To the Editors of The Crimson:

Usually being one to defend political cartoonists from those who are inclined to take their art too seriously, I feel a bit odd writing a letter to complain about the insulting and tasteless "Boyd's Eye View" you published on April 20. But Boyd's cartoon means to be taken seriously, and the subject matter is important enough that I can't avoid feeling insulted. The cartoon shows a coat-and-tie clad college student with the label "New Conservatism" with a demonic, whip-holding shadow labeled "New Collegiate Racism."

I hope I can be forgiven if I take this a little personally. As a (relatively) conservative student active in political organizations here on campus, I resent the implication that I and my fellow student "new" conservatives are racists. Normally, one would hope, such grossly unfair and provacative accusations would simply be ignored, but this kind of charge is not new, and (unhappily) has become something of a staple of liberal campus politics.

Every political position has a tendency to demonize those who don't agree with it. Communist states and military dictatorships do it with a passion, but it is no stranger to American politics, either. Senator Joe McCarthy made his brief and infamous career out of slander and innuendo in the 1950s and the Left and Right have traded accusations of "communism" and "fascism" for decades. But why do otherwise intelligent and rational people have to resort to such character assassination? And why does it continue to happen on university campuses, of all places?

Boyd's cartoon offends, and hurts our ability to deal with the very real problems of deteriorating race relations on campus. First, it is just not true. I resent the fact that wild and irresponsbile charges force me into having to "prove" that I and my fellow conservatives are not racist bigots. How is one to defend against such accusations, anyway? What could I possible say here that would "prove" that I believe in human dignity, equality and liberty as much as anyone alive?

But most importantly, by bringing charges of racism down to the level of petty political squabbles, the cartoon not only degrades all of us who seek to eradicate racism and intolerance, but also makes it that much harder for society to deal with the very real problems that such archaic attitudes present. Bigotry is a problem that is hard enough to address without having someone throw partisan politlcal baggage into the equation. Calling someone a "racist" because he has a different position on affirmative action (or South African divestment) is as unproductive and as intellectually stifling as calling him a "communist" because he doesn't support aid to Nicaraguan contras.

But the biggest and most unfortunate side effect of such demonization is that it trivializes the issue of race. Conservatives are no more (or less) guilty of contributing to racial problems than are liberals. By foolishly turning the issue into one of "them versus us," liberal finger-pointers hurt their own cause. If racism is seen only as "their" problem, and not as "our" problem, it will continue to plague us forever.

The way to deal with racism is not to engage in this sort of obscene form of racial McCarthyism, but to acknowledge a real problem that we all must try to deal with. Name-calling, character assassination, and tying partisan politics up with issues that are fundamentally more important only degrade the effort to combat racial bigotry. By feeding these divisive fires, Boyd's cartoon only makes the problem worse. Christopher A. Ford '89