I'd like to believe this blog is part of contingency Bethel believes "will not see reason." It has been a persistent and intransigent belief of Bradley that anyone not agreeing with him is lacking in the mental and reasoning capacity that he possesses. And it's not surprising that he encourages ignoring the critics. Nothing reinforces a belief system like listening to and surrounding yourself with like-minded thinkers.
Bradley never challenged me to a face-to-face debate. Not that I would have accepted since I value not being a target of personal attacks from his crazier passionate disciples. Maybe someday I'll challenge him, though I don't offer Bethel the advantage of expanding his publicity that Dan Kane, Joe Nocera or David Ridpath would. Debating me wouldn't offer him the platform and attention he desires. I'm just not high-profile enough.
I'm sincerely looking forward to finally seeing Unverified, whether at a film festival or by purchase online. Having seen 365 Days in Happy Valley, watching the Unverified trailer and reading the positive reviews, I believe I already know what to expect.
But regardless of my predisposition about the message and what it does or doesn't contribute to the scandal dialogue, I'm quite interest in the film for its technical and artistic merits. Can't wait to see what Bethel has written and produced.
I'm one of those who won't let the academic counselors off the hook. But they were just the soldiers. It would have been nice if they'd had pangs of conscious and spoken out or stood up to what I hope they must have felt was wrong. But they didn't, and for that I hold them accountable.
But they shouldn't have been left holding the bag either. The university certainly threw Jamie Lee and Beth Bridger under the bus, and for that I'd like to see Bradley's fans do more than go watch a documentary and gripe. Why not protest the North Carolina Board of Governors or university Board of Trustees? That's what those at Penn State who Bethel sees as a sort of parallel are doing in the wake of their scandal.
But no. UNC's troubles and the scapegoating is the fault of media "sensationalism."
Gonna miss you, Coaching the Mind. That blog is what gave this blog life.
