A Tale of Two Graffiti: University of Wisconsin

Hat tip College Insurrection and Badger Herald



"April 14, a graffiti artist — yes, an artist, not a vandal — was arrested in connection to 11 counts of graffiti and one count of disorderly conduct for harassing a bystander. "
-Badger Herald



This week, we have two stories in play at the University of Wisconsin at Madison which show the utter hypocrisy of college thinking.

Over the last few months, anti-white graffiti has been appearing on campus, and a suspect has now been arrested, a black male in this case. College Insurrection has the report.

http://collegeinsurrection.com/2016/04/will-university-of-wisconsin-madison-be-the-next-mizzou/


That has led to this op-ed running in this week's campus paper, the Badger Herald. According to the writer, the arrest is an outrage because the "artist" was protesting racism (by stating that "The Devil iz (sic) a white man").

https://badgerherald.com/opinion/2016/04/22/why-you-cant-arrest-someone-for-using-graffiti-to-protest/

Yet, the same issue of the Badger Herald is reporting other graffiti which is anti-Semitic and racist in nature. The article (rightly) contains all the requisite official condemnations.

https://badgerherald.com/news/2016/04/22/anti-semitic-graffiti-found-on-uw-campus/

First of all, spray painting graffiti on walls is vandalism. Somebody has to clean it up. In this case, the cost was $4,000. Secondly, to say, "The Devil iz a white man"  ( I always thought he was red.) is a form of racist hate speech in itself. Let's cut out the double standard. The campus op-ed is excusing hateful graffiti by a black person while the whole university is condemning graffiti by (presumably) a white person. Both acts are wrong. Hopefully, the perpetrator(s) of the anti-Semitic graffiti will be arrested as well.

I try to go easy on student journalists, but at some point, dumb thinking has to be challenged. Hopefully, some day in the future, this young journalist will look back and think, "How could I have been so dumb?". On the other hand, he may be righting the same gibberish for the New York Times.