Guilford College: Muslim Madness

Local hullabaloo. Yay meatheads!


Pic from WXII-12.

Depending on the report source, this past Friday night or Saturday morning at Guilford College, between 15 and 30 students, most/all from the football team, beat the hell out of three Palestinian students. These guys get the WTF award. Indications are that it was racially/religiously motivated.

Ever since I was in grade school I have noticed that a few components of human nature, in the right mix, often combine into the worst exemplifications of human behavior.

Ignorance Necessary basis of any attack, ignorance of one or many facts or realities. "Ignorance just means not knowing. That's easy to fix. Not like stupid. There's no fixin' stupid."
Pride Usually vague, such as pride in American values, which polarizes values of the rest of the world as indecent. Also misappropriately manifests after the beating/before the arrest as pride in self.
Misplaced aggression Nothin' better than good ol' misplaced male aggression. Hate your dad? Get drunk and start a fight.
Pressure Parental, peer, societal, mob, perceived or real.
Strength In numbers or muscle, direct physical attacks require you to be bigger than them.
Violence Verbal or physical, the violence is the culmination of the aforementioned traits, the end result of idiocy.

When I was in college, one of my closest friends grew out his hair and beard. In a dark bar, he looked a little like a short Sayid from Lost. More than once he heard some ignorant asshat blurt out: "Fuckin' Arab." The problem with that distinction is that he's Italian.

This is the mentality we're dealing with. The first Iraq action/incident/campaign gave American ignorance and hate an outlet in the form of the tan-skinned Middle Easterner. The second has simply informed us a little more, so that when we're beating the snot out of someone who's skin is a little darker (or lighter) than our own, we can shout "Muslim" instead of "Arab."

As for the local show of violence, the FBI is looking into it as a hate crime. If only sentencing could include a serious ass-kicking followed by six months of study in Israeli-occupied Palestine.