When your roommate is a Political Science major with a Legal Studies minor, you get a pretty good run-down of the law if it’s brought up in conversation. And when the idea of free speech comes up, many people get a little sensitive. The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to say whatever we want to say within the borders of the 50 states, but if that’s the law, why do Americans throw hissy fits when someone says something that offends them? It’s as much your right to say something offensive as it is to say something nice, even though it’s not polite.
Let’s be clear, this amendment protects the right to say what you want to say. It doesn’t protect you once you’ve been offended by what someone says. You could, however, get in trouble for what you say if it incites violence and presents clear and present danger. There’s a big difference between “someone should teach that guy a lesson” and “let’s get together and teach that guy a lesson with baseball bats.”
So why am I bringing about a Civics lesson this week? Well, it came to mind when I saw a report by Knight News about a registered student organization (RSO) at UCF for Muslim students called the Ahlul-Bayt Islamic Society that invited a guest from the Muslim community to speak to the students about the relationship between Anthropology and Islam. The speaker, Sheikh Jaffer Ladak, was reported to have made an offensive comment that angered a number of Jews on UCF campus. The article on Knight News had plenty of comments berating the organization for inviting such a speaker and expressing general offense at the comment.
“We are considered Homosapiens, although I will say there are some who have probably, you know, gone backwards, and are more Neanderthal in their thinking, they’re from Mars, or probably from the state of Israel,” said Ladak on the video in the Knight News article. If you’d like to read the Knight News report of the event, please click on this link: http://knightnews.com/2012/11/speaker-hosted-at-ucf-causing-uproar-among-jewish-students/
The headline of my article includes the word “tolerance.” It’s a lesson most people in this world forget, and you don’t need a Journalism degree to figure out that’s true. This is one word that is integral in leading a peaceful life. Sadly, many have forgotten it and are surrounded by the labels (like skin color and religion) that declare us different, dividing lines between people, despite us all being the same species. We’re also more sensitive to the labels because somehow they have become so highly valued in determining our individual places in the world that offensive comments can’t just be brushed off. I’m not trying to say that it’s okay to make offensive comments. As I mentioned before, it isn’t very polite.
Let’s take a look at this particular instance. Ladak certainly said something he probably shouldn’t have. But I don’t see how so many Jews can get huffy and puffy about this comment because it isn’t obtrusively anti-Semitic, a term which means you’re a Jew-Hater. I’m Jewish (always have been) and am no stranger to being teased for my religion. Usually, I’ve been asked why I don’t have a big nose like other Jews. I’ll just leave that one up to genetic anomaly.
Particularly here, Ladak is commenting solely on Israeli politics. There is a major conflict between Israel and Gaza and tensions have been high in that region for thousands of years. There are rockets being shot off from both sides and innocent people are dying. That’s not right on either side. Both Israel and Gaza are wrong for killing innocent people and stopping entire populations who want to lead peaceful lives. Peace talks are consistently difficult and none have drawn out a truly lasting peace for the region.
The crucial part of this whole buzz is that there is a difference between Jews and the State of Israel. Israel may be the named Jewish homeland, but saying something negative about Israel doesn’t mean the commenter is anti-Semitic. It means he doesn’t agree with Israel, which is a sovereign state with its own government that makes mistakes just like every other government on the planet. Governments are run by humans, and we’re certainly not infallible. Besides that, Israel has plenty of citizens who aren’t Jewish. You don’t have to be Jewish to live in Israel. That isn’t how it works.
Maybe Ladak thought he could make an anthropological and political joke all in one, or maybe he’s not a very tolerable person. I haven’t been able to contact Ahlul-Bayt yet and can’t discern the predictability of Ladak. This idea of predictability is pivotal if anyone pushes to put any disciplinary actions toward the organization. Bringing a speaker in (students that are the future of this world and who have the future power to spread compassion, tolerance, and acceptance) that will indefinitely say negative things that could plant the idea of intolerance or hate into students’ minds or even simply make intolerance and hate okay is a serious mistake on the organization’s part. That goes against the diversity UCF promotes and it goes against basic decency.
Spreading ideas of intolerance is wrong and always will be. But I hope that the idea of tolerance, acceptance, and love will spread farther and create a deeper river than hate. That’s one lesson here, and the other (besides if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything) is to think before you get angry and call someone anti-anything. And okay, one more thing: opinions are just opinions. They only have power if you give it to them.
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