I want to take a moment to express my concern over watching the State of the Union Address last Tuesday in afterHOURS. I was just concluding my weekly Kappa Sigma meetings in the Curry Student Center when I thought that afterHOURS would be the perfect place to watch the annual joint session of Congress with what I thought would be students that are pursuing higher education.

Wow, was I wrong!

After numerous chants against Bush coupled with loud, obnoxious and unintelligent booing, I was actually forced to leave afterHOURS and watch the State of the Union in a different location. The fact is, nobody screaming or hissing in opposition is going to get his or her point conveyed in such a fashion. Bottom line — disagree with Bush, but don’t disrespect him.

I am happy there were so many people cognizant and mindful enough to watch the address, but calling the President “stupid” and an “idiot” negatively misrepresents the level of intelligence at Northeastern. The only “stupid idiots” I could find were chanting left wing extremists that thought the State of the Union Address was the Super Bowl, not to mention the cheering for Ted Kennedy’s outlandish facial expressions. Did we forget that he is one of the most corrupt men politics has ever seen? Have you ever heard of the Big Dig or the death of Mary Jo Kopechne? Not the way to build credibility.

To top it all off, many expressing opposition to the President’s agenda such as Stanislav Vysotsky, don’t even vote. It seems that many in this group had no idea what they were opposing, and even if they did, had no plans to actually change it.

Wise up. This country needs to have strong opinions and strong parties, but the only way you will succeed, be heard and represent your political views is through intelligent conversation and respectful opinions without the feeblemindedness.

— Justin Hansen is a junior business major and is the President of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.