Dear Editor: I was disturbed by the contents of an article entitled “Protest show liberals’ arrogance” by Julia Bainbridge, publised in the March 24 edition. The article shows several misinterpretations. First of all, most protesters around the nation are not against the nation as a whole, but against the present government’s policies.
Julia writes:
“What I don’t like is the mindless anti-American, hate-Bush, hate-America, we’re-all-bad kind of nonsense such as always emerges in crowds at times like these (particularly crowds full of leftists, whose default mode seems to always be protesting against us). ”
I haven’t seen a single banner, a single pamphlet, or anyone shouting “I hate America” during the war protests. Naming a crowd as being “full of leftists” is not only an absurd generalization but also an example of political profiling, so inadequate in a society where the freedom of political choice is granted by the Constitution. It is intriguing that, to Julia’s view, the “crowd of leftists” is protesting “against us”. Us who? aren’t they part of “us”, that is, a component of our society?
Also, I believe that saying that protests are “giving comfort to the enemy” is indeed a corupted vision of the real purpose of anti-war demonstrations. No one is cheering for Saddam, or standing on the Iraqi side, nor anyone is in favor of the use of weapons of mass destruction. I am affraid that “speed[ing] the war to a successful conclusion,” something Julia advocates for, may cause even more civilian casualties than what both countries can afford. Furthermore, a “successful” outcome for this war may be pursued by the present administration just as a political tool for reelection.
Jorge Grossmann CFA 2003 Doctoral Candidate, Music Composition 617.567-1547
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