Worst Person in America

There are so many things going wrong in the US today how can I possibly know who is the worst person in America?? Well it's easy. When there is no grey area like there is in the whole Iraq thing, or Hillary Clinton's ability to tell the truth, or medicare reform...then you can easily tell. And today the worst person in America is the Editor of the University of Arizona, Wildcat newspaper, Ms Hornick. Here is the "cartoon" that Ms Hornick thought was so funny it should be published.
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7197356&nav=HMO6

And here is my response which I sent to the local MSNBC station in Tuscon, Senator John McCain, the local Anti-Defamation league, the Dean of Students, and Ms Hornick herself. Since bigotry is cowardice, I don't expect Ms Hornick to reply to my letter but I hope that I can push the Uof A to do something.

Dear Sirs:
I am writing today to discuss the Topmiller cartoon you had the tremendous lack of foresight to publish. I notice the instructions for leaving feedback ask for my connection to the University and no doubt you look at my address and wonder why I’m writing. My connection is this...the internet. Additionally, you and I share the same planet and the same country; therefore, what you do becomes my business. In fairness I do believe that’s a hard thing to adjust to. What used to happen in one’s little corner of the Earth now spreads like a wildfire across dry grass in what seems like moments. But this is the "Information Age" and this is how life works now. So, you are getting feedback from my little corner of the Earth because what you did, the ugly stone you dropped in the lake has caused ripples that have reached me all the way in Florida.

So, the "cartoon"... it wasn’t funny. When I read it, I was horrified and then felt sick to my stomach. Then I tried to view it dispassionately and see if it made me chuckle. It did not. Then I imagined myself a narrow-minded bigot and read it again – still not funny. So, this is the first way, you, the Editorial staff, failed. Cartoons are supposed to be funny. This one was not. If humor is an attribute that has eluded you, please take a moment to peruse Dilbert, The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes or for genius in cartoon "Sound Sleeping in the Neighborhood" by Van Amerongen. The second way you failed is by outing your bigotry. Let me make this abundantly clear because this point has been lost largely due to American college campuses. It does not matter if you hate Jews, Blacks, women, babies, small furry dogs, or root vegetables. How you feel, what you think, those are your emotions and feelings and you have every right to them. Whether or not they enhance your life or make you feel good inside is between you and whatever deity you choose to believe in. When you let those feelings loose and act on them, then you have committed a crime against humanity. Then your actions poison and dirty the world I live in and you have no right to do that. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to hurt. I know the ACLU would have us all believe that it does but just because we can do a thing doesn’t mean we should.

The job of Editor is to function as the parent of the staff. The guiding hand. Especially on a college paper. Not everyone that makes it into college or onto a paper staff should be there. Your job is to look at your finished work product and say "Does this paper represent what we stand for?" Because everything you put in it, from the smallest ad to the front page story has your implied endorsement. No hiding behind other sub-editors here. "THE EDITOR" means "YOUR HEAD ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK" and you should have been more careful. But as a reader, I have only one conclusion to draw...the University of Arizona Wildcat newspaper Editor is an anti-Semite. And since bigotry is cowardice, it’s likely the whole paper staff are bigotted. Does it extend to the Dean too? We shall see. The country is now watching to see what will happen. What occurs over the course of the next few days and weeks will color how the University will be seen and the atmosphere that will exist there.

You know, in your heart of hearts, you would not have run that "cartoon" had it talked about gay men, feminists, liberals, or Muslims. Why is it still OK to pick on the Jewish people? Are some Jews cheap? You bet they are. But my older brother is a Roman Catholic as is humanly possible and he would leave tips in fractions to save money if he could. Being cheap is not a requirement to be a Jew. Being cheap is a function of personality not religion. The origins of that particular stereotype are rooted deep in history and are in large part responsible for the Holocaust. Hitler made the Jews a scapegoat by saying "Look at how much they have when you are starving." You work at a University...look it up. So with this one "cartoon" not only have you perpetuated a stereotype you have opened old wounds. Deep and ugly wounds. Not something I would be proud to say I had a hand in. But then again, I know better than to let my own prejudices, and we all have them, loose in the world to do damage. Shame on you, your staff, and Mr. Topmiller. Shame on the University of Arizona for not having sacked the lot of you already. And you’d better be thankful that Jews are as a people far more forgiving and peace-loving than are Muslims or you might be in fear of your life. Ask the Dutch what a cartoon can do to someone’s little patch of this Earth.

I will be CCing this letter to the Dean of the University, Senator McCain and anyone else I can think of. Your misstep, if it was one, will not remain hidden. The time to hide prejudice is in your head. Once you let the monster loose in the world, you are responsible for whatever damage Bigotry does. It doesn’t just do its harm and die, it replicates. It reproduces, it plants its seeds in others and the beast spreads. Others may be willing to just shrug it off as a non-issue but I am not. In the immortal words of Edmund Burke, "All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for good men to do nothing." And you, with your tacit approval for this ugliness, have perpetrated an act of evil on the world. I for one will not sit by and do nothing. We have enough cowardice in the world, I will not be a part of it.

Deeply Disappointed in Florida,