I will admit, I did not ever think I would write in to the editor. But a recent column titled “Let’s all be total jerks” by Loren Balhorn (Nov. 24) left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I could not stop myself. The gist of the article was that it’s OK to be intolerant of those that oppose one’s political agenda.

I’m an engineer, not a sociologist, but it seems to me that creating polarized intolerance and resentment is not going to be the best route at getting people to be more accepting of a currently marginalized group. You might get lucky and change a law or two, but it will only end up deepening the rift of animosity between the two sides, which is the real obstacle in any movement for civil rights.

Hypocrisy annoys me. Balhorn claims that Nazis should be chastised for being outside the social norm, but claims that opposing gays for the same reason runs counter to humanist values. He went out to protest the police protection of these Nazis who were exercising their free speech, a basic human right, because some of them might have beaten up someone else at some point.

I do not like Nazis. Their ideology is a drain on society, but returning violence and hatred with violence and hatred isn’t a very 21st Century way of behaving. And this cycle will continue to self-perpetuate so long as people are intolerant of each other. Because when you says things like, “… but as far as I am concerned, the more uncomfortable the forces of the right feel in our country, the better we are doing,” it says two things about yourself. You first prove to be a force that perpetuates the cycles of hatred and revenge, and second, you make the arrogant statement that nearly 50 percent of the people in the U.S. do not qualify for their political rights on the basis of disagreeing with you.

-PHILIP GOINSMcCormick sophomore