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Stickers show arrogance, ignorance

Throwing around insults about people and places, especially foreign countries, is a misguided game of arrogance, as in the case of a couple of Wilsons posting “Soviet Moscow ‘’ stickers last fall in Moscow, Idaho. For this they have been charged with a misdemeanor count of “No Posting on Fences or Buildings or Poles” (Daily News, July 17), of which they may or may not be found guilty.

But they were certainly guilty of ignorance, both about Moscow, Idaho, and about the Soviet Union. People and places are more than the slurs said about them, the ill will exclaimed, and the lack of knowledge demonstrated.

Do the two Wilson brothers and their father speak Russian? Have they lived in the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation? Are they experts on Russian literature, history and culture? Such are the minimal requirements for knowing another country, especially if knowing involves criticizing, however obliquely.

There are many sides to every person, every town and every country, and arguing otherwise, even jovially, is insulting and, indeed, stupid.

Can someone please clarify where in the U.S. Constitution we are given the right to be stupid?

Birgitta Ingemanson
Pullman

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