In his letter, "Liberals lack ability think for themselves," Nov. 15, Mark Clairmont said, "I have no problem with them being liberal, but I do have a problem with the way they bash conservatism every time a conservative idea is discussed. This doesn't help anything but the further alienation of conservative students." The irony behind this statement is unbelievable.

Throughout the entire letter, Clairmont bashed the ideas of what he has classified as a liberal individual simply because they didn't fit his ideas. I think this has been said before, but respect is a two-way street. Perhaps so-called liberals are bashing conservatives because they are tired of being called communists and other idiotic jargon. When are people going to realize that just because others don't agree with your particular philosophy, it doesn't mean they are wrong? It certainly doesn't warrant being rude.

Throwing around words and brushing people off as being merely "liberal" or "communist" or even being called on the other side a "right wing extremist" doesn't make a person right, it just makes them condescending and annoying. The people who do this are only alienating themselves, and both sides are guilty of it.