After reading the recent Amherst Bulletin column by Professor Bogartz on “What to do about divisiveness?” it is clear through his insults and accusations that he despises the President. Since he is a professor at UMass I wonder how he reconciles this disdain and name calling with the current UMass motto of Respect and Dignity or last year’s motto that Hate has No Place on campus. The lack of respect for the President and the Office is also a projection of the process that elected the President and the 62 million people who voted for him. Referring to the President as “Pinocchio and a racist/Nazi is not dignified or respectful and is essentially hate speech and no different than any other extreme group that shows hatred towards groups of people that think differently. Apparently this behavior is acceptable when it is focused on a President that he does not like and is not popular in the Valley. He wondered whether it is even possible to change the viewpoint of extreme groups although he did acknowledge they are human but I wonder if it is feasible to change his point of view or is he equally entrenched. Apparently the Professor’s version of fascism is better than the other versions and it will be difficult to prevent hate speech when he appears to have a lot of hate himself.
Gary Ritter, Hadley