For some reason I cannot help but immediately flip to the Viewpoints section every Tuesday and Thursday when the Marquette Tribune hits the newsstands. I suppose there was a time when I found the opinions of my peers interesting, amusing, and/or entertaining. After all, I do enjoy a good debate and can appreciate an enlightening argument.

However, I have reached a point now where I get physically sick at least twice a week thanks to the often thoughtless and ridiculous and hypocritical and … OK, OK … counting to 10 … phew.

Some of the articles I've read during my two years at Marquette that instantly come to mind include, but are not limited to, the infamous student athlete vs. theatre department debate, the article criticizing Coach Crean (criticizing HA, practically lynching) and now the articles concerning the "sniper issue."

Robert Nordlander and John Zemler's Viewpoints on Feb. 8 are just two more examples that could be used to support the revocation of the right to free speech. Kidding aside, Nordlander's article comes off as being nothing more than a piece of anti-Bush propaganda in which no coherent argument could be found. Furthermore, it is pretty hypocritical to say "personally I find nothing wrong with the project" and then two sentences later claim "a project of this nature belongs on a secular campus." According to him, "Bush and his cronies" can do no right … except win an election … twice.

As much respect as I have for all war veterans and as much as it pains me to criticize one, I must say that Zelmer's observations seemed a little off. In response to his claim that "killing is easy, living is hard," I can't help but point out that for those snipers, of whom we all speak, killing is a part of life, and therefore neither life nor killing is easy. If killing were easy, no one would return with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, would they?

Now that I got my two cents in, let me get back to the point, which has nothing to do with "sniper-gate." I was naïve to think that coming to college would get me away from one of my biggest pet peeves: stupid and ignorant people who run their mouths. I would like to encourage people to think back to that lesson we were all supposed to learn when we were three years old: think before you speak. If I had a dollar for every time I read a Viewpoint that was clearly written by someone who didn't think, I would be in a MTV Cribs-worthy home on an island in the Caribbean standing on my balcony admiring my yacht. The biggest mistake people make is forgetting that there are two sides to an issue and just because you might not agree with one side is no reason to forget about it and ramble on like an "idiot." With that said, hopefully people will think out their arguments thoroughly and I can read more rational, coherent debates.

Jared Sichting is a junior communications and criminology and law studies major.

This viewpoint appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 17 2005.