The "Right" Track

I'm sure that this is one of many responses to the not-so-much-opinion-but-ranting of Dustin Siggins, but what is the point of a student newspaper if you don't get some feedback, right?

The first column that you wrote was just holier-than-thou ranting. You had no idea what you were talking about, and by reading that column, not only did I think you were ignorant, I also thought that you were sheltered enough to never know an overweight person in your entire life. There ARE people who are overweight who DO try very hard to lose weight, or at least stop gaining. I know quite a few of them, actually, and they are very close to me, and I would like YOU to go to these people and tell them what you wrote about in your article, and see what they have to say to you. It was rude, and I was offended. There are very few valid points that you make in the first column, but saying that "I would be willing to bet that, were 99.99% of obese people willing to do the same, our country would be much healthier. Only problem is, that won't happen" is a generalization, which is what the vast majority of your column was. You obviously have NO idea what people who are overweight/obese in this country are thinking, so how DARE you pretend to? People who are overweight are not necessarily lazy and unmotivated to change their situation. It goes a lot deeper than you think it does, and when you only skim the surface of things and make hasty generalizations like that, it makes you look stupid. Think about that before you write something like that.

This week, however, was not much better. Dustin, I find your columns interesting, if for no other reason that they get me more fired up than anything in this paper has in years. I don't consider myself a democrat or a republican. I do, however, consider myself to be politically involved, and I must say that your column makes a mockery of people who think that they have political views, because you obviously do as well; you wouldn't be writing a political column for a student newspaper if you didn't, right? There is just one problem: YOU DON'T WRITE YOUR POLITICAL OPINION. What you write doesn't seem to have ANYTHING to do with politics. Writing a column on why you think people are overweight, as well as what you had for dinner on some random night, has NOTHING to do with politics. Writing about Janet Jackson and how what happened at the Super Bowl is somehow linked that with the Presidential election because of who aired it has NOTHING to do with politics. It does seem to me, however, that it has EVERYTHING to do with dodging the real issues that face the candidates. I would really like to see an entire column on the various issues that you very lightly touched on in the last paragraphs of your column this week.And, just so you know, Kerry is NOT going to win the presidency based on forged documents. His focus has been very little, if at all, on the idea of Dubya's military records being forged (and there are a lot more records than you think there are), and if the debates last Thursday night are any indication of who is going to win this presidency, George W. Bush will sure as HELL not win this presidency for a second term by just beating a dead horse about shifting positions, when Kerry CLEARLY didn't during the debates. And, if there is ANYONE who tries to use 9/11 to his advantage, it's President Bush. If you listened to the debates last night (and i REALLY hope you did, otherwise you have NO right to write a column in this paper, period), you would see that they were talking about foreign policy and homeland security, and all President Bush did was talk about 9/11 and Iraq, and Kerry shifting positions. And about President Bush respecting his opponents, I do agree that that needs to happen. He could start by calling John Kerry something other than "my opponent".

I really hope that you take the idea of a conservative column and run with it, and run far away from the ideas that you have had about what it is supposed to be about. Talk about something actually political, and show what you're made of, and people will get interested. Don't be an empty shirt.

Sincerely, Ryan Rogersrsrogers04@alumni.plymouth.edu