Posted on 03/30/2011 2:19:48 PM PDT by JohnRLott
Having grown up in a college town that cast more votes for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader than for George Bush in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, I’m used to being something of a laughingstock for my conservative-leaning views. Nevertheless, it’s been an eye-opener to see my columns for The Dartmouth garner accusations of racism, calls for censorship and even the occasional personal attack such as, “Mr. Lott, I pity your future wife or husband.”
The upside of being a vocal conservative at Dartmouth is that being on the receiving end of intensive scrutiny inevitably improves your argumentation skills. The attacks made on my column criticizing the Orozco Murals (“Points in Perspective,” Nov. 10) caused me to recognize that I had been too overtly provocative, and the experience proved valuable in teaching me the importance of objectivity and dispassion. Many of my critics, however, would also benefit from learning to refrain from hostile, emotional arguments that detract from intellectual discourse.
Out of my columns, “Truly Color Blind” (March 7), received perhaps the most disturbing reactions. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at thedartmouth.com ...
Presuming Roger is your son, Congratulations! Nice article.
Yep, Roger’s his son, now a college student at Dartmouth.
Well-reasoned commentary by Roger Lott that points out the authoritarian tendencies of most liberals. The comments - especially the defensive ones - are interesting, too.
Are you the 2nd Amendment expert? If so, congratulations, as I’ve read your work and it is terrific, if not, it looks like you have a wonderful son.
I found the article and the follow-on comments to be interesting. Both the article and the comments had a common thread concerning improved argumentation. I’d add that Roger should probably also develop a thicker skin. I suspect he could rival Socrates in rhetoric and dialectic skills yet he would likely still receive some slings and arrows, especially on a college campus. As long as he continues to improve his skills, the skin will thicken naturally.
Living in the most lib city in one of the most lib states (Named "Bluest" after the 08 Presidential Elections) the People's Republic of Utopian Moonbats....Vermont, I can commiserate.
I regularly opine (and do battle with the "Dark Side") on the only statewide Newspaper (the Burlington Free Press....a misnomer if there ever was one) and I get regularly "ghosted" (removed from commenting) for my opinions re: Dear Leader, Libs/Leftists and our 3 Stooges (Leahy, Sanders and Welch) Congress Critters
After 3 years, I must be on my 50th screen name, but I won't be silenced nor intimidated by all the Useful Idiot, Riff Raf posters who resent me for showing them to be the hypocrites they are and most often, destroy their arguments and disprove their talking points.
I once submitted an op ed opinion piece (when there was a resurgence of the Iraq Vets Against War and they were going to have another "Winter Soldier-like" investigation (read: inquisition similar to John "The Snake" Kerry's Vietnam Vets Against War) and the FAR LEFT EDITOR (who allows almost anything Leftist to be published) made me jump thru all kinds of hoops (to include producing my DD214 as I was representing myself--which I am--as a Nam Vet) as well as having to "document" every last detail of which I submitted.
And even then it took me 6 Months to get it published!
Of course this Fish Wrap being part of the uber left Gannet chain, and situated here in VT, is no wonder that the Burlington Free Press leans waaaaaay left....so far on that compendium....that in the last 3 years, it has yet to publish even ONE news story/article/Editorial which has been even mildly embarrassing to Dear Leader...never mind, damaging.
That's where I come in and the reason I am so hated by the staff, moderators and other posters.
Keep the faith and don't give up....give em' hell! lol
John R. Lott: AMERICAN HERO.
“More Guns, Less Crime” - a masterpiece that helped change the gun control debate in this country.
Sounds like da kid is a chip off the old block!
Congratulations on raising a fine son!
When I returned to college to get my degree after raising many children, I ran into an instructor of a basic history class where we had a debate about guns. This person had been a negotiator on the police force! Surprisingly, he had the whole class in favor of draconian gun laws, except for this one boy (against the whole class) who was passionately defending his Second Amendment rights.
The class wasn’t buying his ideas and he was being mocked to a certain extent. Well, I had just finished your book, so I raised my hand and explained that the only thing gun laws did, was remove the guns from law abiding citizens—good people—for the criminals were already disregarding the gun laws by committing crimes and killing people. So why would more laws create less crime? In fact, it would make a woman like me, defenseless in the face of a huge man where owning a gun might actually save my life. Millions of people use guns to save their lives and that of their families, so why would you deny them that natural right?
Anyways, I also stated that the most comprehensive study ever done on the gun issues was done by you and your conclusion was More Guns, Less Crime. So thank you, I had facts to back that up and even mentioned about the registration of guns in Germany, etc.
I think we had singlehandedly won the debate—the teacher could not reply with anything intelligent after I hit him with the Wash DC facts and all the others that you so articulately spelled out in a compelling way.
You proved to me that knowledge is power. To win debate, you have to have facts, although it is hard to debate people who are extremely ignorant of basic knowledge and have no common sense. I am afraid your son is being exposed to that frustration.
Thank you for all that you do!
Excellent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.