Sometimes people ask me why I think it is necessary to write and publish The Danforth Dispatch. After all, I have a busy schedule as is, and the paper requires a not-inconsiderable time commitment. However, a quick glance at what is published in the main newspaper of the school, Student Life (abbreviated to StudLife), vindicates my decision to operate this paper. Furthermore, contemporary events, such as the start of the Israel-Hamas War and the rise of antisemitism on campuses across the country oblige me to continue to write, edit, and publish, as to stand up against hate and promote truth on campus. This past week has strengthened my resolve to publish because of both of these points, as StudLife has published many ridiculous articles, including one this week promoting “furries” and another promoting outlandish conspiracy theories about Israel.
First of all, WashU published an article by a Professor of Anthropology named Bret Gustafson, whose WashU biography indicates that he attended Harvard, the New England school recently shaken by allegations of antisemitism. In the article, Gustafson accuses Israel of “genocidal intent” and of trying to displace all of the Palestinians from the geographical expression known as “Palestine.” Of course, these points are all absurd. Israel has a very large Arab minority, 21% of its population in fact, and one would imagine that were Israel to have the intent that Gustafson falsely ascribes to it, then this would not be so. Furthermore, the greatest threat to Israeli Arabs is not Israel, but instead Hamas, as Hamas murdered 70 Arab Israelis on October 7th, including a high-ranking Arab Israeli officer, Alim Abdallah. Furthermore, since the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, the Israelis have agreed to the creation of a Palestinian state. Gustafson continues on and lists various supposed grievances committed by Israel, many of which border on blood libel against the Jewish State, such as his suggestion that “families are murdered by Israeli F-16s.”
However, Professor Gustafson’s anti-Israel tirade was not the only crazy thing published by StudLife this past week. Continuing in the tradition of StudLife’s infamous “Pole Community” article (which was not about the Polish people but instead to pole dancers), StudLife decided to publish an article about furries. Furries, for reference, are people who pretend to be animals, and the “furry fandom” contains various sexual themes. According to the StudLife article, the furries also invent “manifestations of themselves as animals,” and wear costumes resembling animals. To put it mildly, no sane society would tolerate/promote furry-ism and no self-respecting university would allow the article in question to be published. The StudLife article, however, portrays the “furries” as victims of “right-wing politicians” who have caused “backlash” against them. This is unwarranted according to the article, which claims that furries built internet chat rooms, the Moderna vaccine, and the internet itself. The article closes with the interviewed furries stating that furries “ are human beings just like everyone else,” which should show the absurdity of the whole concept. After all, why would someone choose to debase oneself and demean their own human dignity by pretending to be an animal? Perhaps Studlife intended to publish this just to be transgression, though as Carl Trueman has pointed out, transgression is passé, and the only emotion that the article elicits is pity.