Word: peninsulas
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...with the organization in his bi-monthly column by pointing out the most unctuous portions of its latest publication, and by naming those who appear on the masthead. What does surprise us is the response he apparently elicited. Someone within our community decided that the best way to let Peninsula know that he or she disapproves of its inflammatory and overblown rhetoric was to tape a swastika to the door of one of its members. Apparently, linking Padilla to the genocidal reign of the Nazis was seen as an appropriate and effective way of pointing out how oppressive and irrational...
...side from the fact that this action was as useful to campus discourse as throwing kerosene on a fire, there is another twist here; Padilla says he has no ties to the last issue of Peninsula. Although he does admit to being a current member of the magazine, he has mentioned that he has been too busy to work on the publication recently, and therefore should not have been criticized in a signed editorial piece in The Crimson...
...statement at the bottom of the Peninsula's masthead claims that "All signed pieces express the views of the author." The article in question, however, was made to sound like a staff editorial: it employed a "we" personification and--in writing of "Peninsula's Official Enemies List" [italics added]--spoke for the magazine as a whole. Moreover, the political and philosophical agenda of Peninsula is so consistent and extreme that those who sign on and allow their names to appear on the masthead have to assume that they will be linked in spirit with all that appears within the magazine...
This brings us to an interesting aside; a significant number of those who appear on the masthead of the Peninsula have never cast their lot with the organization and, indeed, repudiate all ties to it. Both Steven F. Sakis '98 and Christine Folch '98 have no desire whatsoever to be associated with the magazine. According to Folch, her involvement was limited to attending two meetings in the fall of her first year, and Sakis says he never signed up or attended a meeting at all. Both students requested in the past that their names be removed; Sakis actually threatened...
Essentially, this appears to be a classic case of irresponsibility on the part of Peninsula, the author of the Peninsula piece and those who tacked up the swastika. The active members of Peninsula need to muster the courage to admit to themselves and the campus just how small and isolated their organization is, and their less-active members need to have the courage to either disavow themselves entirely or else take responsibility for the actions of their colleagues. By the same token, those who disagree with Peninsula must enter the discourse in a constructive manner and not hide behind anonymous...