Letters to the editor: COVID-19, Scott Yenor, internment in the U.S.
Deadly disease
As of Dec. 2, 2021, 780,131 Americans have perished from COVID-19 since the disease was first identified in December 2019.
In the deadliest war in U.S. history — the Civil War — there were approximately 655,000 combat deaths. The Civil War lasted just over four years; the current pandemic has lasted only two.
In light of the fact that COVID-19 has killed significantly more people than the Civil War in less than half the time, I ask those among us who still refuse to do anything about this crisis, “How many more have to die?”
I mean it. Give me a number. How many more human lives must be cruelly snuffed out before you put on a mask? How many more widows, widowers, and orphans must be sacrificed on the altar of the economy? How much more suffering and misery must we witness before you realize that you’re supposed to be “Pro-Life?”
Ben Satterlee, Boise
Scott Yenor
As a Boise native, Boise State alumna, and current Harvard Law student, I would like to expressly condemn Scott Yenor’s statements about women and feminism that have surfaced recently.
Yenor misunderstands feminism and underestimates the value that women contribute to their communities outside of their family roles. Feminism is about empowerment and support, whether women embark on careers outside of the home or choose to focus on marriage and child rearing. Yenor’s myopic perspective urges us to go back to the mid-20th century, to a time when I wouldn’t be able to go to law school, sit on a jury, open a bank account or sell property.
As a former high school teacher who enthusiastically recommended my alma mater to 17- and 18-year-olds, I can’t imagine encouraging young people to go to this university knowing that Yenor is a member of the faculty. At Boise State, I felt affirmed by my mentors at the Gender Equity Center and by the progressive curriculum advanced in the school’s required UF 200 course. These memories are now clouded by Yenor’s remarks and my understanding of the irreparable harm that he has likely caused current and former female-identifying students at Boise State.
Alyssa Milstead, Boise
Misogyny
Misogynists like Scott Yenor don’t deserve their positions as educators, especially at institutions raising the next generation of politicians, justices, lawyers and judges. Yenor actively misrepresents data to fit his narrative, is aggressive to those who criticize him and posts videos spewing sexist remarks about the need for women to focus on “homemaking and having children.”
While I welcome a “difference of opinion,” this is not that.
Yenor’s statements reflect a belief that over half of the world’s population belongs “in the kitchen” (so to speak), devaluing their contribution by calling them — in his own words — “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome.” This is a supposedly educated representative of Boise State University actively advocating for the subjugation of women, not only in his comments at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida, but also in his book “The Recovery of Family Life.”
A woman’s value is not determined by her ability to have and raise children, by her ability to keep a tidy home, or by her ability to please her husband. A woman’s value is her own, as it should be.
Women belong in every professional space — be it law, medicine or engineering.
Ryann Richardson, Filer
U.S. internment
On the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, most people are unaware that Dec. 7 is the date of the beginning of World War II. Most people are not aware that Dec. 7 is also the anniversary of WWII internment. Most people believe that the internment began on Feb. 19, 1942, with the issuance of Executive Order 9066. The actual immigration law about internment is U.S. Code Title 50 Chapter 3 Section 21-24. On Dec. 7, President Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2525 to Japanese immigrants informing them of what was expected of them based on the actual law. The next day, Roosevelt issued an almost identical Presidential Proclamation for both German and Italian immigrants respectively (PP2526 and 2527). Roosevelt unilaterally expanded enforcement with EO9066.
I know the daughter of one of the German Americans who was interned on Dec. 7 in Hawaii. That is one of the reasons that I know that German Americans were really interned. Most Japanese who were interned were American citizens. Most Germans who were interned were immigrants.
Robert Seward, Moscow
