Editor,
Ryan Rice's letter calling for Richard Berthold's removal has illustrated a very frightening trend. Rice's words are terrifying in their narrow-mindedness, and are based on vilifying stereotypes.
I find it strange that his letter accuses others of hypocrisy just after Mr. Rice says, "I agree that he has the right to free speech ." and then proceeds to call for Professor Berthold's removal anyway.
He also makes a great error in using David Howard as a martyr. Though it is true that David Howard was forced to resign for use of the word "niggardly," Rice makes a couple of rather glaring errors in saying "liberals" are "hypocrites" for going against "an employee of the federal government, like David Howard" but defend Berthold.
First of all, David Howard was an employee of the city of Washington, D.C., not a federal employee. It should be obvious to Mr. Rice that employment has nothing to do with it, as Dr. Berthold also is a government employee.
Also, Mr. Howard is a Democrat, which probably places him in Mr. Rice's narrow definition of "liberal," and it was not "liberals" who forced him to resign, but Washington, D.C. Mayor Andrew Williams, who promptly rehired him.
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I find it disturbing that being a "liberal" is tantamount to being "anti-American" for the purposes of Mr. Rice's views.
Rice, I ask you this; which is more un-American: a desire to defend others against injustice and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, or your desire to take away those freedoms and ignore the very foundation of American society as we know it?
If you silence Richard Berthold, you will shortly find your own words facing the same injustice.
Mr. Rice calls liberals "scum." Rice, "scum" like me protect the American dream from "scum" like you.
It is not your place - or anyone else's - to decide what constitutes "abuse" of free speech. By all appearances, "abuse" could be anything that does not follow your particular viewpoint.
Personally, I am not against retaliatory efforts.
But if such efforts come at the expense of basic freedoms, they become meaningless.
If a single American right is abridged, then the terrorists have already won and we should probably ask England if it will take us back and apologize for all the trouble we have caused it.
Rice asks one great question: "Is this the type of professor we want teaching at our University?"
I have one simple answer to this question . yes.
Juan Carlos Holmes
UNM student
