Multiculturalism Gone Wild: Principal Qualifies Support of “Intifada NYC�
The NY Sun reports,
The principal, Debbie Almontaser, was quoted yesterday interpreting T-shirts that say “Intifada NYC” as not an endorsement of violence but rather “an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society … and shaking off oppression.” She followed the word’s literal Arabic meaning, which is “struggle” or “uprising.”
Some people are upset about this, for reasons beyond my fathom. Clearly when most of us think of the historical oppression of Arab women, one of the first things that comes to mind is New York City.
Anyway, Ms. Almontaser qualified her support for these t-shirts, as she understands that people might not understand intifada as restricted to the peace loving context she clearly meant. So no big whoop!
Who is this idiot principal, you may ask? She is the principal of the Khalil Gibran school, a new “charter� school that seeks to service an Arabic population that wants an Arabic focus, in both language and culture.
Just what NYC needs.
Who supports this idea? A lot of important Jews. Like Abe Foxman of the ADL (Asinine Dumbkoff League) and Joel Klein, NYC school chancellor. Why? Because they think it will teach tolerance.
Want to know what work better? Ending mass immigration from countries with populations hostile to the U.S. But no. We can’t do that. That would be the sensible thing to do. And after all, we were oppressed once too! We must always emphasize common oppression with others, even if the histories and the situations have precious little in common, and even if we are endangering our own community, and the U.S. herself.
As long as we retain victim status at least in our own eyes and to some degree n the public space, no matter what the cost is to such a foolish immigration and a multi-cultural policy, it’s worth it.
Right?
5 comments
I have a hard time getting hot and bothered about shirts that say “intifada nyc.” We’re talking about kids. Are we going to now say that kids wearing Rage Against the Machine t-shirts are advocating violent insurrection?
If the kids wore Hamas or Hezbollah shirts, that would be problematic. But “Intifada NYC?” That doesn’t sound like terrorism to me.
themicah,
If teens were wearing pro-Communist t-shirts calling for a violent proletariat revolution at the height of the Cold War, I would have had problems with the principal of a supposedly pro-western Marxist charter school expressing her support for such sentiments.
Here’s a blog with photos of the Intifada NYC t-shirts:
http://www.vigilantfreedom.org.....-t-shirts/
Is this really advocating terrorism? I guess I can maybe see how it’s viewed as inappropriate for the principal of a public school to be defending the shirt, given how some thin-skinned pro-Israel types might take offense. But I’m just not convinced that the shirt advocates terrorism. It’s for an ARTS organization, after all.
There are plenty of other shirts out there with words and symbols that might be offensive to one group, but not to others. Che Guevara shirts to some are just cute iconography, to others they are an endorsement of violent communist revolution. Mao shirts are viewed as nostalgic kitsch by some, and as Nepalese terrorist symbols by others.
Speaking of offensive t-shirts, let’s talk about some of the garbage that’s sold to American tourists in Israel. Heck, when I was a kid I’m pretty sure I had a shirt from Israel with a cartoon of a Native American chief warning the prime minister of Israel about the perils of land-for-peace. And I recently went to a wedding where the father of the groom sported a “Meir Kahane was right” t-shirt on the dance floor.
I fully agree Muslim attitudes toward violence need to change, and advocacy of terrorism has no place anywhere–let alone NYC. But the Intifada NYC shirt is not a big deal.
DK-
I happen to agree. I think this shirt is more degrading to the cause of the real Intifada than it helps create solidarity. Clearly it is for “art” but come on it is all about the money! For the same reason Urban Outfitters sells kiffiyah this group is selling T-shirts…it brings in the bucks.
If the money was going to a bad institution then we could talk…but this is just capitalistic artisans selling shirts to kids who clearly don’t know any better.
I just love how the media takes a group of 14 and 15 year old girls (from ALLLLL backgrounds and religions, including christian, catholic, and jewish girls)and makes them into the “extreme radical muslim” group. It seems like the media is soo busy trying to convince all Americans that terrrorism is all around them that they have resorted to using young girls in a summer program. That’s just pathetic! The t-shirts were a fundraising idea created by the girls that meant no harm. No they dont mean that the girls want to start a violent uprising! And No these t-shirts dont have anything to do with terrorism, in fact most of the girls still cant believe that this is all happening over theyre fundraising idea. Wow It never seems to stop shocking me just how the media can take something as innocent as a fundraiser and change it to a terrorist warning. I guess if the girls were called “The Girl Scouts” rather than Arab Women Active In the Arts and Media.. then this could all have been avoided.
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