2008 Woodie Awards
Tangents and Tirades
Issue date: 10/5/06 Section: Commentary
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Islam's got some explaining to do.
Last week two letters to the editor condemned me for transgressing political correctness by pointing to Muslim violence without mentioning the past crimes of Christians. The crimes that they referred to are either complete fictions ("the Church's unwillingness to condemn the Holocaust"-read The Myth of Hitler's Pope), or, like most wicked Christian actions, have been greatly exaggerated in scale by those who wish to undercut the Church's moral authority. Nevertheless, throughout history Christians have acknowledged, condemned and even apologized for atrocities committed by them and their religious forebears. When has Islam done the same for its repeated attacks on Christian countries, occurring both long before and after the Crusades? The most that today's Muslims have done is to disavow any recent bloodshed by their more orthodox brethren as "untrue Islam," which is at best a refusal to recognize that Quranic teachings are always the given pretext of this violence, and at worst an attempt to disguise Islam's nature to the West. It is time for Islam to account for its beliefs and actions, as Christianity has always done, and for secular Westerners to stop excusing Muslim hostility by repeating the largely fabricated truism "Christianity did that too."
-Michael Rubin '08
Are the Providence Po-Po crossing the line?
Does the area surrounding Providence College transcend American civil rights? This past Saturday night my friends and I were yelled at by two Providence police officers and told to "take it inside," when we were just standing on an off-campus house's porch. Of course, we all did as we were told. I was slightly scared that we could have gotten arrested. But for what-standing on a porch? Not drinking. Not holding the popular red solo cup. We, (we being about five people), were quite literally just standing on the porch talking. Last time I checked we were allowed to freely congregate whether it's in public or when it's on one's own property.
-Laura Bedrossian '07
Last week two letters to the editor condemned me for transgressing political correctness by pointing to Muslim violence without mentioning the past crimes of Christians. The crimes that they referred to are either complete fictions ("the Church's unwillingness to condemn the Holocaust"-read The Myth of Hitler's Pope), or, like most wicked Christian actions, have been greatly exaggerated in scale by those who wish to undercut the Church's moral authority. Nevertheless, throughout history Christians have acknowledged, condemned and even apologized for atrocities committed by them and their religious forebears. When has Islam done the same for its repeated attacks on Christian countries, occurring both long before and after the Crusades? The most that today's Muslims have done is to disavow any recent bloodshed by their more orthodox brethren as "untrue Islam," which is at best a refusal to recognize that Quranic teachings are always the given pretext of this violence, and at worst an attempt to disguise Islam's nature to the West. It is time for Islam to account for its beliefs and actions, as Christianity has always done, and for secular Westerners to stop excusing Muslim hostility by repeating the largely fabricated truism "Christianity did that too."
-Michael Rubin '08
Are the Providence Po-Po crossing the line?
Does the area surrounding Providence College transcend American civil rights? This past Saturday night my friends and I were yelled at by two Providence police officers and told to "take it inside," when we were just standing on an off-campus house's porch. Of course, we all did as we were told. I was slightly scared that we could have gotten arrested. But for what-standing on a porch? Not drinking. Not holding the popular red solo cup. We, (we being about five people), were quite literally just standing on the porch talking. Last time I checked we were allowed to freely congregate whether it's in public or when it's on one's own property.
-Laura Bedrossian '07