The Daily O’Collegian

Dear Editor,

The Big Event represented by Lindsey Pritchard, Michelle Jones, Jill Banzet, Kevin Waldschmidt, Josh Grundmann and Sunil Mathanker worked hard for at least two hours to improve the look of my yard.

May God bless them greatly for giving of themselves to help others.

Sue McGlamery, Stillwater resident

Dear Editor,

I can easily imagine that in 1936, a German who had been in America for quite a while might be unaware of what Hitler’s rule had done to his native country.

Such a German might feel proud of the Berlin Olympics and be indignant with anyone who raised concerns about the rightness of letting a murderous dictator host the Olympic Games.

Perhaps Guo-Ren Zhong is in a similar situation, ill-informed about the evils going on in China and thus angry at those who have concerns about the Tibetans’ plight.

I can only assume that Zhong is out of touch and lacking information. Or perhaps this student has relatives back in China whose safety depends on Zhong writing the kind of letter the Chinese government wants written?

Pressure from Beijing, or else sheer ignorance, are the only two explanations I can think of for a letter like the one in question.

I listened to the Tibetan Buddhist monk Khen Rinpoche on his recent visit to OSU; I have read about the Tibetan protesters who wept while telling foreign reporters about their sufferings under Chinese rule.

The Tibetans’ truths must be heeded. Sad to say, Zhong offers only disinformation.

Randi Eldevik, Associate Professor of English

Dear Editor,

While I applaud the decision to dedicate the issue of The Daily O’Collegian to the remembrance of those who lost their lives on April 16, 2007 in my hometown of Blacksburg, Va., I find the choice of image used to mark the anniversary to be in extremely poor taste.

A page full of bullets? I think a more fitting tribute would be to remember the people who were taken from this world that day, not the physical object that was the means of their demise.

As an alumnus of Virginia Tech and a native of Blacksburg, I am greatly disappointed in this decision to immortalize a series of inanimate objects over a group of people.

Ian McDaniel, graduate teaching assistant

Department of Philosophy

Dear Editor,

I am writing concerning the front page to the Virginia Tech Memorial edition of the O’Colly. The cut-and-pasted “174 Bullets” design is in questionable taste.

Please note that I do not have a problem with the articles calling us to remember the fallen or to listen to the stories of the survivors; however, the front page design sets the wrong tone for the paper.

This design is reminiscent of the photographs Seung-Hui Cho took before his actions one year ago. I do not believe that those associated with the O’Colly want to perpetuate the images and agenda of this confused individual.

I understand that the team working on this edition wanted to shock the student body and produce a quality paper to remember the Virginia Tech tragedy, but they could have been more tactful in their methods. This letter is not meant to rant against an individual or the paper, rather to incite caution to those associated with the O’Colly.

Nick Johnson, civil engineering freshman

Dear Editor,

While reading statements about the Virginia Tech tragedy I was appalled by those made by Dustin Bartling: “I was really mad at that little Chinese guy, or whatever he was, was in our country shooting up our school. It angers you,” he said in the article “Heard around campus.”

I can’t blame people for their inadequacies. A diminished intelligence due to lack of cultural integration and misinformation spread by no doubt racist and bigoted family members and peers is no fault of the O’Colly.

I would like to think that poor Mr. Bartling is purely a victim of circumstance and oversimplification on the matter he so incorrectly referred to.

His statement is a perfect example of how mass conditioning works in this country. In one murky, disjointed sentence, Mr. Bartling demonstrated a) ignorance of the shooter’s actual heritage, which is Korean; b) stereotyping of someone who “looks different” as an outsider and therefore a threat; and c) blind patriotic American finger pointing of minorities to terrorism.

I don’t seek to alter the intelligence levels of the citizens of this country because I know the futility of it.

I gave up long ago trying to educate people who in reality prefer the indoctrinated “flock of sheep” mentality fed to them by the mainstream media.

All I wish to say, is how could you allow so ignorant and hateful a statement be printed? Yes, I know those probably were the exact words out of his mouth, but must you broadcast people’s ignorance?

Statements like this serve as a constant reminder to me of the fact that despite our technological and social advances in this nation, and the superiority we claim as such an elite and intelligent people, far too many Americans are in fact, crude, ignorant, insensitive and out-of-touch with the goings on of this world, and it makes me ashamed.

Shannon Garde, zoology junior