From Classroom to Hostile situation...

Something happened in class on Thursday that I have never experienced—an ethnic conflict of vast proportions was brought to real life for me. I take a class about politics in the Middle East and we were covering an especially sensitive topic: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A freshman in the class raised his hand and asked (I paraphrase throughout the narrative) “If Palestine isn’t even a real country, why are they so nationalistic?” At the time he asked the question, I felt bad for him. He had certainly never covered this all-too-current conflict and was perhaps a bit naive about the events and political situation in the Middle East. Some of the other students in the class began laughing at his stupidity (I write this with obvious opinion-orientated language), but, sadly, one of the Palestinian students in the class was not so happy about the way he phrased his question or the tone of it.

He mouthed off at the other student saying “You have no right to ask that f---ing question. F--- you.” Then the other student responded with more foul language and it became a situation in which the teacher was screaming at them to both “stop-it” and “calm down!” Other students got involved, not taking sides, with “you guys, stop!” These altercations went on for what seemed like a very long 20 seconds. Many of the other students in the class, including myself, looked down at their feet. What right do I have to bud in or say one party was right or wrong? I did feel incredibly bad for the teacher.

Before I continue this narrative, I actually have another of the same theme. Sophomore year I took a class about communication and culture and we had a set of speakers talking about immigration and how both immigrants and the United States use very specific communication mediums. A female student, probably of the upper middle-class conservative upbringing, said so thoughtfully, “I think the only reason that illegal immigrants don’t get citizenship is because they don’t want to pay taxes.” Well, even the Latino guest, a professor in Annenberg, was blatantly offended by her comment, not to mention many of the Latinos in the class. To be honest, I was even tempted to contribute to the ensued ruckus because I am from San Diego (20 minutes from Tijuana), and I sympathize with many of the illegal immigrants in my own neighborhood. She deserved her freedom of speech, but so did all the other students that began verbally attacking her, some personally attacking her—I definitely heard “Where did you grow up, Newport?”

So I state that everyone is entitled to free speech, especially in America. But while I was abroad, it was often very difficult to stick to my conviction in a class where we had a discussion about 9/11. It was a class with many international students—England, USA, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Australia and Poland were all represented. Well the teacher, who is of German descent, points the class discussion along the lines of comparing Osama Bin Laden to George Bush. Immediately the Americans in the class—there were six of us—were alienated from the conversation. An Australian student who had earlier made her opinions about not only America but every single American citizen very clear, stated (and this is actually a direct quote), “Well, I’m sorry to say, but you guys deserved it.” She said this grotesque statement and looked at the six of us. One of the Americans in the class was from New York and knew many people who died in the 9/11 attack. He began to get teary-eyed as he attempted to defend centuries of poor policy decisions made by the American government. What could we say?

However, a clear line needs to be drawn here. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but the young man from my Middle East class who asked the question was not directly stating an opinion. At the time he asked the question, I believe, however naive, that he was just trying to learn. He may be from an upbringing where the do not talk about world politics at the dinner table. I consider myself so naïve about many international situations. (What is going on in Venezuela?) I want to ask the Palestinian supporter whether or not he is from the Middle East because he does have a slight accent, but I am terrified of getting a hostile response. The anger he showed in class crushed any opportunity for many of the students to learn or to explore a controversial topic. Although thrilling for a Thursday late-afternoon class, I was sad the violent altercation happened. How great would it have been to here the Palestinian student’s response to the question? I for one would have been glued to every word, which disappoints me. There is so much violence, ethnic and international tension that even at a place of higher learning, opportunities to be educated become diluted.

Update: This weekend I encountered someone from my Middle East class who told me that the freshman who asked the question was a very outspoken Israeli supporter and activist. He supposedly meant the question to be hostile and serve as an attack of Palestinian interest. I can’t confirm this or decide if it changes my opinion.