OSU Professor: God Bless the USSR’s low murder rates, absence of gun violence
Fred Andrle, left, and Randy Roth, right, railing against gun owners
Randolph Roth, a professor in the History Department of Ohio State University, was supposed to give a talk about a recently published book, American Homicide, which has a morbid focus on murder statistics throughout U.S. history.
In a heavily scripted dialogue with Fred Andrle, a former OSU radio host, Roth derailed any discussion of his book. Instead, he used his time to preach about a different topic- gun control. His remarks were so scathing and scattered that it appears the OSU Humanities Institute, which sponsored the event, has no plan to release the official video.
“As I tell my female friends, as we move towards equality… you have start to killing more people,” Roth said within minutes of beginning the discussion. He reiterated, “If you want to get rid of this gender business, you’ve got to start killing.” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOqCLQI5CJk)
The Ohio State Code of Conduct specifically bans “threatening action that endangers the safety, physical or mental health, or life of any person, or creates a reasonable fear of such action.”
Throughout the hour-and-a-half dialogue, Roth repeatedly belittled and derided supporters of the 2nd Amendment. He referred to them as “afraid” and “motivated by anger,” and stated that they “walk around in fear” and “worry about fellow Americans.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WyHEFnEO-0)
The professor of History conceded that he does not own a gun of any kind. Nevertheless, Roth stated that owners of AR-15s are dishonest if they claim to use it for hunting. He urged them to admit the rifle “facilitates mass-murder” and is used to “blow things up.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TU6Mkfv7sE)
Professor Roth threw a tangential fit about Republicans. “I was waiting on Election Night 2000 for some commentator to say, ‘that’s the electoral map of 1860.’ …It was the Union versus the Confederacy, for goodness sake,” he said. Roth also claimed that in Southern states, “all those kinds of problems [of the Civil War era] are still there.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP55J7p80RY)
Roth also referred to Republican voters as “anti-Obama,” and insisted they voted out of “resistance to the idea of a black president.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugo6yeZNNmg)
The professor could not resist further digs at demographics he dislikes. During his anti-Republican rant, he suggested that their behavior mimicked apes. Regarding the resentment he perceives in Republicans, Roth said, “we can see this behavior, say, even in chimpanzees… when a male chimpanzee is humiliated and loses to a more powerful chimpanzee, they stew… and just hauls off and beats the stuffing” out of another ape.
Roth blamed people who do not support large government for causing crimes. He was adamant about making a distinction, though. No blame should be placed on the government itself, only the people who do not consider it “legitimate”. The professor’s preferred example of this was the Soviet Union, which systematically killed tens of millions of its own citizens. He asked, “How did Soviet citizens feel about the Soviet Union? That’s what matters. Not what we felt.” He insisted that Soviets loved their government and did not kill each other because of that love. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSE7jSbrBGc)
The professor even found time to demand higher taxes and praise the “indoctrination by teachers and the media” used against students. He also made outlandish suggestions about his desire to monitor people and push them to the brink of murder. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_NM5Z6NPAY)
Although the university is doing nothing to reprimand the professor, the event has caused a buzz among many students and organizations. They have expressed their surprise and disapproval with Roth’s malicious speech.
Anthony Marlow, a 4th year studying Forestry and Wildlife, said “I’m shocked.” The student also said he “questions if Professor Roth has ever read the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution. I find it unlikely.” Marlowe also cited numerous statistics that contradicted the professor’s sensational claims about gun violence.
Mike Newbern, speaking as the Director of Ohio Students for Concealed Carry and a third year ISE student, had this to say: “Professor Randolph Roth is the epitome of what we are up against in our efforts to restore the right to concealed carry a firearm onto Ohio’s college campuses. His position on firearms is nowhere rooted in fact and based more in the emotions of his personal bias. The university teaches us to reach logical conclusions after careful consideration of facts and data. Instead of considering the right to self-defense with that approach, those that limit our rights do so with nothing more than their own personal bias as justification.”
Professor Roth could not be reached at the time of publication for further commentary.
The full video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrLkI19rtgk
Why are you quoting a hit-piece from a rightwing screed without doing any kind of verification (or even tracking down the alleged “quotes” in the video you posted to see if the implied context holds up)?
For example, the first quote in context was a joke. He was saying that, statistically, men commit murder at a far higher rate than women. So he often tells his female friends that, if they want to achieve true gender equality, they’re going to need to start killing a lot more people to catch up with the men. It was just a humorous aside.
Please do a better job of checking claims instead of just blindly amplifying bullshit.
Hey Matt,
Because it’s entirely appropriate for a professor to make a bunch of jokes about killing people to advance his political agenda, right? Especially after this country has experienced some violent, murderous tragedies over the last few months?
Right, man. It’s totally cool to tell people to murder each other. Just like it’s cool to jokingly shout “fire!” in a movie theater.
This professor was completely out of line. Congrats on defending a lunatic.
and this what passes for dialogue in college !
Mr Roth’s assertion that the USSR didn’t have a murder problem is unfounded. I lived in Russia for nine years following the fall of the communist regime. The town I lived in had a murder rate of 1 per 667 citizens – almost 8 times that of Chicago’s murder rate. No guns in that country, except the criminal element. But the murders in our towns were with knives, bricks, irons, pans, wrenches, awls, screwdrivers, and… feet and fists!
I worked with two small congregations (about 2 dozen people in each), each in a different town near the Arctic Circle. During that time, sons and fathers of congregants in each congregation were murdered. The neighbor of one congregant was murdered.
During the first week of a three week visit to a small village (pop 3000) 200 miles south of Moscow, two of my hosts’ chickens were stolen, a neighbors cow was stolen and yes, the neighbor around the corner was murdered.
One year there were two attempts to break in my apartment with only the door suffering. The third time was the thief’s charm. He obliterated the door with an ax head welded to a six foot piece of pipe and used it a a sharp edged ram and he (they?) ransacked the place.
We should remember that commuism ( as socialism) is founded on a reliance of dictatorial power undergirded by atheism. Thus there is no absolute standard of moralitym ethics nor legal structure. Soviet communism presented itself as a utopia for mankind. Thus murder was hidden, in the gulags all the way to the village.
About 17 years ago, in a discussion about an incident, I asked the 16 year old “What about honor?” She responded their is no honor in Russia. She is a bright young woman who had early on concluded the nature of the environment in which she lived. This is what atheistic communism (classic socialism) does to people.
Disgraceful! Fire him! He can then relocate to a place he loves, like Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, any one of those gun-free countries…even Australia or Canada…UK anyone. Then when he’s attacked or finds uninvited “visitors” forcing entry into his home he should rejoice he has no way to defend his sorry ass. Hypocrite!
What’s so disturbing is this is what’s teaching our children. I admit that if I were in a position to get my hands on him, I’d beat the stupid out of him. I never make such statements like this but, he is the exception to the rule. He is an idiot on an American campus teaching tomorrows leaders. He IS a living, walking, talking example of one of America’s “DUMBED DOWN” A socialist, marxist. If anyone there in a seat of power at the school who wasn’t also a leftist; he would have been fired before he left the campus that very day.
How fast is OSU going to fire his sorry ass??? Matt thinks the guy was joking. He was supposed to be doing an interview to promote his new book. All he wanted to talk about were his misguided views on gun control/confiscation.
side note: Let’s stop calling it “gun control” oe the even more liberal “gun registration”. Let’s call it “gun confiscation” Substitute the new terminology every chance you get.
So he preaches the murder of class enemies, and then calls us paranoid for wanting to defend ourselves?
Well, it’s easy to have a low crime rate under oppressive regimes. When there are no human rights, where the government can spy on their people, etc., it becomes really easy to catch criminals. Take Iraq (under Sadam): the average person was much safer than they are today. Same with Egypt/Syria/etc pre-Arab spring.
Of course, even though you are “safe”, you better not criticize the government or do anything else that we take for granted (like buying toilet paper, travelling, etc etc etc).
The murder rate of Russia is FIVE TIMES THAT OF THE USA! Google it and see for yourself.
This alledged learned professor needs to check the facts ( I forget, facts are not important to a person with his adgenda)
The murder rate in Russia has declined dramatically in the last few years. It is now down to 5th in the world compared with the US at 27th.
Don’t let any facts get in your way prof., keep telling the big lie until it becomes the truth.
I think he was referring to the old Soviet Union,not present day Russia. (Soviet Union, the communist nation that fell because of Reagan and Pope John Paul II).
Assuming but not granting that Republicans are like male chimpazees, it has long agreed upon by zoobiologists that godless democrats aka communistic liberals are baboons.
It is interesting that he claims “the USSR” had a low murder rate but fails to mention that over sixty-one million citizens of that nation were murdered by their own government. I guess genocide of a defenseless population is acceptable as long as it is in the pursuit of the greater progressive good.
Then again who am I kidding? Its the post-factual, subjective reality age. Truth is a lie for sale to the highest bidder.
Well said Lucien….well said.
Arnie Tibus
Hahaha…..well put and darn funny!