H2S at Harpur
H2S at Harpur
(rotten egg gas -- to cleanse the atmosphere, and get a clean breath of fresh air....read on )
The following three items taken together raise questions and call for comment:
1. "Explicit language, derogatory terms and swastikas directed against blacks and Jews" was George Basler's description of the graffiti in Hinman College's Cleveland Hall September 19 (reported September 28 in Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin).
2. "An attack on the entire community," President Lois DeFleur called it. "At Binghamton University, hate or bias-motivated behaviors are viewed as attacks on the entire community and run counter to our principles and values." Governor George Patake conveyed New York State's similar intolerance.
3. "Student charged in graffiti case: A Binghamton University sophomore faces a misdemeanor criminal charge in connection with racist and anti-Semitic graffity found Sept. 19 in his residence hall. Justin Friedman, 20, has been charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief .." was reported October 6.
This sequence is what the public has been given as information to date (Oct. 17). Friedman was arraigned in Vestal Town Court, is no longer on campus or taking classes, faces charges under the University's judicial system.
*******
The first question is whether the judicial proceedings are treating the Sept. 19 event as a hate crime? --as the President's remarks indicate it was taen as; or as a fake hate crime -- a hate-crime hoax.
Since it was a resident trashing his own dorm, it is almost certainly the latter. Further, if he is a Jew, the erstwhile "attack" on Jews would amount to faking an attack on himself. This fits a pattern that has become all too familiar on college campuses, including Harpur's. I myself was involved in an apparently almost identical incident in 1988, speaking out against hate graffitti on the Jewish Student Union wall as fake, with JSU President James Oppenheim arrested for doing it. I am emboldened to write, partly on my own behalf, for being seriously harmed by accusations and actions taken against me by various university factions. And partly on behalf of those who are slandered, demonized and menaced by the "flip side" of the attack: those who would be associated with hatred of blacks and Jews in the public mind, whether they were over that, not guilty except by association, or guilty, but not violent. This act by Justin Friedman is a slap in every one of their faces. They have become victims of Jewish dirty tricks. Or so it seems. If that is not so, it is up to the University to refute it, presumably by requiring a statement from him as to motive, and intent to harm. It is a provocation this aggrieved group endures unjustly..
There are other important considerations pertaining to the University's responsibility in the matter, since it, and New York State, have injected such a heavy hand of institutional authority when it looked like a real hate crime against blacks and Jews. A. As a matter of justice, it is responsible for seeking punishment commensurate with the crime. Should perpetrators of fake hate crimes receive less, more, or the same punishment of real ones? This is legal and moral untrod territory; fake hate crimes have only recently been tracked.. Some, such as the notorious Claremont College radical sociology prof who spray painted the usual ugly stuff on her Volkswagon, create large-scale disruption and shock in the community, where rallies and treach-ins ensured, until she was arrested for doing it herself. But these are not semi-innocent college kid pranks.
B. The second responsibility the University pertains to its role and mission as an educational institution. It owes the entire community a full accounting of its acts, beginning with whether Mr. Friedman is Jewish, when it was suspected it might be a hoax, and why such a relatively minor incident was so inflated These are all relevant in understanding what has happened, as all have the right to do.
C. If, and to the extent that, the University glosses over, covers up, essential details pertinent to understanding the character and motive of its perpetrator; does not let it come to light if it was a deliberate attempt at political manipulation using hate slander; it is guilty of academic/intellectual malfeasance. Of hiding, not exposing and working through the truth about the situation. .
The University cannot allow Justin Friedman back in. To do so would be equivalent to allowing those who deceived us into the Iraq war debacle, knowing they created a false threat to wage war against. This has been showed by political scientists Mearsheimer and Walt to have been largely a war for Israel. Radical crazy-right wing organizations such as Daniel Pipes' http://www.danielpipes.org/ and David Horowitz http://www.frontpagemag.com/ are outspoken advocates of Jewish student activism on campuses. Perhaps this incident, which went across the line to criminal mischief, is a tentacle of that hydra which could be used against it. The University must stand up to these people.
(rotten egg gas -- to cleanse the atmosphere, and get a clean breath of fresh air....read on )
The following three items taken together raise questions and call for comment:
1. "Explicit language, derogatory terms and swastikas directed against blacks and Jews" was George Basler's description of the graffiti in Hinman College's Cleveland Hall September 19 (reported September 28 in Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin).
2. "An attack on the entire community," President Lois DeFleur called it. "At Binghamton University, hate or bias-motivated behaviors are viewed as attacks on the entire community and run counter to our principles and values." Governor George Patake conveyed New York State's similar intolerance.
3. "Student charged in graffiti case: A Binghamton University sophomore faces a misdemeanor criminal charge in connection with racist and anti-Semitic graffity found Sept. 19 in his residence hall. Justin Friedman, 20, has been charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief .." was reported October 6.
This sequence is what the public has been given as information to date (Oct. 17). Friedman was arraigned in Vestal Town Court, is no longer on campus or taking classes, faces charges under the University's judicial system.
*******
The first question is whether the judicial proceedings are treating the Sept. 19 event as a hate crime? --as the President's remarks indicate it was taen as; or as a fake hate crime -- a hate-crime hoax.
Since it was a resident trashing his own dorm, it is almost certainly the latter. Further, if he is a Jew, the erstwhile "attack" on Jews would amount to faking an attack on himself. This fits a pattern that has become all too familiar on college campuses, including Harpur's. I myself was involved in an apparently almost identical incident in 1988, speaking out against hate graffitti on the Jewish Student Union wall as fake, with JSU President James Oppenheim arrested for doing it. I am emboldened to write, partly on my own behalf, for being seriously harmed by accusations and actions taken against me by various university factions. And partly on behalf of those who are slandered, demonized and menaced by the "flip side" of the attack: those who would be associated with hatred of blacks and Jews in the public mind, whether they were over that, not guilty except by association, or guilty, but not violent. This act by Justin Friedman is a slap in every one of their faces. They have become victims of Jewish dirty tricks. Or so it seems. If that is not so, it is up to the University to refute it, presumably by requiring a statement from him as to motive, and intent to harm. It is a provocation this aggrieved group endures unjustly..
There are other important considerations pertaining to the University's responsibility in the matter, since it, and New York State, have injected such a heavy hand of institutional authority when it looked like a real hate crime against blacks and Jews. A. As a matter of justice, it is responsible for seeking punishment commensurate with the crime. Should perpetrators of fake hate crimes receive less, more, or the same punishment of real ones? This is legal and moral untrod territory; fake hate crimes have only recently been tracked.. Some, such as the notorious Claremont College radical sociology prof who spray painted the usual ugly stuff on her Volkswagon, create large-scale disruption and shock in the community, where rallies and treach-ins ensured, until she was arrested for doing it herself. But these are not semi-innocent college kid pranks.
B. The second responsibility the University pertains to its role and mission as an educational institution. It owes the entire community a full accounting of its acts, beginning with whether Mr. Friedman is Jewish, when it was suspected it might be a hoax, and why such a relatively minor incident was so inflated These are all relevant in understanding what has happened, as all have the right to do.
C. If, and to the extent that, the University glosses over, covers up, essential details pertinent to understanding the character and motive of its perpetrator; does not let it come to light if it was a deliberate attempt at political manipulation using hate slander; it is guilty of academic/intellectual malfeasance. Of hiding, not exposing and working through the truth about the situation. .
The University cannot allow Justin Friedman back in. To do so would be equivalent to allowing those who deceived us into the Iraq war debacle, knowing they created a false threat to wage war against. This has been showed by political scientists Mearsheimer and Walt to have been largely a war for Israel. Radical crazy-right wing organizations such as Daniel Pipes' http://www.danielpipes.org/ and David Horowitz http://www.frontpagemag.com/ are outspoken advocates of Jewish student activism on campuses. Perhaps this incident, which went across the line to criminal mischief, is a tentacle of that hydra which could be used against it. The University must stand up to these people.
posted by Sid Thomas | 3:18 AM
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