To the Editor: Wow, compliments to Dan Fishback ("From the trenches of our childhood," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 3/26/01). His remarks are the most truthful and inspiring of any I have read anywhere. Psychobabble has not led the way to help in any of our world's major problems, including the violence in American schools. I totally agree with Fishback up until his solution. The media is not the answer. It is too heavily laden with "images" and "lies" to ever offer hope to our children or our adults. The world we live in must become authentic before the media will ever be brave enough to reflect authenticity. The only hope I see is in the unique individual's strength. Dan did not give himself credit for his own emotional strength and his own choice in dealing with his feelings. The truth is, we all feel the same way, inadequate and insecure, even if we are the prom queen or the football hero. We can either act out our feelings by picking up a gun and shooting someone for real, or we can express our real feelings by writing, drawing or simply by admitting them to ourselves. The mass murders are not the ones who have expressed their feelings. They are the ones who have inhibited, denied and repressed their feelings. Thanks Dan.
Doris Jeanette Director, Center for the New Psychology
To the Editor: This letter is in response to Melissa Byrne's comments about the Nomination and Election Committee's recent selection of the InterFraternity Council to hold a seat on the University Council ("Men are overrepresented," DP, 3/30/01). She comments that, "The original selection pool seemed to have some of the best and brightest organizations at Penn applying to serve Penn," and goes on to insinuate that the IFC is not one of them. She also belittles the principles upon which fraternity life is based -- like scholarship, brotherhood, and leadership -- stating that they are simply a guise. How can she intelligently comment on something that she is not a part of and clearly knows nothing about? It's ironic that Byrne uses "elite" in her criticism of the IFC and its member fraternities. It is her, by advocating that her University Honor Council membership makes her more moral and ethical than Greeks, that brings division to this campus. I only hope that Byrne's uninformed letter was the result of misdirected emotions and that she is truly not that stereotypical and shallow.
Mark Zimring College '02
The writer is president of the InterFraternity Council.
