Posters, satire aimed at Islamo-Fascism week

I hope that by the time this issue of The Hatchet is printed nobody takes the anti-Muslim posters at their face value. They are not advocating hatred towards Muslims. In reality, the posters are obviously intended to attack only the Young America’s Foundation and their ultra-right philosophy.

Unlike posters with Hitler’s image that had been discussed the other week (Sept. 20, pg. 1), these ones are very thought through. It is no accident that the “typical Muslim” is described as having “lasers in eyes” and a “peg-leg for smuggling children and heroin.” It is also no accident that the postscript urges to watch a video called “The Power of Nightmares,” the title of which is strangely similar to a Russian proverb, “fear has big eyes” (fear breeds terror). These are simple examples of negative campaigning aimed at uncovering the dangers of the YAF’s campaign against Islamo-Fascism. This campaign, not the posters, are the real source of hatred, which has to be neutralized.

While University officials are investigating the situation, there was no serious crime committed. These posters are not a hate crime or an expression of hate because all they do is bringing attention to the appalling campaign by the ultra-right youth. The only offense committed by the author(s) of the materials is impersonation and possible violation of the University’s postering regulations. Thus, University officials should concentrate their efforts on investigating “Terrorism Awareness Week” sponsored by YAF, which openly and loudly calls to fight Muslims.

Denis Baranov, Junior

Authors of posters still guaranteed free speech

The “anti-Muslim” posters around campus Monday were ignorant, hateful and offensive. They were also free speech. The seven students responsible for the posters should be reprimanded for illegal posting on private property and using the University logo without permission. However, they should not be punished for the constitutionally protected content of their message.

If anyone has a right to free speecxh, certainly a combat veteran like Adam Kokesh does. Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, “Rather than stifle ‘bad’ or unpopular speech, the remedy is more speech, and the result will be an informed citizenry and a vibrant democratic society.” The GW Peace Forum, Tuesday night’s SA resolution and the plethora of student organization statements condemning the posters are appropriate responses to this “bad” speech. These satirical posters did exactly what free speech is supposed to do: encourage debate.

Ironically, if posters such as these satirized a more-or-less government position in an “Islamo-fascist” state like Iran, the individuals responsible would likely be imprisoned, beaten or worse. GW should lead by example by not punishing people for free speech, no matter how ignorant that speech may be.

Joshua Sacks, Sophomore

Choosing words wisely

Sometimes I’m not a fan of synonymy either. It’s a philosophical issue you can take up with W. V. O. Quine. But for now, let’s assume that when I say synonymy, I mean to suggest our common everyday use of the term: (what should be) the interchangeability of one term with another of equal logical and real world value. An example of this would be if I replaced the term “backpack” with the term “knapsack.” There are definitely extensive differences between these terms, but for now, I’m going to assume that a majority of readers would agree that you could get the gist of what I’m saying if I were to carefully replace one term with the other in a sentence.

Here’s an example of things that are not interchangeable. I retrieved all of these examples from Emily Cahn’s news article “Iron levels unusually low” in the Monday, Oct. 8 (p. 1) edition of The Hatchet. “Hematocrit” is not interchangeable with “lack of iron.” “Ever” is not synonymous with “since 1977.” “Males who have had sexual contact with another male” is not the same as “a homosexual male.” “Sexual contact” is different than “sexual intercourse.” The marketing and consulting firm “Donors For Life, Inc.” is not the same as the “The American Red Cross” who administers our blood drives on campus.

There are far more problems with this article than I have space to criticize in this letter. But I would hope that the next time The Hatchet interviews someone they’ll check their “facts,” put a little more thought into their use of language and maybe actually print what is said by their interviewee instead of ignoring the authority for the sake of interest. I get that some people don’t have the same concern for political correctness – that’s a separate argument. I would just say that it’s too bad this news source is burning bridges.

I think the only person who did not commit a careless grammatical mistake in this article was Neha Shah and perhaps a separate article could have covered the far more intricate issue of the discriminatory nature of the Food and Drug Administration.

Kara Williams, President, Colonial Donors