To the Editor:
As a Penn student, it's usually enjoyable to come across stories about or quotes from Penn professors when I'm reading the popular press. In such cases, Penn's superior faculty generally comports themselves well, expressing enlightening ideas or explaining cutting-edge research.
None of this was so when I perused last Sunday's New York Times Magazine and read an interview with Penn Religious Studies professor Michael Dyson. In this short Q & A, Times reporter Deborah Solomon attempts to conduct a serious interview with Dyson about his book deriding Bill Cosby. Apparently, Solomon's questions were too much for the angry and simple Dyson, who only receives high marks for his expensive suit and very expensive shoes.
When Solomon asked Dyson a serious question concerning his credentials, he responded by announcing that his innocent brother is serving a life sentence for murder. This answer provides the reader with a window of insight into how Dyson views the black community: In order to be a full-fledged member, one must have close ties to crime; the more heinous the crime, the higher-ranking the membership.
Dyson endeavors to portray himself as having some special insight into and caring for the black community. This is belied later in the interview when Dyson proclaims that poor blacks don't have a choice when it comes to stealing and murdering. Such an erroneous and philosophically amoral statement only serves to expose Dyson as someone who should not be taken seriously.
Self-aggrandizingly, Dyson announces that his talent in life is for oratory. I disagree.
Dyson concludes the interview by quoting the Cosa Nostra and qualifying all his answers with the statement "It's not personal." Paradoxically, he quotes this criminal organization after attempting to personalize every question Solomon asks.
Surely when Solomon was preparing this Sunday Times piece for the magazine, she saw that Dyson would look like a buffoon. But as someone who typically enjoys reading about Penn professors in the news, Dyson's posturing was a colossal disappointment.
Andrew Geier
The author is a second-year Psychology doctoral student
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