Letters

Pearl’s death pops UCLA bubble After
reading the article about Daniel Pearl’s death, I was
disgusted with myself. I watched throughout the day as students
picked up the Daily Bruin newspaper from various kiosks across
campus. The reactions were all the same. Students rushing to class
stopped to pick up the paper thinking, “Got to have that
crossword puzzle for my boring lecture,” yet after seeing the
headline, “Officials
confirm death of Pearl, son of UCLA professor,” everyone
stopped for a moment, feet planted to the ground. All of a sudden
facial expressions changed, and seriousness set in. Somehow reality
finally hit home. Trapped in our UCLA bubble, we often forget about
or distance ourselves from what is really going on in the world.
Daniel Pearl has been in the back of my mind for some time. I have
a friend in the CIA so I often wonder what dangers he may face, and
it is outrageous that Americans are being held hostage. But despite
all that, before this morning my life revolved around and I was
stressed about my chemistry midterm, selling Mardi Gras tickets for
my sorority, and sympathizing with Michelle Kwan about her bronze
medal. So today, when I saw all those students stop for a moment, I
looked at myself, and at college students in general, with great
sadness. A life has been taken ““ the world is dangerous out
there ““ but most of us only care about our grade. How sad
that is.

Ha N. Tran Fourth-year Biology

Liberals should defend themselves These past
few days I have been very disappointed with my fellow liberals on
campus. I know plenty of you are out there, but recent events have
prompted me to question your dedication. On Tuesday, Feb. 19, I
read in the Daily Bruin a Viewpoint submission titled
“Liberal
dogma corrupts many principles of GOP,” by Scott Latchem.
Latchem bashes liberals in ways we are far too familiar with,
tackling everything from a woman’s right to choose to what he
refers to as “Clinton terrorist-enabling policies.” The
article states that “by voting for Republicans, you
aren’t voting for a party that is against a woman’s
right to choose.” However, this statement is totally false,
given that it is part of the Republican party’s platform that
abortion should not be legal, and has been, for many, used as a
litmus test for electing officials. As for blaming Clinton for the
terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, it is very easy to scapegoat
liberals as being anti-American and the cause of all immorality in
this country. However, the fact remains that during Clinton’s
presidency, the U.S. experienced its longest period of peacetime
and economic prosperity in its history. While I strongly disagreed
with almost all comments Latchem made, it was my attendance at a
lecture featuring author and attorney Ann Coulter that left me most
discouraged. She describes herself as a “conservative
feminist” and the talk was put on by the Republican club. I
attended in hopes that other liberals like myself would show up in
protest to challenge her views, given the topic of the talk was
“Terrorism and its Friends on the Left.” However, as I
sat in a row between a Christian preacher and a Libertarian, I
found the question and answer portion of the talk very
disappointing. As I listened to Coulter criticize the naivete of
college undergrads for supposedly accepting all liberal ideas
without question, I wished more students were there to defend their
beliefs. In fact, Coulter complimented the audience for being the
most supportive of her viewpoints than any college campus she had
been on. If you, like me, are a UCLA student whose views are not
represented by these “compliments,” stand up and say
so.

Shawn Davis First-year Undeclared

Coulter’s speech filled with hate; reports
not While I am wholeheartedly in favor of “fair and
balanced” reporting, the accounts
of Ann Coulter’s recent speech are exasperating. I will
admit that I am not a fan of Coulter, but I attended her speech to
see if her famed hatred could live up to its hype. Her speech,
titled, “Terrorism and its Friends on the Left,”
actually resembled more of a 1936 Nazi rally than something that
one of the modern American political parties would actually
endorse. My favorite venom of Coulter’s was when she stated
that liberals won’t be happy until thousands of American
soldiers are dead as well as later when she admitted that she
supported the minority white government of South Africa.
“Here they were,” she said, “surrounded on all
sides by savages.” Why didn’t your account mention
these highly inflammatory comments made by Coulter? I would hope
that you believe that your readers have a right to know who the
Bruin Republicans are supporting these days.

Rawson Law Stovall Sherman Oaks