Joe's Featured Course for Fall 2009 Philosophy 203

International Intelligence Notification: Spectre at large in "The West."

Report from a reliable source: "It Lives!" Details to follow.

Enlightenment era promises betrayed…Science out of control! The monster had escaped, disappearing deep into the frozen wilderness. Now in 1848, the grisly creature has reappeared, seemingly everywhere! “All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this Spectre.” Keep a close watch on the Philosophy course offerings for Fall.
Once it has been announced, very soon now, you may have but one chance!

Phil 203 “Nineteenth Century Philosophy” With Joe Petrulionis Stay Tuned!

Roundtable on Andrew Hartman's _Education and the Cold War_

Joe had the opportunity to participate in an interesting venue for discussing new scholarly books. Several reviewers offered their various perspectives and the Author responded.

The book reviewed was Andrew Hartman's Education and the Cold War: the Battle for the American School. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. The roundtable included Joe's review, you can read it here. You can visit the entire roundtable here. But most important, you can not read the book here. I recommend that you skip the reviews altogether; get the book; and read the book.

Joe

Fair and Balanced

Hi there anyone...

I caught some side channel back blast over some of my public support for political sanity. The argument goes like this in almost all cases:

"Joe, you are teacher. The young people you teach are at impressionable ages. You should not take a public position on any political issue. That kind of thing is just using your podium for a bully pulpit. Now stop it or we are going to recommend you be sent to GITMO for a healthy round of waterboarding!"

Since I do not know the correct spelling for the onimonipeiac sound of air being released from a beach ball, I will have to try to handle these objections in English. Besides, I have it on the highest authority in the land that we do not torture people at GITMO. And if we do, we do not keep records. And if we do, we would never destroy the evidence. And if we do, it is only to protect the officers involved in such torture...

The implication with this "advice" I am receiving is that everyone is welcome to smear their political opinions anywhere they please...all except for the teachers and professors. We should be quietly hiding in our ivory towers calculating the correct number of angels... I am constantly reminded how little our training in history, geography, political theory, ethics, and international relations must seem to qualifies any moderate academic to have an opinion. The same objections are rarely ever leveled at those representatives of the arch-right or arch-left. They can even become Secretary of State! It is, as always, we who are in the middle of the compromise position who are the target for everyone else.

But perhaps I was too harsh in siding with the "Historians Against the War." Perhaps I was being one sided.
Although none of my opinions about the unjustifiable, costly, ill-conceived, and illegal crime against humanity that we nickname the "War in Iraq" ever end up in the classroom, perhaps I still should be more balanced in my private public discourse.

And so, now that I have gone and amplified one side in this issue, we should ensure that we announce any conference or academic organization that is convened to celebrate the social, political, fiscal, humanitarian, and moral benefits this war in Iraq has yielded. How about it? Are there scholars out there who want to spearhead a committee to determine what GOOD has come from the expenditure of 3,900 American lives, 15,000+ major American injuries, 35,000+ dead civilians who did not have weapons of mass destruction after all? Too many negative results of this war have already been expressed by the so called “liberal academic community” and other informed writers. Let's hear from the "pro" side, if there is one.

Certainly there are also some good results of the war? For example, the initiation of regime changes in Baghdad, London, and in Washington D.C. I would volunteer to moderate the panel that gauges the political and administrative progress being made in these three places. Another panel might analyze the national deficit against the monetary costs of this war while enumerating examples of people and enterprises that have been enriched. And we must not forget the achievement of our national, if unspoken, recognition of the risks inherent in one party control over both intelligence AND war declaration powers. I think this could be an engaging conference. If one of these Historians for Shock and Awe (HFSA) conferences ever develops, let us please be sure to give its organizing committee equal (and balanced) exposure.

Onward Christian Soldiers...

Upon reading of the expulsion of students for protesting the Iraq War (Take Me Too!)

Protest is the only thing we have in our arsenal to protect individual liberties. It only works when it is disruptive, inconvenient, and inappropriate. Properly scheduled protest, held at convenient times and locations do not trouble anyone. Inappropriate protest is a big part of what won us all our constitutional rights in the first place. We should all be in jail over this Iraqi War and the way this so called “Patriot Act” was put into force. People died so we would have the constitutional rights that have been taken away under the guise of "terrorists behind every bush." We should all be protesting. This war is destroying our country, our economy, and our notions of right and wrong. Is torture an ok interrogation method? Why should we follow the Geneva Conventions? Can we take away the Bill of Rights for Americans who we claim—without trial—are somehow aiding terrorists, terrorists who our government spends trillions to find the never ending succession of “number three men?” My goodness! We need some protests; The more disruptive, inconvenient, and inappropriate, the better!So where is the best place for teens to protest? In their schools! But protest in the schools is against the rules. And the students might get punished. They should happily accept the expulsion, suspension, and extra after school detentions. And they would be smart to turn those punishments into extra opportunities for protest. Then the students who do end up with a smudge on their academic “permanent record” should make that smudge the centerpiece of their college application. If I ever serve on a college level admissions committee, any student who received a suspension or expulsion for protesting the Iraq War will move to the top of the pile, above the Scholastic Achievement winners, the straight A students, and the civic leadership award winners. Is the school the "best" place to protest? If you are a teenager it is probably the safest. This school lost a teaching opportunity here. They should have called a big meeting of the student body and talked it through. Hold meetings, give the protesters and counter-protesters a chance to say their piece. In my own classes, we make sure to talk controversies through. I do not squelch opinion, but we do a lot of looking things up to see if we have grounds for our opinions.There are still many people out there who think Iraq had something to do with 911 and who still believe Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Even now that the Bush Administration has stopped looking for those weapons, and after Colin Powell admitted in his last, official "Meet the Press" meeting that the evidence for the war had been "deliberately deceptive" there are still people out there who believe that the Iraq war was just. These same people are now willing to “get over” the deception and support the idea that the US can move the war front into Iran. And there are some people who think protesters are not patriotic. Remember patriotism means love of your country. The USA is an idea, not a geographic exception. My idea of our country is a civilized notion, it is place where people can express their opinions without being threatened with ostracism, where people of all types can live and let live. The US is the country that tries to enforce international agreements to restrict the damaging effects of war, improve the humane treatment of prisoners, and restrain the use of unilateral military expression. I am a patriot. And I am a protester, because I love my country...what is left of it. Let these kids be punished if we must. But then give them medals for their patriotic valor, and let them know that they should be very proud of their resume enhancing subversive activities.

Joe Petrulionis teaching a course in a tour bus! What's next?

Joe Petrulionis will be teaching a very interesting course this Spring at Penn State Altoona.

Hist 200 "500 Years around Here: A look at National and Global Events through Local Eyes."

Students will get Penn State history credit or they can take a non-credit option.

The bus will leave on Saturday mornings, visit historical sites, and return in the evening. Some of the fieldwork being planned includes:

A 16,000 year old campsite (because Joe just can't stay within the bounds of any course.)
Several Colonial Era battlefields,
A POW camp where the "Hessians" were kept after Trenton
A day devoted to canal boats going over mountains
A night on the "underground railroad"
We will raid Harpers Ferry
and more...

The course is being capped at the seating on a tour bus and registration starts soon. So get registered quickly.

This will be a fun course!

More information is here http://www.personal.psu.edu/jmp479/Featured_upcoming_classes.htm

Moment a play by Joe Petrulionis

Read an excerpt from Joe's play, "Moment."


It has never been produced, nor has it been read aloud by actors. Joe is keen to hear it done. If you have any interest, please contact me. Part of the play can be read at http://petrulionis.net/Moment.htm

Thanks.

Joe Petrulionis

Visit Sandy Petrulionis Academic Web Site

Visit Sandy's Academic Web Site by going here: http://www.personal.psu.edu/shp2/index.htm

Send an Email Message to Sandy by going here: mailto:shp2@psu.edu

Note for Students: If possible, please use the PSU Angel System message system to contact me. Messages sent through the Angel system are less likely to get misdirected. Thanks!