A Cautionary Tale: US v THEM (What really happened at CSULA) aka the facts.
a little over a week ago, I wrote about my views on Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality. Today I would like to present to you a real life example of the dangers of defining morality in terms of resentment of the other group.
California State University Los Angeles received quite a bit of media attention following the events that brought Ben Shapiro to our campus to talk about diversity. His speech had a very provocative title, “When Diversity Becomes a Problem.” Now of course, I can understand what kinds of things come to mind when you read a title as such. The first thing that comes to mind is that Cal State LA is a highly ethnically and culturally diverse campus, isn't it? Yes, it is as a matter of fact. The next question is why would Mr. Shapiro come to talk about the problems associated with having diversity? What’s wrong with diversity? Is he racist? Prejudice? At this point, it is easy to get lost in the train of thought of the possibility that Ben Shapiro has issues with diverse populations. The answer to the previous question is, this: Ben Shapiro agreed to come to Cal State LA to make a speech about diversity because other members of the student body invited him to share his perfectly valid and respectable opinions. He addressed some of the problems associated with diversity in his speech which was live-streamed.
The Image below: A Classic Case “If You’re Not With Us You’re Against Us”
President Covino shared the facts in an email to the student body:
Dear Campus Community,
Author Ben Shapiro was invited to speak this afternoon at Cal State LA by the Young Americans for Freedom, which is a registered student organization. The event, “When Diversity Becomes a Problem,” was funded by the Associated Students, Inc.
Leading up to the event, there were a number of emails and social media posts that caused concern for the campus community. Given threats and expressions of fear, we proposed a rescheduled event that would be civil and inclusive, and in which Mr. Shapiro and speakers with other viewpoints could offer their perspectives in an organized forum. My decision was made in the interest of safety and security.
I am disappointed that Mr. Shapiro has not accepted my invitation to speak in such a forum. He has indicated that he will come to Cal State LA to speak today at the University-Student Union Theatre, where he was originally scheduled to deliver his talk.
I strongly disagree with Mr. Shapiro’s views. But if Mr. Shapiro does appear, the University will allow him to speak. We will make every effort to ensure a climate of safety and security.
A very flustered guest speaker openly expressed his frustration with the aggressive mob of protesters within our student population. He resorted to a lot of unnecessary name calling which nearly provoked me to stop watching his live-stream because it made him appear less credible because (I think) he was stooping to the same level of emotional outburst as the protesters. Nevertheless, I persevered and watched him deliver a logically thought out and well-articulated argument.
The events that occurred on this day can be explained by Nietzsche’s metaphor of the sheep and the birds of prey. In this case we have three groups: Ben Shapiro, William Covino, and the student protesters against hate speech. You have these incredibly different groups who have differing backgrounds, opinions and most importantly come from different classes. None of them understand the perspective of the other. It is because they have negated each other, they have all defined their actions according to their own sense of morality.
The following is my opinion:
Ben Shapiro is very similar to Donald Trump. Both of these individuals fit into the category of the aggressive hetero-normative american patriot. What they have in common is that they are both individuals from a different socio-economic class than most people of color. Very similar to Donald Trump, Ben Shapiro proudly emphasized that he was exercising his first amendment right. This statement portrays him in a very patriotic manner. However, it is this blind patriotism that has caused many Americans to become blinded to the fact that this very country was built upon immigrants. They pledge all of their allegiance to an impossible ideal of what America should be. It is this blind patriotic mentality that has continued to allow the individuals of this country to justify all of the problems we have faced regarding race, gender and class issues. We have learned to hide behind our first amendment right. All of the violence against people of different races has been justified because we live in a post 9/11 world. We have become xenophobic to the things that are different from the “American” ideal.
It’s time for everyone to wake up. It is incredibly dangerous to keep living like this. Everyone needs to make a conscious effort to look at the bigger issues instead of brushing them aside. We need to look at the root of the problem. We need to stop defining our morality and our actions by pointing fingers at the other group and calling them evil because they come from different backgrounds and consequently have different experiences. This is the precursor to persecution and genocide. It must end.
