Newsday reports on the latest clash between free speech and religious sensitivity:
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A video by five students at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University depicting ski-masked "hostage-takers" speaking in cartoonish Middle Eastern accents has drawn condemnations from local Muslim leaders.
The university dismissed the students from their jobs as residence hall assistants in Brookville Hall, saying they had engaged in activity that violated their employment contract and that reflected "insensitivity."
In the video, which mocks those aired by real-life terrorists, five figures speak in exaggerated accents as they threaten their captive, a rubber duck dubbed "Pete," according to an account in the student newspaper that knowledgeable campus sources agreed was accurate. The subtext is understood to many on campus: The duck is the mascot for Brookville Hall.
While friends of those who created the film amphasized [sic] it was made in jest, Muslim leaders did not see the humor. They acknowledged students' right to freedom of speech, but said that right carries responsibility.
"I think it's not a prank," said Ghazi Khankan of Long Beach, a member of the board of the American Muslim Alliance.
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"Muslim leaders did not see the humor"
Now there's a fucking news flash. Alert the media!
The Gunslinger
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