I attended the lecture by David Horowitz Monday night and was appalled by the behavior of several of those in attendance. I went into the speech with an open mind, willing to listen and think about what he had to say. Unfortunately, not everyone is capable of listening or having the capacity to be respectful to those with views different from our own. Notably, at several times throughout the lecture, several dozens of students would talk and shout nonsense when the speaker was talking. At times, Mr. Horowitz had to stop until the audience would quiet down. Personally, I am ashamed that people who are 18 or older do not have enough respect or self-control to attend a lecture by a national speaker and think they have the “right” to interrupt. Apparently, I did not get the same memo that those people got — you know, the one that made it OK to try to ruin another organization’s event. Now I’m not one to hide the fact that I vote Republican and think Republicans generally do a better job running the government than Democrats do. However, being a Republican or Democrat has nothing to do with what I am writing about. I am writing about being a “grownup.” In the last decade, I have attended many speeches by great speakers (President Clinton), weird speakers (Congressman Tancredo) and several by verbally disinclined speakers (President Bush). What I have seen time and time again is disheartening to me. At virtually every Republican rally, a handful — sometimes more — of liberals always feels it has the right to be rude and try to disturb the rally. At a Democratic rally, you will never witness the rudeness that the Republican speakers face on a daily basis. The reason I use the word “liberal” instead of “Democrat” when identifying the hecklers is due to the simple fact that the Democrats I know grew up in homes where they at least learned some proper manners. That is why there will always be a place in the government for Democrats, but there will never be a place for those of the radical left that are so out of touch with reality that they try to ruin other people’s events. Liberals: grow up or move to a country where things only get done by meaninglessly shouting for attention — don’t send me a postcard. Why can’t the liberals go throw their own event? Oh yeah, silly me, I forgot that no one is willing to show up and listen to the radical idiocy they espouse on a daily basis. Still, that does not make it OK to try to steal a floor where there are listeners. On a second note, I would like to sincerely thank the university for hiring Kevin Barrett as a lecturer at this campus. By interrupting the lecture by shouting ridiculous accusations in the middle of Mr. Horowitz’s speech, he effectively interrupted the event for almost eight minutes. Are we really using our tax dollars to pay for lecturers like Mr. Barrett? Mr. Barrett clearly did not realize that this was not his event, and he had no right to shout in the middle of a lecture. I understand some clueless 18-year-olds doing it because their friends are doing it, but someone the university paid with my tax dollars? Really? The state government has been, until recently, unable to agree on the budget, especially on the level of funding that the university system receives. If I were one of those legislators, I would seriously question the money we are giving the university, and that is the case whether I am a Republican or a Democrat. Aaron Werner UW third-year law student [email protected]