Ben Shapiro has come and gone. UConn alumni – students who have grown up – will be pleased
to hear that there were no untoward incidents during his appearance at their
university. Shapiro’s bona fides are
impressive. He is a conservative political commentator, columnist, radio talk
show host, lawyer, editor in chief of The Daily Wire, which he founded, and the
author of Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth, a book he began writing when he was 17
years old. And he is visibly Jewish, a point that will become increasingly
relevant as this column progresses.
Prior to Shapiro’s appearance at UConn, an address by Lucian
Wintrich, the White House reporter for The Gateway Pundit, was repeatedly
interrupted, and Wintrich’s notes were stolen from his lectern by Catherine
Gregory, a student adviser at Quinebaug Valley Community College who never
grew up upon graduating from her alma
mater.
Wintrich was at first arrested, but charges were dropped
after he had procured the services of Norm Pattis,
who dangled before a judge the often iterated judicial theory that his client
should not have been arrested by the UConn constabulary for attempting to
retrieve his property from a thief who had stolen it. The judge agreed,
Wintrich was liberated, and Gregory was arrested.
Security during Shapiro’s appearance at UConn was beefed up,
psychological comfort cushions were provided to students at the university who
might have been adversely impacted by Shapiro’s message, attendance was diminished
when the university decided to move the event to quarters that could not accommodate
expected crowds, and only university students were admitted. Such precautions
usually are not necessary whenever leftist speakers appear before university
audiences, likely because conservative students are not disposed to interrupt
or silence speakers.
In an upcoming appearance at UConn, Linda Sarsour, described
in the university’s event page as a “racial justice and civil rights activist,”
need not worry that her speaking notes will be stolen by rightists in the
audience. Sarsour has been invited to speak to university students by the
college itself. Wintrich and Shapiro were invited to speak by the university’s Republican
Club, which paid for their appearances and has now exhausted its monetary
resources. The bill for Sarsour’s appearance will be picked up by the
university, which has not in the past invited conservative speakers to address UConn students.
And UConn will get exactly what it paid for. Sarsour has
been a supporter of Sharia Law at least since 2011, when she posted on twitter
that she wished to see Sharia Law – incompatible with American law, according
to many legal scholars – imposed on most countries. Sharia Law has been imposed
by the sword in some areas of the world in which other religions such as Christianity,
once tolerated, have been conquered by Islamic warriors such as ISIS. In her
UConn address, Sarsour likely will not object to the forcible imposition of
Sharia Law among Christian Copts, the largest Christian population in the
Middle East and North Africa.
Nor will Sarsour likely quote from Islamic scholars on the precedence
and inalterability of Sharia law: “The source of legal rulings for all acts of
those who are morally responsible is Allah” (a1.1, Umdat al-salik or The Reliance of the Traveller, the commonly
accepted work of Shariah jurisprudence); “There is only one law which ought to
be followed, and that is the Sharia” (Seyed Qutb); “Islam wishes to destroy all
states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to
the ideology and program of Islam regardless of the country or the nation which
rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own
ideology and program” (Seyed Abul A’ala Maududi). Under Sharia Law, a raped
woman may receive the same punishment as her rapist: “The woman and the man
guilty of adultery or fornication – flog each of them with a hundred
stripes" (Sura 24:2).
Apart from the floggings and the violations of nearly all US
Constitutional amendments, “You'll know when you're living under Sharia Law,”
Sarsour has tweeted, “if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become
interest free. Sound (sic) nice, doesn't it?” Islamic Law punishes usury, and
not with a slap on the wrist: “O You who believe! Be careful of (your duty) to Allah and relinquish
what remains (due) from usury, if you are believers. But if you do (it) not,
then be apprised of war from Allah and His Apostle...” (Surah al-Baqarah
2:278-279).
Naturally, Sarsour is a critic of Israel;
anti-Israeli vituperation comes with the propagandistic territory. “Is there
room for people who support the state of Israel and do not criticize it in the
movement?’” said Sarsour. “There can’t be in feminism. You either stand up for
the rights of all women, including Palestinians, or none. There’s just no way
around it.”
Some questions have been left dangling from the journalistic hangman's noose. Did UConn extend an invitation to Sarsour because the university wished to balance a "jewish" presentation by a person who is adamantly opposed to judaism? UConn's Republican Club bore the cost of Shapiro's appearance, while Sarsour's appearance was covered by the university. Because she was a university invitee, Sarsour was able to bypass the vetting process set up by the university following disturbances caused by leftist agitators. Does the university consider equitable the manner in which the costs in both cases were assessed and discharged? Finally, one cannot help but wonder whether UConn will extend an invitation to Ayan Hersi Ali so that she might be permitted to respond, cordially of course, to Sarsour’s vicious
condemnation of her. Sarsour tweeted of Hersi Ali that she deserved an “a$$
whipping.” Sarsour also expressed a desire to take away Hersi Ali's vagina. Hersi Ali left her home in Somalia to escape Sarsour’s dystopian vision of the way things ought to be in the Western world. She fled to Europe to save herself from an arranged marriage and is today an outspoken opponent of forced genital mutilation, which she suffered at age five. Since her liberation, Hersi Ali has unfailingly stood up for the rights of women everywhere -- but not at UConn.
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