I suppose I ought to stop being surprised and baffled by the inane lunacy that discharges from the orifices of University of Oregon undergraduates. I certainly was exposed to enough of it, and endured its mind-numbing effects when I was both an undergraduate and graduate student at the fine institution myself. Nevertheless, Josh Grenzsund’s babbling piece about substance use and the “recreational” aspect of college (“Have a good trip, see you next fall… maybe,” ODE, Sept. 17) begs my response, for whatever it may or may not be worth to the peanut gallery.
To start, let me point out a tremendous flaw in your reasoning, Mr. Grenzsund. One who chooses, for whatever reason, to abstain from the use of controlled substances such as heroin or marijuana, and who further chooses to consume substances such as alcohol in moderation rather than extreme, is not at all necessarily boring; neither are they, ipso facto, destined to support ballot initiatives limiting people’s freedom to choose a sex partner, or who one can or can not join with in matrimony. While we’re at it, why don’t you actually spell out the ballot initiatives you’re choosing to sneer at instead of being coy, Mr. Grenzsund? I realize you have very probably never been challenged in your spewing forth of rhetoric and ill-tempered humor, but there are those of us who are actually familiar with Ballot Measure 36, and the battle that culminated in its eventual passage by the voters of this state. But then, according to you, it is perfectly appropriate to claim success on ballot initiatives you happen to favor, and then to tell the “ignorant” 56 percent that they are quite fascist when an election doesn’t happen to go the way you like. How enlightened of you.
There are, believe it or not, many people, myself included, who choose of our own volition to abstain from the consumption of drugs and the over-consumption of alcohol, but who would never consider legislating such restraint onto other people. Are we less significant because we have a different view and outlook on life than you? How puritanical of you, Mr. Grenzsund. Precisely how are you different from Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, again?
Scott D. Austin
University alumnus