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| Militant Muslims, Pessimistic Progressives, Argumentative Africans, And "The Man" | ||||||
| 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 kinds of events not only make the participators look like knee-jerk reactionaries, but they also give their clubs, and this school, a bad name. 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 that died at the hands of the Nazis in World War II. What better day, then, for the Muslim Student Association 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 Muslim Student Association in their ongoing quest to mend relations between Arabs and Jews (note the extreme sarcasm here). If it wasn't for the rain, the event would have taken place at its original location, the apropos titled Friendship Walk, because after all, this kind of event is simply held by the Muslim Student Association 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 Muslim Student Association 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 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 simply promote his or her own personal agenda, and in the runoff election the students made their voice clear by saying, "We do not want Ntuk as our president." 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 exact same reason. One look at the African Student Union's Yahoo! message board shows you the kind of militant politics that 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. 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. | ||||||
| Copyright Gerry Wachovsky, 2005, and Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. | ||||||
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