May 2008

Susannah Kroeber
The last ten days of April were chock full of reminders that the spring flowers have finally heralded in the belated season. Not only did “grass” and other such natural products dominate on what I will term Brown’s Spring Appreciation Day, held annually on 4/20, but in addition Earth Day brought with its festivities New York Times star reporter Thomas Friedman. Being green was the topic of his talk, and Margaree Little ’08.5 and accomplice ensured that the green message was taken as seriously as possibly by kindly presenting him with green pies. Too bad he could not catch them as they flew at his face! Although I am sure free pie must be a traumatic experience for anyone, let us reflect momentarily on the important message that Mr. Friedman taught us by resuming his speech after being so horrifically accosted. I am sure there is some great lesson about dignity and standing up for your cause in the face of such horrible opposition. But all I see is free pie.

Anish K. Mitra ‘10
Earlier this semester, two foolish Darfur protestors, Scott Warren ‘09 and Colin O’Brien ‘10, stood in front of the White House while chanting protest slogans in order to convince President Bush to magically fix the situation in Darfur. While protesting is certainly a patriotic endeavor and the genocide in Darfur is certainly a pressing international issue, this act of “protest” was rather idiotic. After Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Warren were both arrested 15 minutes into their revolutionary act of defiance, Mr. O’Brien was jokingly told he would have to spend one night in jail. In response, Mr. O’Brien was apparently “ready to die.” Wow. Although I admire his activism and interest in this important world issue, I serverely hope he truly wasn’t dreading spending one night in prison. Not that I’ve done time in slammer or anything, but did Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. shudder at the idea of imprisonment for a cause they valued? Did Nelson Mandela kill himself during his 20+ year prison term before he ultimately became President of South Africa? Mr. O’Brien seems passionate enough to get some attention, but when push came to shove (through the form of a joke, no less), he threw his principles and overzealous activism right into the garbage. The funny thing is, even the cop knew he was just another loud, spineless protester.

Sean B. Quigley
With the Pope’s recent visit to the States in mind, I am less than elated — and even shocked — that so many in the Anglo-American world have forgotten why the Pope has traditionally been regarded as the enemy of, and the Roman Catholic Church as incompatible with, the idea of self-rule and a republican form of government. Nearly 320 years ago, the English Protestants “exiled” King James II (some will claim that he willfully abdicated his throne, and others that he alienated his right to rule through tyranny), the last Stuart, as well as the last Roman Catholic, monarch of England. To ensure that papist tyranny would never return, the Declaration of Right was then asserted in convention and later the English Bill of Rights passed in Parliament (with royal assent, constitutionally similar to a presidential signature, granted by King William III, a Protestant from the Netherlands). A century later, the American Founders essentially cribbed each document when writing the Declaration of Independence and later the first ten Amendments of the Constitution (the American Bill of Rights).

We are doomed to see a resurgence (continuance?) of tyranny and the extirpation of our Anglo-American rights and liberties if we neglect the past, and ignore our inheritance. And while I would never want unnecessarily to offend Roman Catholics, with whom I share Christian fellowship, the simple fact of the matter is that the only governments in history ever to protect mankind’s natural rights and to guarantee true liberty have been Protestant in spirit, if not in law. Thus, vote liberty (read: Republican) on November 4th, and burn Guy Fawkes in effigy on November 5th.

Christina Cozzetto
Leave it to Brown students to turn an academic lecture into Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards. Although the possibility that a speaker, at any moment, could be slimed, may up the excitement (and the attendance) at every speaking engagement at Brown, pieing a speaker is essentially the dumbest thing you can do to get your message across. Since Thomas Friedman kept his composure and delivered the lecture, the protesters ended up looking stupid. They also wasted their time plotting this hit-and-run when simply handing out their literature at the door would have been less elaborate and far more effective. And to the activists, just a tip: you also might want to check your literature for spelling errors next time, too.

Kristina M. Kelleher
Time magazine sought to make headlines of its own by unveiling its cover commemorating Earth Day by manipulating the iconic Iwa Jima image into a statement of Green Revolution. Apparently Time has not invested too much energy in the sensitivity training so universally adored by the Left. Of the six Marines captured by Joe Rosenthal’s photograph, three of them, Pfc. Franklin Sousley, Cpl. Harlon Block, and Sgt. Michael Strank, made the ultimate sacrifice for their country on the island before sunset. Veterans groups were right to be angry for the dishonoring of the memories of those who gave their lives in service of our country, in the Second World War and all wars, when Time used that iconic image of patriotism for a political cause. Shame on Time.