An irony-challenged leftist student who lied about his identity to infiltrate the UC Irvine panel discussion on the Danish cartoons tells a heart-stopping tale of terror: The Disgruntled Chemist. (Hat tip: M.I.M.)

Attending that meeting tonight has had a profound effect on me, one that I feel won’t be soon forgotten. The feeling of hatred, of raw emotional anger, was palpable in the audience for almost the entire debate. As Agi and I walked out, I told him that I was feeling dirty, and that’s still true as I write this. Part of it was pretending to be a conservative and nodding in agreement as these people told me that all Muslims were out to kill me. I regret this somewhat. On the one hand, pretending to be a conservative got me a level of honesty from many people that I think would have been impossible otherwise. On the other hand, my lack of action and implicit agreement with their points of view went against everything that I believe in. I don’t know if it was worth it.“

”…..I neither heard nor saw them (Republicans) doing anything to counter the tide of hate in the room. Some protesters did, and I commend them in the strongest possible terms.

Yet I was not one of them. And I regret that strongly. Part of it was not feeling safe, but another, stronger part of it was fear. Simply, I was afraid of the people in the audience around me. When the greater part of the audience stood up and began to chant “USA! USA! USA!” in response to a thinly-veiled threat against American Muslims, the image of a lynch mob came to mind…..”