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The absurdity of Texas troopers defending the place of world change | Letters

Published

2 months ago

on

Austin American-Statesman

I am German and I’ve been living here for 20 years. I will forever feel incredibly ashamed for the Holocaust – that will never change, and I share this thinking with my three kids, who all attended UT.

Still, I strongly support the UT students’ protest for the Palestine people. They absolutely need to be able to have their voices heard.

How appalled am I to see the place, where “what starts here changes the world,” behaving in such a extremely overstated reaction to peaceful protest. What a trauma for young people, whom we want to entrust our future.

I applaud the Statesman on the photo on Metro and State – a line of troopers in riot gear defending the place of world change. The absurdity could not be expressed more clearly.

I’m beyond sad.

Henrike Belz, Austin

The Gaza horror calls for teach-ins,

not student demonstrations at UT

The horrific complexity that is Gaza calls for teach-ins rather than protests. Dr. Amy Gutmann, former president of the University of Pennsylvania, says a university’s main goal is to graduate “students who can act in a well-informed way to benefit society,” and she’s right.

No doubt the protesters believe they can halt the casualties. Some accuse Israel of being a colonial occupier bent on genocide. Some chants are clearly antisemitic since they call for the destruction of Israel.

Obviously, some universities have not only failed to teach their students this region’s history but also have not taught them to temper impassioned rhetoric with logic.

Colonial occupiers have mother countries. Israel does not. Defending one’s country from terrorists is not genocide.Universities can model the intellectual rigor that demands considering all perspectives before proposing ethical solutions. Might that approach finally lead to a just peace in the Middle East?

Barbara Chiarello, Austin

Protesters are calling for cease-fire

yet they are labeled pro-Palestine

I am old enough to remember the first free speech area designated at UT Austin. It was a time when my generation was invested in ending the Vietnam war. Legions of our friends died in a war not ours. Today a new generation confronts a war that is historically tribal and killing thousands of innocents in Gaza. This is not our war.

The students are calling for a ceasefire yet are consistently being called pro-Palestine. I believe the substance of the protest is being mischaracterized by the media. This lack of discernment only increases the splitting in the collective.

Jan Carlson, Austin

The protests are a feel-good exercise.

But there are other ways to be useful.

I’ve been watching the protests on TV, it’s unavoidable. It’s also pointless. Nothing will come of them but it’s kind of a feel-good exercise for the participants. Beats doing anything useful. I can see the conversation down the road. “What did you do in the war, daddy?” “Well, I marched around the campus with a sign and shouted obscenities.”

But if you’re really concerned, there are a lot of organizations aiding the refugees and they all need volunteers. It’s a lot harder and more dangerous but if you’re really concerned, step up.

Robert Haggard, Austin

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