A bomb threat comes in, and it's not just a call to a school or office building. According to reporters, supporters of Saddam Hussein have promised to denote a nuclear weapon on Daley plaza at noon tomorrow. Homeland Security Sec. Tom Ridge confirms the reports, and goes on TV to plead Chicago to cooperate with officials and evacuate the city.Noon comes and goes. After nothing happens, Ridge comes back on TV to announce the success of the Civilian Readiness Plan. He had given a bogus tip to Chicago police and the FBI because Americans were doubting the need for a war on terrorism.
"People are getting wobbly on America's great challenge, and we who wished to address it felt the need to force the discussion."
End of thought experiment. Now, do you feel sorry for Tom Ridge?
Turn it around. Do you feel sorry for Xander Saide?
If you start equivocating - "well, whatever he did, it brought attention to a problem" - you're making excuses for crime and racism.
This issue lays out of most of the facts and opinions surrounding Xandergate. We've covered the reports on our website, chron.org, and The Daily Northwestern has done good work following up on Saide's lies. But like everything else that happens at NU, this is going to be psychoanalyzed into the ground. Already, in conversations, quotes and op-eds, students have started wondering who the real victim is, why Saide did it, who should be blamed, and other questions that don't really need to be asked.
The fact is, before Nov. 8 racial slurs had appeared on students' message boards and doors, and the wall of Norris. We're not sure who did any of it, but we had ideas. As John J. Hughes, III from the Hate Crimes Task Force put it to me, "the community has a perception about who is responsible for all of this - some kind of neo-nazi running around, trying to draw attention to his racist beliefs." After Xander reported the assault against him - the "we're gonna get you, spic" incident - a hate crime had actually been personalized. There was a potential Matthew Shepard on our hands. That's why the hate crimes issue suddenly became so serious, and why hundreds of students morally involved themselves in two days of protests. And that's why police stepped up patrols and investigations around Chapin Hall. On Monday, you could still walk around the dorm and see a police car, waiting in readiness to catch a criminal who didn't exist.
So where's the outrage? Back before Xander was exposed, ASG unanimously passed a resolution to "condemn, in the strongest terms, these heinous acts and the individual or individuals responsible" and demand "that if the perpetrator(s) are found, they should be punished severely, reflecting the outrage of the Northwestern community at these incidents." For months, student leaders in FMO and Hillel have been shaking their tiny fists at Bill Banis, demanding that he steamroll NU's version of due process and immediately expel any student who commits a hate crime.
Now we find the culprit, and they go soft. Tracy Carson is "worried about his psychological well-being." Bill Banis is "concerned about the health and well being of all of our students, including Xander Saide."
Here's another experiment. A student has a nervous breakdown and decides to blame al of his problems on his best friend. He calls her names, shreds the presents she gave him and hands them back to her, and sneaks into her room when she's away, knowing that nothing could offend her more - she'd told him so.
I did that, sophomore year. After two years I have never stopped apologizing for it. My friend forgave me, but I refuse to let myself off the hook. My personal problems didn't excuse anything, because I'd taken the conscious decision to soothe my ego by hurting someone else.
Xander Saide decided that he had an important cause, so he hurt 6000 people. In response, the anti-hate people should get their way and he should be expelled from NU. We deserved better than to be emotionally manipulated because he wanted to see what would happen if a real hate crime happened. He'll never get our sympathy. We'll save it for the students who aren't criminals.
