Older people say young people are angry. They think anyone under 30 is angry because they’re ignorant. I think the truth is, the younger we are, the more educated we are, the angrier we are.

That’s right. I said being angry correlates with education.

The truth is, the more I learn, the angrier I get. As I sit in classes and hear the truth about all those myths I’ve been hearing since I was a child, it rattles me. The worst part is, the people who often call others ignorant are doing so out of their own ignorance.

One of my biggest problems is with the slogan “Buy American!” Easy, Seabiscuit. Put down that pen and paper for your letter to the editor and read on before you judge me.

I agree with the concept of buying American. With a growing number of multi-national corporations, downsizing is the way of the future. I know what it’s like to deal with job cuts in the family.

Buying American-made goods helps our own economy. Slow down, though, before you buy everything with an American name because you’re “helping the economy.”

Sometimes to be socially conscious, we must do a little research. Take, for instance, the largest case for buying American: cars.

My boyfriend has been told to buy American because he drives a Honda Accord. He was even told on a visit to the Ford plant that he couldn’t park in their lot with a “foreign” car.

Now let’s examine. Four of every five Hondas (those bastard “foreign” cars) sold in America are made in America and with 90 percent American-manufactured parts. In Ohio alone, Honda has four plants. Nissan, Hyundai and Toyota also manufacture cars in the United States for domestic sales.

Many of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford’s cars are either manufactured abroad or made of foreign-produced parts, especially from Canada and Mexico.

So really, who is giving more jobs to the Americans? Chances are, in manufacturing, it’s the foreign companies. That’s the big stink in the manufacturing process.

What many people don’t realize is that just because the company has its offices and administrative staff in the United States, that doesn’t mean that any other part of the company is located on U.S. soil.

Car companies are far from the only industry outsourcing jobs, especially in manufacturing, while foreign companies are grabbing at the chance to use U.S.-made products as a foothold in our American market.

Now that communication is at the touch of a button on the Internet, companies are expanding and it takes a lot more than an “American name” to tell if the purchase of that product is supporting the American economy.

Like I said, I have no problem with anyone and everyone buying American and supporting our slow economy. In fact, I encourage it.

All I ask is that all of you college students and graduates, and for that matter anyone else, think for a moment before you speak. A college education is a horrible thing to waste on sounding like an idiot.

Don’t let the words coming out sound ignorant. Don’t tell someone driving a CRV most likely made in Marysville, Ohio, to buy American while you’re sitting in your made-in-Canada Hummer.

Kelly Mills is a senior news major and a columnist for the Summer Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].