When the college Republicans of Saint Louis University decided to bring Lieutenant Colonel Allen West to campus, it was a controversial decision. West is a right-wing political commentator, former House of Representatives member, and veteran of the United States Army who participated in operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. Now, West uses click bait titles in his liberal-slamming articles on his website, and his followers eat it up.
That's why the ate it up when West claimed censorship because an unnamed administrator at SLU rejected flyers that had the words "radical Islam" on them, and the administrator said that West had no experience with radical Islam. The conservative pundit fought back, blasting SLU students as "little cupcakes" in need of a "safe space." At the same time, he also denounced the Muslim Student Association as a "stealth jihad radical Islam campus organization."
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In pure Jesuit-school fashion, SLU students decided to fight back. Throughout the day on both Wednesday and Thursday, our email inboxes were filled with emails from different on-campus organizations expressing that they stand in solidarity with MSA, and a protest was organized. Because of West's belief that SLU students are "little cupcakes," students decided to sell cupcakes outside of the Center for Global Citizenship, where West's talk took place. The proceeds were to go to Syrian refugees, and the aim was to open up a dialogue about Islamophobia.
When Allen West found out about it, he called the protest "hilarious and disturbing." His supporters, in all caps and/or horrible grammar, denounced SLU students as "pea brains" that "needed a safe space." There was, and is, no peaceful and non-insulting discussion. Just attacks against students, who one commentator implied go to school for free, despite the fact that SLU is a private institution that would not fall under the umbrella of schools that offered free tuition under left-wing hopes to make public university education free. The best part was the irony: Allen West claimed to be under attack by these protests.
Yes, those are the words he used. "I am under attack." The man who claimed that SLU students needed safe spaces and implied that we can't handle getting our feelings hurt claimed to be under attack by late teens and twenty-somethings selling cupcakes. A man who served our country in an unnecessary war felt offended that students were selling cupcakes. A man who was fined for inhumane interrogation methods in 2003 couldn't handle a differing opinion, and certainly couldn't handle cupcakes.
This is a trend that I've noticed among right-wing, usually older commenters on Facebook especially. While claiming that liberals and millennials are "pussies" and can't handle the real world, they get offended by football players taking a knee to protest police brutality. They get offended by calls for gun control after elementary schools are shot up. They get offended by differing opinions, and claim that liberals do the exact same thing.
Allen West is a perfect example of this right-wing hypocrisy. He's also a perfect example of "Christian" hypocrisy. Older, conservative people claim to be "Christians," and they post about God while insulting different races, branding all Muslims as terrorists, and being generally hateful people. Allen West claims to follow the word of God, but ultimately judges and hates. You cannot call yourself a follower of Christ if you don't try to act Christ-like.
Finally, it seems as though Allen West, like Donald Trump, can dish out challenges, but claims to be under attack when someone tries to challenge him. Despite this, I have a challenge for Allen West and his supporters. I challenge you to hold peaceful, factual discussions without insults. I challenge you to spend a day with members of SLU's MSA, who have denounced Islamic terrorism on numerous occasions. I challenge you to read the first amendment and see that it doesn't apply only to you. I challenge you to read the Bible, and see what Jesus calls us to do. I challenge you to revisit the oath of respect you made when you joined the Army.
And, Allen West, I challenge you to eat more cupcakes.
