Editor:
At the dedication of the Cheney International Center, former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson seemed to casually dismiss the 100 or so protesters present by saying, “It is easy to second-guess. It is easy to protest, takes no brains.”
I would like to remind Simpson that protest is what this great country is founded upon. Would he have said the same about those old white men who believed it was their “inalienable right” to speak their mind (with no brains) and oppose a tyrannical government? Was it easy for Martin Luther King to march on Washington or students at Kent State in Ohio to protest the Vietnam War?
I respectfully disagree with Simpson’s assessment. Every time someone stands up for what they believe in to those in power, they take a risk. Many of us who protested the Cheney International Center ceremony felt protesting was worth the possible risk of arrest or expulsion from UW.
It was incredible that someone who opposed Dick Cheney and his policies could stand next to someone who supported him without any violence or bloodshed. Sure, maybe today it is easier to protest in the United States, but in so many other countries this right is denied and severely suppressed by the government - we have only to look at recent events in China and Iran as examples.
What is “easy,” Senator Simpson, is for those in power to start unilateral wars, circumvent the Geneva Conventions, subvert the constitution, and authorize torture tactics that violate human rights treaties without any consequences. This is what takes “no brains.”
Dan DePeyer
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyo.
Editor's note: DePeyer is a University of Wyoming graduate student in the international studies program. He began the "UW Students Against the Cheney International Center" Facebook group and was instrumental in organizing the protest against the dedication Sept. 10.
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Letters to the editor are welcome and can be sent to meglanker@gmail.com. Please limit to 500 words. Letters may be edited for length or content - name and phone number are required for submission. No anonymous letters will be published. All opinions expressed here are those of the author and are not those of The Underground unless explicit endorsement is given. Publication does not equal endorsement.
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8 comments:
Leave it to the liberal communists to turn a donation ceremony into a political event. This NEVER was about Cheney's political career, or his war tactics. This was about a Wyoming native donating back to the University he loves. Dan, what the heck does the Geneva convention have to do with a monetary donation to a US university? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Whether you like Cheney or hate him, he still deserves the decency to be respected for the good will of his intentions. I was there, and the comments being shouted by your mob of uneducated miscreants were not demeaning not to former Vice President Cheney or former Senator Simpson, but to yourselves and your cause. If you can't respectfully protest, than it doesn't reflect poorly on them, it reflects poorly on you. You embarrassed yourselves as well as the university yesterday. You demonstrated to the entire university your inability to act maturely and behave civilly. I would expect this level of intellect from a high school student or even a freshman undergrad, but certainly not from someone as "educated" as a graduate student. But I guess I expect too much.
Cheney was a draft evader.
It seems that if any protest Cheney's rouge ways they are branded as a Commie, by those who suck up to Simpson's vile & cowardly antics. How much brains did it take for Cheney to get drunk and flunk out of Yale, and get 5 draft deferments ?
While other young men of his era were in Nam--- its jungles, Cheney was pulling political strings.
To those of you who keep standing up to Simpson, keep on doing what is American, in America.
It was Simpson who is degarding to others, but some can't tell the truth, as their trademark ways are lies, and then twisting things.
Hopefully W U will put up the Simpson tape( Exhibit ONE).
Cheney don't even live, resdie in Wyo, anymore he is a beltway stuck..
That might tell you soemthing ANON, on Cheney, if you are not too dense to graps that.
To commenter #2 -
Unfortunately, I did not have the capacity to film both speeches since I was shooting with a camera and not a camcorder. However, I did work with a documentary filmmaker who filmed the event, so stay tuned. We'll be producing a video of the event.
Wow post #2. Do you understand how to spell? Do you hold a college level education, or do you still live at home with mommy and daddy? Did they spell check this for you? You can't make an argument with somebody and try to sound credible when you can't even do something as elementary as spelling. I think you have done a wonderful job demonstrating what type of idiots we have at this University!
In response to the last comment, personal attacks are not warranted, nor allowed. Not everyone is computer savvy, and not everyone speaks English as a first language.
I understand your point, but this is a place for debate, not calling people idiots because their spelling and grammar skills do not live up to your specifications. I respectfully ask that you do not attack other commentators personally.
Thank you.
Why don't you go back and read. Find where I called him an "idiot" and re post it. I said we have "idiots" at this university, addressing the student body as a whole rather than individually. I simply stated that if you cannot spell, than you cannot be taken seriously. If you cannot do something as elementary as spell, then that means you must not be of college level, much less third grade level, intellect. If you also want to remain fair, why was there no editor's response for post #2's comment of "...if you are not too dense to graps that." (And yes, I quoted the misspelling) Is that not a personal attack? You never will become a credible news reporter, Ms. Lanker, if you do not learn to treat both sides with the same amount of respect, not simply censoring one and not the other. I've noticed a trend the past few years, and that is when a liberal protests, it is patriotic and their duty. (Hence your celebration of the Cheney center protests.) When a conservative protests, they're an angry mob or they're rioters. (Town hall protests.) As poster #2 demonstrated, the left cannot come up with any specific thing they are mad about, as he states, It was Simpson who is degarding to others, but some can't tell the truth, as their trademark ways are lies, and then twisting things." Ok, what about? What is he twisting? Do you even know, or are you just parroting Obama and the wacky left? That's the problem with liberals, they cannot support, with facts and logical reason, their beliefs. People such as poster #2 resort to emotion to defend their position, which is never effective. Protesting is fine, but the disrespectful way it was conducted, reflected poorly on the left.
Since when was this country founded upon protests?? What a twisted, distorted view of reality.
As is typical of so many "activists" you simply want to stir up trouble and criticize people who don't agree with your philosophies. All of your so-called reporting is nothing but a one-sided opinion/commentary designed to degrade the opposition without having to actually support your own position.
Please take a few minutes to read the founding documents. The principles of this country's secession from Great Britain are outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Nowhere does that document mention "protesting" as a foundation for a country.
Read the constitution. This is the Supreme Law of the Land, and as it was ORIGINALLY ratified (thereby laying the foundation of this country) it had absolutely no mention of protesting either. Even when the Bill of Rights amended the Constitution it simply guaranteed the right to free speech (no matter how stupid the words) and the right to peaceably assemble. Those 2 things are separate and very definitive rights, but somehow a few drugged up loonies in the 60's somehow combined them to mean we're supposed to hold up lame signs and shout a lot when there's someone nearby that we don't like?? Idiocy at its finest!!
But even with these stretched meanings, these 2 guaranteed rights are FAR from constituting a whole foundation on which the country was built. Seriously, get a history lesson, and find a real job.
Poster #4 - You're right, that rule needs to apply to everyone. I did not catch the comment you are referring. Thank you for the correction.
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