Letters to the Editor (Editorial Policies)
Posted on November 6, 2006

T-shirts communicate more than meets the eye

In Craig Finkelstein’s editorial about Che Guevara T-shirts, he asks the question: “How is supporting the use of weapons of mass destruction, committing torture and widespread murder different than what Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda attempt to perform?”  Water boarding, an interrogation technique approved by our president and vice-president is clearly defined as torture by Amnesty International. The only country to have ever used a nuclear weapon against another is the United States — twice — killing 200,000 Japanese men, women and children in the process. If you can give me a better definition of using a weapon of mass destruction to commit widespread murder, I’m all ears. Yet I don’t think that he would compare raising an American flag to agreeing with the ideals of Osama Bin Laden, nor should he.

As the American flag does, the Che Guevara T-shirt symbolizes an ideology far beyond what is visible to the naked eye. It represents the idea of standing up against corrupt governments and fighting for the rights and freedoms of an oppressed lower class. It represents a hope for all of the poor and dispossessed people of the world that they do not have to settle for being second-class citizens. It represents the fact that while some see economic equality and fairness as dangerous and evil, others see them as humane and beautiful. It represents much more than the actions of one man, it is an idea bigger than one man could ever be.

Matt Keenan, senior Spanish major

The educated students at JMU still fail to understand poverty

The more years I attend JMU, the more I am disgusted by a belief that many educated students still have of the poor. These are the same people who believe that mental illness is a person’s fault and that racism/sexism/ageism does not exist. These are the people who only see the poor manipulating people into giving them money and refuse to see the people working hard every day of their lives to support themselves and their family. These are also the people who believe that they struggle with money even though they can afford $120 pair of jeans, when the truly poor cannot buy a $5 pair. These are most likely the people whose biggest problems are whether their homework is going to get in the way of their next shopping trip or party schedule.

The small percentage of the poor that do spend their time hassling people for money for whatever reason is somehow overshadowing the large majority of people that desperately need our help. I have seen numerous people working three jobs to barely be able to afford food for their family or the disabled who cannot get a job. Help from the government (Medicaid, food stamps, etc.) takes a long time to get and it is extremely hard to qualify. There are many reasons why you could consider a person’s situation their fault; however, none of them work when you put into account biology, psychology and their environment. So before you snub your million-dollar nose at them, hear their story, find out what wonderful people they are, and realize they are just people who for whatever reason need our help.

Kimberly Caylor, senior social work major