College Tribune | October 14th 2008
Comment News
8
Opinion
FAUSTUS Back Supping with the devils
I
t’s as if Faustus has never been away. A brief interlude away from the veritable cesspit that is University College Dublin Dublin, it’s good to see that some things never change around the these hallowed concrete edifices. For the young and innocent amongst you, you may never have heard of Faustus. You will never have learned of the intrepid, public service journalism that Faustus offers. Your humble correspondent is here for you, exposing innocent UCDians to the movings and shakings that define SU and society life. Faustus, like any good public servant, rolls his trousers to the knee and wades into those murky waters, and occasionally fishes out a juicy little newt. Or runs into Pierce Farrell. Bastard. You see Faustus has watched from the sidelines over the last few years and observed his old rival dominate proceedings. Now to mention an old foe is to admit inferiority, and Faustus isn’t going to do that any time soon. But let’s just say she’s a pussy and letís leave it at that. Speaking of the Union, your esteemed elected representatives (plus mates and occasional busty blonde which took their fancy) recently went on tour to the sunny south east, paid for in part by your student services fee. But don’t despair, it was all for a good cause. Class rep ‘training’ is a fine and noble thing, and those both giving and receiving such an education have certainly appeared a little less stressed over the past week. And why not? This year’s motley crew of horrible hacks enjoyed luxury self catering accommodation, fine music, and a full Irish all paid for by your money. The smorgasbord that comprises elected union officers and their
fan club had within its ranks some of the biggest blackguards ever to be chased around campus by President Hugh Brady’s new band of minions, Pulse Security. On the bus and during the training session our officers and unsuspecting class reps were subject to foul mouthed football-fan-style taunts. These hoodlums made even the Millwall F.C. fans resemble Tim Henman’s bingo-winged army of grannies. In the space of a couple of hours our budding hacks and future leaders of this country managed to reduce the humble seaside resort of Courtown into the Costa Del Sex. It was too much for one young lady who by the early evening found herself in a benylin n’cider induced coma. Luckily, although copious amounts of alcohol were consumed, many of our hacks were still feeling a little fresher by the end of the night. The holiday home complex became the set of Ireland’s first ever gay porno starring two hacks we all know and love. Sadly enough, the incriminating tape has since gone missing and is believed to be in the possession of Ryan ‘Cowgirl’ Griffin. One class rep went around trying to solicit some of the young ones for a golden shower, but upon refusal he decided that a plug socket would suffice instead. The moment of madness caused a chain reaction which triggered an explosion visible from the International Space Station. Speaking of sticky situations, it was all too much for President O’Dea who was subjected to a heavy BDSM session by the caretaker as punishment for the weekend of madness. Paisean Fasiean indeed. Former Accomodation and Employment officer Enda ‘Angry Man’ Duffy slammed the SU’hjhhvhs handling of the weekend he denounced the whole trip as ‘an absolute disgrace’. ‘Class rep training was a sham, our officers have spent student’s money on a pure junket, they should be ashamed of themselves, if it was up to me we’d be stayin’ in tents, drinkin’ warm beer and eating Tesco Value Cornflakes for Breakfast, none of this full Irish, that’s bourgeois. Meanwhile, down Union Corridor, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, or at least the washedup politicians UCD equivalent Dan O’Neill and Chris Bond are currently watching re-runs of Happy Days while plotting future leftie World Domination. Conor ‘Drink-feck-arse’ Fingelton was conspicuously absent, probably due to sale on Tesco Value blue pants. Bless. Yours excitedly,
■ Under pressure: The infamous Katie Couric interview with Governor Sarah Palin
Gotcha Socrates! – on the latest political assault on reason Poor Socrates. Charged, convicted and executed for, among other things, making “the weaker argument defeat the stronger.” How did he do it? Beliefs strongly held by Socrates’ various interlocutors – Athenians with pretensions of authority – were demolished with a few direct questions about the unthought principles, if any, behind those beliefs. The interlocutors were reduced to angry silence. Lacking the capacity to respond intellectually they sorted out the Socrates problem in the severest way possible. Nevertheless, the Socrates problem has not disappeared: the claims of “authority” are as vulnerable to examination as ever they were. But the response of the deservedly humiliated – in the West at least – is not so much to kill the questioner as to kill the questioning. The allegation “gotcha journalism” is the latest attempt to do just that, a term which seeks to discredit the very notion of a forensic question. U.S. Presidential elections have become increasingly conducive breeding environments for reason-resistant discourse. Recently the Republican VicePresidential candidate in the current elections was unable to answer questions about how her claims that being Alaskan gave her special competence to deal with American-Russian relations; about the range of historic decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court; and she expressed a view on Pakistan which flatly contradicted that of her running-mate. The questions which produced these revealing answers were fiercely condemned by her
Brian O’Connor “Gotcha journalism” is supposedly the mischievous practice of asking questions which, cunningly, can produce only incoherent or embarrassing answers supporters as “gotcha journalism.” “Gotcha journalism” is supposedly the mischievous practice of asking questions which, cunningly, can produce only incoherent or embarrassing answers. The appearance of incoherence and embarrassment have nothing to do, it seems, with the intellectual powers or mendacity of the questioned. By this measure Socrates was merely a “gotcha philosopher” with no concern for the truth.
The danger is clear. The notion of a legitimate question is effectively redefined as one which the powerful can answer with ease. Fawning enquiry counts as the only respectable form. An ignorant and intellectually insecure constituency comes to be manipulated – like the Athenian crowd – into cheering along the denunciation of serious scrutiny of its politicians. In this climate reasonable questions – such as those the Vice-Presidential candidate could not answer – are not permitted to be asked unless we know in advance that they can be answered. Anything else is decried as “gotcha.” One trick to give legitimacy to the idea that hard questions are nothing but “gotcha” questions is to equate fair questions with unanswerable ones. Consider the following effort (by conservative writer Mark Steyn). To ask a politician seeking high office “Name the Deputy Fisheries Minister of Hoogivsastan” is identified as a case of “gotcha journalism.” It probably would be were it ever asked. (During his 2000 campaign George W. Bush could not name the Prime Minister of India – not quite the same thing.) But what happens is that all questions that leave the preferred politician silent or fumbling are characterized as equivalent to the Hoogivsastan question. It takes a particular kind of audience for this trick to succeed. To resist it a robust public reason – the Socratic moment – is still essential.
» Brian O’Connor is the Head of the UCD School of Philosophy