Letters
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 31, 2002 9:00 p.m.
Bush supporters ignore our evils
President Bush’s State of the Union speech was nothing but
arrogant. His vision is definitely short sighted as he threatens
the entire world with his “Star Wars” game
(“Address
focuses on terrorism,” Daily Bruin, News, Jan 30).
The problem with Bush’s plans is that we’re not
playing a game ““ North Korea, Iraq, Iran and many other
countries will join to fight his arrogant threats. Bush is forcing
other nations to start building war armaments, such as biological
and nuclear weapons, to defend themselves against his “war on
terrorism.”
When he has countless giant corporations, such as Enron, Global
Technologies, Toys ‘R Us and K-Mart filing for bankruptcy
because of low standards in management, greedy, “unethical
dealings” and a bad economy, it is totally irresponsible of
Bush to be threatening the entire world with his twisted ideas of
“an axis of evil.”
Bush, and the millions who support him, should start doing some
thinking. This man preaches for “no killing of unborn
babies” yet he stands so ready to kill tens of thousands of
individuals in foreign lands under the pretense of terrorism?
The statement, “If you want peace, work for
justice,” has never been so clear. President Bush and all his
supporters should focus on working for justice, since the culprit
of all evil resides here, not abroad. Let’s
“unite” and start cleaning our own actions, then we
will never have to worry about the”axis of evil.”
Gloria Dittmer Administrative analyst Chancellor’s
Office
Cheap housing not “˜student
right’
I can’t believe how insulting Evan Okamura’s
proposition is to Westwood property owners (“Access
must include affordable housing,” Viewpoint, Jan. 30).
Okamura believes that we ought to force property owners to lower
rent costs when they are only setting their prices to fit the
market. The government does not pay these owners anything in terms
of updating their apartments, placing ads in newspapers, or hiring
managers to lease apartments.
Westwood property owners are not “exploiting”
students; students are free to live elsewhere and commute. There
are many affordable apartments in Los Angeles ““ if one
bothered to look. No one said Westwood would be a cheap place to
live when students applied for admission.
Forcing rent control will not only harm property owners, it will
also harm students: the shortage will be much worse if the prices
are lower than the market would naturally create. Perhaps this is
one reason areas that impose rent control now have Soviet-style
“waiting lists.” Let’s remember that capitalism
creates surpluses, but this socialist-imposed system will only
result in mass-waiting lists, more students in Palms and
surrounding areas, and causing those other areas’ prices to
jump even higher due to increased demand.
One day I’d like to be a property owner renting to
individuals, and the last thing I’d want are student groups
whining about their supposed rights when they ignore one of the
most sacred ones: the right to property.
Michael Gordon Fourth-year Political
science
Liberals go too far, forget tolerance
It is astonishing how quickly a conservative speaker can be
turned into a “right wing demagogue” by a member of the
supposedly tolerant left. Lital Spiegel’s submission,
“Intimidation
efforts of Horowitz, D’Souza fail“ (Daily Bruin,
Viewpoint, Jan. 29) is dripping with the kind of dogmatism and
name-calling that calls into question the left’s
open-mindedness.
Examples of this skewed mentality are abundant in
Spiegel’s article. For instance, while Spiegel is
enraged that Horowitz referred to Marxist protesters as
“fascists” during the “Rally For America,”
Spiegel has no problem labeling Horowitz a “racist” and
an “apologist for slavery.”
In another fit of name-calling, Spiegel refers to conservative
speaker Dinesh D’ Souza as “sinister.” I can
assure you that these men are neither pro-slavery or sinister
““ they are conservative. But for some liberals, perhaps
conservative means the same thing as “pro-slavery” and
“sinister.” The characterization of Horowitz’s
rally as a “witch-hunt targeting foreign students, immigrants
and black people” certainly makes one question whether some
liberals know the difference.
Horowitz’s conservative view did nothing but add to the
diversity of opinion found at this university. Yet instead of
celebrating this kind of diversity, some liberals find the need to
not only protest the occasion but discredit the conservative
message with unfounded cries of “racism” and
“intimidation.”
In actuality, the most pervasive form of intimidation found on
this campus is the extreme left’s willingness to call an
individual a racist if he or she openly espouses a conservative
ideology. For a left-wing that prides itself on unwavering
tolerance and understanding, it is disheartening to see that some
liberals do not practice what they preach.
Ian Eisner Third-year Political science
