Believe it or not....
Reader comment on item: Letter to the Editor of the Daily Illini

Submitted by Mike Spindell (United States), Dec 10, 2003 at 23:27

Believe it or not there are aged sixties, leftist hippies like myself who appreciate the work and the prescience of Daniel Pipes. Sadly, much of what has been said in your letter and in the letters above, is true. In the sixties I experienced an intolerance among some leftist radicals, especially towards Israel (USSR was putting out its' pro Arab line), that was as appalling to me as any right wing fascist polemic. These attitudes have continued to pervade the campus as once young firebrands have become comfortable and smug academics. Instead of constantly re-examining their premises in the context of continued intellectual growth, they are stultified in their embroidered remembrance of the past. Sadly, they are intolerant of differing viewpoints that conflict with their ideas of political reality, a very illiberal stance.

While I remain an unreconstructed liberal, I nevertheless reject anyone's "party line."
Please carry on your important work because I am fearful that the Islamist dangers you expose can if unchecked lead our country and the human race to disaster.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.