This is a polarizing issue because of morons like you, who choose to generalize and insist that people take sides, rather than actually think critically and contextualize individual issues. please, try to be intelligent.

I understand that this is a polarizing issue, but you can’t be on both sides at once. You’re either someone who believes that these types of articles are hateful and should not be published or you feel that free speech is an argument to be made here.

But please, try to be intelligent Georgetown students and realize that you can’t defend The Heckler without defending The Hoya when you’re comparing apples to apples.

In terms of the research you did on the site, I can assure you that you are again misunderstanding things. The article about hate crimes is not inciting violence against homosexuals. In fact, it’s point is the opposite. The character whose mouth this is coming out of comes across as insane and sociopathic, rather than glorified. Anyone that reads that as encouraging hate crimes is as ignorant as the character it’s supposed to be coming from.

And as for the article about the Hoya, that too is clearly directed at the racism of the Hoya. The article about black students comes directly out of a completely inappropriate response heard more than once after The Hoya’s April Fools issue, which was that this was bound to happen because there are no black staff writers for The Hoya (or at least there weren’t at the time of the April Fools issue). The insinuation that white people can’t stop being racist when minorities are not around is the subject of the BSA article, not that their claims of racism are absurd or sensationalist. Furthermore, I think it points to the self-segregation that has occurred on campus. There used to be a facebook group called “I Party At Howard” created by black students who said they preferred partying at Howard to Georgetown.

Making fun of the holocaust may be an inappropriate target for satire, but a satirical op-ed by a holocaust denier exposing the ludicrousness of his position could be an excellent satirical piece, even though out of context it would provide horrifying soundbites.

Quite honestly, the idea that the Heckler, a satirical campus magazine, could have any vested interest in attacking minorities is beyond any need for rebuttal. I find the ultimate irony of this whole situation to be the growing intolerance of people who claim to champion tolerance and equality. If you don’t find it funny, then that’s fine. But don’t twist something to support your cause, when, again ironically, you’re attacking people already in your own camp.

When placed in the context of the Heckler’s other work and the history of racial issues and campus publications in recent years, the article(s) become even more offensive, as it becomes blatantly obvious that the Heckler is not making fun of the Hoya for being racist; rather, it is making fun of Georgetown’s concerned students who care about racial inclusiveness and basic human dignity for “overreacting” to various issues of intolerance on campus. Thus, the claim that we are taking quotes “out of context” is completely false. When I did my research to discover the proper context, this is what I found:

http://georgetownheckler.com/blog/2009/12/08/hoya-rugby-times-racism-watch-day-97/
Notice that his count down is not days since the Hoya has been racist (which would be directed at the Hoya), but days since the Hoya has been protested for being racist (which is directed at the protesters). This makes it clear that the real issue he is picking at is the social activism of Black students. He is basically arguing that we complain too much and overreact to situations, and he clearly wrote this article to have us react and to further prove his point. However, what he is failing to understand is that there is a history of intolerance that we constantly have to fight behind our reactions. We refuse to be marginalized and discriminated against just because you have a lack of understanding surrounding races and issues outside of your own identity.

http://georgetownheckler.com/wp/2009/12/black-student-alliance-asks-that-no-racial-misunderstanding-happen-on-campus-while-theyre-hanging-out-at-howard-for-the-weekend/
If the first article was confusing in terms of who was truly being victimized, this makes it quite clear. He is poking fun at the Black community for always protesting and reacting to incidents of discrimination, and this trivializes all the issues for which we have been fighting so hard. It is truly disrespectful and has no place in a paper that is endorsed by Georgetown University.

Finally, looking at the general work of the Heckler, including its many homophobic articles that include things like “God hates fags” and threatens violence against gay individuals, it becomes clear that the writers have some kind of vendetta against traditionally marginalized groups which they are trying to express through “journalism.” We all go to Georgetown University. We’re quite intelligent. It’s not that we don’t understand satire; in fact there are several English majors leading the current fight. We simply refuse to allow Georgetown students with clear agendas against minority and homosexual students to make bigoted remarks under the guise of “satire.” I don’t care what you call it, racism is racism, and if I were a prospective student of a minority race, I would be disgusted by the Heckler’s articles to the point that I would probably reconsider coming here, simply because the university’s name is on such an offensive publication. Because I am a proud senior, however, I want to make sure Georgetown is a welcoming place for all those who are to come after me. For this reason, I must stand up.

And one other thing – trying to put the focus on Brian Kesten is completely unwarranted, and is meant to attack our movement by trivializing our concerns and claiming that “Brian Kesten et al” complain about everything. The reality is, as many of you have pointed out, Georgetown can be an incredibly segregated and racially intolerant place at times. There are many student leaders on campus who actively fight daily to change this culture of Georgetown to a more inclusive one, more respectful of human dignity. Brian Kesten is one of these people – he is not a caricature or a figurehead to shoot down. He is one of many committed individuals such as the leaders of MEChA, NAACP, AASA, BSA, PRIDE, Solidarity, United Feminists, etc., who are unwilling to put up with bigotry and discrimination on our campus. Stop trying to make this about one person – it shows your ignorance to what’s really going on.