Daphne Patai, member of FIRE’s Board of Directors and professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at University of Massachusetts Amherst, delivered a rousing keynote address at the 2010 CFN Conference.
Professor Patai’s speech was framed by her study of dystopian literature. This excerpt includes her humorous discussion of the film Demolition Man, which inspired several attendees to watch the movie together that night. FIRE’s many absurd censorship cases certainly confirm her point that "it’s become extremely hard to parody reality."
Also, be sure to check out Professor Patai’s excellent article about the conference from Minding the Campus, which we recently featured here on The Torch.
Check back with The Torch and visit FIRE’s vimeo page for more video highlights from the conference over the next few weeks! Also, be sure to watch Jonathan Rauch’s keynote, which has been highlighted recently by Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic and on The Huffington Post.