Education not only a right, also a necessity
Re: “State has every right to put flags in classrooms” April 19

For the first time, I thought I would be in agreement with Adam Fowler regarding flags in the classroom. But then he had to go show his ignorance by stating that education was a privilege and not a right.

Adam, an education is a necessity. Try surviving in this society without one. Education has always been considered a right of the majority and not something just for the few. An education was considered necessary for a free people from the earliest days of this country.

From the sort of columns you’ve written, I suspect that you would rather education be reserved for rich, white people and the rest of us be thrown on the wayside.

Education is one of the few remaining things that keeps America from being a totalitarian, abusive hell on Earth where a few rich people have made slaves of the rest of us. With the way President Bush and the Republican party has been going, we’re getting closer and closer to that horrid state every day.

Please, Adam, learn something from the social sciences. Your total lack of understanding of the realities of life in America is appalling.

Robert D. Bowers is a juniormajoring in anthropology.

Both sides to blame for continued violence

On March 31, 2002, I lost my 17-year-old cousin to a Palestinian suicide bombing at the Matzah Restaurant in Haifa, Israel. She, along with my aunt and uncle, was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately could not be saved.

My aunt lost an eye and was severely burnt, but she has recuperated. My uncle was not as fortunate, and he remains in the hospital till this day with literally 1/4 of his head missing. Every day, more and more people are losing their lives as a result of terror, and we continue to point fingers.

I was very frustrated by Hamzah Mubarak’s letter. Yes, Israel’s government, like every other government, has made some horrible decisions, but a government’s duty is to better the individual country and to protect its citizens. We are all humans merely trying to fend for our nations and ourselves. Terror is being fought with more terror. In a world where there is a thin line between good and evil, no one is innocent.

Blaming others will not prevent loss of lives. The Rachel Corrie case is a debated one, not a fact as Hamzah states. There is a continuous controversy over the issue, and it should not be held against the Israeli government until opinions are made facts. Also, Hamzah failed to mention all the Americans that have lost their lives to Palestinian terrorism. At least 53 Americans were murdered and at least another 83 Americans have been injured by Palestinian terrorism since September 13, 1993, when Yasser Arafat “renounced” violence as part of the Oslo Peace Accords.

One has to recognize both sides of a situation before he/she begins to critique. I’m an Israeli who, despite the fact that I have been personally affected by terrorism, still doesn’t hate Palestinians. I support the two-state solution which will give the Palestinians their own country, and I feel bad for Palestinian families related to suicide bombers. Losing a loved one is always painful, no matter what the circumstance.

This is my plea to everyone else that thinks a solution will come from hatred. Instead of placing blame, promote peace. Write an article that shows how far along we’ve come in this peace process, because it’s definitely a lot better now than it has been.

Merav Schlesinger is a seniormajoring in international studies.

“Money not the only important thing
Re: “Optimistic outlook offered by ‘Star Trek’ will be missed” April 18

I enjoyed almost all of Sebastian Meyer’s recent column about the cancellation of Enterprise and the hiatus of the Star Trek franchise by UPN. The only exception was the following line: “I cannot fault UPN for making what they think is the best business decision.”

UPN decided to cancel arguably their one remaining decent show since Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended to funnel that money back into their cesspool of rehashed reality shows and vacuous sitcoms.

As consumers, we are allowed to fault them for that. I tire of the constant mantras intoned by corporate apologists, “They’re in business to make money.” When did business start being about making money? When did that become the prime objective? UPN should be in business to make the best TV they can and enjoy the pleasurable side effect of making money.

When did we lose sight of our passion for creation, wonder and purpose and allow human achievement to become measured by cost and benefit, profit and loss, dollars and cents? I’d say it happened sometime in the ’80s, around the same time people stopped pursuing careers of interest in favor of careers of wealth and started going to college for résumé padding instead of for personal betterment.

As a society we need to wake up and realize these changes to our outlook are not for the better.

Kyle Woodlock is a juniormajoring in computer science.