Vital Perspective: UC Irvine Danish Cartoon Panel and Protest

Hat tip to Mere Rhetoric for attending, photographing, and describing the situation at UC Irvine before, during and after an event on campus to discuss the Danish cartoons. The complete post from Mere Rhetoric is reproduced below the fold.

THE PANEL

The UCI College Republicans, with significant leadership from their President, 21 year old Kristin Lucero, organized the event to discuss the Islamist violence that erupted in the wake of the Danish cartoons. Or, more precisely, to discuss the Islamist violence that erupted in the frenzy whipped up by Danish imams shopping those cartoons around the Muslim world). The panel consisted of (L to R): Lee Kaplan, a contributing editor at Front Page Magazine; Ted Hayes, a homeless rights and conservative political activist; and Abed A. Jlelati, a native of Syria and a member of the Free Muslims Coalition, a pro-democracy Islamic reform organization. It was moderated by United American Committee Chairman Jesse Petrilla. Pictures, as always, courtesy of MR's UC Irvine correspondent.

The panel discussed, among other things, the overwhelming number of openly blasphemous and virulently anti-Semitic cartoons that regularly appear in Arab and Muslim press outlets. One of the many cartoons discussed was this one, a disgusting depiction of Jews as baby eaters. Not for nothing, but - riots caused by this cartoon: zero.

At one point, a heckler who slipped into the auditorium had to be led outside - but not before he was systematically dismantled by Ted Hayes. From what we understand, the heckler (who we're pretty sure is the same one who screamed at Lee Kaplan for being an "Israeli agent"... because you know all Jews work for Israel) - from what we understand, the heckler made some comment about how slavery was a conspiracy by non-Muslims against Muslims. Hayes responded by severely educating the young man as to the extensive Islamic and Arab role in the African slave trade. Left uneducated were these gentlemen who were protesting outside:

THE PROTESTERS

This AP Photo shows a large, dense mob of people:

Our photo of the same group (look at the placement of the "respect" sign) taken at about the same time (around dusk) shows that the large, dense mob is mostly a bunch of sour-faced kids who'd be better off doing their homework:

Meanwhile, this protester would like you to know that Muhammad is the protector of women:

Now usually, here is where we'd point out all the real-life Muslim women who beg to differ. But you can't tell they exist from that picture, since the protest organizers put all the Muslim women in a segregated "women's" section. Apparently, the best way to show how Muhammad protects Muslim women is to fence them all into their own separate but equal plot of asphalt. Seriously, we couldn't make this up:

Only in the vapid world of Leftist campus activism could it possibly make sense for members of a vaguely Mexican supremacist group to stand "in solidarity" with members of a vaguely Muslim supremacist group:

THE UC IRVINE ADMINISTRATION

Two years ago, UCI Executive Associate Dean of Students Randy Lewis made an idiot of himself by going on the radio and saying some of the following things about to the green stoles (similar to what Hamas suicide bombers wear) that the University was allowing Muslim students to wear to graduation:

Q: Well, is there any, was there any consideration that despite the literal translation on the stoles that some of the Jewish student groups might interpret it as hate speech?
Lewis: Umm..
Q: You know, in other words, is there any dispute about the interpretation?
Lewis: I don’t believe so. I think that.. I think not. I think that the feedback that we’ve gotten from Jewish students and others in the Jewish community is the Arabic script as translated is in fact what it says... I think the point of departure, perhaps, is that some students still are of the opinion, and others in the community, that there is a secondary reference, if you will, to Hamas or other terrorist groups that seem to be sort of part of that symbol.
Q: do you find any link to Hamas at all in the symbolism [of Muslim students wrapping their arms in green armbands just like the ones that Hamas members and suicide bombers wear]?
Lewis: We have found none, our campus police have found none. There is nothing that would indicate that there is any such activity on this campus by any student or any individual."

So, according to Lewis, there was no dispute about the armbands from anyone - except from the students who did dispute it. And, also according to Lewis, UCI had found no link (literally "none" at all!!!) between terrorist advocacy and the stoles - despite the striking resemblence between what Hamas suicide bombers wear and what the stoles look like. And best of all - seriously, this one's our favorite - Lewis actually said that there is "nothing" (literally not a single thing!!!) on the UCI campus that indicates that "any student or any individual" supports violent Islamism or vicious anti-Semitism. That is just so stupid (also see here and here and everywhere).
On the other hand, we actually kind of do believe that the UC Irvine administration hasn't noticed any of the pervasive and shrill anti-Semitic hate speech on their campus. Denial is a powerful blinder. Which makes this picture - of Lewis's head blocking out the "no hate speech" part of an (albeit disingenuous) sign - awesome on so many levels:

Last week, UCI Dean of Students Sally Peterson was quoted by the Los Angeles Times to the effect that she feared that the panel discussion about Muslim violence would spark Muslim violence. Her solution was for the College Republicans to stop being so free speechy about their free speech:

Bangee has asked the College Republicans to hold the event without showing the drawings. She said Muslim students fear the cartoons will incite violence locally. That is the primary concern of university officials as well, said Sally Peterson, UCI's dean of students. "Our No. 1 priority is going to be to have a safe and secure event," she said. "The students who want to pursue [this event], I am not sure they understand the impact of their actions." Peterson said she had received letters from people who think showing the drawings will insult Muslims. She said the university can't stop organizers of the event from displaying the cartoons, but she hoped that a compromise could be reached.

Remember that this is the same administration which dispatched some very important people to deny any link between the green things that their students wore and the almost identical green things that Hamas's terrorists wear. And not just to deny a link, but also to publicly disparage the Jewish students who felt uneasy about the armbands. But cartoons that everyone's already seen - those are beyond the pale. Showing them again might "incite violence" (don't ask from whom - violence just kind of happens - just comes out of nowhere in fact).
Actually, the UCI administration is really good at facilitating compromises to avoid words or images that Muslim students might find offensive. A couple years ago, university officials told Jewish student leaders to stop referring to themselves as "Zionists," because that label was inflammatory to Muslims. Which sets us up for the best metaphor we've ever seen on how the University copes with overly-excitable, potentially violent Muslims: