Asses in elephant skin
In the aftermath of Bush’s reelection, I thought I’d offer a little advice to melancholy D.C. from faraway Texas. Don’t despair!?Too many people in this country need you right now.?They need your progressive commitment to healthcare, workers’ rights and the minimum wage. Ignore the pundits, too. This isn’t the time for liberal soul-searching. It’s the time to say more loudly than before what we really believe and why we believe it. We’ve spent too much time already trying to say what we imagined others wanted to hear and look where it has gotten us.?If we don’t smarten up, we’ll end up nothing more than asses in elephant skin.
Robert Owens
Ft. Worth, Texas
Shameful speaker
Last Friday, Simona Sharoni came to campus to speak on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.? Referring to Palestinian suicide bombers, she said, “When I think of gay teens who have to commit suicide because of rampant homophobia, of girls who starve themselves to death, I think of suicide bombers. It’s the structures and conditions [of society] that create this.”
Sharoni’s comments are absolutely despicable. Sharoni denies the agency, and therefore the culpability of suicide bombers, which have resulted in the murders of thousands of innocent Israelis. Moreover, her comparison between the stresses of?homosexuality and eating disorders is irrelevant and asinine as it refers to terrorism. This is tantamount to comparing the terrorists involved in Sept. 11 to individuals suffering from eating disorders and depression, and blaming the U.S. for all three situations, insofar as it?promulgates certain cultural anxieties. Sharoni irresponsibly blames the conditions of society and not the terrorists themselves.
Her statements are, further, destructive to the peace process. Though Sharoni said resolution “can only occur between groups that view each other as equals,” her speech criticized Israel exclusively, even comparing Palestinian refugee camps to concentration camps. Her discourse only perpetuates existing hatred and misunderstanding. There is no excuse for the targeted killing of innocent civilians; it is ironic that the Program for Peace and Justice sponsored the event.?The University owes all of us an apology for allowing this type of speech on campus, which directly contradicts what we believe Georgetown to stand for.
Katherine Cartwright (CAS ‘05)
Igor Khayet (SFS ‘06)
