Heroes and Villains

THE VILLAINS:

On the evening of October 5th, the Young Republicans at Columbia University in New York reserved an auditorium and scheduled a guest speaker, Jim Gilchrist, founder of The Minutemen, a controversial group dedicated to building secure borders, especial the border with Mexico. Most of their efforts have been primarily dedicated to point out the massive failure in protecting the borders by the U.S. and Mexican governments.

Several other student groups at Columbia, notably the International Socialist Organization, the Chicano Caucus and Act Now to Stop War and End Racism organization organized a protest. It MUST be noted that their motives were good and their protest was valid, even important to the current dialog about immigration and border security.

But what actually happened at the speech was horribly wrong!! The protestors rushed the stage and caused general mayhem, overturning tables and chairs and driving Gilchrist from the auditorium. There was no speech, no debate, no dialog, just mob rule.

University President Lee Bollinger called the students' disruption of the event "one of the most serious breaches of academic faith that can occur at a university."

The students at Columbia could certainly learn from today's hero......

THE HERO:

A very proud tip o' the Wizard's pointy cap goes to Daily Kos writer Pierre Tristam who weighed in on behalf of his ideological enemy Michelle Malkin in her ongoing dispute with YOU TUBE over a video she made highlighting the recent history of the Islamic terrorism. YOU TUBE has yanked the video without explanation. Malkin supporters keep putting it up. Here's a link to the video on Malkin's site.

Pierre Tristam wrote in the DAILY KOS:

"I never thought I'd see the day (or the nightmare) when I'd be siding with Michelle Malkin - Ann Coulter without wit, and lethal injector to what remains of ethical journalism. But ideology never ought to trump principle; the fact that it so often does is what has us now in the no-exit mires of politics for self-destruction's sake. And as a matter of principle, anyone willing to defend the right of that Dutch newspaper to publish the Mohammed cartoons in September 2005 has to take Malkin's side in her little spat with YouTube."

"Malkin produced a two-minute video montage called 'first they came' and inspired, as she wrote, 'by the Mohammed Cartoon riots.' She's right: 'It's a simple slideshow highlighting the victims of Islamic violence over the years.'"

Later Tristam provides this eloquent defense of free speech.

"Liberalism doesn't choose sides based on ideology. It defends all ideas, even the despicable ones, so long as ideas aren't translated into despicable actions. (Hear John Stats drum roll.) In this case, Malkin's two-minute video isn't anywhere near despicable. It's even worth a look. Some people will inevitably find its use of the Muhammad cartoons, or rather its slightly approving way of the cartoons (especially with its repeated use of the Mohammed's head as a bomb), offensive. So what? By now those cartoons are like 1970s scenes of violence in Charles Bronson films: faintly shocking then, hum-drum now, if not symbolic of a defense of free thought that shouldn't fade out."

Could we possibly get Tristam to teach a class at Columbia?

TECHNORATI TAGS: FREE SPEECH PIERRE TRISTAM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY YOU TUBE MICHELLE MALKIN JIM GILCRIST MINUTEMEN

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