Today's headline in the Orange County Register announces that the so-called "Irvine 11', the arrogant students who were convicted of disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the US at the University of California at Irvine, have filed an appeal.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/students-408957-court-speech.html
Are we surprised?
Never mind that they were not sentenced to any jail time for their outrageous conduct. These characters want total vindication.
Last year, four of these young men returned to UCI to participate in a panel as part of the Muslim Student Union's anti-Israel week of events. They expressed no remorse when confronted with the fact that they could not extend the same right of free speech to the Israeli ambassador that they enjoyed at UCI as they spoke.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-4-uc-irvine-hate-week-irvine-11.html
As their point of justification, they responded that Michael Oren (the Israeli ambassador) was a "war criminal" even though they had no solid grounds to back up that charge.
Make no mistake: These young men gave a black eye to UCI (one of them was a UC Riverside student.) They also gave a black eye to the Muslim community as a whole. They showed that they could not tolerate speech from someone with whom they do not agree. They showed that they could not listen and participate in a courteous question and answer session. Instead, they tried to shut down the words of the Israeli ambassador. Videotapes showed that they thought they had succeeded in doing exactly that in the moments after the disruption. They lied to the university about their intentions and tried to cover up their plans to disrupt the speech.
Keep in mind, most of these former students were either born in America or are American citizens. Yet, they have no concept of the principles of freedom of speech.
I try to respect the line between one who teaches at UCI and the students. As such, I hold back a lot of fire when it comes to students. These young men are now departed from UCI, so I feel no such compunction.
They are arrogant.
Looking at the comments to this in the LA Times and OC Register on line websites, no one cares about them. They had their little group that supported them before but no one cares anymore, which is a good thing. They got too much attention in the past for acting like a bunch of dirtbags.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main arguments against criminal prosecution was that it was a waste of money (which I agreed with). It will interesting to see how they will now claim this appeal is not a waste of taxpayer money.
The other reasons against criminal prosecution were that all it was going to do was give these lame birds the attention they craved, which it did. And they wouldn't learn anything from prosecuting them. And it looks like they haven't learned anything from the whole deal.
Will the "Heckler''s Veto" now determine who can speak at UCI or in any of our schools.
ReplyDeleteThe Muslims continue to exploit our tolerant laws to further their agenda. This is an important case as it may become a precedent for who the MSU allows to speak on any campus.
Whether they were born here or not they are foreign to the core. Freedom of Speech does not entitle you to drown out the speech of someone you don't like. There is a certain basic civility here... first you speak and then I speak, etc.... that is unknown to them.
And it is efforts like this that, in the end, serve to subvert our values.
What these young men don't understand is American principles of free speech. They either were born here or came here at a very young age, and they don't have a clue.
ReplyDeleteIn the Irvine 11 appeal, let us hope that their careful pre-planning of the disruption and the post-violation of free speech rights in a debreifing at the "CCC" will be realized by the OC community. In addition, let the OC community see the Irvine 11 support by the various Muslim Brotherhood organizations that supported them in the first trial. We will see the impact of those Islamist groups who want to see our U.S. Constitutional rights take a back seat to Sharia law.
ReplyDeleteSquid
Squid’s point about the preplanning of the disruption and subsequent denial of the MSU’s involvement, as an organization, cannot be over emphasized. Their emails back and forth and minutes of meetings planning it, including “he can’t just come here and say whatever he wants” are dispositive in themselves. That they later claim that it was 11 spontaneous expressions of “free speech” is also a complete lie. They seem to have no compunction about lying, even in the face of compelling evidence.
ReplyDeleteWhat is even more depressing is that their role models… Muslim Organizations and attorneys… support their ridiculous position. Certainly the attorneys should know the time and place parameters on free speech.
No matter. The speaker was defending Israel so risking expulsion from college and even arrest was worth it.
Remember these guys’ names. The Muslim Organizations of all types have duly noted them among those whose hatred and willingness to risk their future put them in a special Jihad category. We will see their names again, carrying out a more significant mission on behalf of the Cause.