Are Liberal Opinions the Only Ones That Matter?

Are Liberal Opinions the Only Ones That Matter?

I was truly puzzled when I read Erin Price’s letter in the May 1 Progressive-Journal. I reread my article about the Virginia Tech murders again, but I could not understand her reaction to my article. I spoke of grieving parents and friends of the victims. I mentioned the spate of school shootings during the last ten years. I, like the rest of the country, discussed my views on gun control. I did make a comment about what Cho had written on his arm (“Ismail Ax”), but nothing that should have set off such a tirade. I mentioned immigration at the end of the article. Maybe that comment wasn’t germane, but it made as much sense as Linda Hansen’s (Erin Price’s mother) article which blamed the murders on the “hate speech” of Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and others. There was never any indication that Cho ever listened to any of the columnists or radio personalities mentioned.

I was accused of using “hate speech” by Ms. Price and her mother, yet I never called anyone names or used sarcasm as they did in their attacks on me. Ms. Price even compared me to the Nazis, which qualifies as “inflammatory rhetoric.” I wonder if she really knew what she was saying. Nazis were socialists who kept control by military means, murder, and torture. Hitler killed over six million Jews, in addition to anyone else considered to be of an inferior race, or anyone who tried to help them. Her words were straight out of MoveOn’s playbook. They made two attack advertisements portraying President George Bush as Hitler. The ads were condemned by prominent Jews. As I have always supported Israel, I would doubt that Jewish people would think of me as a Hitler any more than they thought of Bush as one.

Ms. Hansen used quotes around the words “to steal our jobs,” implying that the words came from my article. She misquoted me. I said, “Maybe we should be concerned about people immigrating here other than Hispanics. After all, they just want jobs; others coming across our borders want to kill us.” The difference is that I said that Hispanics want jobs, not “our jobs.” They mainly take jobs that other Americans don’t want. I also did not say that all other immigrants want to kill us. Some of them do. It’s a fact. I believe that it is “intellectually lazy” to misquote other people to punch up your attack. Liberals eviscerate anyone with an opinion that strays from their point of view. Conservatives are to lose their First Amendment rights (freedom of speech) along with their Second Amendment rights (the right to bear arms).

Ms. Price makes much of the granite stone set up in Cho’s memory with the memorials set up for his 32 victims. She speaks of the forgiveness of some of the letters. In fact, not all of the letters were forgiving, and the stone for Cho was gone by the time the students returned to school. None of us have the right to forgive Cho. Only those whose family members were killed, and God, have the right to forgive him. It’s not up to us to determine how the families should react.

After professor Nikki Giovanni refused to teach Cho, professor Lucinda Roy told campus police and administrators about his antisocial behavior and violent writing, and a second coed complained that Cho was stalking her, he was detained and taken to Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health for a court-ordered examination. The examiner found that Cho “denies suicidal ideations. He does not acknowledge symptoms of a thought disorder. His insight and judgment are normal.” The magistrate freed Cho without ordering the involuntary commitment which would have prevented him from buying the guns used to murder 32 innocent people. Had Cho not killed himself, he would have been judged fit to stand trial. Because he is dead, he is called mentally ill. I think that any mass murderer would qualify for the label “disturbed,” but the label does not excuse the crime. Nobody could have been sicker than Jeffrey Dahmer, yet he stood trial and was convicted.

I believe that Ms. Hansen and her daughter think that I use “hate speech,” but that they don’t. It doesn’t seem that way to me. I just wasn’t feeling the love during the past week as I was thinking about the terrible things that had been said about me. Believe it or not, liberals are not the only ones with feelings.