Feminist Amy Siskind tried to get progressive radio show host David Pakman fired from his adjunct professorship at Boston College after he dared to disagree with her social justice politics on Twitter.
In a tweet last week, Siskind argued that she would not support any white male candidates in the Democratic primary. “I will not support white male candidates in the Dem primary. Unless you slept thru midterms, women were our most successful candidate,” Siskind wrote. “Biggest Dem vote getters in history: Obama ‘08, Hillary ‘16. White male is not where our party is at, and is our LEAST safe option in 2020.”
More membership benefits: Members Only Newsletter Exclusive Town Hall meetings Other stuff. No refunds on membership payments, memberships can be cancelled at any time.
I will not support white male candidates in the Dem primary. Unless you slept thru midterms, women were our most successful candidate. Biggest Dem vote getters in history: Obama ‘08, Hillary ‘16. White male is not where our party is at, and is our LEAST safe option in 2020.
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) December 17, 2018
- “This Thing Called Nuclear Weapons” T-Shirt Unisex; “Very Stable Genius” T-Shirt Unisex $ 24.99 Established in 2005 T-Shirt (Black graphic) Unisex.
- The David Pakman Show, a nationally syndicated progressive talk show on TV and radio. New clips posted every day!Become a TDPS Member & support independent m.
Pakman fired back at Siskind’s tweet, arguing that is not progressive to preemptively disqualify white candidates. “Isn’t there something not progressive about pre-emptively dismissing a candidate based on their race and gender?” he said. “I feel like there’s a word to describe that…as a progressive, I won’t be jumping on board with that idea.”
isn't there something not progressive about pre-emptively dismissing a candidate based on their race and gender? I feel like there's as word to describe that…as a progressive, I won't be jumping on board with that idea.
— David Pakman (@dpakman) December 18, 2018
Siskind initially fired back by suggesting that Pakman was insecure and afraid of diversity. “Secure men are always at the fore-front of diversity. They don’t see their place or status threatened by lifting women, people of color, or people of all sexual orientations because they are comfortable with themselves,” she said.
Secure men are always at the fore-front of diversity. They don't see their place or status threatened by lifting women, people of color, or people of all sexual orientations because they are comfortable with themselves.
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) December 19, 2018
The day after, Pakman reported that Siskind had called Boston College, where Pakman has previously served as an adjunct faculty member, and asked that he be terminated. Pakman explained that he could not be terminated because adjunct faculty member as rehired every semester and he is not currently teaching.
However, it is not entirely clear why Siskind thought that her disagreement with Pakman justified her call to Boston College.
In a comment to The College Fix, Siskind asked Pakman to apologize for daring to disagree with her. “Mr. Pakman can publicly apologize and explain his misstatements. I understand he has been corrected,” she wrote. “People are watching how he conducts himself.”
Pakman posted a video about the incident on YouTube on December 21. He played a voicemail from a conservative listener who commended Pakman for speaking out against intolerance on his own side.
It’s not clear what Amy Siskind’s beliefs are. Siskind supported John McCain and Sarah Palin in the 2008 election. As late as 2011, Siskind was arguing that Sarah Palin could be a strong leader for America.
Google uses cookies and data to:- Deliver and maintain services, like tracking outages and protecting against spam, fraud, and abuse
- Measure audience engagement and site statistics to understand how our services are used
If you agree, we’ll also use cookies and data to:- Improve the quality of our services and develop new ones
- Deliver and measure the effectiveness of ads
- Show personalized content, depending on your settings
- Show personalized or generic ads, depending on your settings, on Google and across the web
Glenn Greenwald David Pakman Twitter
Click “Customize” to review options, including controls to reject the use of cookies for personalization and information about browser-level controls to reject some or all cookies for other uses. You can also visit g.co/privacytools anytime.