ZAID JILANI

Boortz not worthy of student fees

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Posted: 11/5/07

The other day, I happened to be browsing Facebook and I saw the University Union has invited none other than Neal Boortz to come speak at our campus. I silently mouthed some words to myself that aren't fit to print here, and then contemplated the ways I can pass out and not be conscious while Mr. Boortz graces our campus with his presence.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge defender of free speech.

That's why every time my friends in the College Republicans have a speaker - even if it's one who says liberals used lynching to get blacks to vote for Democrats (Angela McGlowan) - I thank them for inviting diverse voices on the campus, even if I personally think some of them are embarrassingly wrong in their point of view.

But this is different. Neal Boortz is being paid to come speak by the UU, and his brand of hate-radio extremism is being subsidized by my student fees.

When some workers at the University are being paid terribly low wages and can barely feed their families, my student fees are being used to bring a guy to campus who has referred to minimum wage workers as "pathetic human beings."

Those "pathetic" individuals will be preparing your on-stage water for you, Mr. Boortz - drink at your own risk.

Neal Boortz is a part of a new group of political commentators: angry, rich white males who think they are being oppressed by minorities, immigrants, poor people, Muslims, homosexuals and other groups that are apparently destroying our Judeo-Christian capitalist society (could've fooled me).

He calls himself a member of the anti-government Libertarian Party, but has no problem approving of illegal wiretapping of the U.S. citizens, illegal wars of aggression, and state persecution of immigrants.

He has said teachers' unions are more dangerous than bin Laden because "a nuke [could] kill 100,000 people … but the teachers' unions in this country can destroy a generation." Boortz has said Muslims "are kind of like cockroaches," and he has mockingly called the homeless "urban outdoorsmen."

His approach to the complicated immigration situation: "Give [immigrants] a bag of nuclear waste … Send them back across the border to Mexico. Tell them it's a tortilla warmer … you'll be able to find them at night too because they'll glow."

See, Mr. Boortz doesn't have to actually research what he says, or make logical arguments, or maintain academic decorum - you know, the kind of stuff we students have to do in freshman English 1101 classes.

He's just a bully who sets his sights on a defenseless target - mothers on welfare, the homeless, Muslims and immigrants - and flies off the handle with ad hominem rhetoric, trying his hardest to appeal to the most hateful element of the human psyche, activating cognitive dissonance that overrides any logical thinking and fills his Middle America listeners with fear of anyone who isn't like them.

I asked UU why they chose to bring Boortz rather than an intelligent conservative such as Ron Paul or George Will. A girl who works with them responded, "We wanted someone who will bring a lot of people."

The press uses the same justification for all its celebrity coverage. It's good to know the University gets off at the thought of maintaining the same quality of academic discussion as the cast of "The View."

But what do I know? I'm just an "over-educated … socialist liberal," according to the angry man with the radio show.

- Zaid Jilani is a sophomore from Kennesaw majoring in International affairs.