STOP : Religious Bigotery Hate Speech !

I definitely agree with you that it is wrong for these people to spread hateful messages about another religion. Sending out these kind of messages is harmful no matter who the audience is- children, college students, older adults. I would argue that the danger is no greater to college students than it would be to other adults. Being a college student myself, and spending a great deal of time on a college campus, I believe that most college students are old enough and educated enough to have already made their own decisions on these type of issues. Just because we are younger than you are doesn't mean that we are any more impressionable, and I certainly don't think we have "unformed minds." Still, the negative implications of hate speech are undeniable. Some people will choose to listen and take it to heart- especially those who don't have any truthful information about Islam. If my college campus was one of the ones hosting these atrocities, I would definitely do everything I could to protest it- petitions, sit-ins, complaints to the dean, etc. Unfortunately, these types of hateful demonstrations are covered under the first amendment. I agree with you that it shouldn't be this way, but for now it is. As long as they don't perpetrate any acts of violence or break any other laws during their demonstration, these people have a legal right to speak their point of view. Perhaps sometime in the future, this nation as a whole will become educated enough to change this, but for now there isn't much we can do on a legal standpoint. It is worth noting, however, that individual colleges do have the authority to either allow or not allow these demonstrations to take place on campus. If you live near one of the campuses that are hosting these events, try contacting the dean of the college or the board to get them to ban the event. You might not think your individual effort would make a difference, but you might be surprised. By making the effort to have these talks banned, you're becoming an ally for the people whom these talks are against. I would encourage you to consider taking this action, and get other people in your community involved if you can. As Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Hello redyellowblackdog! I don't think that it's a religious bigotry or hate speech per se, to organize such events. As long as facts are presented, I really would like much that such events be organized. Fascism should be exposed, condemned and fought against, be it Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan, Atheist, Secular, American, Russian, Chinese, European or Iranian. However, if the sources of information for those students are the same as are of ‘educated’ members of this community, then I really doubt that we can expect a positive or real outcome. When the information source is lie ridden media, it is really difficult to reach to factual and real solutions and understanding. In past few weeks, I have seen many ‘educated’, ‘intelligent’, ‘careful’ and ‘responsible’ members of this community who fall to even obvious lies without even a little back ground check. Seeing these members following lies, I have less optimism about that week. Still, I have hopes, owing to inquisitive nature of youth and especially students that they will make a change. So, I fully support such activities and I hope that they will act much more responsibly and reasonably than many mature members of this community or else where. peace be to all!:-)

What a wonderful tongue-in-cheek discussion you started! I got a chuckle from your perspective, as usual. I say, bravo for the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week idea. And it's about time! This actually has merit and is a good idea. Quite different than when the leader of a terrorist country speaks to our college students! And I love Bob Barks telling in the article, that the muslims could just get over it...if they didn't like hearing it, oh well. The rest of us have to listen to stuff we don't like. The Awareness Week is to point out the difference in the radical muslims who become terrorists, and the other muslims who are normal everyday citizens. Again...I say bravo to them for trying to educate so we don't lumb everyone into the same "muslim" boat.

Are there really so many US citizens who are unaware of Islamic extremism that we need to name a week dedicated to correcting that? Furthermore, naming it with a fake word made up by some talk radio personality leads me to believe it's not likely to be a week intended to provide completely factual information. That being said, they do have the First Amendment right to speak, but I really hope most people will not bother to pay attention to what they're saying. There's a lot of factual information about Islamic oppression out there, but I doubt the people behind this "Week" will be a proper source of it.

Yes, college students... and everyone else... should be exposed to all sides of any issue. It is only when you have all of the facts that an informed decision can be made. Yes there is a danger that they could come to the "wrong" conclusion... any conclusion could be deemed wrong if it opposes what you are trying to accomplish, and that is the problem that the Muslims are upset about. They don't want the truth known because that hurts their goals. Although there are still people who would attribute the actions of a few to mean that an entire group is the same, these people are a very small minority. Most people know that radical or bad people never represent an entire ethnic or social group, however a lot of the time the leaders of these groups can be radical while the genral members are not. The Muslim community may consider this Awareness Week to be riligious bigotry, however it is not. Knowledge is power and the lack of knowledge can be devastating. These Muslim leaders do not want this knowledge made available because it will hurt their agenda, thus they are calling it hate speech in the hopes that America will once again grant them special protection and consideration. In my opinion this Awareness Week should take place, and it should become a permanent thing. People need to wake up and see the truth.

All of us should be exposed to all sides of an issue, especially college students. College is a time to see what you really believe in. And of course the first amendment applies to fascists. It applies to all or non. As soon as we say that the fascists can't speak, the black panthers won't be allowed to speak either and then slowly everyone won't be allowed to speak.Besides , I would rather see who is a fascist than not being able to know who they are.And when they have their rally, you can have an opposing rally, now that's America.