The Old "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" Routine

Today, Iran's President Ahmadinejad called on students to help him purge liberal and secular faculty members from universities. While this may seem like another absurd statement from Iran's recently emboldened leader, it is worth noting that his actions are not as isolated as they might seem.

Earlier this year, a UCLA alumni got a significant amount of local attention when his organization (the UCLA Alumni Association) set up a website featuring the "Dirty Thirty" -- a list of the most liberal (and therefore most dangerous) professors at UCLA. The website offered to pay students $100 to secretly videotape or record lectures by "liberal" faculty members so that their left-leaning lectures and/or discussions could be exposed. One would assume that his ultimate goal is to get these professors fired.

As the United States continues to press its case for democracy abroad, we are again reminded of how powerful factions within our nation continue to disregard the basic tenants of the democracy it preaches. Freedom of speech and expression are the obvious victims in both of these cases, but a truly "model" country should set its sights on more than that. The free exchange of ideas must be more than a watered-down debate between two presidential candidates or the unproductive banter of a White House press conference. Higher education should be the one place in our society where citizens are able to challenge everything from power structures to commonly agreed upon ethics and morals. Without this questioning, without the ability to rethink our way of life from scratch, we will never progress as a people or find the next great idea that will solve the problems of tomorrow.

Looking at most middle eastern countries today, it is sad to see how far they've fallen from their rich past. Once regions of advanced learning and scholarly pursuit, they were conquered not only by dictators and despots (often with the help of the West), but by the idea of religious fundamentalism and its notion that ideas and beliefs are set in stone and should not be fractured by the sword of progress. We see the same thing today in schools across the country where Christians are fighting the teaching evolution in science classes. What's frightening is that their ultimate goal of replacing Darwin with the Bible seems to be succeeding -- a recent study showed that Americans are less likely to believe in evolution than Europeans or the Japanese.

If we expect nations around the world to follow our example, we better make pretty darn sure that the example we're setting is a good one. We already know that leaders of "rogue" or "terrorist" states/organizations hate the United States not because of our "freedoms" (as George W. Bush likes to say), but because of our hypocrisy. For after all, if American wants to be good parents to the badly behaved nations of the world, helping them become responsible and successful adults, we cannot forget the one lesson that all children learn -- the old "do as I say and not as I do" routine just doesn't carry much weight.

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