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Greetings:<br><br>
My WSU colleague in the thinking arts has asked me to post this for
him. He's tried to no avail to join the Vision, but he seems to be
having computer problems. He expects to be on by next
week.<br><br>
Thanks to Tom Hansen for posting my letter to the editor from yesterday’s
Moscow-Pullman Daily (8/17/05). <br><br>
I wanted to say a few things related to another item, also appearing in
yesterday’s paper: a news article entitled “Moscow’s NSA hit with
Nazi-oriented graffiti.” <br><br>
The article says that NSA President Roy Atwood “speculates the incident
stemmed from an opinion piece that ran in a regional newspaper last
week.” Hansen has a link to Dale Courtney's blog, Right Mind, where a
similar accusation is made. And in a previous thread of vision 20/20
Donovan Arnold carries the charge even further: “Well Mr. Hansen, your
website is finally doing what you intended it to do. You should be proud
of yourself along with Saundra and Rose. Just look at what bigotry,
ignorance and intolerance can do. What wonderful followers you have. At
what point will you stop and leave people alone, before or after some kid
going to NSA gets hurt?”<br><br>
First, we can all agree that there is no place for vandalism and I hope
that the police do make a complete and full investigation of the matter,
as Hansen suggests. That said, it is worth pointing out that the graffiti
in question was written in CHALK. This seems to be very far removed from
any situation where “some kid going to NSA gets hurt.” Of course, that
doesn't make the act any less loathsome.<br><br>
Furthermore, it is absurd to suggest that there is some causal connection
between an op-ed piece and an act of vandalism. In is far more likely
(though no less absurd) to suggest that the vandal was inspired more
directly, by reading “Slavery as it Was” or the most recent edition of
“Credenda Agenda.” I can promise you, too, that as soon as the folks at
NSA and Christ Church stop writing their nonsense, my critical comments
will cease. But not until then.<br><br>
Lastly, Atwood, Courtney, and Arnold would be better off trying to find
intelligent responses to their critics, rather than more creative ways to
silence them.<br><br>
Joe Campbell<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=2>"The god you worship is the god you
deserve."<br>
~~ Joseph Campbell<br><br>
"Abstract truth has no value unless it incarnates in human beings
who represent it, by proving their readiness to die for it."<br>
--Mohandas Gandhi<br><br>
"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any system cannot
be discovered by dividing it into its component parts and studying each
part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the whole and on
the interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our
intellectual life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between science,
religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of its
various parts." --Ma</font><font size=1>x Planck<br><br>
</font>Nicholas F. Gier<br>
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho<br>
1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843<br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm" eudora="autourl">http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm</a><br>
208-882-9212/FAX 885-8950<br>
President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO<br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm" eudora="autourl">http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm</a><br><br>
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