This letter is in response to Anna Gould’s article “Conservative ideals: A campus faux pas” that ran yesterday. In her article, Gould laments the ?attempts ? in the past to suppress mainly conservative thought? on college campuses. She points a finger directly at liberals, blaming them for using shady tactics in order to marginalize conservative views.

Interestingly, the left has been subjected to even worse treatment by conservatives. The most prominent example is COINTELPRO, an FBI-run domestic counterintelligence program that used highly questionable and even illegal methods to sabotage legitimate liberal dissent. The COINTEL approach included psychological warfare against leftist organizations, harassment of dissidents through the legal system, and even extra-legal force and violence. This is the same program responsible for sending letters to Martin Luther King Jr. trying to persuade him to commit suicide.

Politics is often a dirty business, but it goes in both directions, so don?t be fooled into thinking conservatives are the only victims.

Most troubling, however, is how Gould, in her clumsy zeal, goes so far as to compare liberals to Nazis and fascists. Paradoxically, she later asks people to ?leave the personal attacks at home.? Referring to liberals as Nazis is not a ?personal attack?? Unless I?m somehow responsible for the slaughter of six million innocent people, don?t ever compare me, or any of my liberal brethren, to such abominations.

The claim that liberals are fascists who ?thrive in suppressing alternative viewpoints so they can maintain power? is equally ridiculous. Liberals put tremendous faith in the right to free speech and argue that hate speech, flag burning and other unpopular viewpoints ? which may express ideas opposite liberal ideology ? still deserve First Amendment protection.

Kevin Dickert

Madison resident and UW-Madison Alumnus of 2000