To the Editor:
I just finished reading the staff editorial for the February 19 issue, “RPI not isolated bubble…” and found it so infuriating that I had to write something in rebuttal. Here the author seems to imply that those of us who haven’t spoken out by going to a peace protest somewhere or supporting the military are “1920s isolationists” who are sticking their heads in the sand and should “think about the world around them for once.” From what I see, the author’s definitions of having an opinion on the issue and being apathetic are seriously out of whack. Furthermore, the author insisting that we “just have an opinion” is a dangerous statement when lives are at stake and most people don’t have enough information to make a well thought opinion.
The author says there is a “small segment of campus that is active and involved,” and that there is a large mass of students “who would be content to … pretend all of this isn’t happening.” What in the world makes the author think that all those who haven’t joined the activities of this “small segment” have no opinion on world affairs? Let me tell you where I’m coming from. I take 20 credits a semester, which translates into a lot of schoolwork. Even if you’re not like me, you might be in various sports teams or clubs, or have a part-time job to pay tuition. What I know is that with my schedule I don’t have much time to join a club that tries to mimic the political parties and maybe it’s just not what I’m interested in. As for joining political demonstrations, what if I have a major assignment to be done on the night of a school protest, or have class during the protest, or I don’t know about the protest because I live in Quad and the only advertisements were flyers on the footbridge—which I never cross on weekdays. Do these circumstances mean I don’t have opinions and am apathetic? Of course not! I’m against a war. I know people in reserves or inactive military that will be put on the front line if there’s a war—high school teachers, and fathers and uncles of friends. It’s also possible that I could be drafted in the future.
If the author really expects to be able to know the opinions of the majority of people on campus, I’d like to see his surveys, or his website poll, or something to suggest that he actually asked for our opinions. I may not have huge social networks, but there is nobody that I know that does not have some kind of opinion on the Iraq issue. Oh, and speaking of surveys, in my statistics class this semester I’ve read the statistics from the freshman surveys that compare RPI students to other college students. We are not “among the most apathetic campuses in the nation”; the results on political involvement are pretty insignificant. We’re either five percent less involved or three more more involved than the average depending on the colleges you compare us to, so he should stop making such exaggerated generalizations.
Before I close, I like to note that it’s OK not to have a strong opinion on an issue like this. Arguments on whether to go to war are often based on subjective moral issues and wishful speculation on the outcome while many important facts are classified. In situations like this, it can be better to suspend judgment instead of filing into a “black or white, yes or no” camp if you don’t have good reason—thank you, Methods of Reasoning class. I don’t disagree that we need to stay in touch with the world; I just don’t think it’s fair to the RPI students to have to receive such an unsubstantiated harangue.
Tom Dubeck
ITEC ’05
