Family Security Matters just released their 2007 list of the 10 most "insipid, scary and yes, downright dangerous" college courses. Big surprise -- they're courses about labor, sexuality, race, and "social justice." According to FSM, they "express an agenda far beyond any honest or accurate academic cause" and "offer nothing more than to stroke the ego of the professor’s fascination with silly topics." My alma mater Ithaca College comes in at No. 7 with Chip Gagnon's "Whiteness and Multiculturalism," a course exploring the history of racism and the privileges of whiteness in America.
At first blush, the name "Family Security Matters" might indicate your average hawkish, go-kill-some-Arabs-type national-security organization. But no! "Family security" means so much more! Their mission statement:
Our mission is to inform all Americans, men and women, about the issues surrounding national security; to address their fears about safety and security on a personal, family, community, national and international level; to highlight the connection between individual safety and a strong national defense; to increase civic participation and political responsibility; and to empower all Americans to become proactive defenders of our national security and community safety.
Considering all this hand-wringing about courses on race, class, etc., I can only assume that "community safety" refers to keeping American families safe from not just terrorism, but all those different ideas and people they might be forced to encounter. And by "families," they mean white, Christian, economically privileged families. Their list of contributing editors includes such luminaries as Michelle Malkin, so none of this is much of a surprise. But at what point does lumping all your fear of foreigners and brown people together take you over the line from mere innocuous conservative organization to certifiable racism and xenophobia?
--Kate Sheppard
