4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 20, 2002 OP/ED bz 1Mictbigtn 4 uUrl 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE "It's like 'Osama yo' Mama' as an insult." - Morgan Hubbard, 17, a high school senior, as quoted by The Washington Post in yesterday's article "In Times of Terror, Teens Talk the Talk, "about the new slang that Sept. 11 has produced. "'- SerA (roots it... Fake Them out... E i ..r ,%/ 0 C V U O. a 44 CHIP CULLEN GRINDING TmE Nm U Q.. The sexist fascist and the 'bounds of the expressible' NICK WOOMER BACK TO THE WOOM peaking before roughly 3,500 people at the Conservative Political Action Conference's meeting last month, University Law School alumna and strikingly attractive right-wing pundit Ann Coulter argued that "we need to execute people like (American Taliban holy war- rior) John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too ... Otherwise they will turn out to be outright traitors." Weeks later, in a Feb. 28 column, Coulter implicitly complained that Afghan Transportation Minister Abdul Rahman was recently assassinated instead of Transportation Secretary Norman Mine- ta because Mineta isn't too keen on the idea of explicitly singling out Arabs for searches at air- ports. In the same column Coulter reveals (no doubt following an exhaustive review of Mineta's civil service record) that Mineta "is given plumb government jobs solely and exclusively because he is a minority." Furthermore, "Mineta is burning with hatred for America," because he has com- plained in the past about his and other Japanese Americans' treatment in internment camps during World War II-- the nerve of that guy! The Aryan vixen made a name for herself in the world of post-Sept. 11 "discourse" when she published a column advising the United States to "invade their (Arab/Muslim) countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" on Sept. 12. David Horowitz, Coulter's new boss since she was fired as a contributing editor to the National Review Online, later justified that comment by suggesting that it was merely "hyperbolic, tongue firmly in cheek." You see, she was just kidding around - on the day immediately following the disaster. Well, so what? By almost any standard (appar- ently even the National Review's), Coulter is (for lack of a better term - politically correct or oth- erwise) a total bitch. It's too bad that people like Ann Coulter exist, but that shouldn't mean they ought to be censored. Obviously ... But that's not the point. Coul- ter's column is syndicated nationally by Univer- sal Press Syndicate and she's a frequent guest on many of the pundit shows that air on the news networks. Coulter even shared the podium at the CPAC meeting with such esteemed (by some) personalities as conservative moral crusader Bill Bennett, Lynne Cheney and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. In other words, Coulter is widely acknowledged as a legitimate participant in public discourse; her (crazy) opinions are ones that the media elites apparently think we ought to take seriously. Hmm ... maybe it really would be good if Sec. Mineta was assassinated. Umm ... no. In our national debates over policy matters, there is what Noam Chomsky calls the "bounds of the expressible." Only opinions that fall within the bounds of the expressible are regarded as legitimate and thus worthy of genuine consideration. For example, Chomsky argues that mainstream criticism of the Vietnam War was/is limited to arguments about how the war was a regrettable tactical blunder; a terrible waste of resources and life. Missing from this criticism was/is the viewpoint that maybe the U.S. should not have been in Vietnam in the first place; that the U.S. occupied the moral low ground during the war; that the war was nothing less than a murderous crusade against average Vietnamese people. Think about it this way. There are certain peo- ple whose opinions are (for better or worse) com- monly thought to be unworthy of even thinking about. Ex-Klansman David Duke and ex-Nation of Islam official Khalid Abdul Muhammad fall into this category because they are both, quite simply, vulgar anti-Semitic idiots (among other things). It's not that they should be censored, they're just not worth listening to because there is so little to be gained from due consideration of their views. But Duke and Mohammad aren't the only vul- gar (and, it has been alleged by some, anti-Semit- ic) idiots who we would probably do well to just pass off as irrelevant: Fascists and theocratic snake oil salespeople like Coulter, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have all demonstrated them- selves to be intellectual dead weight in public dis- course. I suggest, then, that the public demand from the media elites that these views be discard- ed. Better yet, they should be counterbalanced with more radical critiques from prominent thinkers on the left of the seeming consensus that the American response to the Sept. 11 attacks has been both just and beneficial to all of humanity. Suspend your political sentiments for a minute and ask yourself this: Apropos of post-Sept. 11 U.S. policy, would it not be healthier for main- stream discourse (not to mention much more intel- lectually stimulating for individuals) to give due consideration to radical analyses of the "War on Terror" - or Ann Coulter's asinine remarks about how great it would be if a member of George W. Bush's cabinet was assassinated? ... That's what I thought. Nick Woomer can be reached at nwoomer@umich.edu,' VIEWPOINT It's the occupation, stupid This 35-year occupation is fully in line with 54 by Fadi Kiblawi years of Israeli apartheid-like policies of ethni- Two weeks ago, after Israeli occupation cally cleansing and discriminating against the tanks entered Palestinian refugee camps in the indigenous Christian and Muslim population. West Bank, their military leaders triumphantly The occupation began after an Israeli-initiated announced to the public that they faced weak war in 1967 which resulted in the disposses- opposition. Were they expecting an army? In sion of 400,000 Palestinians from their homes. order for peace to prevail in Palestine, certain Since then, Israeli occupation policies have false implications must be removed from dis- resulted in oppression in the form of house course on the topic at hand. Specifically, the demolitions, land confiscation, curfews, clo- catchy phrase "war in the Middle East" must be sures and full control of the livelihood of examined. This is most certainly not a war in the every Palestinian in the occupied territories. most conventional sense of the word, between How does Israel justify this? two armies. The catch phrase that Israeli officials use W we are seeing is a recurring event in is that all of their occupation policies, despite Whatwca ngscuing eeytaie the vast majority of them being in complete history in which an occupying army faces violation of any standards of human rights resistance from the population that it is trying and international law, are done under the to isolate and control. We saw this with the inenational saur e nne u-h children's riots in Soweto, South Africa during scope of national security." Palestinian secu- thei aprthid ear andwit th trumpantrity and natural rights are sacrificed. The flaw their apartheid years and witnthe triumphant in this argument and the true nature of freedom fighters of our own nation that defeat- Israel's imperialistic motives, is quickly ed the occupying English imperialists. After revealed in Israel's settlement policies. Last 18 months of bloodshed, over 1,500 funerals week, the Knesset approved an additional $58 and hundreds of thousands of newspaper head- million be used for settlement construction in lines, the cycle of violence is at an unprece- the occupied territories, where the "war" is dented level. Every week, President Bush taking place. repeatedly calls for restraint and an end to the These 121 Jewish-only settlements are cycle. Newsflash: This has not worked and built on lands forcibly taken from Muslims will not work! The only way to stop a broken and Christians, many of them refugees. I find record from replaying the same line over and it quite difficult to understand how transfer- over, is to not just repeatedly tell it to stop. ring over 200,000 citizens into new Jewish- The broken record must be removed. In the only condominiums built on occupied same sense, the root of the cycle of violence territories in full site of those that were just needs to be removed. forced from that land is going to foster nation- The root is the illegal Israeli occupation of al security. Call me crazy, but common sense Palestinian land and lack of recognition of would lead me to believe that this will only Palestinian natural rights to self-determination. lead to less security, especially at a time when 0 conflict is raging through these same lands. Let us keep it very simple. Israel is not fighting a war for its survival or its security. The facts on the ground clearly indicate that Israel is fighting a war armed with F-16s, Apaches and Merkavas, to continue occupy- ing a land which it is transferring its citizens to, and controlling a population unarmed but with rocks and a few archaic rifles. Their most considerate peace offer at Camp David would have created a Palestinian state with lines of Israeli military cutting through it and Israeli control over all of its resources. This falls well short of any realistic Palestinian state, and is nowhere near what Israel is oblig- ated to concede under international law. If Mexico attacked America and forced all of us into California, we would resist. Fur- thermore, if Mexico's military then took over California and flexed its muscle daily affect- ing every aspect of our livelihood, we would resist even more. This is exactly what the Palestinians are doing. It is not Israel that is fighting for her sur- vival. If she moved the 20,000 soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza to her own borders, she would be much more secure. It is the Palestini- ans, who are living under military rule of an imperialist power, that are fighting for their exis- tence, to the point where they know they have nothing to lose. It is in our interests to urge our government to stop aid to Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, in order to pressure them to end their illegal occupation, which is the sole primary cause of the conflict and roadblock to peace. Kiblawi is an LSA junior and a member of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality. 0 a LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bakalyar's sentiments did not accurately represent Johnson's harassment case To THE DAILY: I read Elizabeth Bakalyar's letter on my sexual harassment case (Women should not 'cry wolf about harassment, 3/15/02) against the University. There are many points I would like to make in response, but two of them seem indispensable. First, I can understand how Bakalyar . -a n t nnracin In, mu - ra ce 1n1w fknn case and other issues facing women on campus next month before the trial. I hope that every- one who has questions about the case or about sexual harassment in general will come hear a complete account of what happened. There is a second portion of Bakalyar's letter, however, that I cannot understand. She writes that there is nothing you can do about unwanted advances. She thinks that one should just "put up with it." Well, I don't agree with that statement at all. Not only is this lascivious treatment intolerable, it is illegal. If we condone this behavior, conditions for women on this Snc wi.l ne.e 1 ,r ,,nrneT aI ntctdaentc he will be subjected to. I am writing this letter to emphasize that there is something we can do. We do have choices in this mat- ter, and I choose to fight. MAUREEN JOHNSON Alumna LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from University students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given pri- ority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter con- ld 1EJJM.# '.Jll IJ 44kA.4 ..Wm.uu , ,u Yt1 w," *s 4 - -V + .tf 'I I