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U of MD Cancels American Sniper

Elf Grinder 3000

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Elf Grinder 3000
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Sep 10, 2009
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More evidence that Islamists want to change the USA

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollyw...aryland-cancels-screening-of-american-sniper/

A planned screening of the film American Sniper on the University of Maryland campus has been been canceled after outcry from Muslim students on campus.

The school’s conservative group released this statement in response:

The University of Maryland Student Entertainment Events (SEE) decided to screen American Sniper on May 6 and 7, 2015. After meeting with concerned student organizations, SEE has decided to ‘postpone’ the movie.

If the University prevents a movie like this from being shown, it promotes intolerance and stifles dialogue and debate on the subject and goes directly against the atmosphere of diversity the University of Maryland purports to provide.

The Muslim Students Association at the University of Maryland started a petition requesting that the school pull the screening of American Sniper. In the petition, the group stated that the film “perpetuates the spread of Islamaphobia and is offensive to many Muslims around the world for good reason.”

Ironically enough, the group also requested that students “exercise their freedom of speech” by signing the petition to remove the film from campus. MSA seemingly got their wish this morning when the school decided to cancel the screening.

The University of Maryland is only one of several campuses that have faced student outcry for screening, or attempting to screen, the Oscar-winning film. Just recently, the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at the University of Michigan protested their school’s decision to cancel a campus screening. Their protests were successful as the school eventually decided to show the film as planned.
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More anti free speech regulation on campus

PRO-LIFE BANNERS REMOVED FROM USC; ‘APPROVED IN ERROR’

http://www.breitbart.com/california/2015/04/23/pro-life-banners-removed-from-usc-approved-in-error/

A series of pro-life banners of images of 11-week-old fetuses in the womb saw mere hours of daylight at the University of Southern California on Tuesday prior to being removed by the same university organization that had initially approved them. The light poles instead featured hand-written signs posted on them reading, “Women deserve the right to choose.”

“It is unbelievable that USC removed all the posters that were put up around the school,” USC College Republicans member Jacob Ellenhorn told The College Fix. He noted that the banners went through the proper channels to obtain approval. “It seems as though not even USC can stand for intellectual diversity. Why stop an authentic conversation about abortion? What is so offensive about the facts of life?”

Monique Allard, USC’s assistant provost for student engagement, responded to The College Fix about the incident in an email:

Trojan Events and Services, a unit of Student Affairs, approved the request in error. Banners may only be mounted along Trousdale if they identify an academic program, department, or event as specified by university policy. The banners did not identify an academic event but instead advertised the services of an external organization.

Yet the school’s reasoning did not explain why rainbow banners for Gay Pride were reportedly hung up last semester without advertising an event or organization and that Black History Month saw banners for that very cause, Ellenhorn said.

This is reportedly the second consecutive year a pro-life display at USC has been targeted. All 12 pro-life banners from the USC Students for Life were removed from six light posts. Images of them can be seen here.

The banners were part of the club’s final event of the semester, in which pro-life students tried “to show pregnant women that abortion is not their only option,” the club’s former president and USC grad student Lisa Ebiner Gavit conveyed.

This past November, students at UC Riverside voted to issue a “warning” to students on campus about “offensive” pro-life demonstrations and displays. A professor at UC Santa Barbara was sentenced to three years’ probation in 2014 for tearing down a pro-life display and assaulting a student after she claimed that the pro-life protest had “triggered” her response.
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And to also be fair, the main character and others in the movie repeatedly refer to the Iraqis as "savages", and make other stereotypical and disparaging remarks about them.

I liked the film overall, but portraying Chris Kyle as simultaneously heroic and noble, and bigoted against arabs is problematic. I think that the Muslim student group has a valid concern, even if they didn't articulate it the way I would, and even if the movie didn't touch on Islam explicitly.
 
theprestige said:
And to also be fair, the main character and others in the movie repeatedly refer to the Iraqis as "savages", and make other stereotypical and disparaging remarks about them.

I liked the film overall, but portraying Chris Kyle as simultaneously heroic and noble, and bigoted against arabs is problematic. I think that the Muslim student group has a valid concern, even if they didn't articulate it the way I would, and even if the movie didn't touch on Islam explicitly.
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Indeed. If you're going to kill people, you should at least be polite about it.
 
"For good reason"; heard that before, and on this forum. It is usually code for "would rather not explain why is goes against whatever prejudice is in fashion at the moment", especially when there is no further clarification given.

I'm not sure what it means in this case either. This link; https://www.change.org/p/muslim-students-association-see-pull-their-screening-of-american-sniper did not reveal any specific objections. I've seen the movie, it shows people at their worst as expected in war.

Ranb
 
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theprestige said:
And to also be fair, the main character and others in the movie repeatedly refer to the Iraqis as "savages", and make other stereotypical and disparaging remarks about them.

I liked the film overall, but portraying Chris Kyle as simultaneously heroic and noble, and bigoted against arabs is problematic. I think that the Muslim student group has a valid concern, even if they didn't articulate it the way I would, and even if the movie didn't touch on Islam explicitly.
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What was the concern? How was it valid to ban a movie?
 
OH NOES!

Outrage because those evul libruls disagree or don't get behind the "RAH RAH 'MURRIKA!" mentality.

If you're on a faux soapbox and outraged because of this, or the Michael Moore and Seth Rogen comments because they have different opinions about the film and/or our military but yet stayed mysteriously quiet when Republicans cut veteran's funding, then I submit that this "American Sniper" crap isn't about patriotism and it damn sure isn't about your love of the military, it's solely about an opportunity to vocalize some hate for liberals.

So conservatives, were you this upset when your conservative Republican politicians voted to slash VA funding? Or do you treat all veterans like you do unborn fetuses; "When you're in, we care. Once you're out, **** you!"

Or is it just because your jingoism has been attacked?

ETA: I'm a veteran; can I disagree with the film or is that against the conservative rules?
 
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Democracy in action.

That's exactly what we want people to do. Not so much that bombing-shooty thing. Good job Muslims! Citizens taking action and letting their voices be heard - this might be the most important thing they learn in college.
 
theprestige said:
And to also be fair, the main character and others in the movie repeatedly refer to the Iraqis as "savages", and make other stereotypical and disparaging remarks about them.
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Just out of curiosity, in the movie did he ever refer to Iraqis in general as "savages"?

I do seem to remember him referring to "Iraqi savages who were trying to kill americans" (paraphrased). Which would be an implication that the Iraqi terrorists were savages. I don't remember him making any sort of blanket statement about "all" Iraqis/Muslims being terrorists.

I could be wrong about that... it has been over a month since I saw the movie.
 
Elf Grinder 3000 said:
What was the concern?
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In the words of the Muslim student group, it “perpetuates the spread of Islamaphobia and is offensive to many Muslims around the world for good reason.”

In my own words, it features a protagonist who is both heroic and bigoted towards Iraqis. If I were an Iraqi, or any Arab, or a Muslim with any ethnic or national connection to a region where the US has recently been at war, I'd find Chris Kyle's portrayal in the movie offensive. It perpetuates negative stereotypes and glorifies people who hold them. If I were a Muslim student on that campus, I'd object to showing the movie.

How was it valid to ban a movie?
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The University of Maryland Student Entertainment Events decided not to show the movie, after concerns were raised and a request was made by some of the students. That's entirely valid, and also not a ban.
 
12AX7 said:
OH NOES!

Outrage because those evul libruls disagree or don't get behind the "RAH RAH 'MURRIKA!" mentality.
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I don't think the issues is agreement or disagreement.... I think the issue is the ability of the majority to curtail the free speech of those they disagree with.

Colleges should allow a high degree of freedom of speech, whether that involves a left-wing intellectual, or a relatively uncooth "Rah Rah Murrika" message.

It would be just as wrong if the local "campus republican" party managed to successfully stop the showing of a Michael Moore documentary on campus.
 
Segnosaur said:
I don't think the issues is agreement or disagreement.... I think the issue is the ability of the majority to curtail the free speech of those they disagree with.

Colleges should allow a high degree of freedom of speech, whether that involves a left-wing intellectual, or a relatively uncooth "Rah Rah Murrika" message.

It would be just as wrong if the local "campus republican" party managed to successfully stop the showing of a Michael Moore documentary on campus.
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This.
 
Segnosaur said:
Just out of curiosity, in the movie did he ever refer to Iraqis in general as "savages"?

I do seem to remember him referring to "Iraqi savages who were trying to kill americans" (paraphrased). Which would be an implication that the Iraqi terrorists were savages. I don't remember him making any sort of blanket statement about "all" Iraqis/Muslims being terrorists.

I could be wrong about that... it has been over a month since I saw the movie.
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My view is that in context he's referring to the insurgents. But I don't think that interpretation alone is enough to address any concerns about his pejorative language. Appealing to context is, in my view, an insufficient rebuttal to the Muslim student group's objections. I think they have a point, even though I might disagree with them about a nuanced reading of the script.

It's a movie about Americans barging into an Arab nation, kicking down doors, and shooting people in the head. Its protagonist is a big damn American hero who calls his Arab enemies "savages" and protects his brother door-kickers by shooting anyone who opposes them in the head--women and children too. And that's not even getting into the bits connecting the protagonist with idealized Christian values.

So yeah, I have no problem if Muslim students on campus would rather the student entertainment committee dropped it from their playlist.
 
marplots said:
Democracy in action.

That's exactly what we want people to do. Not so much that bombing-shooty thing. Good job Muslims! Citizens taking action and letting their voices be heard - this might be the most important thing they learn in college.
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It may, truthfully, be one of the saddest things they can learn in college -- silencing viewpoints you disagree with by shouting them down, or shouting at people with the power to silence them until they do.

I recall one of the most important things I ever heard 30 years ago when I arrived on campus -- that the university was called such because they contained knowledge of the entire universe. Some of the larger ones definitely approach this.

As such, you have arrived as an adult, I think, in the university setting, when you are prepared to debate, or at least discuss, any subject of concern to you. You are capable of withstanding detractors of any type, and can discuss their errors or disagreements with confidence in your knowledge and without fear of presenting a losing case.

This sorry episode, like so many in recent years, and for the forseeable future, is the exact opposite of what a polished product of university should be capable of. Of what a student of same should aspire to.

You hold a discussion of what's wrong with it, portrayals, accuracies, etc. You don't whine and shut it down.
 
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