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Militant
Muslims, pessimistic progressives
What
is with the increasing political militancy
on campus? Every day there is another demonstration,
walkout or election protest from campus
groups who love to express extreme stances
on varying issues, usually for the purpose
of enabling "social change" or
"understanding."
These
events make the participators look like
knee-jerk reactionaries. I'm all for political
expression, but where do we draw the line?
Take,
for instance, last Thursday, which was Yom
HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, a
day that honors the 6 million Jews who died
at the hands of the Nazis in World War II.
What better day for the Muslim Student Association
(MSA) to hold an event featuring a speech
titled, "Zionism: The American Disease,"
by extreme anti-Zionist Amir Abdel Malik
Ali? Either the stars were aligned or it
was just the MSA in its ongoing quest to
mend relations between Arabs and Jews (note
the extreme sarcasm here).
If
it weren't for the rain, the event would
have taken place at its original location,
the appropriately titled Friendship Walk,
because, after all, this kind of event is
held by the MSA to gain a mutual understanding
for two peoples, right? If Zionism is a
disease, I suppose that would make militant
Islam the great uniting religion? After
all, nothing says unite like a guy shouting
"Allahu Akbar!" before blowing
himself up and taking as many men, women
and children as possible with him.
The
MSA isn't the only campus group that has
grown increasingly militant, as all one
needs to do is take one look at the Campus
Progressives.
In
their ongoing support for Associated Students,
Inc. presidential candidate Uduak-Joe Ntuk,
several ludicrous claims have been made
about students who didn't vote for Ntuk,
one of my favorites being that those who
voted for Jamie Pollock are afraid to have
a black man as president. I'm sorry to disappoint
you, but that's not the real reason the
students didn't vote for Ntuk, not by a
long shot. The reason the students didn't
vote for him is (get ready for this) that
he wasn't the best candidate.
The
students want someone who will fight for
them, not someone who will promote his or
her own personal agenda, and in the runoff
election the students made their choice
clear by voting. Of course the Campus Progressives
wouldn't have you see it that way, but there
is a phrase for that kind of mentality:
sore losers.
On
the same topic, the African Student Union
has joined in with the Campus Progressives
in their support of Ntuk, but not for the
same reason. One look at the African Student
Union's Yahoo! message board shows you the
kind of militant politics the group espouses.
One of the most used claims by the African
Student Union is that black people have
certain "barriers" to achieving
success.
This
student group would have you believe that
Ntuk has been given the short straw in life
because of his skin color and now must struggle
for success, which is why he lost the presidential
race, but for those with a keen eye, it
is easy to see through this fallacy. What
they don't mention is that Pollock is also
part of a minority group, being Latina.
This kind of victim mentality gets people
nowhere, and only contributes to a self-fulfilling
prophecy of underachievement.
As
you can see, militant politics are alive
and well on campus. While it is good to
be politically motivated in life, it is
an entirely different thing to be militant,
which is what some campus groups seem to
fail to recognize.
Militant
beliefs never lead to mutual respect, another
thing that the aforementioned groups don't
understand. Respect isn't deserved, but
rather earned, and that is something that
these groups will never enjoy with their
current outlook on things. But then again,
maybe that is just the proverbial "man"
keeping them down once more.
Gerry
Wachovsky is a senior broadcast journalism
major at CSULB and the diversions editor
of the Daily Forty-Niner.
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