69 million page views

The Scary Truth

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

Submitted by David Garipoli (United States), Dec 18, 2003 at 03:09

Dr. Pipes,

It is in a round-about way that I have come to find your website; over the years, through various sources, I have read your articles, and without noting the authors, have found them to be a beacon of REALITY in a sea of uneducated ignorance towards the topic or militant Islam.
What you have pointed out in this article, is something that I have seen at every campus I have attended. (I am currently working on my PhD in Chemical Engineering) As an undergrad, I witnessed militant Islam first-hand. Rallies were set up by a Palistinian group that essentially forced a Jewish speaker to cancel his presentation mid-speech. The palistinian group members then proceeded to deride police officers who came to halt the disruption, during which the group's leader noticed a Jewish name on one of the police officer's badges, and began to set the scene for a 'hate motivated' crime against himself. It sickened me how sensible rights fought for by the African-American community four decades ago were being abused and reused as a means to degrade others and stigmatize individuals on their 'list' as 'racists' or 'hate-mongers'. Furthermore, there was a writer for the student newspaper--funded through student fees, and published for 40,000 readers--for more than a year, who constantly--and I mean constantly--attacked the Jewish faith. When people of other races and religions joined in to ask him to stop his often ill-sourced spewing against Jews, he began to attack Christians, recalling grade school history of the Crusades and such.

Finally, as I predicted, he cracked, and his hatred spewed forth on what would be his last article: He spoke about how he had grown up in a rural part of the state, and "hated his redneck neighbors", and wished violence upon them, extreme violence. The article carried over to what I would expect to hear from a 20 year old Palestinian heading to the Jewish border with C4 strapped to his chest. It was disgusting, and he was finally fired. The moral of both of these stories--and how they tie into your article--is that these people were well masked behind what we American's nostaligcally, and respectfully recall as civil rights. The bottom line, I have discovered (I actually discovered this earlier, in 1999, when I spent some time in Hamburg on the very street where the 9/11 hijackers lived, not a nice place to be an American), is that militant Islam is crafty, and Left/Right wing students on college campuses are too involved in their politics and necessity to preserve their image to even attempt to uncover this problem. 'Multicultural Centers' on campus have become a haven for these people, stealing the stage from minorities that founded the centers--centers that were initially used for progressive and integrated progects on campus. Now these centers have become sources of funding (once again, from the wallets of the students) for Muslim speakers--almost entirely those speaking out against Israel, and the American government's foreign policy. As a side note, and proof that American law, freedom and social progression is being turned on its head by these individuals, I will point out that not one-not a single speaker-pointed out any problems with any of the governments in the middle east, or even remotely hinted that Arafat's billions in Swiss acounts were in any way in need of discussion. This was a clear sign to me that these people were not interested in objective discussion, as it should exist on college campuses. They were simply there to generate animosity.
Lastly, I was sorry to have read the blatantly ignorant articles written by the school newspaper mentioned in your article. But, I am not surprised, this type of junior-varisty journalism gets printed at nearly every college campus. Thankfully, many of these amateur, reactionist writers never make it in the real, working world of journalism.
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

<< Previous Comment      Next Comment >>

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

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)