On Tuesday, The Atlantic published a well-written piece called "The War at Stanford." The piece was written by Theo Baker, a sophomore at Stanford who reported that "extremism has swept through classrooms and dorms, and it is becoming normal for students to be harassed and intimidated for their faith, heritage, or appearance."
This is how he kicked off his piece:
One of the section leaders for my computer-science class, Hamza El Boudali, believes that President Joe Biden should be killed. “I’m not calling for a civilian to do it, but I think a military should,” the 23-year-old Stanford University student told a small group of protesters last month. “I’d be happy if Biden was dead.” He thinks that Stanford is complicit in what he calls the genocide of Palestinians, and that Biden is not only complicit but responsible for it. “I’m not calling for a vigilante to do it,” he later clarified, “but I’m saying he is guilty of mass murder and should be treated in the same way that a terrorist with darker skin would be (and we all know terrorists with dark skin are typically bombed and drone striked by American planes).” El Boudali has also said that he believes that Hamas’s October 7 attack was a justifiable act of resistance, and that he would actually prefer Hamas rule America in place of its current government (though he clarified later that he “doesn’t mean Hamas is perfect”). When you ask him what his cause is, he answers: “Peace.”
Graham Starr thought that was stochastic terrorism, painting a target on the student's back:
Why did The Atlantic just target a 23-year-old student and non-public figure by full name in a way that seems intended to endanger them?? Extremely irresponsible pic.twitter.com/fUm0J8tgHe
— graham starr (@GrahamStarr) March 26, 2024
That’s your takeaway from the article??
— Robert Efroymson (((loyal))) (@Efroymson) March 26, 2024
why did a 23-year-old student and non-public figure go on the record stating he's in favor of assassinating a president?
— grand admiral pipe (@techbropicasso) March 26, 2024
It’s also irresponsible what the student said but you know, that’s for another time clearly.
— Anita (@AnitaM86) March 26, 2024
For what it’s worth, I’d have never seen the article or his name were it not for you screen-capping and posting it. Does your phone not have the scribble feature? It would’ve taken you thirty seconds and made you seem less disingenuous.
— Jason Novak (@hackcartoonist) March 26, 2024
An adult speaking about political assassination at a political rally should be reported on, actually
— Tim (@614lawstuff) March 26, 2024
The quote tweets and replies here are telling. A grown man and student, who has made these declarations publicly, had them reported. These are obviously asinine statements. Targeted? Please.
— ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@justarando013) March 26, 2024
Because they are an adult who, in a public setting, endorsed assassinating the sitting president of the USA.
— Bob the craftsman (@CraftsmanBob) March 26, 2024
It’s fairly obvious
I think because he was publicly stating his desire that the president be assassinated, if I had to guess that’s probably the reason he was mentioned
— Abe Froman (@bigbadwoomph) March 26, 2024
He's an adult who made a public statement at a campus rally. He meant for this to be heard.
You can also...threaten to kill the President... apparently.
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) March 27, 2024
That's also a thing.https://t.co/GJ0cmhAmwX
The dude is just...posting through it. pic.twitter.com/Z9PPuY9WNi
He seems proud of his comments https://t.co/nuV4cmHUxG
— JackIrish 🇺🇦 (@JackEireannach) March 26, 2024
Yes, LEGALLY executed. What wrong with that? You can't handle free speech?
What's wrong with promoting jihad? What's next, I can't promote Ramadan? Ignoramuses like you are why I was holding the "Ask Me About Jihad" sign. You haven't a clue what jihad means. Go read a book.
We can't get too worked up about the safety of a 23-year-old who walks around with a sign reading "Ask Me About Jihad." We're sure he's got a lot of support at Stanford.
He sounds like an austere religious scholar.
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