LETTER: Semantic Games

I wish to thank Elizabeth Hunt for a most informative and enjoyable "One Man's Meat" (DP 2/27/92). The semantic games she plays with the words race and color are indeed most convincing, especially when it comes to fighting crime in West Philadelphia. I share her belief that people should not be told the race or skin color of criminals in an area, as such information would not be even mildly helpful in identifying or solving any kinds of social problems. I am so glad that she suggested an alternate scheme of skin color and race classification to back up her logic: her innovative "trout belly" approach to resolving the deep-seated woes that plague our society is remarkable and should be given top priority at the next meeting of the University Police Department. Then, of course, she is absolutely right in saying that eyewitness reports -- backed up by numerous psychological studies, mind you -- are often inaccurate. I am sure that if a black man mugged me, I would mistake him for an Asian, for a gypsy or for my next door neighbor just back from Cancun as well -- and so would any witnesses. Thanks to her, I now know that I suffer from a hallucinatory-distorting condition. Finally, I applaud her solution to campus crime: by identifying University violators by their Greek affiliation, we could finally prove that all campus rules are broken by evil, sexist, racist, homophobic and oppressive white males, and kick them off the Walk! Of course, I ignore the logical flaw in her reasoning here, but who cares so long as those slimy date-raping frats leave, right? In light of her fine column, I strongly urge The Daily Pennsylvanian to make her Editor-in-Chief before she finishes her dissertation in History and Sociology of Science and packs her bags. She is a worthy bearer of a fine American tradition. MARK LIBERMAN College '94