Campus Left, Right guilty of petty branding

Joel Schwartz jschwartz@media.ucla.edu

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I love the smell of a protest in the morning. That sweet aroma
of student rebellion as tens of voices yell simple catch phrases in
unison as they lock-step march down Bruin Walk. That mildewed
fragrance of racial or ideological superiority rooted in a common
malice toward convention, and the rot and decay of student civility
and ethics as UCLA’s political climate reaches sickening
levels of repression.

We, the students of this liberal university, where the mores of
rights and freedom are supposedly upheld, have reached a new low
reminiscent of the embarrassing McCarthy era ““ except this
time, the fault does not lie with paranoid anti-communists. It
unfortunately lies across all political ideologies of those who
claim to be the champions of equal rights and free speech ““
that is, free speech that agrees with their beliefs.

This frightening trend has been abundantly manifested in the
ongoing affirmative action debate on campus. A Daily Bruin
Viewpoint archive search shows that anyone who does not fully
conform to the leftist standpoint is attacked. Never mind that
Californians voted to end affirmative action. It does not matter
that Libertarians such as myself recognize the playing field is not
level, but feel that college is not the correct place to address
the issue. The only reasons provided on campus for being against
affirmative action seem to be that one is a racist, sexist,
supremacist or one of the other many “ists” the
propaganda tank of political correctness can muster up ““
simply dismissing anyone opposed with a disparaging name. After a
person has been successfully branded, the political correct-ites
can then yell and commence with their political witch hunt to deny
these people their rights.

But everyone needs to be reminded that dismissing someone of a
different opinion as “racist” or “sexist”
is no different than belittling a person with labels such as
“nigger” or “kike” or “chink.”
Both aim to minimize a person based on surface traits in order to
repress.

This is exactly what occurred when David Horowitz and Dinesh
D’Souza were invited to speak at Westwood Plaza last quarter
by the Bruin Republicans. Horowitz’s controversial
advertisement condemning reparations for black Americans, and
D’Souza’s stance on black racism, had already earned
the ire of the entire PC community. According to campus culture,
these men had no value and hence no right to speak. The African
Student Union handed out flyers that took quotes of D’Souza
and Horowitz out of context and organized a giant rally that became
childish cacophony intended to drown out the two scholars’
speeches.

Likewise, the Marxist Spartacus League brought out their
bullhorn, that age old symbol of bourgeoisie oppression. The
socialists raised their own hell with signs and outcry. It is
simply beyond these people to realize that their behavior is
analogous to racists who thought, “He’s less than human
so we can lynch him.” Though this is a severe example,
labeling and dismissing people is equally deplorable no matter
where it comes from.

Conservatives are guilty of minimization too. Ann Coulter,
another guest of the Bruin Republicans, spent most of her speech
lambasting liberals, saying such blatantly inflammatory things like
the liberals as a collective were at fault for Sept. 11. When the
question and answer period began, I pointed out that even though
parts of her opinion were valid, it is the conservative driven drug
war that has raised drug costs and supplied terrorists with money.
“Ah, the Libertarian in the audience,” Miss Coulter
said. “You know, I’ve tried to work with Libertarians
before. They’re all just a bunch of trekkies who live in
their mother’s basement.” By resorting to cheap
attacks, Coulter used belittling tactics to stifle an idea she
disagreed with and called it “unimportant.”

Both Coulter and the student protesters’ behavior is
unacceptable. The only reason to be afraid of someone else’s
opinion is if your own convictions are weak and fallacious. Any
person who believes strongly in a just cause has the right to speak
his mind, and for those who disagree there are proper and civil
ways to do it. If you hate this article, you can e-mail me or write
the Bruin ““ but you do not steal my computer. We, the
students of UCLA, have a duty as the future leaders of society to
overcome our pettiness and show the world that education has made
us better people.

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