I Love it When People Try to Help Themselves Instead of Those They "Want to Help."

Can I please say that I am royally annoyed?

I found out last week from Dean Ayravainen that the administration got tons of letters about the sign and that there was probably a form letter sent out because most of the letters were about the same.

"There was a form letter sent out? Who did that? How strange..." I thought.

Well, there's a Jewish student listserv I'm a member of but never really check. That is, until Steve IMed me in a panic that I HAD to check it out and I HAD to see what was going on yesterday. So I did. And what do you know...I find out that there has been an "action alert" issued by someone (don’t know who yet) to e-mail the administration at Hunter. How they found about the sign? Why, this site called Peace with Realism and CampusJ, of course. And Peace with Realism got it from CampusJ.

So, what is this--I write an article and then no one cares about us? Why an e-mail wasn't sent to us of the Hunter Jew Crew, I don't understand. I know that if I were to read an article like that and get concerned, my first reaction would be to contact the person who wrote it. And in this case, it just so happens to be that my e-mail address is right there on the page with the article. You don't even have to click a "contact me" button. Right. Freaking. There.
(And I do know that my e-mail definitely works because I have gotten e-mails regarding the sign from concerned faculty at Hunter and elsewhere.)

Please, someone, explain to me why there are people who care more about talking than saying anything because right now, I am too upset.

I read what people wrote on the listserv. I actually wrote one response and Steve wrote two. Guess how many people, out of the people who responded to any of the e-mails directly on the listserv, addressed me OR Steve. Go on, really, try to guess. It’s not that hard to figure--there were none. The people who had time to send an e-mail to President Raab apparently didn't have time to think about and respond to the Jewish students who are actually in the situation themselves.

We are doing something about it. We have been doing something about it. And because we by no means feel satisfied with the point we’re at right now (a disclaimer was put up with the sign saying that it is not intended to offend Jewish students but to simply make a political statement), we will continue to do something about it.

So in response to the people out there who think that we, Jewish students at Hunter, don't care at all about the fact that there is a sign in our school comparing us to Nazis and that we want to sit on our asses, plain and simple, waiting for some big, macho outsider to step in and say, "tah-dah! All taken care of. I have saved you!

Steve made a great point in his second response on the listserv,

"we aren’t like them. We respond to hate with education and events. When we rip down that sign what’s to stop them from coming into Hillel and taking down the Israeli Flag or stealing Tanakhs? Let them disgrace themselves they dig themselves into a hole of being uncivilized and hateful. At first, I wanted to rip down the sign...but if we do what does that change?"

Now, Steve and I don't always agree when it comes to politics :), but I think that what he said was worthy of being heard. Only, no one really cared to listen.

And I'm extra mad that I can't even write this on Punks cause then Dean Ayravainen, Dean Escoci, President Raab, Palestinian Club Pres. Lisa, and the whole Hunter administration mishpacha will read it. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurgh.