A history professor at SCSU interested in Latin America notes that this is the 30th anniversary of Chile's revolution. The professor is announcing the showing of Guzman's Battle of Chile along with some discussions. The Pinochet-Allende debate has long been a rallying cry of the left (I suggest this article FMI on the use and misuse of the democracy-autocracy distinction by Allende's supporters), but this tripe is de rigueur on most campuses. What caught my eye was the reference to the fact that the Pinochet government came to power by coup on September 11.

Ironically, the coup occurred on September 11.

"Ironic"? And if that were not enough, the email that was sent out has no reference to Chile in the subject line, but rather reads:

Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 10:35 AM

To: scsu-announce@STCLOUDSTATE.EDU

Subject: Remembering another 9-11

Another 9-11? WTF? I find that outrageous to conflate those two events. As someone noted to me, it is like penis envy (hello Google search engines!) -- the Left has to have its own 9-11 because the rest of us have the WTC, al-Qaeda, etc. So digging around the history they find -- Allende!

Sick.