Take a good look at the news and ask, ‘Where are the people that are willing to bring closure to the volatile situation in the Middle East?’ Better yet, take a look around you and try searching for some individuals who want to see an end to the tension in our own country between American society and Islamic people.

Daniel Pipes’ recent appearance in Lecture Hall 1 was expected to spark tensions among various communities on campus, perhaps most obviously between those with right-leaning tendencies (who generally welcomed Pipes) and groups representing both religious and ethnic sects (who came prepared to protest Pipes). For anyone who got to the show early, it certainly looked like a good battle was brewing between all the protesters outside swarming Lecture Hall’s entrance and the passionate discussion being heard inside of it.

Yet somehow it seemed that no one really cared to hear what the voice opposite them was talking about. Mr. Pipes, to no surprise, did not concede any ground beyond his bafflement at the incompetent nature of American intelligence, while the protesters had no idea what Pipes even had to say. The whole lot of them simply stood up at one point in the lecture and headed back into the hallway, chanting and cheering throughout the remainder of Pipes’ speech in what can only be described as one of the more childish tactics a protest group can employ (second only to covering one’s ears and muttering ‘I can’t hear you’).

By no means were the pro-Pipes supporters much better. One in particular went way off on a tangent when talking to Mr. Pipes in his post-speech about how sad he is to see Israelis suffering, staging questions to Pipes as if he were a god, asking, ‘How much longer will this go on?’ Thankfully, before I could extend the palm of my hand to his face and end the conflict that would be his jaw, Pipes put a stop to the sob story with a simple roll of his eyes, allowing us to spot both the words ‘long’ and ‘time’ in his brief response.

While some were hoping for a healthy discourse within Lecture Hall (which would have been ideal), just the opposite was served up, with each group preaching to its own choir. If anything, credit must be given to those who stood up during the Q&A session following Pipes’ speech and questioned his rhetoric, sometimes even quite aggressively, on topics ranging from American policy in Pakistan to how to interpret the recently released National Intelligence Estimate report that Iran halted its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program in 2003. These people were the only individuals who, believe it or not, came out looking as if they were trying to find realistic answers to problems both in the Middle East and on the home front. All the others were regrettably in fantasy land.