Kaufman's Column Frivolous

As a one-time member of a political journal at Harvard, it didn't come as much of a surprise to me when Peninsula published its recent "enemies list." What did surprise, and indeed, shock me, was Joshua Kaufman's response in these pages ("Naming Names: Peninsula's Fascists, Opinion, October 15, 1996).

Peninsula has long been permeated by a kind of agitprop culture. They're a marginal group at Harvard, and they can only get attention if they create a stir. Certainly, it's in bad taste to joke about enemies lists and firing squads. But as the line "making a list and checking it twice" evokes images of jolly St. Nick, not of belligerent Benito, I think we're justified in assuming that Peninsula's goal was not really to inspire all good men to unbind their faces. Peninsula well deserves the contempt this latest stunt has brought them, but it's hard to believe that their sophomoric hyperbole intimidated anyone.

This perspective--or indeed, any perspective--obviously escaped Kaufman. Instead of treating the Peninsula piece as the fluff that it was, he freely applied the most libelous epithets imaginable, calling Peninsula members fascistic, Gestapo-esque anti-Semites.

This is more than lazy opinion writing. Criticism of Alan Dershowitz does not constitute anti-Semitism. Silly jokes about firing squads are not the same as fascism. By applying these labels frivolously, Kaufman trivialized the evils they represent. And I think that this act is considerably more irresponsible than anything I've seen in the Peninsula lately. --Ben Auspitz '95