Conservatives can't gripe about underrepresentation

Editor,

Monday's letter by Larry H. Crum and Paul Chacho is further evidence of the persecution complex shared by many American conservatives. For people whose views have been enacted in official policy for six years with catastrophic results, it is distressing that they should complain so fervently about being underrepresented. Letters like this are a common occurrence at all levels of American media, from high school newspapers to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. They represent a strong desire to ignore anything resembling reality and are nothing more than an attempt to intimidate media outlets into representing only conservatives in their attempts to avoid the charge of liberal bias.

In examining the editorial pages from the Daily Lobo for the month of April, I find that liberal and moderate letters combined outnumber conservative letters three to two. I was being extraordinarily generous with applying the term "liberal," and I still had to include moderates in some attempt to replicate the majority that Crum and Chacho claimed had "far-left liberal leanings." I found only four letters that could even begin to fit such a description, and two of those were submitted by Brian Fejer, meaning his contributions for the month tie those of conservative contributor Aaron X. Lenard, who had to use three stories from 2003 - one of which had since been proven false - to show unreported "good news" from Iraq. Even the Iraq Study Group - chaired by Republican James Baker - stated that it was actually the bad news that is underreported.

The difference between my list of liberal letters and my list of those submitted by conservatives is simple: Those in the liberal category cover the spectrum from moderate to the far left, while the conservative letters all represent the far right. Four far-left letters compared to 12 blatantly conservative letters is hardly underrepresentation of conservatives, particularly when many of the conservative letters in this period include factual errors and near-libelous statements, as well as espousing such views as the repeal of all gun control laws - a belief that, according to last week's Ipsos poll, is held by only 11 percent of Americans.

Considering that liberals on this campus outnumber conservatives by far more than a three-to-two margin, I actually find conservative writings in the Daily Lobo to be far overrepresented, though I do not object to this. College is supposed to be about education, and there are few things more edifying than reading someone else's complete disconnect from reality. I also find nothing wrong with the large number of liberals on this and most other college campuses. Indeed, I think it is perhaps something that Crum and Chacho should consider. People with more education tend to be more liberal. You might want to take the hint - as Stephen Colbert has pointed out, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

Juan Carlos Holmes

UNM student and co-chairman of UNM College Democrats