Practice respectful listening
Protesters at Monday night’s panel on affirmative action did themselves no favors by behaving like children throwing a tantrum (“Critiquing affirmative action,” News, Nov. 6).
While the panelists attempted to calmly give their thoughts on the subject they had been invited to discuss, protesters booed, hissed, shouted comments, refusing even to listen to what was said. During the Q&A period, one protester monopolized the microphone for a lengthy, barely intelligible rant.
Ironically, her tirade was directed at the one panelist who was on her side (which she would have realized had she paid any attention to what was said).
Even after the microphone was cut off, she continued to shout. All the while, security hired to prevent such disruptions stood by and did nothing, while the moderator and panelists repeatedly asked the protesters to behave themselves.
Is UCLA supposed to be a forum for the reasoned discussion of ideas or simply a staging ground for whichever gang shouts the loudest to prevent ideas they dislike from being discussed at all? Why should a bunch of angry hooligans be allowed to stop those of us who want to discuss ideas rationally from doing so?
This kind of behavior is completely unacceptable, especially from university students. Throwing tantrums does not get you candy when you are 2, and it does not get people to take you seriously when you are 22. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Sara Triplett
UCLA Class of 2006
Timing should not hinder genocide label
I am writing in response to Abbie Tingstad’s article “U.S. should not risk losing Turkey as valuable ally” (Viewpoint, Nov. 5).
She states, “There is no doubt that the recognition of genocide worldwide serves as an important collective warning against future offenses. But was the timing right in this case?”
I’d like to ask, when is the right time? For 92 years, Armenians have been dispersed throughout the world, fighting for recognition and confirmation that the memories of all who perished in 1915 have not been in vain.
Tingstad cites Turkey’s role as a United States ally in the war in Iraq, yet she chooses to forget how Turkey would not allow U.S. troops the use of Incirlik Air Base at the start of the war in 2003. Turkey is an erratic ally at best, and one who has its own self-interest at heart.
There’s never going to be a right time. When was the time right for the United States to recognize that the Germans had in fact annihilated the Jews? When did timing begin to dictate when it is OK to act morally and historically responsible?
This resolution is a purely symbolic gesture, which would give peace to hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in the United States as a result of the genocide. What saddens me most is how the main issue is no longer the passing of the Armenian genocide bill, but how this resolution has become a political pawn in a dangerous game of chess.
Sareen Kellzi
Third-year, biochemistry
Laptops are not the only things stolen
Laptop theft might be a huge problem at UCLA (“Laptop theft a campus issue,” News, Nov. 6), but I think the campus should turn its attention to my bagel that was stolen this morning. Around 10:30 a.m. at LuValle Commons, I put my bagel into the toaster. I then stepped away to grab a knife for my cream cheese and when I returned, I found my bagel missing.
Five seconds was all it took. Maybe Godines’ quote should have read: “Don’t leave your laptop or valuable property or bagel unattended, not even for a second.”
Hannah Lewis
Second-year, economics