To the Editor:
In "Counter-Protests Insulting" (Letter to the Editor, Oct. 11), the members of the "Minus Green" write the following: "There is a fundamental difference between a protest for peace and a counter-protest for war -- the latter being a gratuitous display of callousness which flagrantly disrespects the sanctity of human life." Their assertion that a protest for a peaceful strategy and a counter-protest against such a strategy are necessarily qualitatively different is absurd and propagandist.
You cannot deny the fact that we are where we are today, living in a free and democratic country, in some part because of those individuals laying down their lives -- because of war.
You are doing yourself an intellectual disservice if you unilaterally condemn war (and any group of individuals mobilized in support of war) and simultaneously benefit every day from what war has brought this country. You don't have to love war, but as an American you ought not to fully condemn it. But, alas, you can condemn it because we've got a handy little thing called the First Amendment. Guess what? We fought the Revolutionary War to gain our independence, which allowed us to ratify the Constitution and then the Bill of Rights! Ironic, isn't it?
Members of the "Minus Green," I applaud your effort to bring about a discourse in which peace is considered as a viable option. I applaud your commitment to forcing people to truly consider the implications of their positions. These are laudable exercises. But please, cut the self-righteousness.
While you may not be callous in your cries for peace and while the Dartmouth counter-protesters probably were, your letter just proves you are guilty of a far greater sin in a country as free as ours and on a campus as intellectually rich as Dartmouth's: ignorance. I challenge you to interrogate your history and privilege before you rant about the callous disregard for human life that provides you with the very freedom to do so.
