Grace in defeat

I am outraged at the comments of IU College Republicans chairwoman Chelsea Kane. In the article “IU voters increase by 287 percent,” she states that she was disappointed in students who voted for Obama because they were captivated by his rhetoric.

I am not going to go on a long political rant about who should have won or lost or give psychological hypotheses of why people voted the way they did. Instead, I want to talk about good sportsmanship.

It is understandable that people are going to be upset at the outcome of an election, but that is no reason to completely pass off other parties as fools who got caught up by someone who can speak well, for a change of pace.

If the only reason a person has for their candidate losing is because students were captivated by Obama’s rhetoric, I am saddened and lose hope for our generation. I would much rather hear comments from someone who can gracefully accept the public’s choice than from someone who finds opposing political views to be wrong.

It’s amazing that in a country with freedom of speech, people are so conceited that they cannot see past their own egos and accept others’ beliefs without question. I think it is about time people start taking a critical eye to their beliefs and start asking themselves, “Why do I believe what I do?” and let others live without someone else’s views imposed upon them (here and worldwide).

Geoff Tennent
IU freshman