Joseph Fisher
Joseph Fisher (Born May 14, 1982 in Southfield, Michigan) is an American college student and writer. Fisher is best known for his work as a columnist at The South End, the student newspaper of Wayne State University. In 2002, he wrote the column "Islam Sucks," which sparked a furious debate over the limits of journalistic and editorial freedom.
Islam Sucks
Fisher's column originally appeared in the February 26, 2002 edition of The South End. the newspaper of . In it, he remarks on his dislike of religion in general before attacking Islam in particular, calling it a "danger to the welfare of many." As this may suggest, the column is rife with inflammatory language, beginning with the title and continuing to the end of the column, where Fisher quotes Pervez Musharraf, calling Muslims "the poorest, most illiterate, backward, unhealthy, unenlightened, deprived and weakest of all the races."
Fisher also condemns Muslim sharia law and in particular, the application of justice in Saudi Arabia. In his view, it is antithetical to women's rights, though his article does not mention sharia or the ongoing debate in Muslim nations about its application. His only differentiation of the Muslim world is that of secular Turkey and just about everybody else – whereas he is unrelentingly critical of Islam and the nations where it plays a dominant role, he calls Turkey a "shining light amidst all this madness. There's an understanding that a Muslim society can prosper, as long as it downplays the whole Islam thing."
The author claims that some versions of the article found on the Internet are inaccurate and have been modified with malicious intent.
Reaction and Backlash
Reaction was immediate, with student groups protesting the column, and local Arab-American groups calling on the university to apologize. The university acted quickly, meeting with South End staff and Arab groups on campus. The president of the university, Dr. Irvin Reid, personally appeared in front of these campus groups and apologized. Two days later, after hundreds of letters to the editor poured in, an apology written by Fisher appeared on the front page of the South End.
""I unconditionally apologize. My column titled 'Islam Sucks' was unnecessarily harsh and insensitive to the feelings of many individuals.""
Fisher has since stated that he was coerced into the writing the apology. In the days following the column's publication, he received thousands of e-mails, many of them threatening his life. Fisher believes that he was perfectly justified in writing the article, arguing that was approved by his editor before publication, and that while he "may want to change a few of the details in the column, I would not change the jist of it."
As a result of the column, Wayne State officials instituted diversity training programs at the paper and conducted a review of its operation.
Fisher did not write for the paper after the column appeared. He does not currently attend the school.