintaining ISIS?

What a CRANK, thinking we are propagating Ebola when the whole world, including a bunch of DUers,
knows that the CIA and the covert infrastructure is busy pretending to be an army of terrorists to prop
up the "MIC".

Jeez. What some people are willing to believe is astounding.

[candelista]

27. How do you know it's false?

Don't just say the guy is a "crank." Say why his belief is cranky. That would contribute something to the discussion. We might actually learn something.

[Dreamer Tatum]

30. Because I don't believe him. It makes no sense.

There. I thought that was implied.

[candelista]

34. Why don't you believe him? Why does it "make no sense"?

Give an argument. Give some reasons.

[Dreamer Tatum]

35. No, fuck that. I don't have to prove a negative. The onus is on him for proof.

So why not show ME proof that he's right?

And don't give me "how do you know we're not doing it." That is logical dogshit.

Put up or shut up.

[delete_bush]

38. Article from the Washington Post

the guy's a whack-job.

His claims represent a pervasive, pernicious and crippling problem facing the fight against Ebola: misinformation. Across Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the CDC fears Ebola could eventually infect 1.4 million people, there is such distrust of the medical community that some don’t even think Ebola exists.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/09/26/an-american-professor-is-telling-liberians-that-the-u-s-manufactured-ebola-outbreak/

[mainer]

8. The murders of medical teams in Liberia will be on his head

Doctors, nurses, and aid workers now face a lot more dangers than the virus itself, thanks to this stooge.

[jeff47]

11. Not just that - he's also killing the children who now will not get vaccinated. (nt)

[ColesCountyDem]

15. There's no vaccine available. n/t

[jeff47]

19. Vaccinated for every other disease.

He's claiming that the US laced vaccines with Ebola. Thus, people will not get their children vaccinated against diseases like measles or whooping cough. And kids will die because of that.

[ColesCountyDem]

26. Thanks for clarifying. n/t

[MNBrewer]

12. THis person will get aid workers killed

may already have done so.

[kiranon]

18. This isn't a free speech issue - professor has gone

off the deep end academically. Would the university allow a professor to teach that the world is flat, that ebola is nothing more than a common cold, creationism (which may appear at Florida State Un.), fund a search for living long extinct animals or allow each students to make up the course and grades that they want instead of what is listed in the catelog? As noted, it will get aid workers, children and Americans and others killed. The only excuse would be that the professor is teaching a course on "conspiracies" and this is just another example.

[MNBrewer]

20. This is very close to shouting "fire" in a crowded theater

[candelista]

29. It is nothing like it.

There is no clear and present danger to persons or property.

[christx30]

61. Scott Lively was sued

for convincing Uganda to pass it's anti-gay laws.

[MNBrewer]

62. In what way is it "nothing like it"?

when it is actually very close to being exactly like it.

There is a very clear and present danger to people who are in Africa trying to deal with the ebola outbreak.

[exboyfil]

13. In a peer review if his statements are shown to be false

Can't he not be terminated for cause? Part of academic freedom is the obligation to present data in a truthful fashion. Isn't that what got Michael Bellesiles to resign from Emory?

[candelista]

32. No.

Professors often come up with false theories, which get refuted by their colleagues. This is the way the game of academic inquiry is played. The way to deal with false theories is to refute them, not suppress them.

[Ikonoklast]

40. Not his area of expertise, it's his personal opinion.

Just keep stirring the shit, you're getting a lot slopped on you.

[candelista]

55. Professors have the right of free speech, just like everyone else.

But your filthy comment to me looks like a threat, and you do not have a right to do that.

[Ikonoklast]

59. Try harder.

The quality of trolls here has really gone down dramatically over the years, your squeaking is to be laughed at.


So I am laughing.

[Bragi]

44. Agreed! nt

[XemaSab]

14. It makes you wonder what kind of crazy nonsense he's teaching his students

[Dopers_Greed]

16. Interesting that Liberia publishes "wildly speculative" information as news

Guess that Faux isn't alone in this world

[TeamPooka]

17. DSU saying we don't want your tuition money, rational students apply elsewhere. nt

[KamaAina]

22. The University of Illinois rescinded a job offer because of what the candidate said

about Israel/Gaza. It was far more rational than this, but unluckily for him, pro-Palestinian.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/9/university_of_illinois_urged_to_reinstate

As the fall school term begins, an Illinois college campus is embroiled in one of the nation’s biggest academic freedom controversies in recent memory. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has sparked an outcry over its withdrawal of a job offer to a professor critical of the Israeli government. Steven Salaita was due to start work at the university as a tenured professor in the American Indian Studies Program. But after posting a series of tweets harshly critical of this summer’s Israeli assault on Gaza, Salaita was told the offer was withdrawn. The school had come under pressure from donors, students, parents and alumni critical of Salaita’s views, with some threatening to withdraw financial support. Thousands of academics have signed petitions calling for Salaita’s reinstatement, and several lecturers have canceled appearances in protest. The American Association of University Professors has called the school’s actions "inimical to academic freedom and due process." A number of Urbana-Champaign departments have passed votes of no-confidence in the chancellor, Phyllis Wise. And today, Urbana-Champaign students will be holding a campus walkout and day of silence in support of Salaita. We are joined by two guests: Columbia University law professor Katherine Franke, who has canceled a lecture series at Urbana-Champaign in protest of Salaita’s unhiring; and Kristofer Petersen-Overton, a scholar who went through a similar incident in 2011 when Brooklyn College reversed a job offer after complaints about his Middle East views, only to reinstate it following a public outcry.

[SansACause]

23. “A lot of people can have tenure at a university and then they’ll go out and commit mass murder,..."

“A lot of people can have tenure at a university and then they’ll go out and commit mass murder, okay,” Holmes said. “We didn’t know that they would do that before they were granted tenure.

Well, that is essentially what he has done. How many will die because of his crazy conspiracy theory?

[Bragi]

45. My estimate: approx. zero people will die

Stupid ideas get debunked. Just like here. The system works.

[geek tragedy]

49. You know people in Africa are murdering

aid workers because they believe crap like this, right?

[SansACause]

52. Eight people were murdered earlier this month in bordering Guinea

His article was printed on Sept. 9th. Ten days later, eight people trying to raise Ebola awareness were murdered in the bordering country of Guinea. The villagers believed that the workers were spreading Ebola. Whether there was a direct connection between the murdered health workers and the published editorial may not be certain, but there is no doubt that many in Africa who read this piece will now not get vaccines and/or may harm health workers who they think are trying to kill them.

Africa is like here if you consider the anti-vaccination crowd in the US and their conspiracy theories (welcome back, measles). However, in either continent the system does not work. Fear and superstition are alive and well.

[broadcaster75201]

39. Not all speech is protected. Bunch of dumbasses. n/t

nt

[Bragi]

46. He has tenure and can say what he wants. nt

[SansACause]

54. That is simply not true.

Most, if not all, tenured faculty can be terminated "for cause", which usually involves "demonstrated incompetence or dishonesty in teaching or research".

[geek tragedy]

48. Tenure trumps public health and human safety? nt

[the_sly_pig]

51. Anything is possible.....

whether it is likely or not is another matter. Plenty of crazy folk out there.

[candelista]

57. The university made the right decision.

Professors have (a) academic freedom, and (b) First Amendment rights. U Delaware could be sued successfully if they fired this guy. Both legally and morally they did the right thing.

Too many people on this site want to suppress free speech. It makes you look like a bunch of Republicans.

[alp227]

66. Crankery != free speech.

What about Holocaust denial, Sandy Hook conspiracy theories, or other blatant falsehoods and other crazy talk?

[Bragi]

70. Expose lies, don't censor liars

That's what citizens need to do in a society that valuers freedom of speech (without which, true democracy is impossible.)

[alp227]

74. And what if the lie has been debunked 1000 times already?

There is a difference between small lies and big lies.

[PorridgeGun]

75. No matter, unfortunately.

The USSC has set the bar for prohibition of speech at a very high level, and, whatever else this guy is, he's still short of the "scream fire in a crowded theater" test for most people.

[Bragi]

76. Then keep debunking it

There may be a difference between big and small lies, but I'm less concerned about people expressing untruths than I am about suppressing the right to speak based on my, yours or someone elses pre-judgement about the veracity of what they might say.

[alp227]

77. I'm a lot more concerned about the spread of falsehoods.

I mean, look how Fox News, talk radio, and the Internet have perpetuated all sorts of lies big and small about Obama and government. In another era, it was easier to say "debunk, don't censor". But in the modern era of information being available at your fingertips, accommodating nonsense is counterproductive.

[Bragi]

69. Yes indeed! nt

[FrodosPet]

58. Maybe the Ebola thing is a blessing?

I hope to the high heavens the following post was sarcasm. If not, it is one of the most horrible things I have ever read. But there was no dripping sarcasm smiley.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5568774

I'm for reducing the population down to 500 million

Maybe the Ebola thing is a blessing.

We're destroying the entire earth to support these worthless resource consuming meat bags.

[leftyladyfrommo]

78. Universities should be places where free speech is protected.

Especially state schools. But private schools, too.