Letters to the Editor

Mislabeled rubbish

To the Editor:

The proof that we have not yet reached the "end of irony" is that David Horowitz is worried that someone might mistake him for a liberal, anti-war activist.

The ugly subtext of the screed that Horowitz aired in the The Daily Pennsylvanian on Thursday is that we should be ashamed to try (or even to want) to understand the causes of the events that occurred in New York City and in Washington earlier this month -- events which are universally regarded as having confused and bewildered the entire nation. Anyone fortunate enough to have experienced a university education should be offended by that argument and by its insidious corollary: that people who conclude that violence is an inadequate response to violence are, perforce, "enemies within."

Reasonable people will disagree about the motives and the propriety of a military response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But in my opinion, it is essential that every member of an academic community like ours -- conservative and moderate as well as liberal -- encourage reflection and tolerate dissent about recent events; defend the civil liberties of our most inflexible antagonists; and with one voice loudly reject the poisonous McCarthyite rubbish that Horowitz misrepresents as patriotism.

Sean Keilen

Assistant Professor of English

Beyond the mainstream To the Editor:

Ariel Horn's column ("Enlightenment -- found in Vietnam," DP, 9/26/07) was patronizing, imperialist and racist. Horn needs to take her own advice of not "blindly accept[ing] what you're taught. Ask questions."

Clearly the museum she describes is biased, and rightly so for a country that experienced so much horror as a result of American imperialism. The museum is biased just as our textbooks, our professors and our media are biased. Ms. Horn's mother has been led to believe that "we were the `freedom fighters,' who came to promote democracy." No such thing was the case. The U.S.-supported Saigon government was not a democracy, and the northern party enjoyed tremendous popular support of the majority of Vietnamese, in both the North and South.

Who are we, as Americans, to decide what form of government (or even lack therein) is suitable for a country half the world away? That's imperialism -- the selfish imposition of one government's values upon foreign peoples.

Furthermore, Ms. Horn's comparison of Ngiam to "an indignant student" suggests that she, as the uninformed colored person, is in an inferior position to speak of the affairs of her own country as opposed to Ms. Horn's mother, the "professor."

I suggest that Ms. Horn think more critically about her attitudes and experiences, and try getting her information from not just mainstream sources of history and current events.

Daniel Ohlemiller

College '05

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