Letters to the Editor

Everything seems to bother somebody

In response to Michelle Colvin’s letter to the editor, I feel I must explain myself since obviously my point was not made clear.

First of all, there is an “us” and “them.” The “us” is society as a whole, and “we” society, should allow “them,” the homosexuals in our society, to have the exact same rights as everyone else, i.e. “us.”

Of course I did not do that on purpose; it never occurred to me that a person could take such offense to a simple pronoun.

Second, I did not compare gay marriage to dogs or furniture. Other people have made the argument that if you allow gay marriage and in the past, if you allowed interracial marriage, it would lead to people marrying their dogs or furniture. The point was those fears and arguments are as stupid and groundless now as they were fifty years ago.

Finally the snake thing, my point was just because something makes people uncomfortable, like a snake, or gay marriage or interracial adoption it does not mean it should be banned or outlawed. If we made everything that makes people uncomfortable illegal, nothing would be allowed, because everything seems to bother somebody.

In defense of John and myself, your feeling that certain people should not be allowed to procreate is referred to as eugenics, practiced in the United States until 1970 in the form of forced sterilization and in Nazi Germany in the 1940s through genocide. Some ideas should be left to die in the past.

Brandon Hamilton
biology, senior

Procreation, not possible for everyone

I agree with Michelle Colvin that procreation is not possible for everyone. Some lack functioning sexual organs, non-compatible sexual organs or simply don’t want to have children. Even though she tries to dismiss my point by missing it totally.

My point focused simply on the institution of marriage and how it came about.

Of course we all know that 100 percent of marriages will not result in producing children. What I stated was a general understanding of the results of a marriage between a man and a woman. Individual cases do not invalidate my point.

There can be millions of specific reasons why people can’t have children, but in general the majority of marriages can and do procreate.

Human rights! Everyone has the right to marry, just someone of the opposite sex. Remember, there is Civil Unions and Domestic Partners already in effect in California.

Michelle, Brandon Hamilton was trying to equate race with behavior. The misunderstanding on Brandon’s part was that race and behavior are equal and the logical conclusion from that false assumption was if it was wrong to deny interracial marriage then it is wrong to deny same-sex marriage as well. Again, as a civilized society we have provided alternatives that fit the bill.

This is a complex moral issue with far ranging effects on society and does not deserve quick flippant answers. As I stated before, please present arguments and not personal attacks.

John Lo
graduate studies

Too much apathy

There’s definite apathy on campus.

We have a huge problem among the youth of today. That problem is apathy. There are always going to be exceptional students, but looking around I see students concerned only with getting the newest technology or that cool car.

As students we have no problem looking into the future when it comes to purchasing material goods.

However, as far as long-term planning the youth of today may or may not care about the failure of social security, but the environment has also been largely ignored by our generation.

Older generations have left the problem to us, while we seem to think someone else will take care of it for us. In the meantime we are faced with the reality of diminishing resources.

There is a group of students organization at Fresno State who are putting on an event to raise awareness about the environment and our need for alternate transportation.

We are a group of students who care enough to do something about our world and we would love if you could join us on Oct. 20th for B-Day. We want you to get out of your cars and ride your bikes to school or work.

As students we need to start taking responsibility for our planet and we hope this event will spark that.

This is not just a once in a lifetime event, but instead should be implemented on a daily basis.

It should be B-Day everyday.

Angelique Pearce
history, senior

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