Katie O'Connor and Alex Chavez's letter ("Comics not meant to be personal," Oct. 18), deserves a response equally mean-spirited and bitter. In the name of respectful disagreement however, I will (try to) keep this civil. In short, yesterday's letter was absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary - not to mention hypocritical. You defend the comic strips by saying that they are OK since they "aren't meant to be personal," even though your letter itself was a personal attack on Saint Mary's students. I agree that the comics's authors should be able to publish whatever they want. They poke fun at a broad range of topics for the sake of comedy. Unfortunately, your letter does not share in this mission, although I did laugh a few times while reading it.
Was the purpose of your letter to show how much more offensive the comic strips could be? If so, you've presented a great defense for them. I'm assuming, however, that this was not the rhetorical tactic you employed. Bashing Saint Mary's students contributes nothing to the defense of the comic strips. The Viewpoint section of The Observer should be reserved for intelligent debate and thoughtful letters with a purpose. Your juvenile diatribe was pointless and unnecessarily caustic. You are entitled to your own opinion, but to write down a middle school level rant and submit it to the campus newspaper - really? I'm embarrassed for you.
It's not that people are "afraid" to say what you did. They just have the decency and maturity not to write vicious letters on the basis of unfounded claims. You argue that there's "a reason why Notre Dame girls don't like [Saint Mary's students]." On the contrary, most Notre Dame girls I know have lots of friends from Saint Mary's. You see, while you have been busy making unfair and universalistic claims, some of us have been taking advantage of our sister campus as an opportunity to meet great people and build lasting friendships. I'm truly sorry you've missed out on this.
Your elitist attitudes regarding your status as "Notre Dame students" are undeserved, and frankly, I'm ashamed to share that title with you. You imply that the reason the Saint Mary's stereotype exists is because the students somehow earn it. I think you should work on earning your titles as Notre Dame students. To quote your own letter, maybe you "need a serious wake-up call about how you're portraying yourselves and the bad impressions you're giving off to everyone else." You stay classy, Katie and Alex.
The writer is a former Assistant News Editor of The Observer.
Katie Perry
senior
Pasquerilla West Hall
Oct. 18
