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Protesting: The new extreme sport
Interesting column concerning Michelle Malkin's recent talk at Berkley.... EFL Story by Melanie Smith Posted September 10th, 2004 Generally, amending the US Constitution requires two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states. Under very special circumstances, however, necessary changes may be made by bitter students at UC Berkeley. When campus activists heard that syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel contributor Michelle Malkin was scheduled to give a speech defending racial profiling, all hell broke loose—replete with protest signs and profound slogans such as "Racism sucks." A speaker whose ideas we find contrary? they wondered. Surely you jest! This campus is reserved solely for large, stupid, white men who fabricate documentaries, rip off titles of famous Bradbury novels, and wear baseball hats to the Academy Awards! Something had to be done about this strange woman, and the protestors rose to the occasion magnificently. Content with yelling themselves hoarse in the lobby of Dwinelle Hall while Ms. Malkin enjoyed a largely courteous crowd in the packed auditorium, these enlightened students agreed unanimously that there was something integral missing from the First Amendment. Free speech...but only if we agree with it! An exaggeration on my part, perhaps? I'll let you decide after reading this quote from an email sent out by the campus Stop the War Coalition: "We believe that racists like Michelle Malkin should not be given a free pass to come on campus." Yeah! Freedom of Speech is just for us leftist moonbats dammit! I believe I've never heard anything more ignorant in my life. Perhaps if these savvy demonstrators had finally tired of hearing the sounds of their own voices and listened to someone else for a change, they might have realized Ms. Malkin is not nearly as extreme as they painted her to be. Far from advocating the reinstitution of internment camps, she simply admonished the audience to be critical of any school of thought which deems racial profiling—or "threat profiling"—as completely un -snip- Second, what happened to making informed arguments? Prior to the event, I asked a few prospective protestors what they thought of Ms. Malkin's book. The most common reply? "I don't read racist trash like that!" Said I, "Then how can you tell whether she's a racist?" "You're a f***ing racist, too!" The logic here would make John Kerry and Susan Estrogen proud! I hope the philosophy and logic courses aren't all full this semester, because I referred quite a few people to that part of the Cal curriculum. Really, though, ever since UC Regent Ward Connerly was pinned with the same epithet, the word "racist" has lost quite a bit of weight. It's just not as meaningful when it becomes as common as the colors black and silver at a Raiders game. Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-09-12 |
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