It is not fair to call people stupid because they play video games and eat junk

Dear Editor:

This is in regards to Elliott Cramer’s “Learning from others’ stupidity.”

It is clear that Mr. Cramer is a photo illustration major, and not a proclaimed journalist, because of his unorganized and poorly written article about how stupid underclassmen are. I would like to point out that Cramer also was an underclassman at some time in his life, so if he likes to insult himself, that’s entirely up to him. Secondly, his article shifts from talking about how stupid underclassmen are to sarcastically putting down the FOX News channel and our president of the United States. Yet, his only reason for underclassmen being “stupid” is that they play video games and eat too much junk food. Those are hardly legitimate reasons to label someone as being stupid.

FOX News is a credited news station, and if he does not like the content, or feels it is too right-winged for his liking (which I assume is the case) then simply don’t watch it. For the people who do watch FOX News, kudos because they obviously know not to take everything at face value when watching the news. As far as Cramer’s other thoughts on gay marriage and the war in Iraq, I find it comical that his only defense for people being stupid is that they don’t have the same opinions on those issues as him. In fact, the only thing his article does prove is his ignorance for not being able to see both sides to an argument.

Being an upperclassman, I’m surprised that Cramer has not yet learned the idea of being open-minded. He needs to understand that you don’t judge people or their intelligence because of their difference in opinion. If people do that, like Cramer, then they must be pretty “stupid.”

Abby Stiegemeier

Sophomore exploratory major

Four students were shot, and university should remember

Dear Editor:

In the four years that I have attended this university, I have never failed to be amazed with its students and their opinions about May 4. Each year I hear the same old thing — nobody cares, that was 35 years ago. Tensions were running high, people were not thinking or acting rationally, things happened.

When I hear people try to explain everything away, I just can’t begin to get past the fact that lives were lost. These kids weren’t soldiers on war-torn, foreign soil. They were on peaceful, American university soil. I am amazed that people don’t find it all that important to remember that four kids our age were shot at school one day. They didn’t take their semester exams. They didn’t get to say good-bye to their roommates for the summer. They didn’t get to attend the end of the year party. They got to be buried.

They would never get to see graduation. They would never get to experience the career they worked so hard for, and most importantly, they would never get to see their families again. Two kids lost their lives standing for something they believed in and two lost their lives on the way to class. We can argue and debate over whether or not the guardsmen were told to open fire, but the bottom line is that they did open fire and on no less than unarmed students.

We should remember the lives lost that day. This is our history, and if we are not careful, it could be our future.

Athena Abood

Senior justice studies and psychology major