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A not-so-sarcastic critique of the Patriot and its super facile understanding of the world
By yaman | December 6, 2006
The California Patriot claims to be Berkeley’s “conservative student voice.” Looking through their magazine, though, it’s difficult to come away with anything but the conclusion that they spend a lot more time hating liberals, or rather liberal stereotypes, than they do promoting any sort of coherent and consistent ideology–unless, of course, ‘hate’ counts.
In their pathetic coverage of two events Students for Justice in Palestine hosted last month, the Cal Patriot, under the confusing and nonsensical headline “Dhimmis in action,” wrote:
“This picture shows members of the group Students for Justice in Palestine participating in a so-called die-in. They were pretending to be dead (a better form of protest than their ceaseless chants) to commemorate the Nov. 8 incident in which some Palestinians in Beit Hanoun were accidentally killed in an Israeli air strike intended to stop the firing of rockets into Israeli towns. While some criticism of Israel for the accidental deaths is justly placed, and the deaths of the civilians are tragic, the events were just that–an accident. One wonders, where are the SJP die-ins when Palestinian terrorists kill innocent women and children, deliberately?
“In early November, the group remembered the deaths of Palestinians by lining Memorial Glade with dozens of Palestinian flags.”
The Patriot manages not only to mischaracterize the events (a very detailed flier, mentioning suicide bombings, was passed out at both events, and the second event actually commemorated the deaths of all Palestinian and Israeli children in 2006, so there were indeed Israeli flags there), but has proven itself to be a syndicator of IDF press releases. Notice that the “accidental” nature of this event, in which “some” Palestinians (any other nationality or race may have warranted a number, at the very least), is emphasized three times and qualified by a convenient regurgitation of an unchallenged claim by the IDF that every attack on Palestinians is somehow relevant to a campaign against terror.
The magazine’s limited view of the world is not lost on other issues. Other sensationalist headlines include “Left-wing infiltration: Democrats are majority among Cal faculty” (as if Democrats are even left-wing), “Islamofascism down under,” and “Land of the free: In praise of America’s enduring humanity,” a vomit-inducing apostrophe laced with crass statements that have more to do with an imagined history and identity than with historical fact.
I suppose that when you’re a private publication with way too much money to spend, standards for publication are quite low. I take that back, I’ve seen equally low-quality items printed in the Daily Cal and more mainstream media–regardless, I suggest they devote more space to letters that are not the standard “you guys are awesome!” Readers are already treated to enough of that self-congratulatory attitude throughout the other pages. That said, a heavily-edited version of a letter I wrote last month was partially printed under the equally confusing headline “A sarcastic jihad.” Given that I don’t think it did me or my points justice, I’ve reproduced it below.
Uncensored version of letter to Patriot
The most telling element of Sid’s patronizing article about the so-called “moderate Muslims” is the following sentence: “The fact Abdul-Aziz had a Kurdish father and an Arabic mother should have pushed the Sunni extremists to the brink….” Really? This statement, besides hyperbolizing the ‘evil’ mindset of the Sunnis (who are bad in Iraq, but good in Lebanon), makes no actual sense. There is nothing that precludes either a Kurd (who is good in Iraq, but bad in Turkey) or an Arab (who is bad in Sudan, but good in Saudi Arabia) from being Sunni, and there is nothing inherently anti-Kurdish or anti-Arab about Sunni Islam. In fact, Arabs and Kurds in Iraq do have such a thing as free will and often turn out to be Shia, Sunni, Christian, or, despite popular precepts, atheists. They even go so far as to intermarry. Perhaps these truths were conveniently overlooked for stylistic purposes, or perhaps Sid is really unaware that Arab and Kurd are not actually religions. After all, wasn’t it our own brave leader who proclaimed that he had no knowledge leading up to the colonization of Iraq that there was even such a split in Islamic theology?
Nevermind, though. This is meaningless bickering, a simple play on words that has no effect in real life decisions. What is important is that I completely support Sid’s brave call for Muslims everywhere to embrace non-violence instead of violence. Take the moral high ground. And, if you don’t, America will benevolently amass several hundred thousand of its peaceful troops, aircraft, vehicles, and hundreds of billions of dollars, in order to non-violently liberate you from your heritage and to show you the way of peace and prosperity. It would also be nice if you left the mosques, let your women leave their harems, and actually participated in civic life so that we could grade you on your respectable ‘moderate’ views–nevermind that such views (non-violent, since that is what Sid is talking about) are printed almost daily in Arabic newspapers and similarly echoed on television, including channels like Al Jazeera. As for the definition of ‘moderate,’ we mean that it would be nice if you left your religion of submission to God and instead replaced it with a religion of submission to American corporations and America’s inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, at the expense of everybody else. At the very least, greet our armies of peace with rice and flowers. Please?
Pictures of event
Two Israeli flags lay on the grassy glade to commemorate the death of two Israeli children in earlier 2006, one by a suicide bombing at a settlement and another by stray ordinance in a field.
A general view of the 119 Palestinian and 2 Israeli flags that lined the side of the glade, representing the deaths of 227 Palestinian and 2 Israeli minors in the violence of 2006.
Students from SJP lay on Sproul Plaza and draw the attention of passersby to commemorate the deaths of 18 Palestinians at the hands of Israel on Nov. 8
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