What I really love about being a columnist for The Villanovan and working with others who also write opinions is the reactions we all get from various members of the community. As opinion writers, we live for responses to our soapbox-style rants, and often the most welcome kind of response you could send to a writer is hate mail. Of course, we also love those supportive e-mails titled “Go get’ em,” and sometimes we really need those when we go out on a limb. However, it is the critical analysis of our ideas and arguments that really makes our writing worthwhile.

My favorite type of response is one that took longer to write than the original amount of time I devoted to spewing my “left-wing propaganda.” I mean, most of us don’t really slave over our work so much as we fume about whatever is bothering us that week and then spit it all out in a matter of minutes, hoping that the words we feel so passionately about end up in the right order. Colin Girgenti and I definitely celebrated victory when Matt Lineberger admitted to spending two hours responding to Colin’s article regarding Israel in the last issue of the Villanova Times. The fact that we can actually make people think on campus is what really keeps us doing this. Hate mail and lengthy responses to counter our columns only prove that we aren’t just preaching to the choir. We are really reaching the audience that has yet to be convinced. Hopefully our mission will succeed and as the recent criticisms have so rightfully pointed out, we will have subverted America’s youth and overthrown the values of freedom, truth, capitalism and democracy.

The people who completely and vehemently disagree with my articles are my target audience. I want them to read. I am their biggest fan and I want them to be mine. I am probably one of the most loyal readers of the Villanova Times and their predecessor, the Conservative Column, for that very reason. We are all in it to prove each other wrong: to level a flawless article against the opposing side.

And that is what the University is all about. It is about discussion, a discourse of ideas and, hopefully in the process, the education of all who attend. The opinion writers of this University have a duty to continue this discussion and add excitement to the campus. We should never call for the censorship of any forum, since that is where true education can occur. We only spend a little bit of time in the classroom, but most of us still live here on campus full-time. As members of a community, we will learn more about ourselves and our world through participation and communication. These articles, opinions and “propaganda” are all here to get you, the reader, thinking and reacting or even acting on the conclusions you draw. If our writings can do that, then our purpose has been served and our efforts have been worthwhile.

So all I ask is that you think about our columns, respond to them if you wish and become a part of this ongoing discussion that is the University. I am not asking you to respect my often described “leftist propaganda.” I’d rather you write me scalding letters refuting it with solid facts and well thoughtout arguments. Blast our writings, curse our idiocy, but as long as we keep you thinking about these topics, we are doing our jobs and loving it.