As an Ohio University alum, I am deeply concerned. As an Arab American woman, I have been extremely troubled with the thoughts of what has been happening at OU.
As an Ohio University alum, I am deeply concerned. As an Arab American woman, I have been extremely troubled with the thoughts of what has been happening at OU.
I am writing about the blood bucket challenge. I am not writing to take a position on what Megan Marzec did. I am not writing to express my support for Israel, or for Palestine. That is not the point.
I am writing because of the truly horrifying statements I have seen being made about the Middle East in response to Megan’s decision to support Palestine with her bucket challenge.
On Twitter, I have seen statements made toward Megan that have hurt me to my core. Paraphrasing some of these tweets, here are some examples: You should be forced to go live with the Arab animals you love so much, in Muslim countries, women are property, gays are not equal, you support oppressors, and no such thing as Palestinians.
On campus, the student who spoke out at the Student Senate meeting claimed, unlike the Middle East, Israel is a developed nation that contributes to the world.
First of all, I am not even going to spend my time explaining why it is messed up to call my people animals. This is shameful and disgusting.
Second of all, the Middle East is not a monolith. It is unfair to make generalizations about an extremely large region of the world. Saying in the Middle East, women are property is akin to (but more damaging than) claiming that everyone in the United States is fat. It’s just simply not true, and to argue something like that contributes to the same ideology that calls my people animals.
On a similar note, we need to stop erasing cultures. We need to. It is so undeniably absurd to claim that Palestinians do not exist. It is verbal/written genocide. It is morally reprehensible. Similarly, acting like the Middle East is a monolith erases the rich cultural history of that region. There are many ethnic groups. There are many countries. There are many languages. There are many religions.
Finally, it is so unfortunate and ill-informed to claim that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that contributes to the world. It causes me great pain that students believe something so horrible about my people. My people who are resilient. My people who have been colonized, killed, have endured many corrupt governments, have been fearful for their lives, have been just trying to live. The Middle East has given us the numbers that we use. The Middle East has given us songs, poetry, musical and dance influences that you may not even recognize. The Middle East has provided us with food traditions in this country. The Middle East has shown me personally what revolution and justice really are.
The people who have made these claims have simultaneously claimed that Megan wasn’t educated enough to make her video. If you are one of those people, I suggest you think long and hard about whether or not you are educated enough to make some of the sweeping claims about the Middle East I have seen coming from OU’s student body rather than pointing your finger at Megan.
Shannon Welch is a graduate of Ohio University and the former president of the Ohio University College Democrats.
