Letter to the editor:
On May 1, Rep. Scott Johnson issued a statement regarding the recent protests at the UW-Madison that was published in Fort Atkinson Online (https://fortatkinsononline.com/commentary-scott-johnson-urges-uw-madison-chancellor-to-crack-down-on-campus-violence/). After reading his statement, I twice submitted to Rep. Johnson a number of questions about what he wrote in it. Since he did not reply to my email, although confirming that he received it, I now regard my query as an open letter, as follows:
Dear Rep. Johnson,
After reading your statement in Wednesday’s Fort Atkinson Online I have some questions I would like to ask you.
1. Why do you place the word “protests” in scare quotes?
2. How can radicalism, to use your words, “burrow […] our children”? Did you mean to say “burrow into”? Do I understand you to both include left-wing and right-wing radicalism?
3. What, precisely, do you mean by “anti-American dogma”? Ditto the word “pushing”? Do you favor college professors “pushing our [sic] students to believe in” pro-American dogma? What would count as an example of the latter? What would be some examples of “pushing” in either direction?
4. Do I have the right to have my (as opposed to “our”) children learn about radicalism of any kind, as I see fit?
5. Do you believe it possible to protest how Israel is conducting the war in Gaza without being a terrorist sympathizer?
Yours,
John H. Callan
Fort Atkinson
File photo/Kim McDarison.
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Excellent questions, John. Too often our elected representatives feel free to make opinionated statements without backing them up or replying to queries.