In response to the New York City subway attacks by Mona Eltahawy, the Egyptian-American activist, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has now determined that it will change its rules to prohibit any ads that it “reasonably foresees would imminently incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace.”
The decision came after an 8-0 vote on Thursday, where other antics apprently made it quite a lively meeting. In addition to this new discretion, the MTA will ad a disclaimer to all ads indicating that they do not endorse the content.
Eltahaway, who defaced a subway ad with pink spraypaint (and, it appears, a woman who got in her way) this week, is now claiming victory on her twitter stream, where she has not been shy about tweeting her frustration at critics on the Left and the Right who take issue with her actions:
From the Left, the criticism has been either that, by executing her stunt, she has in fact brought far more attention to the pro-Israel ads; or, some are accusing her of being a “fake” for apparently bringing a New York Post camera crew with her to film her antics.
On the Right, criticism seems to come down to the fact that Eltahawy is breaking the law. Her destruction of property, in defense of which Eltahawy gave the perplexing claim that it was somehow her right to free expression, has nothing whatsoever to do with the First Amendment.
But Eltahawy’s either misunderstanding of the U.S. Constitution, or willingness to tweak it to suit her ends, should be exposed and put right. Eltahawy’s only defense seems to be a tired one; that anyone who asks her to be accountable is a right-wing racist, Nazi, or an Islamophobe.
In the meantime, Eltahawy, perhaps exhausted from attempting to come up with new curse words for her twitter stream after exhausting all those in the current lexicon, has said she’s taking the next 48 hours hours off to “read Neruda.”
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