hmmmm....

Wrote the alumnus: “At the very least, the arts department should issue a public apology to all those who are offended by this affront to both reason and morality. I fully support energetic and vocal criticism of America’s policy in Iraq, civilian casualties in Iraq, and the veracity of our purpose, but not efforts to sympathize with what is essentially terrorism, whether or not it is carried out by the young, hurt and confused. If Mr. Bilal truly ’seeks to imbue his audiences with a sense of empowerment that comes from hope in the enduring potential of humanity’ he would not ask us to look into the heart of a killer, and try to understand what drove him to atrocity. Hope and humanity are not equatable with murder.”

Interesting...I thought i would respond to this writer since he brings up interesting points.

First, I'm sure many individuals were offended by this situation on both sides. The writer believes that the arts department should issue a public apology but, to be honest, I don't think they feel remorse for having invited Wafaa. In fact, I've heard people who thought it was unfair to Wafaa and that he should be the one receiving an apology. The writer reasoning for this apology is "to both reason and morality." I don't follow...and I am not convinced. Reason tells me that in a university it is good to analyze more points of reference and approaches to understanding than just the "conventional" one...and I don't see any real moral issue here. Many games, stories, movies, songs, art pieces, ect.... depict murder and are shown or used in classes. I've heard some concerns that this piece could serve as propaganda for terrorism. But in a university setting and with a dialogue shaped around it, being educated on whatever issue or viewpoint or expression is supposed to help us realize what we are seeing so that we understand at a deeper level than we did before. We shouldn't be afraid to move around thoughts in our mind which really make us reflect. I imagine it would only make someone understand themself and their beliefs more fully.

Now the writer calls this video game terrorism. Well what is terrorism then? Let's ask wiki:

"Generally speaking, the term, as evidenced by the root word terror, refers to acts that are not intended to merely victimize or eliminate those who are killed, injured or taken hostage, but rather to intimidate, destabilize, or otherwise influence the societies to which they belong. In this sense, terrorism can be seen as related to psychological warfare."

So the writer thinks that this video game is made to intimidate our society. Well, originally...
oh oops time for class :-/