A Problem of Empathy

To the Editor,I am not Muslim. Because I am not Muslim, I cannot speak on behalf of the Muslim students on campus, nor for the entire religion of Islam. I do not see through their eyes, hear what they hear, live as they live, and because of that, I have privilege, and I acknowledge that. This letter, therefore, is not official in any sense of the word; it is just my opinion on the recent conversation on campus and thus should be treated as such.But I am an ally, and when asked to speak on issues that do not directly affect me, I will, because this issue affectS my friends, my peers and my classmates.When I first learned of the Islamophobic remarks that Fred Grandy allegedly made five years ago, I was made vaguely uncomfortable; sure, his statements did not pertain to me, but it felt off that someone who we had brought to campus to address the student body, an alum of Exeter no less, could say such things on a national radio broadcast (the statements in question pertain to a phenomenon—no, a conspiracy theory—Grandy dubbed “stealth jihad,” which he alleges as the slow but pervasive creeping of ISIS into the higher levels of our government—I personally think that this is ridiculous, unfounded and inflammatory).Before the administration encouraged him to withdraw, Grandy was to teach, as a volunteer, a senior seminar on “Politics and the Media,” which many argue to be unrelated to the controversy at hand. But a topic of this nature is so closely related to the issue of Islamophobia in America, especially in light of the recent conversations about Donald Trump, ISIS and “Islamic” terror, and it is impossible to have such a discussion and stay honest to the topic without addressing recent Republican rhetoric, for example.The argument against bringing Grandy to campus is purely an empathetic one; we must ask ourselves if it is OK to possibly hurt students of our community in the name of intellectual discourse. Discussion is vital to the growth of a community, especially one as pedagogical as ours, but there comes a point where “discourse” turns into hate speech: this occurs on both sides, liberal and conservative, and it is an issue that should be discussed among the student body. A common counterargument to this appeal to empathy is that conservative students are hurt, too, when their opinions are ridiculed by the student body (e.g. the recent episode at the MLK Day panel.) But the solution to the suppression of conservative opinions at Exeter is not to bring radicalization to our campus: Two wrongs do not make a right. We should focus inwards, addressing the overwhelming liberalness we have on our campus, addressing the ridicule we show to those with conservative viewpoints. But we should not invite racism to our campus to “balance” the discussion. There are many other qualified conservative speakers who are reasonable with their dialogue, who do not criticize the members of an entire religion because of the actions of a few; it is my firm belief that Grandy and others like him are not representative of the conservative community in America, and such extremism is not conducive to real discussion at our school and in our classroom.—Pranay Vemulamada '16