To the editor,

Fresh from my first year at college, ripe with a new outlook on life and new ideas (albeit slightly conservative ones), and having been bludgeoned to death with the cudgel known as “political correctness,” I was rather shocked and angered by the Gulf of Maine Gunsmithing shop’s sign bearing three terms: “DEMARATS/SEXUAL OFFENDERS/BILL DIAMOND.”

While I had an inkling that the sign was in some way referencing Mr. Diamond’s recent and admirable work to “mandate that local law enforcement agencies inform neighbors, local schools, and day care centers when a convicted sexual offender moves into the area,” I was unsure why Bill Darling posted these three terms so cryptically. The connection, however, was unmistakable: he was attempting to compare all three.

So, imagine my delight when I later stopped for lunch at Maine Bean, and on the front cover of my newspaper was the very sign that had shocked and angered me only a few hours prior. I was relieved to learn that there has not been an accusation of misconduct on the part of Mr. Diamond, but I am still rather dismayed at Mr. Darling’s reasoning for the sign. To quote Ms. Roberts, the author of the article, he was “simply employing the same tactics he feels Diamond used when he lumped two different issues together in his article entitled Sexual Offenders and Guns.”

I do admit that the title alone suggests that there is some link between sexual offenders and guns. After one reads the article, however, it is clear that Mr. Diamond is writing about two different issues with which he, as Senate Chairman of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Legislative Committee, has had to grapple and in no way makes a correlation between them. It would be, therefore, unnecessary for Mr. Diamond to have written two different articles. To prevent any misunderstanding in the future, maybe Mr. Diamond can try his hand at creative titles such as “News from the Capitol,” rather than descriptive ones.

Mr. Darling claims that the “liberal news media” combines terms in order to convince consumers that there is a connection between them. I do not disagree with Mr. Darling that this occurs, but it is not a product of liberal news media alone. September 11th and Sadaam Hussein, anyone? The part that troubles me the most, however, is that Mr. Darling considers this tactic to be unseemly and reprehensible, yet takes no issue with employing it himself. What does this say about Mr. Darling? That he is no better than the very “Demarats” he so adamantly loathes?

And so, at the risk of sounding like a beauty pageant contestant, I leave you with this: Before we are liberals or conservatives, Democrats or Republicans (or Independent!), African American or Caucasian, Christian or Jewish, we are first and foremost human beings. We have a duty to each other to be respectful, considerate, and mature. We all get angry and say things we should not, but in order to make a real difference in the world within which we all live, we must first take a deep breath and then offer our constructive criticisms. True activism is twenty-five percent getting angry, twenty-five percent doing something about it, and fifty percent decorum.

Sarah L. McGowen

Raymond

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