The "Eyes & Ears" column by Danny Duncan Collum in your July-August 1996 issue was one of the most muddled pieces I've read in a long time. He clearly wanted to make a Socially Significant Statement that would provide the key to our nation's ills, but I doubt his key will unlock anything worthwhile.
He links the Unabomber with those who are pro-gun, pro-abortion, and pro-environmental deregulation. Ted Kaczynski, the alleged Unabomber, is only the purest example of these types, radical individualists all, who "reject collective obligations and concerns." I certainly have little sympathy with gun nuts, abortion-on-demand advocates, or those favoring rape of the environment. But I still fail to see their similarity to a serial killer.
Then we learn that gay activists are in the same category, nasty people who are saying, "I've got to be me and forget about you." Let me see if I follow this. If you think gay men and lesbians should not suffer discrimination in housing and employment, that they should not be beaten up and killed, if indeed you think of them as American citizens with equal rights to heterosexuals, then you are similar to someone who sends letter bombs and blows up people. The latter is a purer example of the rugged individualist, of course, but these are all the same type.
It would seem that Collum needs a really good course in logic and, most of all, needs to deal with his own homophobia. An excellent place to begin would be the eloquent letter from John and Charleen Cepek in the same issue.
Roland Calvert, O.S.F.S.
Adrian, Michigan
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