The Two Faces of Bill Ayers

Public Enemy – Confessions of an American Dissident – Bill Ayers (Beacon Books)

I have always believed that words mean something. While many people try to twist words to accommodate their need, perpetually living in a world of gray areas, more often than not, things really are black and white. I find that those who live in the world of academia have developed a highly honed craft at twisting words.

It is from that perspective that I approached the continuing saga of Bill Ayers, Public Enemy – Confessions of an American Dissident the follow up to Fugitive Days, the tale of his days in the terrorist group the Weather Underground. As I read Ayers account of being thrust back into the public spotlight during the 2008 Presidential election I was torn between the natural inclination of turning a light on this cock roach to watch him scamper or if the better solution would be to ignore him and damn him to the specter of anonymity. Given the outsized self-importance that so many 60s radicals bestow upon themselves, the later may be the worse punishment.

While Ayers, along with his co-conspirator/wife Bernadine Dorhn, lays claim a leadership role in the Weather Underground, he denies any responsibility for their actions, which included bombing the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and other locales that left three dead. Leader. “A guiding or directing head, as of an army, movement of political group.”* If he truly was a leader of the Weather Underground, then he is ultimately responsible for the actions of the group and the outcome of those actions; including the death of his compatriots who blew themselves up when a bomb they were building detonated. Responsibility is not something Ayers can wish away with a rhetorical flourish.
A dissident is defined as “one who disagrees, especially one who disagrees with the government.”* While I regularly disagree with the government, notably with the failing leadership of Barack Obama, I, unlike Ayers and the Weather Underground, have never declared war and taken up arms (bombs) against the government.

It is the duplicity of Ayers point of view, where he tries mightily to have it both ways that makes the story he tells here fall completely apart. While he may thrive in a suspended reality, for most, including me, it’s a non-starter.

*Dictionary.com