Letters to the Editor

UPAC write-in will work to spend your money

There are many factors that shape the news and determine what version of an event makes it to the public. Among the myriad of processes there is one not quite as complicated as the others, it is the use of outright lies. An example of this news filter can be found in Monday’s article "Protesters say ‘no’ to beef."

Every possible attempt was made to disregard and misrepresent the protest of the Beef Expo. The number of students and members of the community involved in the demonstration was underestimated by about 50 percent. A quote that I never said was attributed to me. Furthermore, it was stated that it was "decided recently to protest," leading readers to believe this was a fly-by-night operation when in fact two months of planning went into the demonstration.

Although a lengthy interview was given explaining the goal of the rally and a description of the injustices committed by the beef industry, the article said we had no actual agenda. Adversely, an interview with a representative of the Beef Expo was included in detail. There was a quote from a student who disagreed with our position, while many students who watched in support were denied representation. The article said we merely "waved signs at cars," but there was no mention of the educational brochures we distributed to fellow students as well as to members of the Beef Expo.

When we do not agree with something it is easy to criticize and to consider it laughable.

However, as a journalist it is one’s duty to tell the facts of an event, not an account of what one would like to have seen. The author misrepresented the actions and intentions of the protesters.

Robyn Stephens
senior-sociology

The udder-adorned protesters of the Beef Expo must feel that they accomplished a great deal for their cause. Obviously, they are the only ones. In reality, the display promoting vegetarianism proved nothing to the students, the community or the beef industry, but it did get some laughs.

This ludicrous protest lacked all credibility from the start. Onlookers watched in amusement as some group members paraded across campus in cow costumes, while others brandished posters displaying overused vegetarian slogans. Rather than attempting to provide us with an original perspective of vegetarianism, we were once again presented with their trite views, characteristic of many members of our herbivorous student body.

"Meat is murder. Eat your veggies, not your friends." Blah, blah, blah. There was never any indication of the purpose of the protest. What was the point? Ultimately, the students were highly uneducated about the beef industry and probably have been misled concerning other meat industries as a result of their involvement with irresponsible and dishonest organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The students were ill-informed about the Expo, and I would guess that they probably never even made an attempt to be informed at all. The Beef Expo was simply a convenient outlet for their unoriginal viewpoints.

You live in a country founded upon agriculture that includes the beef industry, you attend college in a state that is based economically upon agriculture and closest to home, you attend a nationally recognized university founded upon agriculture. If you don’t want to eat meat, that’s fine. But maybe you should look at what the meat industry has done for you before you attack it.

Seth Eaton

junior-animal bioscience

Letrell Crittenden’s column on March 29 lacked historical perspective. He wrote, "Coming out of a year of scandal, dissonance and unproductiveness, we need to focus on our issues. At this point, Americans are not ready to endure another major crisis."

What kind of an excuse is that? Francois Mitterrand had a mistress for years and still led France’s governing body. I don’t know to what dissonance Crittenden refers, and regarding lack of production, the United States is experiencing its biggest economic boom since the 1950s.

The focus now is also on Eastern Europe. Undoubtedly, the Europeans should have punished Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadic several years ago, when the murder of the innocents began in Yugoslavia. Europe has shown it learned nothing from the Holocaust. As a naturalized U.S. citizen, I am proud my government is taking a proactive stance to punish the dictatorial murderers of Yugoslavia and prevent more extermination of innocent people.

Crittenden closed his column by writing, "I truly would like to help the Albanians. But right now, the stakes are too high." Nonsense. You don’t wait for the fire to spread through the house before sending in the firefighters, just as you don’t wait for millions to die before attacking their victimizers. I urge Crittenden and those who share his reluctance to act to consider what an Englishman said many decades ago, "All that is necessary for evil to rule the world is for a few good men to stand by and do nothing."

Sahar Oz
Class of 1998