I am responding to the recent columns attacking President Bush and his views on going to war with Iraq.

It is in journalistic bad taste to make sweeping, generalized statements and assumptions, such as State News columnist TJ Jourian’s “Dubya is evil” statement regarding his foreign policy (“Voices not always meant to be heard, listening works just fine” SN 9/12).

Not only does the opinion appear ignorant in its generalization and lack any kind of factual reasoning as to why Bush is evil, its intentions can sometimes backfire, too.

Remember what happened to “Politically Incorrect” Bill Maher after he called America’s military actions in Afghanistan cowardly?

No amount of back peddling or clarifications could save him and although his political credibility was far from respected before, it became non-existent afterward as well did his show.

One of the key elements to a good political debate is the notion that a person’s argument is only as good as the facts and evidence that support it, which means people have to put aside their biases to get the whole story in order to strengthen their own opinions and make them credible.

I would encourage State News columnists to keep in mind the idea of professionalism and not fanaticism.

Katie Martin
English junior