Jena Six protest not expected by campus groups

I personally think the journalism of the article "Jena Six protest today on HUB lawn" by Garrett Troy and Arla Shephard leaves a bit to be desired.

There was no major organized protest today, and several student group leaders (like those of the Black Student Union and Whites Against Racism) were shocked when they saw the article in Monday's edition of The Daily.

And then there is the lack of research, like the fact that the three nooses were for three students who asked to sit under the tree, the fact that the ensuing protest was responded to by police and the fact that an assembly was called in which the D.A. threatened to take away the (black) students' lives "with a stroke of [his] pen."

Granted, Mychal Bell was no shining example of a cool-tempered student. Perhaps in the proper environment, his anger could have been directed toward a cause such as activism rather than outwardly manifested physically toward other students on, admittedly, more than one occasion.

Unfortunately and true to form, the eyes of this nation's media were not turned on Jena until a rather tragic event occurred, in this case tragic because the actions of these students give precedent to those seeking to reinstitute the Jim Crow state of affairs.

But that notwithstanding, in our newspaper, in mainstream media and in the courtrooms of this nation, Bell and his classmates deserve fair treatment. And part of that fair treatment is telling the whole story.

– Chaim Eliyah

Senior, CHID

Toyota Pirus bashers are wrong

Your recent column on the Prius ("Toyota Prius: martyrs wanted" by Jeff Dickson) was such an orgy of uninformed hate it's hard to know where to begin. A few facts:

1. Automotive aesthetics are a matter of opinion. I'm sorry if you find the Prius ugly. I think it's quite attractive.

2. Ever actually drive a Prius? I can jump out into traffic in ours quite quickly. The electric motor produces plenty of torque at low speeds, more than enough to match or beat most cars around me. Oh, and it can do 80 on the highway effortlessly.

3. Since we traded in my WRX for our Prius, we've saved an average of $90 a month on gas. That's about the same as our average monthly electric bill.

4. Who the hell are you to go around making blanket statements about what Prius owners think of themselves or others and what their motivations are? Did you take a survey? Did you talk to actual Prius owners?Or did you just substitute bile for thought, research and analysis?

I don't know what it is with you and the legions of Prius bashers coming out of the woodwork now that the car's become hugely popular. It's like there's a Prius Bashing Media Kit out there with a collection of smears, lies and uninformed conjecture for lazy punks like you to build a cheap and easy opinion piece — one that's guaranteed to get a few approving grunts from other like-minded morons. Unfortunately, the crap you're passing off to your readers is Grade A fantasy.

You make me sick.

– Joe Santos

Software developer,

Connecticut

Notre Dame

not arrogant

Your rant "Wake Up, Irish: Golden Days are Over" by Christian Caple in the Oct. 2 issue of The Daily was not only mean-spirited but chock full of errors that could have been easily verified.

Your mantra is that the Notre Dame program is arrogant, and you cite:

1. The repeated scheduling of the service academies for regular season games. How is this arrogant? This is tradition, the same thing that makes Pike Place not just another open market. I wouldn't say that Seattleites are arrogant for keeping Pike Place open.

2. Staying out of a conference. Arrogance may be your opinion, but there were many more factors that went into that decision so many years ago, one of which was tradition. Why should Pike Place not sell out to Safeway or Metropolitan Market? Tradition, not arrogance.

3. Giving Charlie Weis a lengthy contract. Is this arrogance, or good business sense? Maybe they are even trying to prevent the mistake they made with their last coach by making it more difficult to fire him due to a bad season. Don't you think they ought to learn from their past mistakes? Yet you want to call it arrogance?

You have every right to give your opinion of Notre Dame football, but it is poor journalism (even as an editorial) to use untruths as base assumptions and to mischaracterize events in order to fit your pre-conceived bias.

––Tim DeFors

School of Law,

second-year professor