Freedom of Speech is Condoned for UMKC Labor Professor by the KC Star...but Not For Readers

Read the experience of "freedom of speech" from Blogodidact. If you are a commenter in the Kansas City Star, it might be best if you lean to the progressive left if you want your comments published.

That tactic worked for Judy Ancel, director of the Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City who was featured as a guest columnist on April 25, 2011. In this particular piece she neglected to mention her teaching includes violence and disruption is an acceptable behavior in labor disputes. Here is an example of her teaching:

She goes on to tell a story of a friend who worked for a utility company in Peru, where it’s illegal to strike.

“They couldn’t get access to” strike, “but they had a lot of cats and they succeeded in putting cats in powerhouses,” she said. “And the cats — now, don’t think about the cats, OK? The cats would run around inside and short out the system and cause power blackouts. And that created enough chaos in the system” to get to “a negotiating position.”

Plus, she joked, they “got rid of a lot of feral cats.”

Apparently the Kansas City Star isn't interested in publishing comments from a taxpayer who, by the way, contributes to this woman's paycheck.

I wonder if the Kansas City Star would publish an opinion piece by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) decrying this professor's use of labor tactics? If PETA goes after people who wear fur, then I would think they would condemn a radical professor espousing violence and disruption that includes killing cats, even if they are feral.

Is teaching violence and criminal mischief for labor goals acceptable to the Star? Maybe the editorial staff didn't know about Ancel's remarks on video before the column was printed. It does now. It doesn't seem to matter to them based on the scrubbing of the taxpayer's comment. So I would take that as a tacit agreement to this professor's methods of violence.