Professor Abraham’s article in our campus’s paper was disturbing. He spoke the same language as the ignorant Republicans who blindly follow President Bush.
While the nation has been led into a terrible war, some are being led to believe the Bush Institute stands for academic diversity. His references to terrorism are illogical, claiming that “we will run away and let terrorists kill Baptists at Baylor.” What does that mean, and how does it fit into this argument?
Do not insult me by trying to tug at my pathos with the word “terrorist.” Do not link my personal safety, the safety of my peers and the safety of our country to the issue of the Bush Library. It is disgusting.
How can independent thought thrive when a conservative think tank is operating on our campus? The same people who have made our world a dangerous place now want to spread their lies from a building at SMU!
These are the same people who funded the Taliban, funded Hussein’s army, the same party that sent my friends to war only to make America into one of the world’s most targeted and hated nations.
Our nation has the power to become anything its people demand. We could spend our money hunting down Osama bin Laden, but do the conservatives remember him? He was the guy who planned the attacks on our country. Do I sound like a flower-holding hippie to ignorant conservatives when I say we must track down bin Laden at all costs? Am I a radical for expressing the notion that toppling the regime in Iraq was a complete diversion from trapping the man who killed thousands of Americans?
President Bush has ruined our nation’s image, created a new generation of terrorists, left bin Laden to do as he pleases, lied to the country only so his generals can fail in a war with no point, and then, just so Bush can obtain the status of comic-book- style evil genius, he pushes for a 20,000 troop surge into the Iraq mess. This is a move that goes against everyone’s opinion and intelligence, as 20,000 families will now have a loved one fighting in Iraq. Why are my peers dying in Iraq? Will the Bush Institute tell me that? Can the think tank ponder that question for me, and explain why we are fueling a fire by adding more troops?
Maybe Professor Webber or Abraham can work at the Bush Institute and tell me why my peers, people my age, are dying. They will say, “to make America safe, to defend my freedoms.” That is a lie, and it is sickening to hear because people are being sent to war under that lie.
America is worse off now than we were when Sept. 11 happened, and how does the attack on a nation incapable of even defeating Israel, Iran or its own minority population pose any threat to my freedom? They had no WMDs (that was just the growing deception in conservative politics of lying to my face) and they had no intercontinental missiles.
Professor Abraham threw around the themes of religion with ease – an act common for conservatives – and while I live my life in accordance with your religious rules by following the guidelines of moral ethics, the Bushes and their conservative followers wallow in lies, sexual filth, greed and violence of the worst kind.
So again, spare us your rhetoric; your use of religion, terrorism, freedom, independence and all the other terms I hear conservatives say but never act on to fight for the Bush Library. It is not only irrational, but dishonest.
If you want academic independence, you do not build a Republican propaganda machine on your campus.
It is simple. If you want a safe country, you learn the facts and ignore those who use terms I cherish to describe something so horrible as rationalizing a war.
About the writer:
Matthew Haley is a senior English major. He can be reached at [email protected].
