A Defense of Alexandra Wallace

There is nothing more dangerous than defending witches. When the community has decided that someone needs burning, defending the accused inevitably leads to charges of complicity. Witch hunts divide the community between witch and hunter, and I fear this post will put me in the former category.

For those who aren’t aware, Alexandra Wallace ranted about how annoying Asians were in the library. The Asian Pacific Coalition summarized the video here here. And then a firestorm of rage descended on her from all parts of the internet. The video was taken down as being “hate speech,” and thousands of people expressed their hatred of the “blonde bitch” who posted a “f*ckin racist video”. People have called for UCLA to expel her for posting this YouTube video, “I'm actually disgusted... please KICK her out,” others spoke with satisfaction about how her life was now ruined. One even took humor in the thought of her turning to a life doing porn, “ten bucks says she ruined her life and now turns to porn Hahahaha.”

There’s the background. Now let me ask you some questions:

Have you ever thought of yourself as better than another group? If you are human, you probably came across someone today who offended you. And there’s a good change that the first thing that went through your head was something along the lines of “Stupid Men/ Women/ Old People/Young People/ Republicans/ Democrats/ Christians/ Atheists/ Blacks/ Whites/ Asians” or whatever demographic the offender happened to be a part of. And if it didn’t happen today, go back far enough and you’ll find a time.

For all you college-educated, do you always treat high-school dropouts as your equals? Have you ever in your life complained about how the ‘uneducated’ voters made a dumb decision? Do you ignore homeless people more often than you do people with UCLA sweaters? Do you know the name of the maid who cleans your building? Have you ever had a conversation with the people who cut the grass?

Racism is bad. Sure. But it’s just a special kind of bigotry. Is “thinking differently about a person because of their race” morally different from “thinking differently about a person because of their class/education”? We are all guilty of bigotry. And that’s why we love Alexandra Wallace. Because we can lay on her all of our own sins.

Two thousand years ago, a woman had been caught cheating on her husband. Her punishment was as severe as could be meted out: she would be thrown into a pit, and the community would throw rocks at her until she died of brain trauma or internal blood loss. There was a popular young teacher present, and the crowed asked his opinion. The evidence was against her, and the law was clear. They expected him to reject the woman and proceed with the stoning, or reject the law. But instead, the man did neither. He stood up and proclaimed, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” The words shocked the crowd. After a few minutes of stunned silence, one of the older men dropped the stone that he would have used to bash in the woman’s skull and he walked away. Then another dropped his stone. And another. Finally it was just the teacher and the woman. He asked her, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” He said to her, with warmth and compassion, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

Alexandra Wallace has sinned. She has committed the unforgivable sin: racism, and she is presently being stoned to death by hypocrites. They are filled with self-righteous anger at this filthy sinner and, as if hoping to cleanse their own conscience, they fling stones. They can stone her to death with stones of shame and then go home self-righteously satisfied that they destroyed something evil. But they have only concealed the darkness which remains in their own hearts.