[Vision2020] Good Old Climate

[amy smoucha]

Wow Nate.  If you get a few more computer skills, you can make violins play 
during emails such as this one.  Is it rhetoric you teach, or possibly 
(melo)drama?

In particular, that clear connection you've drawn between those who disagree 
with your father's ideas & writings and the actions of the vandals is, well, 
brilliant and remarkably insightful.  In addition, I appreciate the skillful 
way you've demonstrated that those of us who talk of tolerance and diversity 
are truly hypocrites.  Your message clearly shows that we are intolerant of 
all Christians and, in fact, advocate vandalism against property that 
belongs to Christians.  And you offer us infallible simplicity--Christ 
Church members are victims of hatred and persection, while the church 
contributes only Christian Charity and goodwill to the community.  Your 
thesis is so lucid and  well-supported, skirting anecdote in favor of hard 
facts, and your argument so complete--how could anyone disagree with you?

I did learn some writing skills from you, however--sarcasm and irony.  Too 
bad those writing tools are not the best devices for my message--nor for 
yours.

Amy Smoucha

----Original Message Follows----
From: Nate Wilson <natewilson@moscow.com>
To: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Good Old Climate
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 12:05:36 -0800

Dear People with Perfect Vision,
Farewell. I have been lingering on this list for only one reason. So that, 
at the end of the Christmas season, I might give you a final tally of 
vandalism at New St. Andrews College. In my capacity as freshman Rhetoric 
instructor (a position for which Dr. Gier finds me wildly inadequate) I 
volunteered to become the official Christmas light fellow (a position for 
which even Dr. Gier must admit I have superb academic qualifications). The 
first instance of vandalism occured only two and a half hours after the 
first lights had been hung, and before completion. Approximately three weeks 
later the lights have been vandalized more than ten times with between 
seventy and eighty strands of lights damaged, destroyed, or stolen (a graph 
Mr. Courtney, please). Throughout the season damaged strands were repaired, 
or replaced only to be once again vandalized.
    Now before everyone piles on in unanimous condemnation of such actions, 
I would like to come to the defense of the vandals. Apparently, they have 
the courage of their convictions. Some people have enough guts to type a 
snippy missive to this forum. Others have the courage to pay two dollars to 
add their names to a list of people who don't like us. But the particular 
war party that cracked their knuckles and got to work on the NSA Christmas 
lights last night had enough courage of their convictions to actually risk a 
felony vandal charge. Of course some people, who are always able to grasp 
the main point at hand, will now object to my usage of the insensitive 
phrase 'war party' but back to the issue at hand. I admire people who, when 
they say 'Not in Our Town', really mean it. People who want to do what they 
can to make us miserable here. People who are actually willing to admit that 
they think it illiberal for anyone to let us have Christmas lights.
    Of course the fracas of the last few months has had more than a few 
ironies. Tolerance and diversity gurus have successfully created a climate 
in which UI students feel free to vandalize the property of Christians. In 
fact I'm curious if there have actually been any businesses downtown, beyond 
"Christ Church Affiliates" that have been vandalized in the last few months. 
In normal circumstances I would suspect such acts of kindness to be more 
truly random. But lately, vandals have seemed more discriminating in their 
tastes: multi racial businesses and a Christian college. At this point I 
would like to invite Mr. Fox to insinuate that I tore down our own Christmas 
lights in an attempt to grab some attention. After all, I have Jewish blood, 
and we do that sort of thing. I would like to invite Andreas to wink, wink, 
nudge, nudge, insuate something about anti-semitism and Christ Church. If 
Wossname Graden would like to bring up the fact that we will most likely be 
contributing to the murder of homosexuals, now would be the time. Mr. 
London, I think asking the City Council to make it officially open season on 
Christ Church members is an excellent idea with historic precedent in any 
number of foreign countries throughout the last century.
    But perhaps the greatest irony of all (even more ironic than Raul 
Sanchez and people on this list using the words, tolerance, diversity, 
theocracy, or research) came when members of the GSA explained, in informal 
conversation, that Dean and Toni Helleckson, part owners of  Bucer's 
Coffeehouse, were actually bigoted racists because they adopted Haitian 
children. You see, they were saying that life in white American culture is 
superior to life in black Haitian orphanage culture. And then they imposed 
that view on helpless children.
    That's what we've come to. Ideas grip. A climate of hatred is created. 
Lights torn down, multi-racial businesses vandalized, official unpopularity 
lists, and we're told that we're the threat. People are scared. We're 
dangerous. You ought to have us put-down because we might bite the mailman.
    To finally wrap things up, I'm glad we bring meaning and purpose to your 
lives. That's what we're here for. Cheers.

NDW

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