Gaza Panel Kicks CIAR’s Panel’s Allegedly Biased Ass
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
Has anyone seen any of the panelists from the Gaza in Crisis Discussion Panel hosted by the Cornell International Affairs Review (with various other groups, ranging from MECA to Tommy Bruce’s office to the International Soccer Club) on Wednesday? From what I heard, the moderator prefaced the discussion by stating that he knows very little about Gaza, proceeding to cite a summary from Wikipedia in a room full of well-informed, emotionally charged college students. I wouldn’t be surprised if the panelists were shanked walking home that night.
For those actually wanting to engage in a dialogue, meaning the Islamic Alliance for Justice (IAJ), Hillel, Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee (CIPAC), and the Daily Sun herself, a real panel discussion was held the next day in the same exact room (Lewis Auditorium), one in which the panelists (gasp!) seemed to know what they were talking about.
When I was a kid and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” came on the radio on my way to school, I would always, without exception, cringe. Maybe I’m just a killjoy at heart, but I always reasoned that if I “ain’t got no place to lay my head,” I should probably worry. It wasn’t the “feel-good” boom-boppin’ a cappella that really, as my grandpa says, “got my goat”; it was the assumptions built into his reasoning, namely, that “when you worry, your face will frown, and that will bring everybody down.”