Living in rural Japan with no TV reception and no English newspapers, I was not aware of the Victoria Snelgrove controversy. The news of the settlement of her parents’ case was my first introduction to the sad event and I decided to look into it further. In the course of my search, I came across your article. An oasis of reason in a sea of hysteria.
I am sure that your well thought out and reasonable position resulted in angry accusations of insensitivity and intimations that your suggestions would violate the “human rights” of the real instigators of the tragedy. I wholehearted agree with you that freedom is earned and the exercise of it inextricably bound with responsibility—tresponsibility that immature, raving students and even many adults do not seem capable of taking. Viewing my country from the outside as I have for so many years, I have become disillusioned and disheartened that so great a country with such unlimited potential has decayed into a politically correct morass of spineless individuals afraid to state the truth when it is hard to hear. You have given me hope that reason may have just a slim chance of prevailing.
