RHA block party an inconvenience
This letter is in regard to a certain RHA block party that currently is being held outside of my dorm room. I should be studying, since I have a test early tomorrow morning in a class I don’t understand all too well. However, since this party has started two hours ago, my windows have not stopped rattling and people have not stopped screaming outside my window. I understand school can be stressful and this activity and others like it that are sponsored by the RHA, or any other school-affiliated organization, are meant to give students a break from the pressures of college, but is it really necessary to do this on a school night? In the middle of four dorms with people studying in them on desks that are vibrating from the music outside? I don’t want to sound like a mom here, but this is ridiculous.
Don’t get me wrong; I myself would be down there if it weren’t for my test. I think it’s a wonderful thing for the school to do for all of us that work so very hard to make the grade, but for me, making “the grade” on my test tomorrow is going to be quite difficult since I can’t study with the My-Ears-Are-Bleeding-fest outside.
And I know that I have an option to go anywhere else on campus to study, but I’m more than tad bit wary about a certain psychotic man outside killing people to cross the campus by myself to go to the library. I could also drive to a friend’s apartment off campus, which I would do if I didn’t have to move my car from the horseshoe to a spot 15 minutes away because of this same block party.
Bottom line: If this were on a Friday or Saturday, all would be well, but come on … some of us here actually go to school, and we actually have class tomorrow. So please, when planning further activities for the students, keep the concerns of the students in mind, or at least keep the noise down.
Lauren Duhon
Sophomore — Biological Sciences
Refuting criticism of anti-war protests
Ms. Galjour’s article on the lack of support for our troops misses the point. She says that those against the war should not protest in order to show support for our soldiers doing their duty for the United States. Yes, they are doing their duty; they are fulfilling their obligations to our nation to carry out the will of our government. For that, they have everyone’s utmost support. However, simply because someone protests the war doesn’t mean they don’t support our troops. I, for one, am against the war. I grew up on a military base, and my father was in the U.S. Army for 20 years, serving time both in Germany and Korea. I am supporting our troops for both that and because they are fulfilling their duty and for much more.
Does all this support I have for our troops mean that I should not protest an act of war by my government that I disagree with? NO! Simply because our troops need our full support doesn’t mean that the nation or even individual citizens should sacrifice their moral beliefs or obligation to political activism just to make a few soldiers feel more comfortable about fighting a war that might be unjust.
Ms. Galjour references WWII. Let’s imagine that we are in Germany on the eve of war. Let’s pretend we don’t like Hitler or the Nazis, but our brother is in the Wehrmacht. Should we not protest the invasion of Poland, France, Africa, the assault on Britain, and the wholesale slaughtering of Jews, Gypsies, the mentally deficient, Ukrainians, etc., simply because we want brother Hans to feel a little bit better about pulling the trigger? Ms. Galjour’s logic would have us all screaming “heil Hitler,” and building the Thousand Year Reich on a foundation of graves.
So, before you frown at protesters because they aren’t supporting our troops, think about whether or not they are protesting a war or our troops and what would happen if they weren’t there to voice opposition.
Michael El Koub
Junior — History/German
War protesters are anti-American
What is this? We go to war with Iraq, our military is fighting, soldiers are dying, and the front cover of Friday’s paper is about war protesters gaining support? I have seen hardly any coverage of this war in The Reveille, and this crap makes the front cover? Can we please have something about the people who actually support this nation and have a clue about what is going on? These war protesters are not so much anti-war as they are anti-America. We are liberating an oppressed people, and they cry about it. Why don’t they go live there for awhile, see how they like it? They wouldn’t have the opportunity to protest a war. If you do not love this country and will not respect it, you need to get the hell out. Thank God our leaders have the courage to stand up and do what is right, and will not bow to ignorant, anti-American idiots.
Jeremy George
Freshman — History
War will disarm Iraq, benefit Iraqis
In the front page story of today’s issue of The Reveille (March 21), a quote from one of the protestors shows that she clearly has no understanding of the current situation. The Reveille attributes her as saying that “she doesn’t understand how killing innocent people is a justified means to get a person’s political points of view across.”
Perhaps this is more appropriately said of Saddam Hussein.
In the past two decades, he has killed far more “innocent people” than the American military will in the current operation. Who exactly are these “innocent people” anyway? Civilians? Of course. Iraqi conscripts? No, but they’ll probably surrender faster than the French anyway. The Republican Guard (which more resembles the Praetorian Guard of Rome than our own National Guard)? Certainly not. So it appears that the innocent in Iraq are the unarmed civilians, women, children and the old and infirm.
How many of them will be targeted by an American laser guided bomb? The answer is clearly not one. They pose no threat, and are the very same people that we are trying to liberate. Has the anti-war movement remembered nothing from Afghanistan? We were flooded with predictions of millions dead and mass famine. How many innocent Afghanis were killed during the ousting of the Taliban? Less than 1000, and those primarily due to the cowardly tactic of placing military resources in civilian areas. At the same time the Taliban and Al Qaeda were being eliminated, more than 2.1 million humanitarian rations were dropped to feed the people of Afghanistan.
The simple fact of the matter is that the United States seeks to avoid civilian casualties in any conflict. Regrettably, some civilians will probably be killed before this is all over. However that is not a reason to rule out this war. In the end, Iraq will be disarmed and the Iraqi people will be freed from the despotic autocrat who has slaughtered them in droves. Few innocent people will be killed, and both Iraq and the United States will become safer, better places to live. God grant us victory.
Eddie Gaston
Freshman — Geography
Americans should support the troops
An opinionated group we are. The great thing about this country we live in is our freedom! Freedom to express our opinions, freedom to vote, and the freedom to stand on whatever side of the fence we care enough to. I felt a little nauseated in class Friday as I sat down to read of all the anti-war protesting that is taking place. I’ve seen various pictures of ralliers in other countries burning U.S. flags and hurling stones at our embassies. It churns my insides almost as much, if not more to see our own citizens taking part in similar activities. I am not pro-war and violence, but I am Pro-United States of America, and that includes the decisions of our elected staff to enforce necessary measures on others in the event of protecting my life, liberty, and property. Yet, we did not send our men and women thousands of miles away with only our interest in mind, or we would have kept them home. They have been deployed to the aid of a desperate people in need of liberation. How much can we help our troops finish what they have already been sent to do by We are the flagship nation of the World, we have set the bar high in the past, and are continuing to do the same today exhibited by our current situation. We are sending a message to all the slithering Hitlers, bin Ladens, and Husseins that there is someone in this world who will not tolerate their insolence. If I were to be called upon tomorrow, I would be honored to fight for you. And so I am left only with one burning question, what side of the fence are you on LSU? Baton Rouge? Louisiana? United States? and good people of the Earth? Godspeed Freedom’s Ring!
Jeremy Farque
Junior — General Studies