University of Virginia Library

'Right-Think'

As a libertarian with a deep
concern for freedom of speech and
opinion, I have noted with great
dismay the more and more frequent
use by the editor of The Cavalier
Daily of the term "right-thinking,"
usually in connection with prescriptions
of precisely what those
persons who are fortunate enough
to fall in that category will think
and do with respect to certain
issues.

The term smacks of totalitarianism,
of a closed society complete
with its own official brand of
"Right-Think" (as defined by the
editor of the state news organ, no
doubt).

I do not question Mr.
Gwathmey's right as an individual
to express his opinions on Right,
Wrong, Truth, Ultimate Wisdom, or
the weather; indeed, I would
defend to the death his right to
such expressions.

But I do object to having the
editor of a socialized "official"
newspaper, for which I am taxed as
a condition of my remaining a
student here, insinuate that because
a person does not choose to
support, for whatever reasons, any
or all of a series of proposals which
that editor is attempting to foist off
on an entire community as "right,"
he therefore "thinks wrong." Such
an attitude is peculiarly inconsistent
with the quotation in the
masthead of the paper.

William A. Wright
4th year college

—ed.