Letters to the Editor

February 14, 2007

Note: These lettere are in response to Lauren Balliet's Feb. 7 article ("Commie tree-huggers too much for some writers").

To the Editor:

In response to an article in the Feb. 7 Collegian entitled “Commie tree-huggers too much for some writers” (p. 6), I would like to respond to the author’s claim that my articles “scream radical politics” at La Salle’s student body. After reading the piece, I was surprisingly happy due to the fact that we live in a nation where a journalist can write anything he or she pleases in the newspaper. I’m an ardent supporter of freedom of the press, for if I was not, I might not have willingly taken up arms to defend that and every other constitutional right while serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army over the last nine years. I might add that one of those years was voluntarily spent in Iraq, which is why, as the author noted, I seem to be very opinionated on the war and our president’s handling of it. So if the author wants to call this war veteran a “commie tree hugger” and state that the “vast majority of readers do not care” about what I have to say, then that is her inalienable right, granted to her by the Constitution. I’m just proud to say I defended her right, my right and everyone else’s right to freely express opinions via the press.

Jesse Hamilton, Senior
hamiltonj3@lasalle.edu

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To the Editor:

The comments about my work published by Lauren Balliet in the Collegian on Feb. 7 (“Commie tree-huggers too much for some writers,” p. 6) call for a response. I am not so thin-skinned as to be offended by attacks on my ideas, or valid criticism of my beliefs or the methods of my writing. I understand that by publishing my ideas, I am opening myself to discourse, scrutiny, criticism and malice. I understand that my views are outside the political mainstream and are liable to generate tension. Rebuttal is welcome; false claims of partisanship are not.

I resent the implication that I am a Democratic partisan, and I think my view of the Democratic Party is clear from my opinion published on Jan. 24. I did not praise the “supposed virtues” of that party, but expressed my dissatisfaction with their performance as the new legislative majority. I think that there is sufficient material in my writing to allow for a meaningful rebuttal by Ms. Balliet or any other interested party. False claims about my views are unprofessional and unnecessary. Further, Ms. Balliet points out that “ideologue” does not carry a positive connotation. My use of the term was meant to concede that impeachment has been seen as a purely political objective of the far left. I regret that Ms. Balliet did not perceive the irony with which I applied the label to myself.

Those interested in learning more about the extensive war profiteering carried on during the Iraq War should read “Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” an article by Richard Cummings, published in “Playboy” on Jan. 16. For information about war profiteering during past wars, see Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, or Eugene Jarecki’s documentary film Why We Fight (2006).

I look forward to continued and vigorous debate between the covers of the Collegian. The Commentary section is most assuredly a place for the expression of political opinions.

Joseph M. Gauger, Freshman
gaugerj1@lasalle.edu

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To the Editor:

Once in a rare while, an article comes along that really moves you. To be exact, it moves your open palm to your face as you smack your own forehead in frustration. Last week’s condemnation of liberals, opinions and liberal opinions, was one such special article.

It’s hard to know where to start with an article so thoroughly un-researched and self-contradictory as Lauren Balliet’s curiously titled article “Commie tree-huggers too much for some writers,” (the Collegian, Feb. 7, p. 6). We should begin with what is perhaps the most jarring part of the article: the cartoon that accompanied it. The doodle features some “anonymous” liberal flapping her trap over some issue or another. Yes, we get the point. Liberals like to protest (well, if conservatives would stop giving us things to protest about…). The point would have gotten across even if the cartoon didn’t suspiciously resemble one of the writers lambasted in the article, namely Francesca Lo Basso.

It’s one thing to attack a person’s views, politics, writing style or so forth, but it’s completely another to draw an unflattering portrait of them for the entire University, reducing political debate and journalism in general on this campus to a nasty back-and-forth between rival third-grade cliques. Simply put, the way Balliet chose to call out the writers Joe Gauger, Jesse Hamilton and Francesca Lo Basso was just immature.

Besides that, Balliet’s slings and arrows were pathetically aimed. She claimed Lo Basso’s articles were uninformed, but had no evidence that this Collegian writer had ever used an untrue fact. She insinuated that Hamilton knows nothing about Iraq, which is just embarrassing for her, frankly, when Hamilton spent time in combat there. But surely, FOX News is a better judge of the war than a veteran.

Even if she was right, the fact is that these writers usually appear in the Commentary section, which is, unless I’m mistaken, for the opinions of the student body—the entire student body. If it appears that all the articles are written by liberal tree-hugging communists, perhaps that’s because there aren’t any conservative tree-slapping fascists sending in their two cents, which is hardly the fault of the Collegian. Personally, I welcome opposing views. Discussion and dialogue can come to progress and understanding, and I think everyone, liberal, conservative, apathetic or undecided, is in favor of intellectual evolution. However, there’s a difference between honest, open sharing and mean-spirited slights reinforcing political and personal divides.

Leyla Eraslan, Senior
eraslanl1@lasalle.edu

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To the Editor:

While I do occasionally dabble in commentary, I’ve never written anything in the Collegian regarding politics.

But after Lauren Balliet’s rambling article last week, I just couldn’t resist.

The main argument in her Feb. 7 column (“Commie tree-huggers too much for some writers,” p. 6) is that there is a “gross imbalance of political opinions” in the Collegian, and that our paper is “bludgeoning [readers] to death with the ‘Impeach Bush’ sign of the La Salle liberal voice.”

A newsflash to Ms. Balliet: there is a gross imbalance in how people feel about this president. The current Gallup poll states that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of President Bush. Less than three weeks ago, Bush had an approval rating of only 28 percent according to a CBS poll. Seems to me that the Collegian is merely reflecting the current environment of this nation, even taking into account the fact that college campuses are historically liberal.

Balliet also criticized Joseph Gauger for proclaiming himself a “leftist ideologue,” stating that “an ideologue is not an especially good thing to be.” Now, has there been any more of a staunch ideologue in recent political memory than President Bush? The man is pushing a war that began under false pretenses, and he refuses to back down, even though a vast majority of the American public thinks his plans are a mistake.

One final note about Balliet’s critical comments of Jesse Hamilton—the guy fought in Iraq. With those kind of brave credentials, even if he’s speaking gibberish, he deserves our ear.

Adam Bagni, Senior
bagnia1@lasalle.edu

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To the Editor:

I am writing in response to a commentary article published entitled “Commie tree-huggers too much for some writers” (Feb. 7, p. 6) by Lauren Balliet. First off, I do have to congratulate Lauren on a well-written article and for pointing out a problem Collegian commentary sometimes has in that the opinion is sometimes imbalanced. This imbalance is no fault of Commentary Editors Mark Costello and Sam Fran Scavuzzo. I can say this being a former Collegian Commentary Editor myself. Rather, it is simply a result of being a college newspaper that takes whatever it can get. If no strong conservative voices present themselves to be writers, then there will be no strong conservative voice in the paper.

My praises end there, however, as I feel Lauren is a bit confused as to the nature of a newspaper commentary article, also known as an “op/ed” article. That somehow there is an unwritten rule that opinion writers, when stating their opinion, are supposed to censor it so as not to reveal their political affiliations. She even goes on to say that professional opinion writers don’t reveal their political persuasion. I have to wonder what newspaper she is reading.

Does anyone doubt that Maureen Dowd votes Democrat? Is anyone confused over whether or not Sean Hannity puts the GOP down on his ticket? When the works of these authors are debated, I don’t think anyone criticizes them for revealing their political affiliation, rather they criticize their talking points.

As a conservative myself, I would have been much happier had Lauren decided to actually write a commentary article or letter to the editor debating the authors in question, rather than pointing out their political beliefs and saying they were wrong to show us them.

And I cannot stress enough that if you are disappointed with the lack of conservative voices at the Collegian, then it’s no one’s fault but the campus’s conservative population for not raising its voice. Traditionally, when the Collegian has strong conservatives to publish, it does so.

I remember one of the first articles I wrote was back during the 2004 election. The Commentary Magazine did a double-page spread with articles by students explaining why they were voting for Kerry on one page, and articles by students explaining why they were voting for Bush on the other. I was on the Bush page, accompanied by two other articles, matching the Kerry voters point-for-point.

So please don’t complain about non-issues like this. Just get to the real meat of the argument. That’s what people pay to read.

That is, if the Collegian was not a free paper.

Patrick Hogan '06