I'd like to shift gears this week and talk about what I see as a growing problem on this campus and nationwide.
As my readers may know, some of the things I write are controversial. While I'm sure many who read my columns agree with vigor, there are many who disagree with equal or greater vigor.
After a column of mine is printed, there is often a good bit of response, both by blitz and through letters to the editor. I enjoy debating these issues when they arise as responses to my editorials. Unfortunately, a debate is the last thing I get from many dissenters.
The very people who claim to be open-minded, hate-free members of society close their minds to anything I say and make it into a personal rather than an ideological battle.
I would think people would welcome dissenting opinions, because dissenting opinions lead to debate and debate leads to thinking. After all, what are we here for?
When I receive a blitz from someone who doesn't agree with me, I enjoy reading and considering their views. In fact, some of these blitzes have made me reform my views a bit! But the recent responses have been anything but ideological debate. The senders of the blitzes decided that my opinions were not only wrong, but stupid as well.
Look, folks, my opinions, no matter how extreme some may be, are 1) not written in stone; and 2) solely ideological. While I may consider some views as extremist, I do not disavow the individuals who express them.
If these individuals are so anxious to convince me that my thinking is wrong, then I can't understand why they resort to name-calling and other irrational things. While they do throw rationality into some of their statements, it is so drowned in personal attacks and irrationality that I can hardly pick it out.
I see this a lot on campus and even from some of our nation's most respected politicians. I want to get the point across that because someone holds a certain view, they are not automatically stupid or unimportant.
We should not close our minds to any viewpoint. Even if you don't agree with someone, you should give them the respect to listen to them and consider what they say. Yes, some groups are very radical and have very extreme views (i.e. the Ku Klux Klan, Operation Rescue), but even they, as far out of the norms as they are, don't deserve to be personally attacked.
Because, as far as I have been able to tell, the best way to stamp out an extremist viewpoint is to treat it as such and not dwell on it -- just as I have dropped the subject of radical feminism (we hope).