(in response to “Enough with the pathetic protests,” by Jeff Dickson, April 30)

Thank you very much for your article on absurd protests. It was refreshing to read someone willing to point out that the emperor is wearing no clothes — that many protests are simply ridiculous and merit no credence whatsoever. All three of your examples were well-chosen examples of college students wasting their own time and everyone else’s in their quest to rebel against something. Keep up the good work.

— Carter Butaud, freshman

Computer science

In defense of YouTube

As college students, we all know the feeling. Why work on integrals or write that term paper when you could watch bootleg copies of Loony Tunes or videos of people blowing stuff up? However, recently, YouTube has also been playing the important role of exposing serious injustice. Just this week, for example, the U.S. Army has declared the decrepit state of the Fort Bragg’s barracks unacceptable. What spurred this? A soldier’s YouTube video.

Or, as another example, take the scandal with Kryptonite’s “unpickable” bike locks being opened with a ballpoint pen. I would be surprised if the person who posted this on YouTube was the first to discover it, but it was his action that forced Kryptonite to fix the problem by recalling the insecure locks. For a more serious incident, in 2006, a cell phone video of police repeatedly punching a suspect in the face was posted on YouTube, triggering an FBI investigation. In all three of these cases some social good was brought about by the unedited nature of the YouTube medium.

We may have free speech in this country, but in this media-controlled day and age, very few people can or will hear you if you stand on a soap box — even in Times Square. Sites like YouTube are giving the real power of free speech back to the common people. This should be encouraged. Laws should be passed to make sure that the Internet is not stripped of this power by a government that tries to protect people from themselves.

— Matthew D’Asaro, sophomore

Electrical and mechanical engineering

(in response to “Donating life,” by Meghan Peters, April 23)

Thousands of individuals waiting for transplants have died through the years because the law forbids the sale of human organs.

If the law acknowledges our right to give away an organ, it should also acknowledge our right to sell an organ. And if the law recognizes our right to pay for a life-saving medical treatment, it should also recognize our right to pay for a life-saving organ for transplant.

Individuals able to pay for organs would benefit at no one’s expense but their own. Those unable to pay would still be able to rely on charity, as they have done to this day.

If potential buyers and sellers of organs had their legitimate rights protected, many of the tens of thousands of individuals now waiting for organ transplants would avoid terrible suffering and an early death. How many? Let’s find out.

— David Holcberg, Ayn Rand Institute

Poo-filled Drumheller must be cleaned

This has been discussed before, but needs to be reiterated until the problem is solved. I’m not entirely sure who is in charge of Drumheller Fountain, but clean the fountain or shut it off. I realize how majestic the fountain looks when framed by UW buildings with Mt. Rainier in the background, but it has turned a very vivid green and is the filthiest I’ve seen in my three years here. And what’s worse than a cesspool in the middle of campus? A cesspool that fires its contents at you when it gets windy. Seriously, it’s turning into a health hazard. I’m getting really sick (literally and figuratively) of being showered with duck and goose feces every morning when I go to Bagley.

— Kyle Flotlin, junior

Chemical engineering