Letter to the editor

Socialist talk leaves students wondering

On Sept. 12, 2006, a new group on campus called the Socialist Alternative hosted a guest speaker from Ireland to help spread its agenda on campus. I disagree with the notion of Socialism. I feel very strongly that it does not work. However, one of the members from the Socialist Alternative gave me a flier and told me to attend. I always like to hear other people’s perspectives, so I went.

There were roughly 50 students at the meeting. I was very surprised and disappointed when a 25-year-old from Ireland got up and began to speak about Socialism. When I was told there would be a world-renowned expert speaking about the socialist movement, I envisioned a professor from a well-known university.

Don’t get me wrong; he was a very good and interesting speaker. I did not agree with many of his ideas and became more disappointed when he refused to answer questions after his presentation. This gave me the impression that he was not firm in his beliefs and that he did not have credible sources. His main topics were war and the evils of money and capitalism. I had three questions that I really wanted to ask him:

1. Where did you get your information? He had many interesting points, but he did not cite his sources. Being that he was so young, he didn’t have as much credibility with me.

2. How much do you get paid to speak on campuses like ours? To many people this may seem like an inappropriate question that isn’t anyone’s business. However, much of his speech dealt with the evils of making money. He was well dressed, and there is absolutely no way he travels around the world for free.

3. Without mentioning the words “United States” and “Iraq,” what is a socialist’s perspective on war? This person seemed to have a very deep hatred for the U.S. and the Bush administration. Much of his speech dealt with the evils of the Iraq war. I would have like to know what his views about war in general were.

Overall, the speaker was interesting and I was glad that I went, but I really wish he would have been bold enough to answer questions. I feel he owed it to his audience. I spoke with a few other people who attended and they felt the same way.

Eric Bohl
Student