Editor,
I know that the Daily Lobo's editorial pages are generally not a forum for readers to respond to other reader's responses. However, as a human being who doesn't believe in vengeance and retribution as a means to solve violence and terror, I feel it is important to respond to letters like the one written in Friday's Daily Lobo by Felicia Solis-Selman.
According to this writer, patriotism is defined by our willingness to support actions that were undertaken by our elected leaders. Blind, unquestioned allegiance to our country and its leaders is equated with being good Americans. Questioning or disagreeing with these actions is viewed as cowardly and irresponsible. Analogies are given, asking if the Taliban would allow such dissent in Afghanistan, to support their argument.
I am far from being a genius, and am in fact just another American of average intelligence, but I can see the fallacies in this logic. First of all, our country was founded upon the ideas and voices from many lands and cultures. We may not always agree with one another but we are a land of tolerance with many voices that fight to be heard.
Do we really want a country that doesn't allow free expression because it is not the popular one? To compare the policies of dissent in the United States with that of Afghanistan is absurd.
Of course the Taliban would not allow dissent.
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One of the things that makes America great are laws that protect people from disagreeing with our leaders and one another. To illustrate my point let's put the shoe on another foot. Pretend for a moment that Al Gore won the election and responded to the terrorists' attack with diplomacy instead of bombs.
Would it be fair to label anyone who doesn't agree with President Gore's response as anti-American, disillusioned or unintelligent?
Would your disagreement with Gore make you a pathetic loser and a disgrace to our country?
I think a lot of people mistake dissent with the administration's call to arms as siding with the enemy.
I do not know anyone who disagrees with Bush who actually lauds the actions of the terrorists. To disagree with war doesn't mean you side with terror and the murder of innocent civilians.
A true test of democracy is not whether you support George W. or war in Afghanistan. Rather, true democracy is reflected in community involvement, voting and, in some cases, protest.
Doug Flynn
UNM graduate
