Campus ROTC war games simple-minded

To the Daily:
This is in response to the Daily's moment of participation and observation in the recent war games at the University by the Reserve Officer Training Corps (War Games, 02/10/2006) in which soldiers-in-training simulate experiences of discerning ostensibly good "Arabs" from bad ones in simulated Iraqi village settings.

Inasmuch as the U.S. military's actions in Iraq are regarded by many across the United States and the global community as acts of terrorism themselves - for oil or for President Bush's political fortunes - I'm wondering if the Daily would also run a similar story, photos and captions that simulated a similar scenario but in reverse - one in which armed "Arab" freedom fighters weed their way through a typical throng in small-town America in search of American terrorists hiding amidst the "good" townspeople. My hope is that the Daily wouldn't do so, out of recognition of the simple-mindedness and crass stereotyping that it would constitute, or even the general uproar it would raise. My hope is that the Daily would take the time to provide some kind of critical commentary or context.

But it shouldn't take imagining a simulation in reverse to show how the Daily's coverage of the war games itself promotes the fatal stereotype between good and bad Arab that Bush and company push. Or is it the case, perhaps, that the Daily does accept that view of the world, and finds no issue with either its implications or the Daily's uncritical pitching of them?

I suppose, if this were indeed the case, then it would make perfect sense to give the same coverage to the reverse scenario, both for its small part in the larger, noble cause of keeping our "good" citizens alert to the threat of "Arab" attacks on small-town America, and because it just might help real American freedom fighters ("good Americans") escape the clutch of terrorists ("bad Americans") in the event of such an invasion and occupation. Might these be the reasons one detects conscious or unconscious boosterism in the Daily's uncritical coverage of the recent war games?

Vicente Diaz
Professor of Asian/Pacific American Studies

Society does not fully accept interracial relationships

To the Daily:
Regarding David Betts's column, The dialogue of dating (02/14/2006), a dialogue over the issue of interracial dating is an extremely worthy one, particularly because of the issues the author raises regarding its reception. As the daughter of a white woman and a black man, I have seen first-hand that to many, my mother "stole" my father. Getting accosted at grocery stores, stared at in parks and having one's sanity challenged is not at all pleasant. Interracial relationships are an interesting issue and an extremely personal one - not at all "generic," as the author put it. But I do agree with Betts's final sentiment - like who you like, regardless of race.

Jane Coaston
LSA freshman