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Show Letters to THE EdiTol Question the candidate! Editor: Once again the campus is embroiled in a p. battle for elected offices. Candidates display j ideas, qualifications and dependability by J smiling pictures and catchy slogans. Is it anyi so few turn out at the polls when candidates at accessible to most students for candid and cot-hensive cot-hensive interviews? The clinical nature and a-1 sphere of a "debate" between candidates at:1 in the Union ballroom before a dozen speetat hardly adequate. "j This year, in an effort to allow students tot; lenge presidential candidates on issues, prepara-are prepara-are being made for a late night, off-campus'1 frontation. Ample time and appropriate atao? . for frank and controversial discussion will j able to all students who have an interest it! sponsible, representative government. BOB BECKMAN 1 ' 1 ELLIOTT WILUAJt t JEFF WINSTON, j i Defend free atmospheri Editor: The University must encourage a free and it; sible atmosphere in which all positions on tt tellectual and political spectrum are repress v In such an atmosphere the students, faculty; h community will be most likely to arrive at as, c justified intellectual opinions. Such an atmoss li will allow each person to state, defend and it, r his opinions in light of responsible and etfe 0 criticism. As J. S. Mill argued, it is in st: j. free atmosphere that the true opinions are: p likely to emerge and the false opinions tf p shown to be counterfeit. ; 0 Wake up, Dibble Editor: A gross contradiction appeared in Jon Dibble's letter on Dick Gregory. Mr. Dibble states, "For me, a university is a community where both sides of an issue can be presented." Next he says, "Mr. Gregory Greg-ory not only offended me, but he hurt the Univer sity." Is Mr Dibble aware that the language and sentiments senti-ments expressed by Dick Gregory are the same ideas and words expressed dally by millions of ghetto blacks in this country? These blacks comprise at least one-half of this nation's racial issue. The real world is just off campus, Dibble. STEVE EBERHARD. Naive reaction Editor: I expected Dick Gregory's recent appearance to arouse the naive kind of reaction expressed by Jon Dibble in his letter to the Editor, "I Was Offended." Dibble had every right to be offended not by Mr. Gregory's language, which was very relevant to the subjects he discussed but by the honesty with which Mr. Gregory criticized social conditions. I hope that the rest of those present were not so naive as to be otffended by individual words, but had the intellectual intellec-tual perception to realize the validity of Mr. Greg-oory's Greg-oory's language in its context. Dibble reflects two important aspects of Salt Lake society which are largely responsible for the out-of-date social attitudes existing today. First of all, his sense of moral priorities is backwards: the quality of Mr. Gregory's speech is not based on his use of common words which Mr. Dibble finds offensive, offen-sive, but on what Mr. Gregory actually had to say. Dibble must think that the use of the word "damn" in public is a more heinous crime than racial discrimination. dis-crimination. The other aspect illustrated in Dibble's letter is his closed-minded intolerance of opinions other than his own. To use Mr. Gregory's choice of words to invalidate his criticism is a cowardly method of debate. If you, Dibble, did not agree with Mr. Gregory's Greg-ory's language in its context. thers, then you should present a relevant argument rather than condemn his opinion because of his language. lan-guage. MARK SP1GARELLI. Some of the critics of President Jams e Fletcher and tile University would deny alleged: 11 icals like Robert Welch and Jerry Rubin the: e to express their opinions. If these critics are ft- ' that the opinions of Welch and Rubin are fab : 0 they should be more than willing to have the: a posed and falsified in a public form. Such a e tion would also strengthen the position of thee By denying persons the right to express fe e think are false or absurd views, we deny ever the educational benefit that Is derived from a; lie refutation of the position. Such a refutaticc ' also strengthen those true opinions that areci;. of withstanding the test of rational criticism. If the opinions of a Welch or a Rubin arti (I then let them be exposed as such by rational: e: cism rather than silenced by censorship. Thepf a; who wants to deny someone the right to free!; ci press his political opinions usually wants to prs N his own views by eliminating all opposition. s tl tactics are characteristic of the thought conb: ic find in some totalitarian systems. The decent: ir pie of the state of Utah desire the freedom to; n: uate opinions and ideas on their merits. Pre; c; Fletcher and the University should continue: in fend the free atmosphere which is necessaryfc p critical evaluation to take place. WILLIAM M. WHKNB Department of Phil Letters rules Letters should be addressed to the editor,-1 Utah Chronicle, Union Bldg. Letters of any will be accepted; however, a length of not -than 250 words is preferred. Because of sp tations, shorter letters may often receive p Letters will not be printed if libelous and thee-reserve thee-reserve the right to cut or edit them. L come the property of the Chronicle upon rec For the Associated Students of the Unh-Utah Unh-Utah (ASUU) final elections, the Chronicler-candidate Chronicler-candidate and four for the presidential. Shortj only one letter for each board and vice Pr ; receive first priority. No letter over 100 vvoi accepted. Only a maximum of three sign a letter. Signers must include their security se-curity number, relationship to the Univa8' telephone number. Deadline is Monday n i i Missed the point Editor: I would like to make comment on the letter that was written by Jon Dibble on April 2. I feel, Dibble, that you have missed the point of Mi Gregory's informative and stimulating talk. You are more worried about "damn's" instead of the important challenge Mr. Gregory set forth in his talk. He spoke the truth about the problems facing us youths as controllers of destiny. He presented a challenge to us of overcoming the prejudices and narrow, money-minded thinking of our parents. He stated that we as whites have an obligation to the blacks and the Indians of this nation. That obligation obliga-tion is to treat them as human beings. In our society today there isn't the true freedom of speech, assembly, as-sembly, etc., that is propagandized to us when we are just starting our educational careers. We are all human beings and must love and honor each other accordingly. I feel, Dibble, that you are the one who is offensive offen-sive to the University. You have to be able to see the reasons why Mr. Gregory used the "obscenities" you said he did. You must be able to see that language lan-guage is our basic communication. AH words must be taken and formed into a point. Mr. Gregory made that point. He and I are damn sick and tired of this nation preaching democracy when it doesn't even have democracy. Mr. Gregory neither insulted the University, the Mormon Church nor anyone. I suggest you forget about obscenity and learn to understand the human race. GABY VAN NELSON. |