Because it’s three days later and I don’t think they’re ever going to print it, here’s a short letter I wrote to Penn State’s student paper, The Daily Collegian, in response to another letter to the editor.
While I agree with Robert J. Thompson that Penn State football fans are perhaps not always on their best behavior—and while I suspect he meant to call the hostility he witnessed at the Southern Mississippi game disheartening in light of recent terrorist attacks rather than in lieu of them—I wonder why he feels the need to reference the tragic events of September 11 in his letter to the editor at all. Certainly “vulgar and lewd comments†about one’s university and team are never appreciated or acceptable, and fans of opposing teams should be made to feel welcome on the Penn State campus, but what does this have to do with terrorism? Is Mr. Thompson trying to suggest that animosity between athletic rivals will in some way “let the terrorists win� Please. The actions of a few mean-spirited football fans are not an affront to American solidarity, and although the hostility that visiting fans might sometimes face is unfortunate and deplorable, it bears no relationship to the terrorist attacks of September 11.
I’m not entirely convinced I said what I was trying to say, but that’s what I wrote, and there you have it. I’m just a little tired of this idea that every action or event in our lives now has to be viewed as having some sort of direct relationship to the events of September 11, or that every insult we may receive is now somehow especially disheartening in light of recent events.