Editor:

In the Jan. 27 edition of The Daily Utah Chronicle, a column by Matthew Ouellette (“Could Brady cause nuclear war?”) attacked politicians, athletic endorsements and, more specifically, Tom Brady. Not only was the attack unfair but it was a complete waste of ink.

It attacked politicians for doing what politicians do: try to survive. More money than we want to think about is invested in discovering what the public wants so that a certain politician can deliver it to us. Because society has dictated that it will listen to athletes and celebrities, politicians use them to help gain our votes. I would hope that the future leaders of our country would be smart enough to figure this out and use it to their advantage. Should we focus more on actual issues and resolutions to problems? Probably, but society, not politicians, is to blame for the endorsements we have today.

Ouellette also took the opportunity to take jabs at what he used to think of as an “ideal representative of my generation: a strapping, young, athletic, overachieving, politically indifferent, promiscuous hero.” Brady is an ideal person for us to set our sights on. Brady has overcome some setbacks in his career and achieved greatness. That sounds like the American Dream to me. And that isn’t even his politics.

It seems that because Brady had enough guts to actually have a political opinion, he deserves to be berated. That is funny. Given the fact that our generation has one of the worst voter turnouts in history, one would think that a 25 year-old guy making a political statement would be applauded. Obviously, he is not as indifferent as previously thought.

Ouellette also wrote that Brady “seems to have no idea of the implications his alignment might have.” Give me a break! A professional athlete, living in modern society, not understanding what implications his appearance at a political event would have? No chance. If anything, it looks like a well calculated endorsement on his part. Believe it or not, even an athlete can know what is going on.

The column should complain against the standards society has set up, not politicians and athletes for merely conforming to them. To answer the question posed to Brady, “What have you done for me lately,” he has provided an example we would do well to follow.

T. Clinton Cunningham

Freshman, Undecided