Student calls for public apology from graphic display

As I am sure many of you noticed, our main concourse was graced with an organization exhibiting in the strongest of senses their freedom of speech. They wielded banners with inflaming remarks, warning of Genocide images, and making comparisons that they themselves admitted were not supported by scientific research. Their posters, which are now implanted in my memory, drew parallels between the Holocaust and abortion. This outraged me, like many students.

I, and other students, noted the extreme proximity to the on-campus school. I personally find the images to be disturbing and distasteful, but I understand that shock tactics such as these images are part of the movement's methodology. I also respect that they have the right to show these images to the public in a public display. However, I think we can all agree that these images do not need to be in the minds and nightmares of children.

A child is not going to be having an abortion, and certainly I believe we can agree that they are not an appropriate audience for this type of presentation. I personally believe that when uneducated minds are introduced to something that is legal but under debate, they should be presented both sides of the argument, not lambasted with one side.

I am concerned and confused as to the location. The visual range for the presentation was almost at the Child Care Center, and far further than where their warning signs were placed, which did not feature any kind of real warning to parents as to what the content they were about to view contained.

Considering that the message is about saving lives and saving children, I would think that they would be concerned for the children and what they're viewing.

I have no clue how this affects children's psyche, as that's not at all my field, but it would seem if movies and video games are rated and age limited, then seeing gruesome images would have some affect on them.

I believe the display should not have been located here, or if this is the only location, should have been muted down, or the signage should have been more clear, which is addressed in my next point.

According to Article II of the 1951 UN Treaty regarding genocide, genocide is: any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Abortion is not an attempt to destroy, in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial, nor religious group. Abortion is not an organized movement aimed at the destruction of babies just because they're babies.

As such, it does not equate to genocide.

The term Genocide carries, as it should, and as I'm sure they know it does, serious emotional weight. It infers hate crimes. It infers cold, ethnic cleansing. I definitely do not believe that abortion amounts to this, and I would surprised to hear if most people did.

A legal medical procedure cannot and should not carry that weight.

Furthermore, the signs warning about the content we were about to witness were misleading. They warned of pictures of Genocide, and I thought I would be reading about Genocides, an issue that I am always interested in learning about.

I completely agree that warning signs should be in place. However, I believe that these signs should be clear as to the content you are about to view, as the content is abrasive at best, and can be deeply emotionally damaging at worst.

We need to always keep in mind honoring the memories of victims of Genocide, an idea that is vital to my next point.

The Holocaust was one of the single most horrific events in human history. It is unacceptable to equate a legal medical procedure to the horrors that victims of the Holocaust experienced. As a descendant of Holocaust victims, I would have found this highly offensive on any day. To make this comparison is belittling to victims, survivors, and their descendants. In fact, I would go so far as to say as it harms the Jewish community, which is very much still recovering from this event.

Sunday, April 7 is a day, which we set aside to remember the victims of the Holocaust. It was especially hurtful to me today, after learning and researching about my great great great aunt and uncle who were brutally murdered in Lithuania and Estonia, to see this essentially baseless comparison.

The Holocaust carries a serious amount of weight, and is something that too many Americans do not have a full understanding about. I have been told too many times that the Holocaust didn't happen, or the Holocaust wasn't that bad.

The desensitizing of Americans to the Holocaust is only encouraged by comparisons such as these. Today we say, Never Forget. Never forget meaning of course to remember our lost ones, but furthermore to never forget how bad and brutal it was.

I understand that I am a minority at the school and in the nation. But I believe that I and other people sharing my faith deserve respect and dignity regarding this tragedy in our past, and I certainly believe my ancestors who perished in the Holocaust deserve respect.

This goes even further than the Jewish community. More than 12 million were targeted in the Holocaust, including homosexuals, gypsies, mentally and physically disabled people, and communists. Each of these communities hurts from the losses suffered in the Holocaust, and none should have to see a legal medical procedure compared to this atrocity.

I think freedom of speech is most certainly a right, and encourage the utilization of that right. However, I believe, and hope you can see that this event was inappropriate and offensive.

In my opinion, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform owes a public apology to the Jewish community, LGBTQ community, and other communities who were systematically murdered in the Holocaust less than 75 years ago. It is unacceptable for an on campus organization to make comparisons such as this and present unproven information as fact. I hope to work with this organization to prevent these sorts of comparisons in the future.