Young America’s Foundation smeared at George Washington University Updates: Seven, including Adam Kokesh, confess
posted at 10:25 pm on October 9, 2007 by Bryan
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Someone obviously faked a YAF flier to create a hate incident that would reflect badly on the conservative group, but university administrators are treating the flier like it was actually produced by YAF.
Leftist administrators at The George Washington University are on a rampage against a conservative group on campus for anti-Muslim fliers posted that the group had nothing to do with. Young America’s Foundation chapter at GWU did not disseminate fliers that read “Hate Muslims? So Do We!!” even though the flier purported to have the group’s moniker at the bottom. The flier went on to advertise an actual event on radical Islam that the group is sponsoring the end of October.
It’s obvious to anyone with a moment’s reflection that such fliers were created to fake an incident of hate where none exists, rather than contribute to a robust discussion regarding the threat of radical Islam. The bottom of the flier, for instance, spitefully reads “Brought to you by Students for Conservativo-Fascism Awareness.” And as if that weren’t enough to tip off University officials that the flier was created with malicious intent, the very last line stating “PS Seriously, do a google video search for ‘The Power of Nightmares’ ” should have ended any doubts. If you’re unaware, “The Power of Nightmares” argues that the threat of radical Islam worldwide is in fact a myth perpetrated by politicians in America who have been hoodwinked by neoconservatives.
GWU officials have glossed over the fact that someone on campus misrepresented a school-sanctioned club. Instead, the school is cuddling up with the local Islamic groups to denounce the drummed up incident of hate and force the Young America’s Foundation chapter to sign a statement condemning hate speech. Bridgette Behling, the assistant director of the Student Activities Center at GWU, wrote an email to one of the conservative students urging them to disavow hate speech that may originate from any future Foundation events: “due to the inflammatory nature of today’s events [falsified posters], as a good faith effort on behalf of YAF, it is important that YAF drafts a statement which states that you will not allow hate speech to be a part of any of YAF’s events, literature, written or verbal communication planned for Islamofacism Week. This statement should also include your plan for preventing these things from happening as well as the consequences for these things happening. It is important that we have this document should any further incidents occur as we move forward.”
How clueless must the GWU administration have to be to see this as anything other than what it is: A smear of some of its own students by others who want to shut them down? In this case, the student who actually put out the fliers, and who has no connection whatsoever to YAF, just calls his slanderous stunt “satire.”
His satire has had the effect of smearing innocent students and putting a campus on edge.
In the past few years we’ve seen leftists on campuses all over the country try all kinds of ways to shut down conservative speech, whether it’s Columbia students rushing the stage to stifle the Minutemen or leftist radicals at Berkeley trying to shout down Michelle. At SFSU, the College Republicans were investigated after they stomped on a Hezbollah flag, Hezbollah being a group that’s only second to al Qaeda in killing Americans through terrorism, and the students having done an act that if done to the American flag would be constitutionally protected free speech. And there’s the ongoing series of newspaper thefts at Berkeley, whenever its campus paper runs an ad that some leftist doesn’t like. And stepping outside college campuses, it’s worth noting the left’s ongoing campaign to take Rush Limbaugh off the air and marginalize Fox News. It’s all part of the same strategy of pushing conservatives out of society by any means necessary.
The incident at GWU is only new in the tactics, but not in its intent. Unfortunately, the GWU administration and student leadership’s response is all too typical. And the price of it’s response will be, among other things, to distract its student body away from the very threat that YAF was hoping to warn them about.
Update: I’ve just learned that 7 people have now confessed to distributing the posters. I’m expecting more information on that within a few minutes. Stand by.
Update: Via the Washington Times, the GW Hatchet reports:
A group of seven GW students sent an e-mail to The Hatchet late Tuesday night admitting to hanging hundreds of controversial posters around campus early Monday morning.
The students - Adam Kokesh, freshman Yong Kwon, senior Brian Tierny, freshman Ned Goodwin, Maxine Nwigwe, Lara Masri and Amal Rammah - said their motives were misinterpreted. . . .
Kokesh, a graduate student and Iraq War veteran, gained celebrity over the past year because of his vocal opposition to the war. Nwigwe and Rammah are also graduate students.
So this was an anti-war group’s ploy to attack patriotic young Americans by smearing them as racists. As a commenter suggests, these 7 ought to be hauled in and made to sign statements disavowing hate speech. They ought to be permanently kicked off campus as well.
Update: As soon as I saw it, the name Adam Kokesh rang a bell. He’s the Marine vet who got in trouble for wearing his uniform to anti-war protests, and who heads up the Iraq Veterans Against the War. They were so careful about who they associate themselves with that they touted phony soldier Jesse MacBeth — until Hot Air and others outed him.
MacBeth is currently in jail for fraud. Kokesh, an actual vet, evidently didn’t notice all the problems with MacBeth’s uniform and outlandish stories, or didn’t care that his organization was propping up a liar.
Update: The involvement of IVAW’s Adam Kokesh tells me that this was more than just satire. This was an intentional slander. The consequences on Kokesh and his cohorts ought to be severe. He’s currently working on his masters at GW. He ought to be disallowed from the campus and tossed out of his academic program imho.
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In the words of Jason Mattera: You can go to hell and take your fliers with you.
Mcguyver on October 9, 2007 at 10:30 PM
Why aren’t they going after this guy and getting him to sign things condemning hate speech?
Tennessee Dave on October 9, 2007 at 10:33 PM
This is way beyond a typical smear job. The perpetrators appear to have impersonated the YAF for the purpose of discrediting the YAF. It’s worse than libel, but I don’t know what to call it.
I really hate to say it, but it looks like lawyers need to be called.
forest on October 9, 2007 at 10:40 PM
Oh, I forgot to mention that all perpetrators should be expelled. It’s a gross violation of all/any academic codes I’m familiar with.
forest on October 9, 2007 at 10:43 PM
I know that lefties have a habit of screaming “it was satire” after the fact, but in this case I think it pretty obviously was satire. Immature, intellectually dishonest, and mean-spirited? Certainly. But I don’t think they were trying to trick anyone.
(What does that say about the GW administration, then, if they decided to come down on YAF initially?)
DaveS on October 9, 2007 at 10:45 PM
Sounds like the anti-war group are at war with
the young Republicans,I wonder if this leftist
group have considered surrender!
canopfor on October 9, 2007 at 10:46 PM
Junior Gitmo residents in training. On our dime probably.
Sickening.
bbz123 on October 9, 2007 at 10:46 PM
Here it is at The Hatchet.
amerpundit on October 9, 2007 at 10:46 PM
Oops. Sorry. I see you updated.
amerpundit on October 9, 2007 at 10:47 PM
Brownshirt thug tactics.
infidel4life on October 9, 2007 at 10:51 PM
I smell a possible lawsuit coming on.
F15Mech on October 9, 2007 at 10:55 PM
It’s obviously not satire. These thugs were clearly trying to spread the rumor that YAF members believe Muslins can shoot lasers out of their eyes and smuggle children and heroin in their fake peg legs.
Our colleges and universities really need to stop wasting their time with minor, victimless problems like underage drinking, and instead focus on the insidious plague of “fake flier hang uppers.” These kids need to face the hardest punishment possible.
e-pirate on October 9, 2007 at 10:56 PM
It says the GW administration is easily tricked.
forest on October 9, 2007 at 10:56 PM
An operation like this is known as a “Joe Job.”
It usually works in the cyber world as spam sent out using a real business’ name and email address, trying to sell something despicable.
The result is that thousands of people complain to the true victim, the business, flooding their phone lines and email systems with complaints.
The YAF got joe-jobbed, and its a real crime against their reputation. They have a legal case here.
BelchSpeak on October 9, 2007 at 10:57 PM
Odds that he’ll claim freedom of speech and get off with nothing? Who wants to bet me.
lorien1973 on October 9, 2007 at 10:58 PM
Lets just be blunt,and stop pussy footing around,as in the real world,Liberal students(not all)would probably be happier if young Republicans went to a seperate school,but heres the kicker,for some Liberal students(again,not all)wouldn,t that smack of segragation,but on the other hand
Liberal students and teachers would have their very own
Liberal Utopia!
Interesting to note how frenzied these Liberal loon’s
are becoming as we creep ever closer to election time!
canopfor on October 9, 2007 at 11:00 PM
“HATE MUSLIMS?”
Typical propaganda b.s.
Muslims are the first and worst victims of Islam.
Why would you hate them?
It would be like hating the victims of rape.
Mind rape, in this case.
It’s Islam I hate.
Not Muslims.
They have my deepest symapthy.
May they escape Islam soon.
With their necks.
profitsbeard on October 9, 2007 at 11:02 PM
So if the poster had headlined “We hate Islam” instead of “Hate Muslims” you would have given it the A-OK?
That might be stretching the nuance limit.
e-pirate on October 9, 2007 at 11:07 PM
It’s going to be interesting to see the administration squirm their way through this.
If these flyers were real there would be immediate suspensions, a whole host of seminars to teach about tolerance and of course marches denouncing the perpetrators.
But now that those responsible aren’t evil conservatives but well meaning liberals, it will simply be a case where some good students simply were overzealous in their actions. But since they clearly meant well, they’ll just be given a warning.
Of course the warning will be, ‘do it again, just don’t be so sloppy that we catch you!’
Hypocrisy thy name is Academia.
Drew on October 9, 2007 at 11:09 PM
I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the tactics employed by people like this, but I still am. And I’m not saying that dirty tactics aren’t sometimes used by people on the right, it’s just that it’s par for the course for the left.
BadgerHawk on October 9, 2007 at 11:11 PM
Is that satire?
BadgerHawk on October 9, 2007 at 11:14 PM
Thanks Belch! I’ll go along with “Joe-jobbed”. It’s a perfect description of what happened.
forest on October 9, 2007 at 11:15 PM
More on Kokesh.
Connie on October 9, 2007 at 11:16 PM
e-pirate-
I hate Nazism.
I hate Communism.
“I oppose all forms of tyranny over the mind of man.”
So, the “satirists” would never have used the “Hate Islam?” meme because it would have then opened them up for a potential discussion of the dogmas of Islam that would be too upsetting for their shallow propagandistic intent.
They are trying to create “victims”.
Islam, being an abstraction, couldn’t be pitied like “the poor, helpless Muslim victims of neo-con bigotry, racism and Islamophobia”.
the last thing they want is an honest examination of intolerant and misgynistic Mohammedanism.
For my mind, I find it impossible not to hate Islam.
Because I’ve read its documents, and recognize its aims:
-a global gulag run by theocratic tyrants.
No thanks. Big time.
profitsbeard on October 9, 2007 at 11:20 PM
I’m going with satire on this one. Lasers in the eyes? It’s pretty clear.
Free speech.
pedestrian on October 9, 2007 at 11:23 PM
Leftists cry Fascism at first reaction to anything Conservative, but in the next breath talk about forcing people to buy health insurance, forcing one school system, one retirement, etc.
Fascism. They keep using that word. I don’t think it means what they think it means.
DavidM on October 9, 2007 at 11:25 PM
I found the following on a Yong Kwon. No idea if it is the same person, but if so, there is something important here. The original WaPo article is gone now.
Connie on October 9, 2007 at 11:25 PM
e-pirate on October 9, 2007 at 10:56 PM
What these creeps did is analogous to calling protesting lefties “terrorists.”
I wonder how calmly Code Pink would take it if fliers were put out claiming to be from them saying things like “We Support the Martyrs in Iraq.”
That’s satirical. It would also send them into a rage because it is very unfair. (I think CP hasn’t endorsed the terrorists yet)
Or what if a group you were affiliated with was smeared in such a way? You would be oh so cool about it?
VolMagic on October 9, 2007 at 11:27 PM
I love this bit from a letter the 7 sent to the school paper:
Yeah, phonying up a document and attributing the contents to a specific group is a ‘clear, if subtle’ way to make a point on behalf of another, unnamed group.
Something tells me Kokesh wouldn’t be so amused if someone sent out a press release on his group’s letterhead saying they were wrong before and now whole heartedly support the President’s Iraq policy and call for the arrest of anti-war leaders on charges of sedition.
Drew on October 9, 2007 at 11:27 PM
Damn, I was gonna join their club :(
DwnSouthJukin on October 9, 2007 at 11:29 PM
Dude, that did happen. And guess what? Life went on.
e-pirate on October 9, 2007 at 11:35 PM
Drew on October 9, 2007 at 11:27 PM
It would be more akin to sending out a letter saying that their group opposes the Iraq war because our soldiers are all cyborgs from the future who chop up Iraqi children and make smoothies.
DaveS on October 9, 2007 at 11:39 PM
Well, Code Pink did donate about $600k to “humanitarian assistance” in Fallujah that was destined “for the other side.” So there’s that.
Bryan on October 9, 2007 at 11:41 PM
If Kokesh is expelled from GW, he’ll become a hero/martyr to the Left — probably get a graduate fellowship at Brown or some other Ivy League sewer.
As it is, Kokesh has already assured himself of a full-time, six-figure-salary gig with the Soros-funded smear group of his choice.
When he fills out his 1040, it’s OCCUPATION: ACTIVIST
Ali-Bubba on October 9, 2007 at 11:44 PM
It shows you follow a dumbassed college kid to the administration building someone dumbassed opens the door.
Wade on October 9, 2007 at 11:44 PM
I hope he comes to Brown, then this Marine would have a chance to meet him.
Wade on October 9, 2007 at 11:47 PM
Leftists love to use satire as an excuse for avoiding responsibility for their actions.
They also like to use the term artist as well.
I am waiting for the satirical artist excuse with bated breath.
mojowire on October 9, 2007 at 11:49 PM
e-pirate on October 9, 2007 at 11:35 PM
Yikes. Bad example. I just assumed there was some decency on the other side. Yikes.
My point still stands though. Just insert you favorite group where I said CP.
VolMagic on October 9, 2007 at 11:58 PM
How very sad that this sort of thing can happen on our TAX PAYER PAID PUBLICLY FUNDED COLLEGE CAMPUSES when the little jerkwads who perpetrated this vile stunt are legally considered as “adults”. To top it off, it’s also very sad that in this “progressive” and “enlightened” day and age that the victims of this nefarious and despicable fraud (conservative student group YAF) are going to be made to pay a price, no matter how lenient or severe, for having absolutely NOTHING to do with this event.
Every day I am more and more disgusted by what I see happening in this country with the Defeatocrats labeling themselves as ‘progressive’ and touting socialist ideals so EVERYONE is equal, but that’s so far from truth, it hurts! Sometimes it’s like I’m living in Superman’s bizarro world.
If the administration of that school had ONE OUNCE OF CREDIBILITY they would banish all those adult students involved. But they don’t, so they won’t. Kokesh will probably end up teaching there.
SilverStar830 on October 10, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Code Pink generally does think of the enemy in Iraq as, well, not their enemy.
Code Pink Road Journals, 9/12/2007
Bryan on October 10, 2007 at 12:03 AM
e-pirate on October 9, 2007 at 11:35 PM
Errr, double take time. Is that photo-shopped?
I’m truly confused now. If it was a photo shop it was in poor taste, but someone posting something on the internets is a little different from putting out flyers on a college campus. There is a lot of stuff on the internets that we wouldn’t allow on campuses, and rightly so.
So, different example. How about if people came to your place of work and distributed flyers claiming that where you worked was a rape facility? Surely there would be such satiracle clues as the fact that you are raping puppies as well as women. I mean, no one would think you would be raping puppies, right?
It’s not a big deal until it is a big deal and you have protesters in front of your work denouncing your evil.
I’m just saying, I don’t think you’d be so blaise if it happened to you.
VolMagic on October 10, 2007 at 12:08 AM
Who wants to bet that the left will turn Bryan’s comment here in to “He called Kokesh a phony soldier”? Obviously that wasn’t even close to what Bryan said, but who wants to bet that at least one liberal blogger will try to do this?
Anyway, Kokesh’s involvement here reveals that he’s not just a “vet who see that this war is wrong”, like many of these guys claim to be. His involvement here proves that he’s an instrument of the far left attack machine, operating with “absolute moral authority”. This isn’t anything about the Iraq War, despite the fact that he’s “Iraq Veterans Against the War”.
Again, this simply proves that he’s a far left attack dog who’s attacks (and slander) reach beyond the topic of the Iraq war… yet he’s the ringleader BECAUSE of his vet status. That’s why they’re using him. They do this kind of crap all the time (not this specifically, but the most objectionable, hateful s***, we normally wouldn’t imagine), but with this guy orchestrating it they can scream “hands off!” when someone comes out against him.
RightWinged on October 10, 2007 at 12:10 AM
Cindy Sheehan, on video referring to the insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists fighting against US troops in Iraq as “freedom fighters.”
It’s several minutes in, in the interview as she gets out of the bus. Her own words.
So, e-pirate, that photoshop to which you linked actually expresses the sentiments held by Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan. They probably wouldn’t carry that sign, but it reflects statements they have actually made and actions they have taken. The flyer that Kokesh and co distributed around GWU is a slander of YAF and its positions.
Bryan on October 10, 2007 at 12:15 AM
Something interesting here. Yeah, the leftwing wackos acted out of malice in an effort to smear YAF for “hate.”
But anybody with two neurons to rub together could see that, in fact, this was not an actual right-wing poster. Whether or not it was truly “satire,” it was transparently phony, meant as a sick joke at YAF’s expense.
Guess what? Kokesh & Co. just proved a major problem with Islamic culture: THEY CAN’T TAKE A JOKE.
Nice talking point for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, I’d say … THANKS, MOONBATS!
Ali-Bubba on October 10, 2007 at 12:21 AM
Typical, I should be shocked by this, but I’m not.
Bad Candy on October 10, 2007 at 12:21 AM
Hmmm…
Bush is easily tricked - but he managed to pull off a manufactured 9/11?
The murder of innocent fetuses is okay, but try to execute a convicted murderer?
The US should keep it’s meddling ass out of Iraq, but Dafur? Bosnia?
Has anyone here seen ‘Little Big Man’ with Dustin Hoffman? There was an indian brave called a ‘contrary’ - black is white, up is down, yes is no, hello is goodbye. Rode his pony backwards and washed with dirt/dried off with water. Eventually drove the indian brave crazy.
Sound like anyone/group of anyones we know?
Anything - anything - that is done to further the cause is okay, as long as the cause is liberal.
Expect a slap on the wrist, if that much.
Timothy S. Carlson on October 10, 2007 at 12:22 AM
Bryan on October 10, 2007 at 12:15 AM
Thanks for links. I felt like I was in bizarro world for a while. Bad example followed by confusion followed by more confusion as what I thought was slander against an anti-war group was actually a very real representation of their views. Yikes. Note to self: Never reference Code Pink for anything. Ever.
VolMagic on October 10, 2007 at 12:28 AM
Heh. Words to live by, since it really has become impossible to parody Code Pink.
Bryan on October 10, 2007 at 12:30 AM
Actually, that is pretty much what the IVAW does.
Via Mudville Gazette and Greyhawk:
Michael in MI on October 10, 2007 at 12:41 AM
Phoney soldier, phoney flier, phoney story, phoney outrage…just another day on the Left.
SouthernGent on October 10, 2007 at 12:59 AM
Just read the story about the noose on the door of the black activist professor at Columbia. Yeah, that Columbia, that’s a real bastion of down-home racism–just ask Ahmedneedjihad–they practically lynched him didn’t they? Why those Columbia boys, they just ride up in them pick-em-ups, and spit tobacky all over Broadway, and then when they’re done with that they ride over to Harlem and shoot up the place. To paraphrase Reagan, “Don’t trust, and verify.”
smellthecoffee on October 10, 2007 at 1:00 AM
At what point will it become apparent that there is an agenda at work here to destroy everything that America was to clear the decks for the new order that is coming.
Buzzy on October 10, 2007 at 3:29 AM
YAF has had a hard week.
The ingrates who created and distibuted the libelous fliers should be sued for their lifetime wages.
The Race Card on October 10, 2007 at 5:25 AM
A local man, who wrote a letter to the local paper critical of MoveOn.org and the Democrats for their “Betray-us” ad, is currently being attacked through his wife. His wife, who is an attorney, has applied to be appointed to be an associate judge for the District. Members of MoveOn.org or a similar organization have started a letter and email slander campaign against his wife, for her crime of being married to the letter writer. This is their sole motivation: her husband wrote a letter critical of MoveOn.org and they intend revenge.
I mention this not because these letters will have any effect upon her application (they won’t), because, the criteria for being selected as a judge do not include the behavior of husbands who dare to write letters to the editor critical of MoveOn.org. Presumably, judges, who know what admissible evidence is will ignore such attacks on an innocent 3rd party, whose husband happens to dare to speak out against the brownshirts running the Democratic Party.
Rather, what this is is an attempt to CHILL the freedom of speech of any and all conservatives or Republicans. Something this thread, and many other threads here have been dealing with for quite a while though.
Consider this notice that this BROWNSHIRT behavior is no longer just a campus phenomena, but has spread to the anyone daring to speak out against the Democrats in the general public. As we know from the CafePress issue, MoveOn.org can’t stand the heat. Hence they are striking out — not against the man — but his wife.
In addition, everybody reading this thread should know, the local left *are* googling and searching the names of those who dare to publicly hold and express a conservative/Republican position and are creating a database of such people. They are building “dossiers” in other words of those of use who oppose them.
One more item. He reports that “CallerID blocked” phone calls are being made to his wife’s office phone number, at all hours of the day or night. The home phone has been using the “privacy manager” product for more than a decade, which screens such “CallerID blocked” calls before allowing them to ring through. Consequently, such “anonymous” calls will never get through the home lines. His and her office phones have now also been set to discard “CallerId blocked” calls.
georgej on October 10, 2007 at 5:58 AM
GW’s administration must be a collection of lefty’s
The brownshirt neosocialists would prefer to -choke off- and -terminate- conservative free speech. They’ll do anything they can to stop it.
Perhaps we need to start thinking about what more can be done to stop them. Is there a conservative legal fund that pays for lawyers to sue the school and the brownshirt thugs as in this case?
dogsoldier on October 10, 2007 at 6:58 AM
If it was the YAF that did this to a leftist group, the administration would be all over them… but since it was their ‘own’ side, then they huff and puff about nothing, and to the wrong peopl
BadBrad on October 10, 2007 at 7:06 AM
Bryan, are you actually suggesting that just because he disagrees with Bush’s war policy that Jesse MacBeth is a “phony solider?”
/sarcasm
saint kansas on October 10, 2007 at 7:19 AM
If the university sees it as a “botched joke,” it’s an outright lie and a smear job.
If it’s not a satire, then it’s clearly “hate speech” that must violate whatever diversity policy the university has in place.
I think the university should treat it as the latter and punish them by making them attend their own sensitivity training.
saint kansas on October 10, 2007 at 7:27 AM
If it wasn’t for the Conservatives there would be no need to make these poster to smear them. Therefore as a brain dead college administrator, who gets paid to breathe and not think, I find these little Neocons guilty, guilty, guilty!!!!
And let this be a lesson to any other students, who’s parents pay outrageous lumps of money to send them here.
Hening on October 10, 2007 at 7:52 AM
Destroying the campus newspaper when it has something in it you don’t like is an old college tradition.
When I edited my college paper, we doubled the print run for our election edition, because whoever didn’t get our endorsement invariably stole thousands of papers and threw them into a local reservoir.
Yeah, college kids were a lot less green in my day.
Meryl Yourish on October 10, 2007 at 8:05 AM
I wrote earlier in one of these posts somewhere that I was waiting for completely false news to be made up to slander and smear,,, why bother with the extra effort of actually listening for something to distort. Just make it up,, the mainstream media will always be there to help out. I wonder if any ABC or CBS or any other news might carry the slander?? Interesting to watch today!
JellyToast on October 10, 2007 at 8:39 AM
Sorry I couldn’t respond earlier, I was asleep. West coast time and all that.
And I’m certainly not going to make any defense of Code Pink, who are a bunch of crazy persons. VolMagic brought them up, not me.
My main point was that people complaining “this is a horrible smear” etc are just taking this way too seriously. Yeah, that includes the GW administration, who look like idiots.
But this flier said Muslims had lasers coming out of their eyes. Not only was it obviously satire, it’s far from the most questionable flyer or posters or whatever you’ll see anywhere near a college campus.
HotAir, correctly in my view, points out the overreaction and hypersensitivity of Muslims to things like Muhammed cartoons. But then by that same token, we can’t call for heads to roll when somebody makes a “YAF thinks all Muslims are smuggling children in their peglegs” satirical poster.
e-pirate on October 10, 2007 at 8:43 AM
As a follow up, I 100% agree with those saying Kokesh’s crew should have to attend the same sensitivity training and take the sensitivity pledge or whatever it was they made YAF do.
e-pirate on October 10, 2007 at 8:55 AM
I have to agree with you on this one.
Some of you want him/them expelled and facing a lawsuit for this? Really? Attempting to shut them down with tactics like that are what they would do. Why sink to their level?
SouthernDem on October 10, 2007 at 8:59 AM
1st they all need to be expelled for incitement. What if this “hate hoax” actually caused a radical muslim to take up violence against the members of YAF? 2nd, YAF needs to sue the crap out of them for libel/slander/defamation, and anything else they can think of. Is this on par with sending a phoney bomb threat, or fake anthrax in a note with YAFs logo on the envelope? Kokesh needs to be charged with a hate crime. This occurred on government property.
roninacreage on October 10, 2007 at 9:09 AM
Whose overreaction is it in this case?
They want to make YAF sign some kind of Stalinist multi-culti loyalty oath. What these people did was commit intellectual fraud. That is supposed to be taken seriously on college campuses. What is the penalty for plagiarizing, after all? Expulsion-yeah, just for copying a few paragraphs. Seem harsh? Hey, talk the talk–walk the walk. Either intellectual honesty is important or its not.
NO! Hate crimes are bogus and are invariably are used (or are even legislated as tools) against conservatives/religious people. DO NOT endorse such legal insanity, even if it feels good to hoist someone with their own petard.
smellthecoffee on October 10, 2007 at 9:23 AM
Ooookay, so a poster using the n-word against black students or the f-word against gay students would be fine as long as it included the now standard satire designator “lasers coming out of their eyes”.
Hardly
boris on October 10, 2007 at 9:23 AM
I’ll be blunt… anyone who can’t see that the fliers were satire–mean-spirited and uninformed, but satire nonetheless–is an idiot.
DaveS on October 10, 2007 at 9:35 AM
When will an apology come from administration?
When will the administration rescind its request to disavow “hate speech” as it sees it?
When will an apology come from those who jumped the gun to knock fellow conservatives?
When will these seven morons be kicked off campus as I assume would have happened to the YAF had they done this?
None of these questions will ever be answered because the left, hateful people who they are, never apologizes.
madmonkphotog on October 10, 2007 at 9:45 AM
e-pirate on October 10, 2007 at 8:43 AM
This flier clearly was intended to be satire, however for satire or humor to work there has to be a germ of truth to it.
I’d be interested in legal arguments of when “satire” crosses the line and becomes slander and/or libel and is defamatory.
Clearly the group who created this flier believe that the YAF’s opposition to Islamofascism equates to opposition to all Muslims, which is impossible to substantiate. It also appears likely that Kokesh believes by extension that the Iraq War is a “racist” war against Muslims, which is of course absurd, unless you’re a moonbat.
My minimum recommendation would be to apply the same remedies to those who created the flier that are typically forced on conservatives who dare to break the Stalinist dictates of political-correctness. I’m guessing that it includes some time in re-education camp with a “counselor”, with someone like, say, David Horowitz.
Goose for the gander, and all that.
Buy Danish on October 10, 2007 at 9:57 AM
Where on the flier is something that equates to slurs such as these?
SouthernDem on October 10, 2007 at 9:58 AM
This statement is incredible, it accuses the YAF of doing what these left groups are doing, oh and they sure did shed some light on many things with this little stunt.
So, has the university officials made amends in any way…? Withdrawn their punishments for the YAF? … Taking action against the 7 instigators? … Apologized? Done anything?
Disgusting.
4shoes on October 10, 2007 at 10:04 AM
Where did I write that there was?
Does “satire” make it okay or not? Answer that question if you want more explanation.
boris on October 10, 2007 at 10:14 AM
I don’t think so. I hate Islam, it’s a death cult and it’s caused massive death and destruction and suffering, it is very worthy of my hate. I also hate Nazism. Do you have a problem with that ?
Maxx on October 10, 2007 at 10:16 AM
I’m all for satire like this Code Pink banner. It just shows how ignorant the educators are at GWU.
BohicaTwentyTwo on October 10, 2007 at 10:25 AM
oh come now bryan, you want a student expelled for putting up a stupid fake flyer?? when did everyone start taking themselves so seriously?
ernesto on October 10, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Leftist are frustrated because their ideology is so wrong. It is based on lies, so why would we expect any lefty to be honest and forth right?
That would be as foolish as expecting a muslim to value the sanctity of life. That is hard to do when their very religion preaches death.
TheSitRep on October 10, 2007 at 10:30 AM
Yes, and I have to wonder if this story which I found on Drudge is not another faux-incident:
Columbia Condemns Noose Found On Black Professor’s Door
Buy Danish on October 10, 2007 at 10:32 AM
BohicaTwentyTwo on October 10, 2007 at 10:25 AM
At least this group, “Communist code pink” admit that they’re Communists. Now if we could just get the leadership of the anti-war movement to come clean!
Buy Danish on October 10, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Speaking of David Horowitz, more on steps taken by the perpetually outraged brownshirts in response to Islamo-fascism Awareness Week at University campuses, from Front Page Mag:
Who’s Behind the Censorship of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week?
An ironic excerpt:
More here -
A Former Congresswoman Tries to Censor Islamo-Fascism Week
Buy Danish on October 10, 2007 at 10:55 AM
I wouldn’t be suprised if the story about the Noose found at columbia around a professors door was fake as well.
tomas on October 10, 2007 at 11:11 AM
I don’t really need more explanation.
Yes, the flier was over the top and branding them racists is offensive. But then, I find it offensive when some (NOTE: SOME) on the left are branded traitors.
Satire is satire (unlike some other things, like that Kos diary that was played off as such to deflect deserved criticism). Whether or not it’s o.k. if up to your p.o.v. Theirs was ridiculous and like I said, I found it offensive, but not as offensive as some sort of hate group flier.
SouthernDem on October 10, 2007 at 11:33 AM
In that case, you must think there are alot of idiots on the GW campus. People don’t necessarily read this type of slander very closely, they tend to just react:
The last one is the most interesting. Kroeger supported expulsion initially, presumably because he’s an “idiot” as DaveS put it. But now that it turned out to be moonbats claiming a botched joke, I don’t think he will be so stern. We’ll see.
forest on October 10, 2007 at 11:37 AM
Anyone else notice the grad who thought it was “satire” in the Washington City Paper article is one of those who copped to doing it???
Miss_Anthrope on October 10, 2007 at 11:56 AM
DaveS on October 10, 2007 at 9:35 AM
Well, buddy, I guess the newspapers in Cairo are all idiots then. There is a link at LGF to a Cairo newspaper citing this flyer as a part of “growing muslim backlash” in the West. The Law of Unintented Consequences, my friend.
The scary thing about the internet is how fast and far lies can spread and be repeated until they become de facto facts because people will not believe you when you tell them it is a lie.
e-pirate on October 10, 2007 at 8:43 AM
As to your response that we shouldn’t be over-sensitive like the muslims, I have yet to hear calls for these seven people to be stoned or have their heads cut off. There hasn’t even been a VRWC memo about how to destroy their lives yet, and until that comes you know we won’t act.
VolMagic on October 10, 2007 at 11:58 AM
This flier is just a smear, it’s not intelligent enough to be satire.
This incident is a perfect example of how the far-left atmosphere in many colleges and universities create, nurture and perpetuate the idiocy of these moronic knee-jerkers who cannot function outside of academia…they don’t really function inside it either. I remember what college was like and it has gotten worse–this proves it.
How do I email Bridgette Behling and tell her what a fool she is?
Christine on October 10, 2007 at 12:14 PM
Typical foostomping lefty’s I can win on my own merit so I will slander and cheat!
xler8bmw on October 10, 2007 at 12:33 PM
Sorry I meant can’t….
xler8bmw on October 10, 2007 at 12:34 PM
“Sink to their level”? Are you serious?
What is it today that people aren’t getting? The Right; whether Conservatives or simply Republicans in general, are being viciously attacked with lies, deceit & propaganda that IS being picked up by the MSM and others out to destroy and “Shut down” their opposition. It’s their M.O..
Sorry to break it to you, but the “High Road” of the Republican Past is long gone… if we continue to “Not stoop to their level”, then they stomp us and our voices out; AND WIN. It’s their belief in our “moral standards” that they’re using to tie our own hands with; they’re counting on it.
This is a battle of existence to The Left that they will not stop short of (liking their ideological mentality with the equivalent of the IslamoFascist suicide bomber); whatever it takes…
This “Take the High Road” concept reeks of a defeatist attitude. Not defending yourself, or standing up for your Rights or Principles, is what’s costing us this country and lending ground to the “Progressives” and their movement. Not only do they have the money and resources to follow through with antics like this; whether calling it “satire” or not doesn’t matter; if their will isn’t matched with resolve equal to theirs, you can take your prudent, traditional standards, and kiss them goodbye.
Don’t misconstrue my intent to abandon our own traditional beliefs, standards or principals; I’m merely advocating taking the matter to task; even striking back (lawsuits, expulsion, whatever) such as we have in responding to the 9/11 attacks (by taking the war to their backyard and driving them back).
Our Party will be perceived as weak and impotent to future terrorist (or even Leftist) attacks if we sit back and do nothing; they will relentlessly continue these and more unconscionable acts.
nationspatriotcom on October 10, 2007 at 3:26 PM
Kokesh is as mad as hell, and doesn’t want to take it any more.
“Why do people keep calling me a leftist,” he asks indignantly in my comment section.
Turns out he’s a Paulbot.
Nice Deb on October 10, 2007 at 3:41 PM
The text of the flyer may be satirical but the act of posting the flyers under the guise of another organization is not.
Bill Ramey on October 10, 2007 at 4:44 PM
It’s because of outrageous crap like this that I have absolutely no desire to go to college.
ZK on October 10, 2007 at 7:11 PM
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