Peninsula's Rant: Staff Culpable, Swastika Harmful

Two weeks ago a swastika, drawn on a piece on looseleaf paper, was taped to the door of an Eliot House suite. Residents of the room interpreted the swastika as a message for Jose M. Padilla '97, a member of the ultra-conservative campus publication Peninsula.

Peninsula is an ideological oddity; a self-contained school of thought that believes that the ultimate truth of the universe is known only to those who think exactly as its members do. Its core beliefs seem to be comprised of a heavy dose of fundamentalist Christianity mixed with supply-side economics, and topped off by a paranoid hostility toward anything different. We gaze in collective wonderment as it recklessly attacks gays, women and anyone less conservative than itself.

This is why we are not surprised that one of our own decided to express his frustration with the organization in his bi-monthly column by pointing out the most unctuous portions of its latest publication, and by naming those who appear on the masthead. What does surprise us is the response he apparently elicited. Someone within our community decided that the best way to let Peninsula know that he or she disapproves of its inflammatory and overblown rhetoric was to tape a swastika to the door of one of its members. Apparently, linking Padilla to the genocidal reign of the Nazis was seen as an appropriate and effective way of pointing out how oppressive and irrational his beliefs are. The only thing more amazing than how narrow-minded and intolerant some individuals are is how those who oppose them can inadvertently adopt their worst qualities.

A side from the fact that this action was as useful to campus discourse as throwing kerosene on a fire, there is another twist here; Padilla says he has no ties to the last issue of Peninsula. Although he does admit to being a current member of the magazine, he has mentioned that he has been too busy to work on the publication recently, and therefore should not have been criticized in a signed editorial piece in The Crimson.

A statement at the bottom of the Peninsula's masthead claims that "All signed pieces express the views of the author." The article in question, however, was made to sound like a staff editorial: it employed a "we" personification and--in writing of "Peninsula's Official Enemies List" [italics added]--spoke for the magazine as a whole. Moreover, the political and philosophical agenda of Peninsula is so consistent and extreme that those who sign on and allow their names to appear on the masthead have to assume that they will be linked in spirit with all that appears within the magazine. In order for Padilla to legitimately distance himself from Peninsula's last issue, he needs to have paid attention to what the magazine was publishing, and expressed his dissatisfaction before the magazine was distributed. In fact, this is exactly what Steven J. Mitby '99 did. A member of Peninsula's governing board, Mitby resigned because he vehemently disagreed with the content of the last issue. His name was blacked off the masthead before distribution. Padilla did not pay attention, and therefore must be ready to accept indirect responsibility for the actions of the organization. Those who cast their lot with a political movement can't pick and choose their fights after the fact; they must disagree before an action is taken, or else be willing to stand behind their comrades.

This brings us to an interesting aside; a significant number of those who appear on the masthead of the Peninsula have never cast their lot with the organization and, indeed, repudiate all ties to it. Both Steven F. Sakis '98 and Christine Folch '98 have no desire whatsoever to be associated with the magazine. According to Folch, her involvement was limited to attending two meetings in the fall of her first year, and Sakis says he never signed up or attended a meeting at all. Both students requested in the past that their names be removed; Sakis actually threatened to sue for libel if his wasn't. Apparently, the Peninsula people are sensitive enough to external stimuli to heed this kind of threat because Sakis's name is blacked out in magic marker in all distributed copies of the last Peninsula. Folch's name still appears, however, as does that of Christopher J. Russo '97 who said he has not been involved with the publication for more than two years and was "surprised" to see his name on the masthead.

Essentially, this appears to be a classic case of irresponsibility on the part of Peninsula, the author of the Peninsula piece and those who tacked up the swastika. The active members of Peninsula need to muster the courage to admit to themselves and the campus just how small and isolated their organization is, and their less-active members need to have the courage to either disavow themselves entirely or else take responsibility for the actions of their colleagues. By the same token, those who disagree with Peninsula must enter the discourse in a constructive manner and not hide behind anonymous symbols. If everyone involved had acted properly and responsibly, we wouldn't have seen a useless and inflammatory message appear on the door of an individual who doesn't want to be held accountable for the content of a magazine on which he or she allows his or her name to appear.