In response to Meredith Walker’s Sept. 26 letter to the editor, “Islam: a not so peaceful religion.”
I wish to address the ignorance, which surfaced in The State Press on Thursday. It is astounding and confounding to see firsthand the level of shortsighted, narrow-minded thinking that persists not only on this campus, but across America.
The writer of Thursday’s letter makes the assumption that all people who follow Islam are the same, a falsity anyone can see. The writer of that letter has not only neglected the vast majority of those who follow Islam and are peaceful, but in one letter neglected both history and circumstance. For it was not so long ago that Christians were in arms constantly, and it is still the case today that radicals within Christianity exist. And one does not have to search arduously to find examples of radicals in Judaism, or the hate, which emanates from radicals of any nature. As for circumstance, the writer has neglected the fact that the video is not only inaccurate, but is in fact incredibly offensive. Not to mention, the lack of recognition on the writers part of the peaceful protests and of those who came out and defended the video makers right to free speech i.e. President Barack Obama in his U.N. address Tuesday.
I may not like the words of Thursday’s letter writer, but they have every right to say them, because counter to their claims, freedom of speech is not under attack in America. The only things under attack it seems are reason, understanding, and the need for fact-checking.
Zachary Heth
Undergraduate
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Read our Editorial Board's letter here. Read a collection of responses to Meredith Walker's Sept. 26 letter here.
