Editor:
An open letter to President Thomas Buchanan-
I am very disturbed about the fact that the University has chosen to name the new International Center after former Vice President Richard Cheney. I find this decision to be so inappropriate. I understand that money talks, but putting his name on such a place smacks of hypocrisy. He was not born here and he rarely lives here. I believe that he took up residency again only so that he could run with George Bush in that ill-fated election. A presidential and vice presidential candidate cannot be from the same state.
Doesn’t he already have enough places named after him? Why are so many people in Wyoming so proud of a person who has lied to us, has encouraged us to live in fear and has condoned the use of torture? He certainly has helped to bring down the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world. He just doesn’t seem like a good role model for students.
I believe this to be one more smudge on the reputation of Wyoming; a reputation that is already quite sullied by past events. I am tired of defending Wyoming when I encounter people from “out there in the world.” Cheney, Matthew Shepard's death, the disparity in women and men’s income, to name but a few.
I am all for tolerance and diversity. But I don’t think that naming the building after him really speaks to tolerance and diversity. He appears to value neither.
I graduated from the University of Wyoming in the 1960s. There were certainly a lot of issues at that time. I thought we had come quite a way since. But when a situation such as this arises, I really have to wonder.
I hope that this decision will be rethought and that the Center will be named for someone really deserving of the honor; someone who has been successful in dealing in international matters and has enhanced our position in the world. We don’t have to be first or best but we do have to be principled. We haven’t been that for some time now. Dick Cheney certainly does not merit that honor.
Thank you for your attention to this letter.
Joan S. Borst
Sheridan, Wyo.
Showing posts with label thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thought. Show all posts
Letter to the Editor: Republicans scurry in the darkness
Editor:
When I was a kid we used to chase rats in an old barn down the street. We took rubber hoses and tried to hit them as they scurried though the dimly lit barn. Lousy visibility made it a fairly equal contest. All you could see was a flash of movement and perhaps an eye or black tail as they scurried to safety. Occasionally we got one, but that was rare. It was the thrill of the chase and not the dead rat that mattered.
In many ways, our American institutions are like old barns that makes perfect hiding places for rats. In the corporate darkness, where there is plenty of grain, anything can be stolen and tucked away. Republicans lie and steal because they can and the rewards are great. Greed is important of course, but the real Republican thrill lies in beating someone else to the punch and accumulating enough power for the next scam. Many Republicans are sociopaths without a conscience, so the Republican Party makes a perfect barn. Liars, bullies, and crooks are the norm and even an ideal.
The Republicans are barn rats, while the Democrats are white lab rats. The difference between a Rahm Emmanuel and a Dick Cheney is minimal. Both are paranoid megalomaniacs and sociopaths. You can always hear them scurrying in the darkness.
John Hanks
Laramie, Wyo.
When I was a kid we used to chase rats in an old barn down the street. We took rubber hoses and tried to hit them as they scurried though the dimly lit barn. Lousy visibility made it a fairly equal contest. All you could see was a flash of movement and perhaps an eye or black tail as they scurried to safety. Occasionally we got one, but that was rare. It was the thrill of the chase and not the dead rat that mattered.
In many ways, our American institutions are like old barns that makes perfect hiding places for rats. In the corporate darkness, where there is plenty of grain, anything can be stolen and tucked away. Republicans lie and steal because they can and the rewards are great. Greed is important of course, but the real Republican thrill lies in beating someone else to the punch and accumulating enough power for the next scam. Many Republicans are sociopaths without a conscience, so the Republican Party makes a perfect barn. Liars, bullies, and crooks are the norm and even an ideal.
The Republicans are barn rats, while the Democrats are white lab rats. The difference between a Rahm Emmanuel and a Dick Cheney is minimal. Both are paranoid megalomaniacs and sociopaths. You can always hear them scurrying in the darkness.
John Hanks
Laramie, Wyo.
Letter to the Editor: When the TV is on, freedom of speech stops
TV has destroyed conversation everywhere, and yet it is only through talk that people learn much of anything. Talk, reading, writing, and thinking produce mature individuals capable of comparing and contrasting tastes and ideas. (Talking is most important). Common sense comes from common conversation about things like, "Is the govt. conning us again?", "Is Israel using us to fight its wars?" "Is Capitalism just a matter of making money?" etc. Folk wisdom comes from cliches like: "Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts." "Oh, they must be chatting us up to be suckered again." "All that glitters is not gold" etc. Walk in any room where a TV is on and see how quickly everyone sits down and stares at it, regardless of what is on.
TV is the filthy fish tank that we all have to swim in, whether we watch it or not. Political advertising has been abolished from television in countries that understand how inherently bogus it is. If we did that here, we could shorten our campaigns down to one or two months. If we made our media non-profit, we could kill the profit motive completely and deliver a fatal blow to the idiotic ratings popularity system. Instead of producing programs that appeal to the most ignorant, we should get more programming that meets its own standards of integrity.
Media is not an industry or a public service. It is a racket in which crooks make a fortune from pandering and feeding on human weakness. It is pollution, so why should we ever give it a tip. The more lies the creeps broadcast, the more bribes and rackets they produce. Now American ignorance and weakness is despised all over the world because Americans have allowed themselves to be suckered by idiotic TV.
John Hanks
Laramie, Wyo.
TV is the filthy fish tank that we all have to swim in, whether we watch it or not. Political advertising has been abolished from television in countries that understand how inherently bogus it is. If we did that here, we could shorten our campaigns down to one or two months. If we made our media non-profit, we could kill the profit motive completely and deliver a fatal blow to the idiotic ratings popularity system. Instead of producing programs that appeal to the most ignorant, we should get more programming that meets its own standards of integrity.
Media is not an industry or a public service. It is a racket in which crooks make a fortune from pandering and feeding on human weakness. It is pollution, so why should we ever give it a tip. The more lies the creeps broadcast, the more bribes and rackets they produce. Now American ignorance and weakness is despised all over the world because Americans have allowed themselves to be suckered by idiotic TV.
John Hanks
Laramie, Wyo.
