Orur reader's voices
NIU shooter a 'wolf'
Normally I like to limit my letters to the discussion of one topic. However, given recent happenings here at Central Michigan and the unfortunate tragedy at Northern Illinois, I think I can break my rule.
The idea for first thing I'd like to discuss came from a piece called "On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs" by LTC (RET) Dave Grossman. There are three kinds of people in this country: the wolves, the sheep and the sheepdogs. The sheep are those who go about their daily lives not thinking about the possible dangers lurking around. They go about their productive lives without the capacity for violence of any form. Most of America, especially college students, fall under this category.
Then there are the wolves. The wolves have a capacity for violence, and no concern for their fellow man. They are counter-productive, evil elements of society. You'll recognize these wolves as being terrorists or murderers - much like the shooter at Northern Illinois.
The third group - the sheepdogs - are those that although having a capacity for violence, restrict that capacity to defending the sheep from the wolves. You might know this group as local law enforcement and members of the military. However, even Joe citizen who might carry a concealed weapon has the capability to be a sheepdog as well. In fact, it is this group of everyday citizens that are probably best apt to minimize the effect of a situation such as Virginia Tech or Northern Illinois. As we can tell, this does nothing to deter violence, and if anything, it only declaws the sheepdogs and allows the wolves to do their thing.The second thing I'd like to discuss is how ridiculous certain members of the faculty residing over at Anspach are. They screwed the pooch bad enough as it was when they were discussing Dennis Lennox over an e-mail list - something which is prone to become public. However, Jeffrey Weinstock really dropped the ball when he wrote a letter to CM Life stating that NIU proved the faculty was right about its discussion of Lennox. Good job in publicly declaring that a student is going to be a school shooter on dubious grounds.
I'm not a lawyer, and I can't say whether the requirements for a defamation suit are fulfilled, but I will say Weinstock just set himself up as a prime target. Whether you like him or not, Lennox isn't afraid to push the issue.
In conjunction, a statement in the online comment made about CM Life's complicity in Weinstock's idiotic move is silly. People who know me will tell you that I'm quite conservative myself, but I believe that CM Life operating under David Harris as Editor-in-Chief has done quite a decent, fair job covering this CMU vs. Dennis Lennox travesty. If anything, CM Life is doing everyone a service by letting people like Weinstock hang themselves in a public forum.
Jason Gillman Jr. Traverse City junior
