TheMahatmaXFiles blogger Professor Arlin James Benjamin: Regime change brought me out...

In the city all alone
Just drifting getting stoned...

excerpt from "You Talk to Me Like Winter Rain"

by Arlin James Benjamin

On May 5th, blogger Red Stater wrote about an Oklahoma blog TheMahatmaXFiles (saved webpage). This blogger actually used his own name in the URL (ajbenjaminjrbeta.blogspot.com) so, duh, it wasn't hard for Stater or anyone else to find out about him.  

Arlin James Benjamin, Jr. is a college professor at the Oklahoma Panhandle State University who teaches young impressionable college-age students as a "new generation scholar-activist" who says he gets some of his inspiration from a few controversial men you should review.  (update 5/10/09, Benjamin removed the webpage linked about so now the link is an archived page)

Under the personal section on his home page that is linked to from the above website, he wrote:

"I am part of a new generation of a scholar-activists, in my case inspired by such diverse individuals as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Edward Said, and Ward Churchill (among others). I also draw inspiration from my family's working class and agricultural roots, as well as my own first-hand experiences with various forms of prejudice and its harmful effects. As an undergraduate at Cal State Fullerton I was involved in the Coalition Against Apartheid and Human Rights Violations as well as the Young Democrats, and was among those who spoke out against the 1991 Gulf War at a speakers' forum on the eve of what has become an on-going US campaign of genocide in Iraq. During my undergraduate years I was also part of an informal consortium of individuals engaged in counter-recruitment efforts aimed at removing the ROTC program as an undergrad.  (note, the links to info about these men added by z).

Thank you Red Stater for your research into X file.

He wrote a research paper in 2006 titled: "The relationship between right-wing authoritarianism and attitudes toward violence: Further validation of the Att itudes Toward Violence Scale"   You can read it here where you are encouragedto share, print, recommend or vote on it!  Professor Arlin James Benjanmin stated in the discussion section:

"War, corporal punishment, and harsh punishment for lawbreakers are all forms of aggression sanctioned by right-wing authority figures in government, religious institutions, and the mass media..."

OK, professor, it's all the rightwing's fault. That's nothing new because it's alwaysthe rightwing's fault when it comes to the far-left in our country.  Why did he spend money on research when the man already knew the answer?

Benjamin also said he is a dj for KPSU 91.7 FM in the Oklahoma Panhandle.  I sure hope this post doesn't put a crimp in any of his gigs.

Anyway, this professor took issues with Red Stater's take on him which I'm not going to weigh in on except to say Benjamin claims he is anti-partisan but his work with the Young Democrats in college and his own self description of being an anti-war, anti torture, anti-capitalist individual seems clearly to the left and far-left of the partisan scale. 

Benjamin's blog is the featured progressive blog, on American Samizdat where he wrote the following:

"...A mishap moving from "old" to "new" blogger, a new blog (--) and on regime change in the US later, and here I am. I'm mainly up to my old tricks - anti-partisan, antiwar, anti-torture, and anti-capitalist to the core. Now that we're into the age of Obama, we need a functioning samizdat more than ever. Stay tuned, y'all."

On the side bar of this blog it reads:

American Samizdat: Rebel Scum Since 2001

Underground word lines for propaganda-heavy US.

Samizdat?  Well according to Wikipedia, "Samizdat (Russian: самиздат) was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet-bloc; individuals reproduced uncensored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader, thus building a foundation for the successful resistance of the 1980s." 

Apparently, Benjamin fells more compelled to speak out now that President Obama is in the White House.  To me, and this is only my opinion, Benjamin appears to be a far-left, pro-Islamist, self-proclaimed anti-capitalist whose blogroll includes sites such as American Leftist, The Angry Arab News Service, The Arabist, pro-Islamist Informed Comment (Juan Cole), The Left Coaster, Muslim Unity, my occupied territory, Red State Rebels, Ward Churchill Solidarity Network and the Unrepentant Marxist, to name a few (these links are found on the saved webpage above)

"I Occasionally Appear On These Fine Blogs," X filer added on the left sidebar:

• American Samizdat
• Blue Oklahoma
• Never In Our Names

On capitalism, Benjamin writes:

"The propaganda that I recall from my school days went something like this: capitalism is so much better than any of its alternatives because in a capitalist system, only those who succeed reap the spoils. Presumably, in socialist or communist systems, there was no motivation to succeed - one in a position of leadership simply got rewarded regardless of whether or not he/she was successful. Made for a nice story to tell the kids. Just one little problem: it wasn't true then and it sure as hell isn't true now.

...Now the cats that run Huffington Post and Newshoggers are far from anticapitalist - think of them as liberal capitalist reformers. Leave the anticapitalism to cats like me..."

Yep, it's clear, Oklahoma has a leftwing self-described scholarly activist teaching some of our young adults.

-----

Update 5/9/09:  I see that Benjamin is in the process of changing his URL from his own name to his blog's X-file name. He has, apparently, removed his blog from Blog Net News, at least for now. 

While perusing his babblings about this post I noticed he also links to the follow anarchist sites:

Anarchy

• Anarcha
• An Anarchist FAQ Webpage v12.0
• Anarchist Panther
• Anarchist Writers
• Anarkismo
• flag.blackened.net
• Heatwave
• Institute for Anarchist Studies
• Spunk Library

Update 5/10/09:  A comment was made by MX who accused me, as Dr. Benjamin did on his blog, of cyber-stalking.  Guess what MX's IP address is?  The Oklahoma State Regents office in Oklahoma City!  It could also be the network at the Oklahoma Panhandle State University - a state funded college.  Is that you Dr. Benjamin?

Hello?  Our taxpayer dollars are paying his salary.

IP Address				Region	City	ISP
156.110.78.2				OKLAHOMA	OKLAHOMA CITY	OKLAHOMA STATE REGENTS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Cyber stalking is defined by Wikipeida as the use of information and communications technology, particularly the Internet, by an individual or group of individuals, to harass another individual, group of individuals, or organization. The behavior includes false accusations, monitoring, the transmission of threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sexual purposes, and gathering information for harassment purposes.

However, if one calls attention to what Dr. Benjamin publicly wrote about himself on his blog that he publishedon Blog Net News is that cyber stalking?

I don't think so.

Update 5/12/09:  I received a "cease and desist" e-mail from Professor Benhamin.  BTW, his email has been submitted to a database that tracks these types of threatening letters.

From:

"James Benjamin"

"In your post found here (http://tinyurl.com/raffn6) you uploaded and published files that were not your intellectual property, without first seeking written permission from the appropriate copyright owners. Those include a photo (http://ztruth.typepad.com/.a/6a00e00986be4d883301156f82ac83970c-pi), a journal article (http://ztruth.typepad.com/files/benjamin.pdf), and the template and front page content of my now defunct blog (http://ztruth.typepad.com/TheMahatmaXFilesurlchange.htm). Furthermore, you commit libel in violation of TypePad's terms of service by labelling me as "pro-Islamist" - a claim that can easily be proven FALSE, and which I would gladly testify to that effect in a court of law. I am asking you to please remove the items mentioned above immediately, and to cease and desist. Disagreement and debate are one thing - copyright theft and libel are quite another.

Please be aware that I am also in the process of contacting your provider, TypePad regarding the TOS violations found on your blog, as well as contacting the publisher of the journal article that you chose to publish without permission.

Also note that you are NOT given permission to publish the content of this email, email address, or any information from the email headers. Failure to comply with this request will also be forwarded to TypePad, and to my attorney."

----

Also see:

TheMahatmaXFiles(saved webpage from 5/9/09) Notice how he alerts everyone about his new url change so that he can continue to be very public about his views on his blog. 

The Mahatma X Files: May 2009

The propaganda that I recall from my school days went something like this: capitalism is so much better than any of its alternatives because in a capitalist system, only those who succeed reap the spoils. Presumably, in socialist or communist systems, there was no motivation to succeed - one in a position of ...
ajbenjaminjrbeta.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html - 260k - Cached- Similar pages-

 

 

Comments

[red stater]

James, claiming to not be "pro-Islamist" would make you anti-Islamist?
Which is it?

[Ryan]

Dr. Benjamin doesn't like attention being called to his own statements which he published to the web.

Don't you get it zTruth?

[MX]

You falsely accuse me of being pro-islamist, for example, and it sure looks to me like you're gathering information for harassment purposes. So yes, whether you like it or not, it looks like you're cyberstalking - and on top of everything else you do so behind a veil of anonymity. That sure looks very predatory to me, and I suspect I'm not the only one who would view your behavior as such. If you don't want to be accused of cyberstalking, then cease and desist. It's really that simple.

[MX]

Psychologically there is no difference between you and the so-called "Islamists" you purport to oppose. Oh, and as for the cyberstalking behavior - most uncool, and I might add un-Christian (let's just say I never found any advocacy of such predatory behavior in my Bible).

[LarryE]

Hey, he links to me, too. I admit I hardly have the traffic some other sites do, so I'm not surprised I went unmentioned, but I do admit to being a "a democratic socialist/green with an anarchist bent," so I'm kinda bummed I got overlooked.

[worriedmary]

Oh brother, this is sad.

Thanks for the info. Well done.

[Dave the Oklahomilist]

A thoughtful and fair post. Sure makes me glad Oklahoma tax dollars are subsidizing this "scholar-activist" educator. Not.

Is Panhandle State that hard-up for instructors that they overlook this guys leftist credentials? Or do they just not care?