February 09, 2017
Mario Savio Plaza, Berkeley
Source: Bigstock
Ace got me thinking about the fickle nature of Berkeley leftists. David Irving and Milo Yiannopoulos were violently chased off campus for being “Nazis,” even though neither man has ever advocated harming Jews. Yet in 2000, the UC Berkeley graduating class valedictorian was a young woman named Fadia Rafeedie, a Palestinian-American. Ms. Rafeedie was, at the time, an editor of the Free Arab Voice website, which unapologetically advocated the murder of Jews via suicide bombings. Valedictorian Rafeedie’s role as editor of that site was trumpeted by the university in the days leading to the commencement, and Rafeedie received nothing but praise and support from the school and the community. The UC Berkeley website described her as a heroic young lady who “is driven by thirst for knowledge, good books and a commitment to others.” And at the graduation ceremony, UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Berdahl introduced Rafeedie as “insightful,” as he stressed that her “strong will and strong opinions make her…the essence, the spirit, and the promise of this institution.”
Fun fact: Seven years earlier, Berdahl, at the time president of UT Austin, wrote an op-ed in The Daily Texan claiming that my revisionist views should be banned from the campus newspaper. And two weeks ago, as protesters in Berkeley announced that they would do everything and anything to prevent Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking, Berdahl penned an op-ed for The Oregonian in which he denounced President Trump as a racist. Not a word against the anti-Milo protests, even though in 2003, Berdahl gave a radio talk in which he denounced those who would use protests to stifle dissent:
But protest is not a substitute for reasoned discourse. The purpose of debate, of discussion, is to persuade others who may disagree with us of our point of view. This campus is and should be a center for the debate…. We cannot persuade if we seek to silence those with whom we disagree.
Of course, in that instance he was lecturing evil right-wingers, telling them not to stifle the speech of oppressed leftist and Muslim antiwar protesters. It should not be forgotten that ten years earlier, the guy who said, “We cannot persuade if we seek to silence those with whom we disagree” specifically argued that I should be silenced at UT Austin.
So let’s recap: David Irving, who has never once said “kill the Jews,” was violently opposed when he tried to speak at UC Berkeley. Milo Yiannopoulos, who is Jewish himself and who has also never said “kill the Jews,” was violently opposed when he tried to speak at UC Berkeley. Fadia Rafeedie, editor of a website that explicitly said “kill the Jews,” was lauded as a hero by the UC Berkeley press and chancellor. Robert Berdahl, the chancellor, praised Ms. Rafeedie as “insightful” and defended her right to speak, while as president of UT Austin he denounced me”a Jewish guy who has never said anything even remotely resembling “kill the Jews””as a hatemonger whose views need to be suppressed. Berdahl (defending the rights of leftists during the Iraq War) demanded that protesters not “silence those with whom they disagree,” yet as leftist protesters at UC Berkeley were “silencing those with whom they disagree,” Berdahl kept mum, preferring to call Trump a racist.
Like I said, fickle. Who gets to say what, who gets to speak, who gets censored, who gets to protest, who gets protested, who gets to revise the number of Jews killed seventy years ago, and who gets to advocate killing Jews today comes down to skin tone, ethnicity, and political affiliation. Milo is a “Nazi,” even though he isn”t; I”m a “defender of Nazis,” even though I”m not; but Fadia Rafeedie is a freedom fighter, even though the idea of mass-murdering Jewish civilians is about as Nazi as it gets. This is the double standard that has alienated people like Ace Backwords, a guy who earned his bones as a Bay Area counterculture hero while most of today’s Berkeley leftists were still one Planned Parenthood visit away from being mulch in a Dumpster.
Several years ago, SFGate ran a piece about Ace’s lifestyle, and the fact that he prefers to live away from people, up in the Berkeley hills in an open-air campsite surrounded by his army of feral cats. The reporter seemed confused as to why such a respected local hero would want to live so far from his fans, and so isolated from the city center.
There are plenty of legitimate mysteries in the world, but that ain”t one of “em. If you”re a sane human being, a good rule of thumb is, don”t live in Berkeley. But if you must live in Berkeley, you”ll have a better chance of retaining your sanity if you put a fat load of distance between you and the “anti-Nazi” (but totally Nazi) and “anti-fascist” (but totally fascist) nutcases who populate the town.
Plus, there are additional benefits to choosing the company of feral cats over that of Berkeley leftists. The conversation is better, and, to be frank, so is the hygiene.
