June 8, 2016

Who defaced the map at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Memorial Union?

This is a lovely display in our beautiful Union, inviting students to use map pins to indicate where they are from:

IMG_1149

I could see that part of the map had been scratched on, probably with one of the pins, but it was hard to see what the scratching was about. A closeup picture revealed it:

IMG_1148

Click on the image to enlarge and see clearly:
Israel Palestine.

63 comments:

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I understand that leftists incline to demonize Israel, but why did the mapmaker leave out Turkey? Is this a Kardashian map?

damikesc said...

I know one thing --- they won't be punished for it. At all.

I'm always amazed that such a small country with so few natural resources is able to, according to Progs, ruin the world. We need to import their leadership here.

Owen said...

Feral children. Their grievance gene cassette is freely exchanged with other bacteria such as BLM.

traditionalguy said...

Just some more Anti Semitic scum vandalism done at night by a proud Liberal who studied Nazi doctrine taught to them by Professors paid by Saudis. Probably the same Saudis who sponsored the 9/11 Hijackers and paid Obama's way through Harvard.

BTW, antisemitism is based completely and only on RACISM.

Unknown said...

If they're found out we will hear the usual blather: "You made me do that by being just like Hitler."

All the violence and vandalism comes from the same direction but their reasons all originate in the other direction. Nice, if you can make it fly.

BarrySanders20 said...

Thus fulfilling someone's dream of wiping Israel off the face of the map.

Etienne said...

When you let just anyone with money in, the result is often undesirable.

Graffiti has destroyed Europe. It is an ugly, ugly, place now.

Ann Althouse said...

It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that. Anyone might write on it, and the pins are there to be messed with. They've been stuck in many places that I suspect no student was actually from (like all little island in the south Pacific and those strange large islands in the arctic).

cubanbob said...

Ann Althouse said...
It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that. Anyone might write on it, and the pins are there to be messed with. They've been stuck in many places that I suspect no student was actually from (like all little island in the south Pacific and those strange large islands in the arctic).

6/8/16, 11:24 AM"

It's kind of amazing no other country gets defaced on that map.

damikesc said...

It's kind of amazing no other country gets defaced on that map.

Yeah. I always am amazed that the Progs who HATE Israel due to its human rights violation are cool with Iran. N. Korea. Saudi Arabia. etc.

Mike Sylwester said...

We can't have nice things in public places.

One good thing about our society having rich people, is that there are nice things in private places.

Quaestor said...

Simply the inevitable result of education in the clutches of proglodytes.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Hate crime.

We need loud and disruptive demonstrations now people!! Close the school, fire the president, find and punish the people responsible, kick off campus any organization they belong to,change the curriculum, require sensitivity training and a new student center.

Oh the victims are Jews. Nevermind.

Owen said...

Ann Althouse said: "It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that. Anyone might write on it, and the pins are there to be messed with. They've been stuck in many places that I suspect no student was actually from (like all little island in the south Pacific and those strange large islands in the arctic)."

(1) "...a map that's completely exposed…" We could construct here the Parable of the Terrorist: "You people have to be lucky100% of the time. We only need to be lucky once." Terrorist, vandal, same same. (Not so) funny how this vandalism is a very micro aggressive model for terrorism. Scratch, scratch, scratch: eradicate those lines, that name!

(2) "…strange large islands in the [A]rctic." Yes, just a joke. The population on all that real estate might number a few thousand, and they are too busy trying to stay alive to think about UW-Madison. If you get the chance to visit there, do so. A stark and sobering world.

Unknown said...

The standards are higher for Israel, and rightly so, because it was founded by educated Europeans, created by the post-WWII European great power consensus, and populated, primarily, by educated Europeans (and educated refugees from Islamic countries, after the post-mandate wars turned those societies far more openly anti-semitic than had previously been the case. BTW, "anti-semitic" is a pretty silly euphemism when we're talking about ARAB anti-Jewishness.) It's the same reason why we shudder in horror at Nazi Germany--there but for the grace of God could be us--and Rwanda, not so much. It's a COMPLIMENT.

That said, what the heck is with this crappy map? Forgot Turkey? Forgot to connect the Black Sea to the Med via the Hellespont? What other lapses might cause undergraduate disrespect? Oh, and no West Bank--that's still, technically occupied territories, not part of Israel proper, though this map is so clumsy that I wouldn't expect any subtle detail. Also, poor little "Mace." and "Leb.", reminds me of "R.I." where I hail from--no map ever calls it Rhode Island, let alone The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . . .

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

It is interesting that more than one UM student is from the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

Michael K said...

"populated, primarily, by educated Europeans (and educated refugees from Islamic countries,"

My dental hygienist is a black woman from Ethiopia who was one of the Ethiopian Jews rescued by Israel. She grew up in Israel and goes back every year to visit family. Her white husband is also Jewish and she has told me of hate stares she gets from black women when she is out with her husband.

She has something like ten siblings and they are all well educated and live all over the world.

William said...

The members of the Baader Meinhof Gang were so upset at the acquiescence of their parents' generation to Naziism that they became radical leftists. They went to Jordan to study weapons and bomb making under the tutelage of the PLO. People on the left have a tendency not to think things through.

Jimmy said...

I don't think anyone is actually surprised to see such things at Universities. Israel is just one of the officially sanctioned hate objects. White males, race and gender traitors or really anyone who hasn't accepted the State sponsored indoctrination.
It is Orwellian, but no one from the government or universities would ever allow such comparisons.
Not accepting the officially sanctioned dogma can get you cut out of the herd. Great way to kill intellectual honesty, free speech, or individuality.

Original Mike said...

Hey, at least they didn't blow it up.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Owen said...

William said: "...People on the left have a tendency not to think things through." True enough. In this case, there may be a further irony that the Arabs (Muslim Brotherhood branch) were kissing cousins with the Nazis and worked to support their program against the Jews. I suspect the Bader-Meinhoff gang members and similar idiots were mostly motivated by the usual things: the attention of equally confused young women, and getting to wear the authentic Che T-shirt.

Rick said...

Ann Althouse said...
It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that. Anyone might write on it, and the pins are there to be messed with. They've been stuck in many places that I suspect no student was actually from (like all little island in the south Pacific and those strange large islands in the arctic).


It's odd you think this is something we need to worry about protecting. I think it's great people reveal they support genocide, it helps us understand there really is dangerous hatred in the world. People might forget that if they came to believe the worst hate existent is a pizza shop not catering a gay wedding.

Quaestor said...

The members of the Baader Meinhof Gang were so upset at the acquiescence of their parents' generation to Naziism that they became radical leftists.

One would surmise from their actions that the Baader-Meinhofs were upset at the failure of their parent's generation to successfully implement Naziism.

Real American said...

something tells me that grief counselors aren't going to be called into the safe spaces with pacifiers and blankies for the psychologically fragile crybabies aka college students.

CWJ said...

Althouse wrote -

"They've been stuck in many places that I suspect no student was actually from (like all little island in the south Pacific and those strange large islands in the arctic)."

I had a smile over "small" and "large." The map appears to be a modified Mercator projection.* The islands are indeed small and large, but those arctic islands are much smaller than they appear on the map.

PB said...

If this map were in a school in California, I'll bet the entire southwest would have been reclaimed for Mexico.

madAsHell said...

Bring back admission standards.

Freeman Hunt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Freeman Hunt said...

There is an exposed map with pins to mark at a local restaurant. I have never seen it defaced. Looks like people eating fried chicken in Arkansas are more civilized than students at an excellent state university.

Beach Brutus said...

"It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that. Anyone might write on it, and the pins are there to be messed with."

Perhaps they thought the students at an institution of higher learning would display the maturity presumed of young adults in eschewing petty vandalism.

A law school classmate did his undergrad at Washington and Lee. He told a story of the honor code there. He was studying on the green when some friends asked him to go to lunch. He left his books and stuff where they were thinking he'd be back in 30-45 minutes. One thing led to another and he and his friends spent the afternoon and early evening shooting pool etc. That night when he returned to get his books someone had taken them from the grassy spot where they might get kicked in the dark and placed them at the foot of a nearby tree and hung his umbrella from a limb so he would see them. While that seems exceptional - it is actually how it should be.

As a society, how can we expect to enjoy successful self-government in the aggregate, when so many people are not capable of individual self-government?

Freeman Hunt said...

Of course, you're also not going to be marking Israel off of a map in a public place here unless you're willing to risk a major altercation.

kjbe said...

I had a smile over "small" and "large." The map appears to be a modified Mercator projection.* The islands are indeed small and large, but those arctic islands are much smaller than they appear on the map.

As did I. Laypeople and projections. What'ya gonna do...

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said..It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that.

I take your point, Professor, but it's sad that your judgement is correct w/r/t college students! I second cubanbob's point that apparently the only part that was defaced just HAPPENED to be Israel/the Jewish homeland...probably just a coincidence that the University is pretty strongly Left...

Hey, maybe this is just one of those "young people pushing boundaries and acting transgressively" things the wife of the former Yale master talked about!

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Freeman Hunt said...
Of course, you're also not going to be marking Israel off of a map in a public place here unless you're willing to risk a major altercation.


That depends on which public place you're talking about, doesn't it? One could interpret the fact that this was defaced in a public face as evidence that this particular location is one of those places where people feel like marking Israel off a map isn't risky...so a place where that kind of thing is likely to be accepted/not punished. Which, you know, might say something.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ooh, I'll go on record: this map defacement was a shameful, ugly act.

Joe said...

Very childish.

(There are several issues with that map, but it's hard to confirm some of them with the first photo.)

Big Mike said...

Alan Dershowitz is quite right: anti-Zionism is anti-semitism. So many of my Jewish friends are hypersensitive to anti-semitism from the right to point mocked by Woody Allen in (I think) "Annie Hall" when he conflates someone saying "would you" in a New York accent with someone calling him "wood Jew." Yet they ignore the anti-semitism from the left in the form of anti-Zionism, BDS, etc. Strange. Stranger still are the young Jews who participate. Are they merely foolish, or is this part of the "not until the last boxcar" mentality?

JAORE said...

Another example of the loving left.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David said...

Re close up: Many more pinholes than pins. Not sure what to make of that.

Freeman Hunt said...

"That depends on which public place you're talking about, doesn't it?"

Yes. I should have been more clear. I was referring to the town where I live.

Unknown said...

Now now. Just because some people, based on race, deserve to have everything (Muslims) and some people are unpersons and deserve whatever they get (Jews, Mormons, Christians, white people[except strident leftists]) doesn't mean that we aren't all equal!

Some are more equal than others, of course. And their rights trump your rights. And they deserve to live while those evil Jews, etc deserve the ovens.....

But in no way can you say the left is racist or anti-semitic! We are the party of tolerance and equality and love.... for those who deserve it, of course! And who deserves it? That's up to us to decide!

Fernandinande said...

On the side it says: "We all know you can't terrace any anywhere else!"

Terrace (verb): "to form into or furnish with a terrace or terraces."

Huh ????

Quaestor said...

Freeman Hunt wrote: Looks like people eating fried chicken in Arkansas are more civilized than students at an excellent state university.

It looks that way because it is that way.

Rosalyn C. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rosalyn C. said...

That's what happens when you are confused about terrorism and violence and call it free speech and a legal right to resistance.

The damage is not "vandalism" and if you don't like it your property is next.

PS I've got a neighbor who loves Jews because they are so charming and delightful but believes Israel is an apartheid state because she feels sorry for the Palestinians. (As if the corrupt Palestinian leadership and the bigoted Arab League are not responsible for their situation.) She wears a tee shirt that pronounces "Love and Peace" and a political button that says "Fuck Trump." I had to point out the contradiction. This is an illustration of thinking on the Left.

Rusty said...

Cowards.

Anonymous said...

AA writes: "...those strange large islands in the arctic"

Those northern islands are not as large as you might think. It's an artifact of the map projection that was used by the cartographer, in this case probably the Miller projection (sort of but not exactly like the typical Mercator).

holdfast said...

I wouldn't blame a Turk or a student or Turkish descent if they wanted to add a neat sticker naming the nation of Turkey. It seems a rather large "oversight" to imply that the Armenians own the whole Anatolian Peninsula.

Also, the mapmaker gave the Golan back to Syria, even though Israel has formally annexed it (unlike the WB or Gaza.

jaed said...

1. If someone had scratched out any country other than Israel or America, it would be the subject of an investigation, and the map would have been repaired as soon as the vandalism was noticed. If someone had scratched out any Latin American or African country, it would have been immediately publicized and denounced as a hate-crime, with all the accompanying folderol of presidential announcements, counseling services, etc. (Am I wrong about this?)

2. It looks like there are a few Israeli students there, judging by the pins. I wonder whether they feel threatened? I'd feel somewhat threatened.

3. As people have commented, this looks like a Mercator or modified Mercator projection. Don't the people who created this map realize that the Mercator projection is racist and they're supposed to use one of those weird distorted projections that preserve area north-to-south instead? This was a big thing ten or fifteen years ago! I'm surprised!

Althouse, when was this map installed, do you happen to know?

4. Oh, and no: symbolically eliminating a country on a map is not a "COMPLIMENT". Not even if the person doing it (mistakenly) thinks most of the people who live there are European.

Thuglawlibrarian said...

Regarding Israel, is this surprising to anyone? Really?

Curious George said...

I have an idea. I think we should cross out UW-Madison, and write in Ho-Chunk. I propose giving the land all back to the tribe. And if the little fucks don't like it, I don't know, fire some rockets into Bascom Hill, kill everyone in some dorm, you know fun "Palistinian" stuff.

Captain Drano said...

A friend of mine told me about a 25 y.o. pro-Palestine Democrat of Jewish ethnicity (not religious) that received an all-inclusive 10 day trip to Israel by an Israeli foundation that aims to give young Jewish Americans the opportunity to experience Israel. She said after the person's return, they said they had a great time, and even "endured"--hinting that was "price to pay" for the free trip--having to listen to the sponsor's speech about why they should be pro-Israel. Seems our American education system, for all its other flaws, certainly excels at indoctrinating the progressive POV to the point it is unshakeable.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
furious_a said...

...but why did the mapmaker leave out Turkey?

The shadowy Pro-Byzantine lobby extending their tentacles.

furious_a said...

Israelis prefer the Arab Press to their own, because the former tells them about how powerful Jews secretly run the world while the latter complains about Israel.

furious_a said...

It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that.

UM should put up one of those PlaySkool maps where the states or countries have Velcro on the back to see if the little darlings learned any geography in high school.

buwaya said...

The only surprising thing here is that someone publicly posted an image of Israel and did not expect this.

Nobody would put this display up in San Francisco State for instance. It would be destroyed in hours.

Rusty said...

Blogger furious_a said...
It's kind of amazing that the University would trust everyone with a map that's completely exposed like that.

Oddly enough everyone is expectedtoact like adults.

Jane the Actuary said...

Also: Cyprus is shown as one undivided country.

Gahrie said...

Alan Dershowitz is quite right: anti-Zionism is anti-semitism

I disagree. I used to be strongly anti-Zionist, but I was never anti-Semetic.

Jack Tors said...

If 5 million Jews in Israel support having a Jewish state in perpetuity (i.e., Zionism) which is intrinsic to their personal and collective existence, It's hard to comprehend how anti-Zionism and antisemitism aren't two sides of the same coin.