Let's talk stupid.
KINGS POINT, N.Y. (AP) — A professor at the United States Merchant Marine Academy faces dismissal for joking about the Colorado movie theater shootings in front of his students, including one whose father was among the victims.
According to an internal personnel document obtained by The New York Times ,Gregory F. Sullivan was suspended from his tenured position as humanities instructor for telling his classroom before showing a documentary: "If someone with orange hair appears in the corner of the room, run for the exit."
James Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., mass shooting, has dyed his hair bright orange.
The professor had just turned down the lights to show the documentary and was preparing to step out for a few minutes when he made the remark.
Shashi Kumar, the institution's academic dean, called the joke "notoriously disgraceful conduct" and recommended that Sullivan be fired. The internal document said Sullivan was informed on Aug. 10 that he had 10 days to contest his dismissal.
The document also said Sullivan had been unaware that the father of one of his students was killed in the shootings. It said he immediately apologized to the student after being told of his loss. He also offered apologies to the entire class and the administration.
By the time I had read this far, two names had come to mind.
Albert Einstein.
Forrest Gump.
The latter having once observed, "two things are infinte: the universe and human stupidity...and I'm not sure about the universe."
The former, of course, having offered us, "stupid is as stupid does".
The professor in question obviously had a momentary attack of Snooki-ism. (Regular readers here will immediately wonder why I didn't take this opportunity to add my usual, predictable shot at any and all things Kardashian here. Suffice to say I'm whimsical. And dont particularly like to be considered usual and predictable).
And, sure, let's just call what he said what it is.
Stupid.
But fire the guy?
If stupid was a termination offense or a disqualification for being hired in the first place, we wouldn't have to be decide who to send to Congress.
Because there wouldn't be any Congress.
The still open wound (absolutely no stupid pun intended here, deans and deanettes) of the Aurora killings still, obviously and rightly, has nerve endings at a red zone level of sensitivity.
Time really does heal, though. I was just a kid when John F. Kennedy got shot in the head on a Dallas street and the idea, then, that anyone could ever make a joke about such a catastrophically horrific event was, literally, unthinkable.
November will be one year shy of fifty years since that happened.
And just the other day, I heard somebody commiserating with a friend who was having a bad day by jesting "...other than that, Mrs. Kennedy, how was the motorcade?"
Unforgivable insenstivity in 1963.
Pretty funny in 2012.
All of this, and none of this, is intended to imply that the equally horrific taking of lives in Colorado will ever be funny.
At least for another fifty years or so.
In the meantime, the professor, placing foot in mouth with an exquisite burst of perfection some Olympians wish they had taken to London, said something unfortunate.
Totally insenstive.
And pretty stupid.
But it would be pretty stupid to cut a good teacher loose because he suddenly succumbed to a momentary weakness, a craving for the taste of foot.
So I hope they don't fire the guy.
Because that would be stupid.
Still....another name comes to mind.
The French essayisty Albert Camus.
Who once said, "Stupidity has a knack of getting its way....".
For a French guy, Albert had a pretty good grasp on our political process, didn't he?
Can't call him stupid.
No comments:
Post a Comment