Why would Muslims on campus be offended if the fliers read "Radical Islam Wants You Dead," not "Islam Wants You Dead"? Islam on Campus' reaction only fuels the stereotype that criticism of Islam cannot coexist with the Western ideal of free speech.
In 1988, Salman Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses," a subtle critique of Islam, received international condemnation from the Muslim community. The government of Iran issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death. Bookstores in Britain (Rushdie's home country) were burned, dozens were killed and even some bookstores in the United States had to remove the book from their shelves.
More recently, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot, killed and then nearly decapitated after making a film about how poorly women are treated in some Islamic societies. Under Taliban rule, women were stoned to death in soccer stadiums, but some Muslims found the movie more offensive than the fact that a human being could be treated so savagely.
This is a college campus, and since most of us are educated, we know that the majority of Muslims want to live in peace. Perhaps a better way to disprove Muslim stereotypes would have been to attend the movie and engage in a discussion afterward so those attending would be more informed about the religion. To turn away from any criticism and complain about how you are treated unfairly only reaffirms how some Americans perceive you.
