Letters to the Editor

The Excalibur opinions section welcomes typed, double-spaced letters (no longer than 300 words). All submissions must be accompanied by the writer’s name, major, year and  telephone number/email address. Submissions longer than 300 words will be sent back to be shortened. All submissions will be edited for clarity, spelling and grammatical errors. All editing is up to the discretion of the editor.
Materials deemed libelous or discriminatory by Excalibur will not be printed. All opinions expressed in the opinions section are those of their authors and are not necessarily those of the Excalibur staff, editorial board or Board of Publishers.
Send submissions to our office at 420 Student Centre, fax to 416-736-5841 or email to letters@excal.on.ca. Please embed submissions in the body of the email.
“Don’t dress like a slut: Toronto cop”
news» feb. 16, 2011
Perpetuating ignorance Sai Maharaj
Regarding the Osgoode Hall Law School safety information session: the police officer’s remark displays ignorance and a lack of compassion, and the belief that people dressed like sluts will be treated like sluts. There are various harmful presumptions underlying this belief. One is that people lack the intellect or compassion to discern proper ways of treating each other, and another is that the victim is at fault.
Because of the prevalence of the latter belief, it is important to distinguish how people choose to convey themselves, and how they are interpreted. A surface reading of violence addresses how the victims convey themselves; however, to convey a message, someone must be there to interpret it.
A more effective way of addressing abuse is to address flaws in interpretations and why people label others so harshly. Often, the cause is egotism. Rather than considering that a person is dressing their body in a way they are comfortable with, an egotistical view considers how it makes the viewer feel in an overly judgmental manner.
Labeling others “sluts” perpetuates ignorance, isolates people from each other and from their own bodies. A legal enforcer associating violence with dressing like a slut poses the concern of how the legal system addresses these issues.
How many people are blamed for acts committed against them? How much attention is on the victim instead of the abuser’s psychological state? Perhaps more acts of violence could be avoided if people were taught not to dress like “sluts,” or perhaps if more people moved past derogatory sexual labels. That depends greatly on how intelligent people are, and their capacity for compassion and empathy; however, the former method encourages continued ignorance, and less compassion and empathy.
“‘Iranium’ screens on campus despite protests”
news» feb. 16, 2011

Hateful documentaries Elnaz Mogimi
I was appalled last week when I saw that a group at our university has taken the liberty to screen what I believe is one of the most hateful “documentaries” of our time. What I found to be even more ironic was that this group happened to be a Jewish group.
The first thought that crossed my mind was how a religious group that has suffered countless years and has been a part of one of the worst human atrocities of the 20th century – how can they of all people decide to show something like this? Was it not less than 80 years ago that the Nazi regime promoted hate and prejudice through the use of the very same hateful documentaries, cartoons and other media outlets? Is history starting to repeat itself again?
The beauty of a documentary is to educate its viewers and to enlighten them with clear facts and credible sources where the audience becomes aware of a particular issue. I cannot imagine the level of hatred that was instilled upon the audience as they walked away from this film. This is not a film that educates its audience on Iran’s nuclear program. This is a hateful media tactic used to promote fear, racism and hatred against a racial group. I was saddened to think that an educational institution would showcase something like this.
This hateful attitude has become responsible for the countless deaths of innocent people, loss of homes and a sense of global hostility in our world. It would have defied expectation if this group had showcased something that depicts the beauty of Iran and of the ancient philosophers and poets who sent their messages of universal peace of love.
Would this group ever promote something like this? Until there is a political battle, it is “documentaries” like Iranium that will continue to dominate the minds of these youth and drive us further away from the peace and unity we as a generation are trying so hard to attain.
“Galloway incites protest”
news» nov. 17, 2010

YFS political agenda Jason Schwartz
The YFS has now completed the Xpressions Against Oppressions series. With Rubin Carter’s recent visit, Cleve Jones’s a few weeks ago and George Galloway’s in November, the YFS has been sneakily pushing their political agenda on students.
The Xpressions Against Oppressions speakers series brought high profile speakers to our campus who, as the name of the series suggests, spoke against oppression. Oppression is something all competent normal human beings should be against, and I like to count myself among that list.
Jones spoke against homophobia and for gay rights and, regardless of your personal beliefs, surely we can all be pro-equal rights for everyone regardless of their sexual orientation. Carter spoke about racism – though some say he is actually guilty of murder – and we can again all agree racism is bad and we shouldn’t judge people on something arbitrary like the colour of their skin.
Finally, Galloway spoke against Zionism, which the YFS might claim is again, something that every normal competent human being should be against, just like racism and homophobia.
The current YFS has a notorious history of bringing Zionism to the forefront of campus debate when it really has no place there. The Israel-Palestine discussion is but a tiny fraction of the troubles in the Middle East, yet the YFS has continued to focus solely on the Jewish state. In these times, we see mass human rights violations in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, but we hear of no UN or YFS condemnations.
I can only hope that in the upcoming student elections, York students choose YFS leaders whose sole agenda will be serving students and acting in the best interest of all students. I think we can all be for that.