As you may have already heard if you rely on news sources other than the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Muslim Student Association at UW-Milwaukee wants the campus to prohibit Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist from speaking at the campus. You can read about the issue HERE and about Mr. Shoebat HERE.
My hat is off to the Muslim Student Association for a masterful job of putting Mr. Shoebat on the defensive no matter what he does. He now is in the unenviable position of having to prove a negative: He must now prove that he is NOT anti-Muslim. No matter what the man does or says, he must answer the age-old question “When did you stop beating your wife?”
The Muslim Student Association doesn’t care whether Mr. Shoebat speaks. They are in the catbird seat no matter whether the university allows the man to speak or not. If the university caves (and given universities these days there is about a 60% chance that they will cave to the MSA) then they are home scott-free–no Mr. Shoebat mucking up their message of Islam as a religion of peace. But if the university does the totally amazing and Mr. Shoebat is allowed to speak, no matter what the man says it will be framed by whether or not he came off as a hatemonger. His message will be totally lost as it has already been shoved off the media screen by the MSA. The MSA snuck in and set the media template for them: “Mr. Shoebat is VERY CONTROVERSIAL and has a history of being anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian. At his speech will he dare touch on issues that will expose him as being anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian?”
As I said, my hat’s off to the MSA. They have done a masterful job of tarring this man. Before he even gets a chance to open his mouth he has to prove the negative. Perhaps conservatives should remember this technique when someone like Howard Dean comes to town. Oops! Too late! He got a free ride.
