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Reader comment on item: Daily Illini Bias Against My USIP Appointment

Submitted by Jonathan Pfeffer, Dec 8, 2003 at 22:38

Dear Mr Pipes,

It is probably true that organized Muslim interest groups are behind many of these intellectual attacks by these student newspapers. But American born and bred students aren't exactly unwilling participants in this ghastly intellectual farce we see on campuses all across the United States. Student papers are always easy prey for people who have a focused radical agenda. American students often need a quick fix of intellectual attention. I guess these students must feel that they can't wait until they mature enough to be part of a serious debate. What we see is a clear case of the inmates running the asylum.

I think that these students, and I am referring to the non-Muslim ones of course, are attracted to political positions that have two main characteristics;

1.The position must not be the position of the government or any authoritative establishment, for that would defeat the purpose. Governments are inherently bad, and besides those positions that are supported by or sympathetic to the government are generally well represented and don't need the help of students.

2.There must be opportunities for quick attention. There is only two known way to be noticed for your work. Either your work has to be very good, or the creator of the work must present it louder and surround it with enough controversy that others who support your view rally to the event.

Therefore, all a shrewd Muslim activist has to do is provide American students with these opportunities. In a sense, these campus opportunists, and they are not all Muslim, send a very subtle message to budding American university kids: The message is this: If you take up my cause, I will get you an audience. I will get you letters to the editor of praise for your "courageous" stand. I will get enough people and attention that the local TV station may even send down a crew, and to top it all off, through our friends we may get your event written about all over the internet. Our position will annoy the government and annoy important people. So what do you say? Now, of course it is too much trouble, with exams and such for these students to actually investigate all the details. What counts is, there are enough snippets of ready made propaganda to support these radical positions. Just select the arguments from a list of stock argument snippets, reorder them any way you want and presto, you are now a certified opinionated intellectual, getting your name in the paper and even on several web sites.
Submitting....

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Reader comments (27) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Protect Our Nations Ports [53 words]Steve DuranFeb 22, 2006 10:2736998
Mariam Sobh now works for NPR affiliate [893 words]AnnaAug 25, 2005 09:0825098
You say she was a "member of an Islamist organization" BUT... [110 words]FrankJul 22, 2009 11:4825098
Islamist Group? [143 words]HannahJul 28, 2010 13:0025098
In regards to the DI "cleaning up its act." [57 words]BrentOct 25, 2004 11:2517897
other lies the Daily Illini columnist tells [824 words]Diana AppelbaumJan 27, 2004 07:2313576
Thanks [205 words]kevinDec 31, 2003 00:1813017
Where'd they take that turn? [323 words]TimDec 25, 2003 18:5012920
PC anti-Semitism [18 words]Octavio JohansonDec 19, 2003 08:4012747
The Scary Truth [642 words]David GaripoliDec 18, 2003 03:0912733
DI Response to Letter [177 words]ChadDec 14, 2003 16:1612653
Clash of Civilizations -or- A Battle for the Soul of Islam ? [730 words]D. PetersonDec 11, 2003 18:1812632
Daily Illini strikes again [63 words]GregDec 11, 2003 16:5812627
Letter was printed [40 words]Jeff EvansDec 10, 2003 23:3512618
Believe it or not.... [171 words]Mike SpindellDec 10, 2003 23:2712617
Eli wald, Student at U of I [400 words]E. WaldDec 10, 2003 15:2612611
DI only hurts itself [84 words]Brent WestDec 10, 2003 11:4712600
Re:Controversy at Foellinger [112 words]Dan KatcherDec 10, 2003 11:2912599
Multiculturalism [297 words]Jason EritanoDec 10, 2003 07:1512586
Will D. I. publish it? [616 words]Student from ILDec 9, 2003 15:4212563
Are we feeling the heat? [36 words]Yuval BrandstetterDec 9, 2003 10:3212551
Stiff upper lip! [70 words]Jim RyanDec 9, 2003 10:1012550
Fuller Theological Seminary Peace Project [248 words]Chris ChrismanDec 9, 2003 09:4812549
Nothing much changes at the DI [237 words]John WalbaumDec 9, 2003 01:4712542
Hey Mom, I got my name on TV [425 words]Jonathan PfefferDec 8, 2003 22:3812541
I support your comments [23 words]ShirleyDec 8, 2003 16:0712538
Dear Mr. Pipes: [104 words]Robert ArbetmanDec 8, 2003 14:5012537

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