Re: Labels are just another form of name calling
After reading your editorial, “Labels are just another form of name-calling,” I can say that I wholeheartedly agree with the statements that you presented. Though any sort of news outlet is going to be somewhat biased by nature, I feel that these sorts of labels are a way to surreptitiously smear whomever they are used against.

As Fox News is the most watched news station in the nation, I feel that the organization has an obligation to uphold its “Fair and Balanced” motto, rather than unfairly speak of “terrorist fist jabs,” lynching parties and other borderline racist remarks while referring to Sen. Barack Obama. The problem with America today is that people will not only blindly accept what they’re told by pundits such as Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, but they’ll also vote for a candidate just because they’re a Republican or Democrat, rather than spending the time to gather up their own opinions and views.

The fact is that you simply cannot lump any one person into one of two extremes, and with the diverse amount of political hot topics ranging from abortion to taxation, people will also vote for someone because he believes in a pro-life doctrine, because he is a Christian or because he reminds the voter of a relative without knowing much more about that candidate. Someone who may be attracted to Sarah Palin’s folksy platform may not agree with, or much less know more about, her stances in regard to the major issues, and the same goes for the other candidates involved in the election.

The sad fact of the matter is that rather than take an active role in deciding who the next president is, the majority of the American public is more than content to listen to what they’re being told by biased, fear-mongering TV pundits. Americans need to base their opinions not on the candidate’s voting record, military service, folksiness or affiliations with radical political activists and preachers, but on what the candidate offers to America should he or she be elected.

This whole liberal/conservative debacle harkens back to McCarthyism and Communist blacklisting, and if we haven’t learned from that, what chance do we have to make the right decisions on Election Day?

Evan Purchell is a freshman majoring in mass communications.