Happily, they shot their own video to document the occasion.
I’m interested to hear what the diversity czars and the risk-averse university bureaucrats have to say about this kind of identitarian political activism — not because I’m particularly bothered by it (the video shows the MSA for the repressive ideologues and wannabe zealous thugs they are, and frankly, I find it refreshing to see such free speech aired on a university campus for a change) — but rather because a university-sanctioned group is performing such confrontational activism on a university campus, where “hate” is purportedly disallowed.
This puts diversity advocates and university administrators in quite a bind, I should think. Because to “tolerate” the political activism of the MSA, the university must simultaneously allow for “hatred” against women and Jews (the latter not really much of a problem, of course — provided the wretched Zionists don’t threaten to sue). Unless, that is, one is able to alter what constitutes “hate” by simultaneously altering the feminist narrative to conclude that Muslim women who “Americanize” are somehow traitors to their own cultural foundationalism, and so shouldn’t be granted the protections of American women who are treated as kitchen and laundry room chattel. Which argument, here, would manifest itself as nothing much more than deafening silence from the Women’s Studies Department.
Sadly, none of this anti-intellectual two-stepping is at all implausible (or even unlikely) — particularly when one is forced by one’s progressivism to navigate through the minefield that identity politics and multiculturalism combine to create once protected groups are pitted against one another.
Of course, simply by posting the video, Charles at LGF sets himself up as a convenient (and potentially diversionary) scapegoat. He will be accused of “hate” — for precisely the same reason that progressives can rationalize their refusal to publish Danish Mohammed cartoons, or Opus comic strips: the simple fact of airing criticism of Muslim ideologues is itself an offense against today’s Orwellian idea of “tolerance,” even in cases where the ideologues themselves produced the material being criticized.
In this case, the contortions of university logic would likely go something like this: the MSA is engaging in protected political speech, and so can confront others students, film those confrontations, and present it for consumption, even if the purpose is to recruit new ideologues for further harrassment.
However, the moment control over the context is wrested away by someone like Charles at LGF, Muslims are being unfairly targeted as objects of hate, and the criticism implicit in the re-contexualized airing of the video (on a site known for its criticism of Islamic fundamentalism) marks it as a performance of that hate, and so — insofar as such an airing can now be re-framed as “intolerant” — is no longer protected speech.
Or, to put such contortions into their most surreal formulation (inexorable, given the structure of progressive thinking): this video, shot by the MSA, is, once it is shown by someone the MSA would consider inauthentic, a hate crime against Muslims.
Which will not stand! — given that adepts of identity politics and modern progressivism proclaim themselves “intolerant of intolerance.”
Up is down. Black is white. Balki is that other guy — the short nebishy one with the curly hair.
In the service of pragmatism, the university might — if the proper pressure is applied — voice its displeasure over the way the MSA is conducting its activism, even as it simultaneously mouths predictable claims to champion free speech.
But those who have been paying attention — or who aren’t committed to an intentional double standard that they recognize, but that they cynically ignore — know in their guts that had this show of political speech been, say, an “affirmative action bake sale” put on by college Republicans, or an anti-gay protest put on by the Campus Crusade for Christ, concerns about free speech would be less than forthcoming.
Larry. Balki is Larry.
Both students he interviewed seemed to be rather “easy targets” – couldn’t they have responded to at least one of his questions with a bit more oomph? Of course, he probably edited-out anyone who was able to deal with his idiotic questions.
I’m starting a new dictionary – here’s a sample entry:
University: A Liberal propaganda torture gauntlet that, after having consumed sufficient quantities the suffering and treasure of innocent students, dispenses a fancy piece of paper with your name on it. You may use this paper to escape to gainful employment in the real world.
But I’m not cynical. Oh no sir.
I’m afraid the Muslim girl was a bit of an embarrassment. If you’re not going to conform to the traditional tenets of your religion, don’t act like you’ve got a legitimate interpretation going on unless you can cite some authorities. She’s a Muslim by birth and tradition, not by conversion, and has indeed assimilated to an alien culture.
Which is fine by me, of course, but she should at least have the courage to admit to herself and others that she’s unorthodox or less-observant or whatnot. Her mealy-mouthed answers were painful to listen to. She comes across as someone who hasn’t thought things out very well. I’m sure there are other modernized Muslim women who could articulate a case against mandatory hijab better than she did.
You may use this paper to escape to gainful employment in the real world.
Give me a break. I got me a couple of those papers, and after scanning job openings, I realized that after 7 years in grad school, I’d emerged with no marketable skills, except teaching, which I didn’t want to do anymore.
You may use this paper to escape
togainful employment in the real world.There. That’s more like it.
This video doesn’t really bother me at all. There’s no bombing or threats or anything like that. Just sweet, harmless words and ideas.
[…] Jeff Goldstein has a more substantive discussion here. […]
Goldarnit, Mr. Goldstein, you use your tongue prettier’n a twenty dollar whore.
I love the way you skewers the whole, double-standardy, depends-on-whether-you’re-a-protected-group “tolerance and free speech” crap that universities espouse these days using their own cant.
Pepper spray.
I thought all them feministas carried it. Pull it out and put it to use, honey.
So mgroves, how would it sound if it was a College Republican filming interviews, and he repeatedly asked a muslim: “So what would you say that Islam’s biggest achievement here in America is? 9/11? 9/11?”
I can hear it on the national news already… :)
[…] Update… A great entry on Protein Wisdom […]
Sickos. I have all of the schools contact info if you are interested. Just check out my dojo.
His interest in the jewish kids neck was scary.. I was afraid he was going to pull out a knife and cut his throat.. or at least was thinking about doing it.
Creepiest. Video. EVAR.
Dicentra: Good point. You have to beg for the proper slip of paper, then hope you’ve surrendered the proper amount of treasure and submitted to the correct tortures to acquire employment.
On the other hand, from the folks I’ve seen it’s not so much the skills as the fancy paper bits that do the talking. :P
Shouldn’t this video be receiving an Oscar nomination soon for Best Documentary?
This also confirms the fact that a lot of college students are morons. Something about adult like freedom and kid like consequences and responsibilities seem to bring that out. Of course, youtube has that point covered in spades.
The real problem is not the liberal idea of “intolerant of intolerance” but that in practice liberals are “tolerant of intolerance”.
Liondude:
No. No mention of Global Warming or Bushhitler.
Now a Golden Globe….
I was wondering if anyone else noted that bit about the neck with the Jewish kid.
That and his question about “the Jew’s biggest acheivement in America…9/11…9/11…9/11”.
“Creepy” just about covers it…
When brutal and stupid Islamists harass and intimidate University classmates (sic), Louis Farrakhan only smiles.
And by [i assume deliberately] using an African-American Muslim to do the “dirty”, MSA is double insulated from sanction.
> I’m interested to hear what the diversity czars and the risk-averse university bureaucrats have to say about this kind of identitarian political activism
Let’s ask them:
UTSA Office of Institutional Diversity
The Office of Institutional Diversity (OID) provides training and educational programs on discrimination and diversity. OID’s programs are available to students, faculty and staff. Classes and trainings through OID include:
* Discrimination Law
* Sexual Harassment
* Retaliation
* Welcoming Diversity
* Workshops on diversity and prejudice reduction
* Diversity Month trainings and programs in November
If you are interested in one of these programs or have a special request for training or educational programs having to do with equity, discrimination or diversity, please contact OID at 210-458-4120.
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions should be directed to Diversity.Office@utsa.edu.
Multicultural cul de sac…
Jeff Greenstein of Protein Wisdom documents the Muslim Student Association at the University of Texas-San Antonio harrassing women and Jews …
And the ironic bit is that, an overwhelming majority of [arab and south asian] muslims would not be caught dead in an african-american mosque, let alone let their daughters marry the gent asking the questions in the video.
Well, it is…..
AAHHHHH!!! This is so creepy – I just made an appointment at UTSA because I was thinking of going back to school…and I just moved here…
now I wanna go dress up in a waist-length hajib and dazy dukes, and go sit out in front of the MSA’s office. seriously. with my pepper spray.
decentra’s comments are offensive. I have just hosted two Muslim exchange students from Indonesia. One wore hijab and one didn’t. Both said that it is optional depending upon personal belief AND quoted the Qu’aran. They also subscribed to “Muslim Girl” magazine, which showed young women both ways. All were Muslim.
[…] —- Little Green Footballs has video of women and Jews being harassed by the “Muslim Student Association.” Jeff Goldstein delivers an appropriate smackdown to the MAS here. […]
Virginia Lavender:
Did you happen to find anything offensive about the video? Were you the least bit creeped out by our Muslim friend’s concept of “persuation?” Or was it only dicentra’s really mild criticism of the Muslim girl’s reticence that tweaked your outrage button?
Just askin’…
mgroves: “There’s no bombing or threats or anything like that. Just sweet, harmless words and ideas.”
mgroves, did you cause 9/11, or was it your parents or grandparents? Or your whole nation? Are they pigs or monkeys?
How does it feel when I ask you that? Sweet words and ideas, hah?
Fixed that for you, Virginia. We wouldn’t want you to leave a first impression of intolerance around here now, would we?
Now, now, BJ, don’t be hard on Virginia.
It was awfully sweet of her to stop by and illustrate Jeff’s thesis.
Regards,
Ric
I can’t access LGF right now – no response – anyone else?
On the other hand though, that’s my favorite “Up is Down” on PW ever. Love it.
Oh the joy when protected greivance groups collide.
Unfortunately, there is no major media that is willing to highlight these examples.
Both said that it is optional depending upon personal belief AND quoted the Qu’aran.
Try having them say that in, say, Rhiyad, or Mecca and see how far they get before their beatings by the Mutaween start.
“Greenstein?”
I say we send Goldberg over to talk to the boy…
Greenstein is the Sephardic version Goldberg. or is it the other way around?
in, say, Rhiyad, or Mecca
…or in Dearborn, or North Oakland, or on Riverside Avenue in Minneapolis, or in Paris’s suburbs, or at a UK leftist political gathering, or in Sweden or Norway or the Netherlands or Belgium, or Southeast Asia…
The list is going to be “anywhere but Japan, Iceland, and Israel” before anyone gives a fuck. Then we’ll boycott those, because of the apartheid.
Virginia Lavender – I just happened to thumb through “Muslim Girl” the other night at Barnes and Noble. In the letters to the ed, there was much criticism of the magazines policy of showing girls unobscured by fabric. And it had a decidedly “off with your head” anger about it, too.
I think he picked out people who he suspected wouldn’t be able to deal with him. Those people should have stood up for them selves more. Unfortunate, not uncommon in this day and age.
Hey Verginia [sic], you could at least spell my name right if you’re going to pan my comment.
Funny, though, that you can’t spell “decentra” without “decent,” whereas to spell “verginia” you need “verg[e].” As in, “on the verge of.”
…un ataque de nervios, if I’m not mistaken.
#31 Kurtlane
His use of the word “sweet” strongly suggests sarcasm. To me, at any rate.
I think it’s a bit unfair to criticize the girl for her lack of knowledge regarding Islam, because in this country we are free to know and accept as much or as little of our culture/religion/political system, etc. etc. as we choose. People such as her are no danger and the fanatical language of that idiot with the mic was more than enough to excuse her from getting into it with him.
Also, the Koranic verse that idiot quoted was not specific:
“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands’ fathers, or their sons or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers or their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male attendants who lack vigour, or children who know naught of women’s nakedness. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And turn unto Allah together, O believers, in order that ye may succeed.”
As stupid as I think Islam is, there is actually a great deal of wiggle room with that verse – enough so that pricks like Mic Guy don’t need to be harrassing women over it.
I didn’t finish the whole video, so maybe he did actually get around to harrassing someone by the end, but I didn’t see it in his conversation with the girl. He was sarcastic and smug, but his attitude wasn’t that obvious without the editorial comments in the text edits. He asked the girl to do an interview, and she agreed. He asked her some questions, and she answered them. He didn’t harangue her or threaten her that I saw. He just asked leading questions, and then framed her answers with his own (idiotic) narrative added after the fact.
I’m sure that if a right-to-lifer did the same thing, he would be criticized for it by the left. They might even call it harrassment via their strained and self-defined notions of what that is. I’m equally sure, though, that he would be cheered by religious conservatives, especially if he found a girl as incapable of articulating an intelligent response as the one in this video. Whatever the left may say, I can’t stretch my definition of harrassment to cover what I saw.
Heh. I still remember Brother Jed from my days at UF. Now, that guy could harangue an audience. He used to draw quite a crowd, and large numbers of them were his target audience. They found him amusing. I just found him irritating. Do they still allow him on campuses?
Jeff! Brilliant. Fucking. Analysis. Thank you, sir.
But that’s exactly the problem. People such as her are in mortal danger. As are her classmates whether or not they are Muslims.
There exists a large and growing minority of Muslim men (and people who claim that status, in order to get the privileges) who assert that if she, or any other girl, does not cover up… it authorizes them to rape or kill her more or less at will, and if she is raped, her father and brothers are authorized to torture or kill her to “preserve their honor”.
What we hear the “multiculturalists” saying is that this philosophy must be tolerated, including the results of it, on grounds of “tolerance” and “not embracing hate”. They have a different culture, this argument goes; they must be allowed (in fact, urged) to preserve it, and that’s one facet of their culture, so it must be tolerated by the rest of us.
What the asshole with the microphone is clearly angling for is to be allowed that privilege — to rape at will on the grounds that he is Muslim and uncovered women are all whores who volunteer for that fate.
Nor is that theoretical. The British police estimate — they have no way of knowing exactly, but estimate — that a few hundred girls are murdered by their fathers and brothers every year for “honor”. Jeff likes to be lighthearted in his essays, but if the damned multiculturalists get their way that’s exactly what they’re asking for.
Regards,
Ric
Muslim crime and near-terrorist harassment of non-observant Muslims is exempt, as is crime by illegal aliens in sanctuary cities. Part of the nanny-state project already showing its unattractive nether regions to the public!
Man, I’d just about forgetten him! What a hoot, didn’t he have some crazy woman join him for a while? What years did you attend?
ThomasD:
Sister Cindy.
I was there from ’83 to ’85.
Ric:
As I said, I didn’t watch the whole thing, but if he’s pushing for a strict interpretation of the Koran, then that is where it leads. I don’t remember Brother Jed ever advocating the stoning of fornicators, although he was certainly down on them in his preachifying. That interpretation of a Muslim fundamentalist isn’t a stretch, though, since it is actually being done in Muslim countries.
I can just see the school paper headline: MUSLIMS ALLOWED OUT IN PUBLIC (Women, minorities hardest hit)…
Ardsgaines watch the end. He accuses the jews of committing 9/11.
Dang Ards, I was there 84-89.
On one of those shows where a team goes in and fixes a few rooms, two boys were having their bedrooms redesigned. The teenage boy was naturally artistic. He liked to cook and had other artistic interests and he knew exactly what he wanted design-wise. The younger boy was next and when asked what color his room should be he said he wanted it painted black. The designers tried to dissuade him, they asked if he wasn’t afraid what other people might think. They thought even white would be better. Without the slightest trace of irony the ten year old answered, “Black is the new white.” He didn’t show he knew how stunning his remark was. I thought in that moment how well suited, this youngster, for a future distorted out of all recognition.
This post is why I visit here.
People such as her are in mortal danger.
I agree wholeheartedly, but that wasn’t the subject. People ought to be as informed as possible for their own safety. They sit in blissful, subjective, academic ignorance while religious fanatics plan their demise. But this girl is no more disappointing than the population at large who will never realize the danger until better, wiser people have dealt with it. I also think she embodies the reasons why we will get no help from “moderate” Muslims. They’re just as ignorant as everyone else.
I just watched the video over at LGF. It’s a silly bit of student organization self-aggrandizement, but I don’t draw anything like the conclusions that Charles draws from it.
It’s understandable that when you see a large black man asking questions, you may believe that he’s being hostile, but I didn’t get that impression at all.
I found it distasteful that he attempted to seed the Jewish man’s response with his ‘9/11’ hints, but that’s just him being stupid.
As for the issue of ‘religious enforcement’, all of that comes in the cuts.
Anyway, it’s clear he would have gotten a much more engaged response if he managed to talk to a more capable set of passers-by, but I’m certain that wasn’t his intent.
Please watch this video: It’s called “How Modern Liberals Think” and it’s by a guy named Evan Sayet, who used to be a writer for Bill Maher.
If you are always wondering why Liberals do what they do, are so hypocritical, etc., then this talk will explain it. I had to watch it a few times. It is phenomenal. Watch the Q&A at the end too. It’s not short, so leave enough (quiet) time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c
#44 Zelda
“And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment.”
followed by…
“As stupid as I think Islam is, there is actually a great deal of wiggle room with that verse -”
You nearly put me off my chair with that one!
Made my day…
The “moslem” was a black piece of shit, who’s genetic level is to treat women like crap. His behavior hardly comes from Islam.
This beast should not even be allowed to talk to an Arab woman, where are the Arab men to make sure this black POS (truely a universal everyman, transending religions, creeds) knows his place?
#59 – Call me Ishmael.
Yeah, it’s offensive, but even offensive speech is protected.
I guess one might consider it slanderous.
By #59, I see that the Koskidz have gotten wind of this thread.
The guy was a hateful pig. It especially shows in the “holy” rigid statements made on the video, some of which were incorrect. There are various interpretations to whether or not Muslim women should wear hijab. There is NOT one interpretation. Also he supports the monopolization of Islamic interpretation, something which I as a Muslim, find very appalling.
The girl could have been more articulate backing her statements with Islamic theological arguments. The Jewish guy should have been tougher towards that ass.
I can’t stand disgusting supremacists like that damn interviewer.
Mohammed Was A Redbearded Racist,
“The “moslem†was a black piece of shit, who’s genetic level is to treat women like crap.”
Seriously, grow up. You sound so retarded. Don’t give me that shit about you sympathizing with the girl in the video and supporting her, while at the same time you sound like the KKK.
Is it just me, or does the dude look like Worf ?
I ordered some UTSA multiculti reeducation. Get yours now. Thanks for sparing me the time looking for the email address, Eris.
Dear Bipedal Carbon-based Biological Units,
I very much wish to be diversified. Please direct me to your nearest thought correction center so that I may be imbued with your multicultural phantasmagoria. I would prefer that the nearest center have the capacity to install the tortured logic and moral equivocation algorithms with political correction variables (mind-spin states of s = 1/2 will work). If your current link to DailyKos.com has sufficient bandwidth, perhaps that is the most expedient transmission route and also saves me from having to move my delicate minority arse.
Contact me at: xxxxx
Sincerely,
djm
[…] Muslim Student Association Harasses Women and Jews at University of Texas-San Antonio Happily, they shot their own video to document the occasion. (tags: politics) […]
#64 – Drima
Wanted to say that I really enjoyed your piece about Khartoum that Roger Simon had linked the other day. As for #59, clearly a Kossack pulling some kind of half-witted Moby on us here – please disregard accordingly.
So LGF removed the video!?! Cowards too, heh?
Dear #69,
Not too bright, are you? LGF linked to the original video on YouTube, which was then removed by “dawahworks“.
RDub, glad you liked it. :-)
omg! I go to UTSA! Actually, the MSA is pretty tolerant.. I didn’t find their interview videos bad at all…however the other guy wasn’t a student or in the MSA