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Cal Poly Democrats join in on allegations of racism

February 9, 2018

After student activists and local media teed off on a conservative political commentator invited to participate in a panel discussion on fake news, Cal Poly’s College Democrats announced they are pulling out of the event. A couple of the panelists now appear to be backing out as well.

On Feb. 13, Cal Poly is scheduled to host an event called “Fake News Panel: What is it and who decides?” Initially, the panel discussion was co-sponsored by the Cal Poly Dean of Students, ASI Student Government, the League of Women Voters and the College Republicans and College Democrats.

Bill Whittle

However, following the announcement of the panelists, uproar ensued over the participant selected by the College Republicans, political commentator Bill Whittle. Student activists decried Whittle for racism, and the Mustang News published an article headlined, “Racist ‘Fake News’ panelist Bill Whittle causes student backlash. Likewise, the Tribune ran an article headlined, “Cal Poly ‘Fake News’ panelist believes white people are smarter than blacks.”

Both articles cited a video published on YouTube in which Whittle was interviewed by conservative-libertarian online radio host Stefan Molyneux. Throughout the interview Molyneux discussed alleged IQ differences among different racial and ethnic groups, which he said correlated to wealth gaps.

Whittle linked IQ and cognition to economic success and societal problems, such as crime. He never overtly stated whites are smarter or superior to blacks. In fact, Whittle described economist and philosopher Thomas Sowell, who is black, as “the smartest guy on the map.”

However, the College Democrats accused Whittle of racism and Islamophobia and said in a statement that is why they are dropping their sponsorship of the Cal Poly panel.

“This action is in response to the College Republicans invitation of a panelist who routinely publishes racist and Islamophobic commentary, the College Democrats wrote. “We condemn these statements as false and hateful and stand in solidarity with the individuals and communities they affect.

“We were told this panel was an opportunity for dialogue during a divisive political period; however, it is clear that won’t be the case. We entered into a good faith agreement with the stakeholders involved and are disappointed that agreement was not honored. Our choice to withdraw is motivated by conversations we have had with student leaders from affected communities over the past few days.

“It is important to discuss disagreements. However, there are views so odious that they do not deserve the credibility brought by a seat at the discussion table.”

The College Democrats had selected Cory Black, a prominent political consultant in SLO County, to participate in the fake news panel. Black has stirred controversially locally on several occasions, including by working for and contributing money to local politicians who have, in turn, advocated for marijuana regulations that benefit Black’s clients in the pot industry.

Black has withdrawn from the panel, according to the Tribune. Another panelist, BBC News producer Sue Mitchell, has also reportedly withdrawn.

Mitchel was selected to participate in the panel by the Cal Poly journalism department, which released a statement saying it is continuing to sponsor the event out of support for the First Amendment.

“As journalists —and especially as journalism educators — we support the First Amendment and its five freedoms,” the statement said. They are the bedrock of our democracy. Our continued support for “Fake News Panel: What is it and Who Decides?” is not an endorsement of the panelist selected by the College Republicans. It is an endorsement of civil discourse, something we value.”

The journalism department’s statement said to check the Mustang News for more information, and it linked to the article labeling Whittle a racist.

Other remaining panelists include Alicia Shepard, a longtime journalist and Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein biographer, and Chip Visci, a former Tribune publisher and communications director at Cal Poly. The journalism department invited Shepard, while ASI sponsored Visci.

The fake news panel is scheduled for Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. in the Chumash Auditorium.


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The Liberal playbook is clearly on display, when you’re afraid that your ideas and beliefs are flawed and cannot hold up to debate you must attack the opposition and call them racist. It is weakness of thought perfectly displayed.


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Jon Tatro,


Isn’t playing your “circular reasoning” game fun for you?


In front of the alumni here at Cal Coast News, it’s obvious that you didn’t do your homework relative to Bill Whittle being an outright racist as explicitly shown in ONLY A FEW of many links shown below:


Bill agreeing the black race are “Morons, Slaves, and other epithets)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNLnehTFanM&feature=youtu.be&t=43m50s


Bill agreeing that President Obama was “insane, incompetent, etc.) Then he holds Donald Trump in high esteem? Huh? Great comedy at the expense of current facts, priceless GOP rhetoric!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLYVG4OP_wg&feature=youtu.be&t=1h2m38s


Bill Whittle calling Don Lemon of CNN a racist. The only thing missing was the fact that Mr. Whittle forgot to tell us whether he was the “pot” or the “kettle” in his racist interview.

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/03/02/nratv-labels-cnns-don-lemon-racist-against-white-people-noting-trump-sounds-different-when-using/215528


Jon, always remember, Google can be your best friend!


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So what if Bill Whittle is an OUTRIGHT RACIST? He should have been brought forth to show this blatant fact amongst the alumni at Cal Poly. By his “grand-standing” modus operandi of being a white supremacist, it would have been an entertaining discussion at his expense.


Bill agreeing the black race are “Morons, Slaves, and other epithets)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNLnehTFanM&feature=youtu.be&t=43m50s


Bill agreeing that President Obama was “insane, incompetent, etc.) Then he holds Donald Trump in high esteem? Huh? Great comedy at the expense of current facts, priceless GOP rhetoric!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLYVG4OP_wg&feature=youtu.be&t=1h2m38s


Naw, the Democrats should have let this GOP RACIST on the stage relative to the “Fake News” topic by showing what the true GOP stands for.

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One sure thing that can be gained from Bill Whittle and his racist followers, is the FACT that they are NOT Christians in any sense of the term, period! Showing them to be hypocritical to Jesus’ direct words, is the following examples, to wit:


“For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.” (Deuteronomy 15:11


“Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.” (Proverbs 14:31)


“Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” (Proverbs 22:9)


“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,” (Deuteronomy 15:7)


Of course, we all know what Jesus thought of Hypocrites, don’t we? Be prepared upon Judgment Day!


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Your full of it. I watched the clip where you claim Bill called Blacks morons etc. What he said was The Dimms have made them new slaves by offering crumbs and handouts for votes. Which is true. Never trust liberals. Never.


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The Identarian,


Learn syntactical sentence structuring, I specifically stated “Bill AGREEING the black race are “Morons, Slaves, and other epithets,” not CALLING them said words. Key word: AGREEING, understand?


May I suggest that you take a “Reading Comprehension” class at a local High School? You can thank me later.


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You’re as slippery as CNN aren’t you? You’re trying to convince that Bill Whittle is a racist. Your posts only make it clear that Bill’s point is that the Dimm Party trades votes for crumbs. Which is true because they do trade votes for crumbs.. Never trust lib/progs, never!


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The Identarian,


No, I am not “trying” to convince that Bill Whittle is a racist, I am explicitly “showing” him to be one. If you can’t see this blatant fact in the links that I’ve shown, and elsewhere on the “internets,” then may I pose once again that maybe the reading comprehension class that I mentioned before for is in order for you?


The rest of your diatribe seemingly shows you to be a racist too. Why wouldn’t you be, if you are a Trump supporter. Additionally, you are certainly not a Christian, where the teachings of the Jesus character goes directly against what Trump represents.


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Let me guess: an “educator” Probably at the Jr. College level? You probably don your hoodie (and play “antifa”) and throw things at people you hate, pretending all the while “you’re a man”. A self hating white guy as well, you come here and through stiefeling speech and insults are going to ‘save the world.’ ? Yep, that’s you


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The Identarian,


Where would the Conservatives be without the insidious notion of their “Circular Reasoning” and not being able to address the post in question, but rather run from it.


The Identarian, thank you for proving my point!


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So you are an “educator”. I recognized the imperious snot nosed attitude immediately BTW, you haven’t proved a darn thing. What you did was post a few videos and selected some areas of those videos you claim prove your point. You’re a lib/prog so we understand you don’t really ‘get it’. The point, once again for the slow witted, is that the Dim party trades crumbs for votes.. They weaken and make subservient the groups they claim to be helping. Again, for the slow witted lib/progs out there, it isn’t racism to point out the perfectly obvious.


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What a joke. This entire thing was fake from the beginning. The only thing that isn’t fake is that they cancelled it. It can’t get much more fake than Black on the panel. Time to regroup and try to put a legitimate panel together and discuss both sides of the issue.


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Ahh the snowflakes and their unyielding bravery. Are these universities really planning on sendings these kids out into the shitstorm that is adult life completely unprepared?


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How can you tell if someone on campus is a Democrat? His fingers are in his ears and he’s humming.


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AAAAAGAIN??? The left —- ESPECIALLY the new irrational liberals that are now attending Cal Poly have gone WEAK IN THE KNEES! WAAAAAhhh. They want to take their toys and leave the sand box! So tired of their constant “racism” accusations…so old and OVERUSED when they are truly the ones being DISCRIMINATORY and BIASED. Let the man come and let the panel do what it was suppose to do. They are just wanting to cherry pick who else is on the panel to make sure “their side” isn’t over shadowed and …. out shone intellectually! Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled brats!


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Bill Whittle is a smart guy and certainly not a racist. They just are afraid to be on stage with him because they know that Dems rely on fake news and he most likely will point that out.


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pi-on. The left is incapable of engaging because they are afraid to. It’s far easier to accuse someone of “isms” than argue facts.


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I don’t get this. Why not engage him on this rather than avoiding him?


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Because they feel that people are not allowed to have differing opinions because there’s are correct and they label those opinions as racist, sexist, homophobic in order to dismiss them.


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When the opinionator’s “different opinion” promotes the racist idea that black people are inherently intellectually inferior to people of other races and suggested that races could be divided along the lines of “civilized man” and “barbarian” no one is labeling him as anything outside of what he has labeled himself as, pure and simple.


If some won’t stand against the likes of this racist commentator/reporter/spokesperson for the NRA (NRATV) then I applaud those who do. Just because the guy is a polished speaker, having a higher than the usual racist’s intellect, doesn’t mean he is any more credible than lets say David Duke and should be relegated to the same level of racism Duke represents.


I agree with pi-on, he should have been engaged, and, rebutted at every turn of the conversation. In my opinion, when someone is as blatantly racist as Whittle is, no matter how they shroud it in carefully crafted words, they should be held to the fire on every comment and or idea they put forth and how those comments and or ideas relate to his base racism.


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The article says he links iq and cognition to economic success and societal problems. The article states that he has never pointed to race. It seems to me that the people making the assumption that he is disparaging African Americans, are in fact the racists.


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