Students at the very liberal Washington University in St. Louis have started a tempest over their choice of Halloween costumes. What did they dress as, you may ask? What was so controversial that the University had to call an emergency meeting and denounce the choice with this strong commentary, comments made even before hearing the evidence:

"As a community, one of our highest priorities is to maintain an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome. Images like the one that was posted on a social media site by students on Halloween and the impact it has had reminds us that we all must be united in this effort and it must be on-going. Whatever the intention, the image has offended and hurt members of our community. The image also is entirely inconsistent with who we are as an institution, our values and the way in which we engage in the world around us. We are deeply disappointed and saddened that this has occurred. We must expect better of ourselves and of each other.

"The administration is looking into events that led to the posting of the image. Regardless of what we learn, this incident has once again challenged us to be more sensitive and more aware of how our actions impact others. Every one of our students must feel safe and valued, and must be able to pursue their studies. This is the only way we will create the inclusive community we aim to be."

What did these frat boys do? Dress as Ku Klux Klansmen? Ariel Castro, with women on leashes?

No, they dressed as American heroes; they dressed as Seal Team Six and posed with a guy wearing a beard, ostensibly the mass murderer Osama Bin Laden.

So it is no longer permissible to dress up as heroes on Halloween, because American heroes are offensive to some people.

Here is the complainant who started it all.

She states:

"As a Muslim-American who has been subjected ...to taunts of "dirty paki" and "get the f*** out of WU and America" on this campus, the reasons why this photo are offensive are painfully obvious and represent a broader, more aggressive (and apparently violent) Islamophobia rampant here at WashU and in the United States. However, given the fact that my peers not only felt comfortable dressing up in this manner, but also brazenly posting proof of it online with their names attached, the reasons for why pointing guns at a costumed "Muslim" male are offensive are apparently not so obvious.

Let me explain why. This photo and its "Amurrica" caption imply that "Amurrica" is white (male) Americans; people with beards, or of darker color, or implicitly Muslims, are not. This photo implies that not only are Muslims not American, their lives are expendable. They can (and should) be brought to their knees with guns pointed at their damned faces. This photo makes a costume of the lives of the thousands of civilian Muslim men who have been murdered during our "War on Terror" and the countless others who have been mutilated, robbed, and stabbed to death in hate crimes across the United States - very much because of the vehemently racist discourse such photos represent"

First, I seriously doubt Miss Jahangiri has been so traumatized on campus at Wash. U., which is essentially an Ivy League school in the Midwest and is every bit as liberal as Harvard or Princeton or Columbia. Strict policies against discrimination and bullying are in full force, and if someone said such a thing they would be subject to expulsion and perhaps worse. Nobody paying $20,066 per year is going to risk getting expelled for insulting someone minding her own business.

Second, who is the racist here? Miss Jahangiri says this photograph implies white male dominance. That implication is a projection, a product of her preconceptions. The reality is the boys who decided to dress as Seal Team 6 happened to be white. To condemn them for their skin color is horribly racist and despicable. Would Miss Jahangiri have preferred they dress in black face like a minstrel show? Would that have been acceptable, or in good taste? Somehow I suspect the university would have had a problem with that.

So these boys are bad because they are white males. This is illustrative of the culture of minority victimhood so prevalent on college campuses. It is an echo of the Duke Lacrosse case, where the faculty of Duke and the media proclaimed the accused white males guilty because they were accused white males. It is reminiscent of the lynch mob that formed for George Zimmerman because he was a "white Hispanic."  It bespeaks a culture of bullying, one that demands white males bow head and knee to women and minorities because they are inferior to these "victim" classes. It is reverse discrimination, an attempt to turn white males into second class citizens. It is a demeaning of their race, or their sex. It is an attempt to punish them for being white and male.

White males should have no rights in the thinking of the Progressive Left. Miss Jahangiri seems to have learned that lesson well. She is projecting her own animus.

She has also learned the victimhood trick well. She understands that it is not the nature of the evidence but the seriousness of the charge, and that the Progressives will do all of the heavy lifting for her. She need but yell loudly and a fire will ignite among the leftist community that envelopes her. This is, whether consciously done or not, the way Islam forces dhimmitude on the West; be offended at everything, and eventually western liberals will silence the infidels. It is a way to obtain submission without having to physically conquer, and it has worked swimmingly because Western civilization is full of self-loathing sophists who control academia and the dissemination of information. Foreign born minorities learn this trick early. They know which buttons to push to get the desired results. Talk of white male privilege or capitalistic oppression will bring the roof down, and everyone now knows it. CAIR has been doing this sort of thing for years.

And remember, a group of Muslim terrorists filmed Daniel Berg's head being cut off; would Miss Jahangiri have been more comfortable with the real thing? Certainly America kindly censored films of our enemies dying. We have also not executed any Islamic terrorist. In many Islamic countries such executions would have been held publicly, and would have been replayed on television. Has Miss Jahangiri or any of the other Muslim students so offended by Halloween costumes actively condemned their own Muslim brothers? That is a large part of why Islamic terrorism is such a problem; Muslims are quick to criticize "infidels" but not their own.

In the end we must ask the question; is it acceptable to value America and America's victories? certainly President Obama touted Seal Team 6 when it was in his interest to do so. Why is it now Verboten among liberals and Islamic crybabies? And are we really seeking a fair society or one where some - people who claim victimhood - are more equal than others?

This is still America, isn't it?

Timothy Birdnow is a St. Louis based writer. Read more from Tim and friends at The Aviary www.tbirdnow.mee.nu