Columnist should stop making absurd connections

Amie Fenwick
senior political journalism major

Dear Editor:

I'm writing in response to the Daily Egyptian column, "The new vegetarianism," by Brian Smith.

To begin, I want to clarify that Webster's Dictionary defines patriotism as "a love of, and devotion to, one's country; the passion which inspires one to serve his country."

It is not, as Smith tries to argue, "America first, above all others." It is the passion to create a country out of the will of the people, and if the people want to protest, so be it. No one is calling protesters patriotic; protesters are simply performing, as a functioning democracy would have them behave. They are doing their duty - yes, their duty - to express their vision for their country. And Smith ought to hesitate before declaring that protesters are not brave; I don't know when the last time he stood face to face with armed opponents, but it is not something to be treated lightly.

Nor are Liberals "desperate to be considered as such." Far from it. Being labeled patriotic will not guarantee any Democrat a successful campaign, and many Democrats that I know would vehemently disagree with such an accusation. This seems, rather, to be a desire Smith is projecting onto his opponents - as imaginary, perhaps, as his carnivorous vegetarians.

Smith must be careful in painting such a faulty parallel between his fictitious meat-eating vegetarians and his Liberal patriots. Smith's patriot appears bigoted; he appears to be someone who puts a nation's economic success before the desire of the people. Liberals are not trying to redefine patriotism but to refocus it: we were not a country designed to dominate other nations, no matter the cost of our "success." We were a country designed out of the visions of its founders, and patriots loved their country, which must include the dissenters as well as the moralizing zealots. When the warmonger parading as a patriot can remember what it means to love one's country in a broader sense - along with remembering the objective definition of patriotism - the Liberals will no longer be accused of trying to redefine patriotism.

And Smith can stop making absurd connections between Liberals and meat-eaters.

Amie Fenwick,

senior political journalism major, Bennington College, Bennington, Vt.

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