'Islamofascism Awareness Week'
at Gonzaga ripe for embarrassment
Rod Aminian
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Opinion
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What is Islamofascism? In short, it's a controversial term used by right-wing pundits to refer to our enemies in the War on Terrorism. The term is not merely meant as a blanket term for Islamic terrorists - rather, it is utilized to imply that the Islamic faith is itself causally responsible for acts of terrorism like the Sept. 11 attacks, and that this all resembles the ideological workings of neofascism and totalitarianism. Some consider it inaccurate in general, others find the term to be offensive by its very implications.
Why does this matter? Because, according to Terrorism Awareness Project (www.terrorismawareness.org), a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Gonzaga University is one among the American colleges and universities participating in what the Web site calls "Islamofascist Awareness Week." It's taking place Oct. 22 to 26. Aren't you excited? We're #45 on the list!
While it is nice to see my university's name on a list with such illustrious institutions of learning as Yale, Harvard and Stanford, this isn't quite what I had in mind. The site doesn't say which club or organization is putting on the events for Islamofascist Awareness Week, and it isn't readily clear how our name came to be on such a list.
The Terrorism Awareness Project site is filled to the brim with vitriol, saying that the point of the awareness week is "to confront the two big lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that global warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat."
Normally, this is the kind of rabidity we can let loonies spit without much objection, because they destroy their own case by employing such absurd accusations. Unfortunately, this is going to be an event that will undoubtedly affect our community in irreparably negative ways.
Under the guise of arousing some sort of anti-terrorist unity, this exercise in partisan hackery is politically na've and represents a fantastical display of intolerance for our Islamic community at Gonzaga (and lest you be ignorant, we do have one).
Why does this matter? Because, according to Terrorism Awareness Project (www.terrorismawareness.org), a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Gonzaga University is one among the American colleges and universities participating in what the Web site calls "Islamofascist Awareness Week." It's taking place Oct. 22 to 26. Aren't you excited? We're #45 on the list!
While it is nice to see my university's name on a list with such illustrious institutions of learning as Yale, Harvard and Stanford, this isn't quite what I had in mind. The site doesn't say which club or organization is putting on the events for Islamofascist Awareness Week, and it isn't readily clear how our name came to be on such a list.
The Terrorism Awareness Project site is filled to the brim with vitriol, saying that the point of the awareness week is "to confront the two big lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that global warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat."
Normally, this is the kind of rabidity we can let loonies spit without much objection, because they destroy their own case by employing such absurd accusations. Unfortunately, this is going to be an event that will undoubtedly affect our community in irreparably negative ways.
Under the guise of arousing some sort of anti-terrorist unity, this exercise in partisan hackery is politically na've and represents a fantastical display of intolerance for our Islamic community at Gonzaga (and lest you be ignorant, we do have one).