To the Editor-

Is it ever okay to heckle a speaker?

This is a question I asked myself when I was one of the protesters greeting our governor at the groundbreaking for UWSP’s new science building.

When Walker was introduced, there was a mixture of applause and booing. I felt a little uncomfortable when I heard people heckling. After all, we Wisconsinites were raised to be polite, weren’t we? Are there ever times when politeness is not an appropriate response?

I learned, years ago, when my purse was snatched in the big city, that my fear of being rude prevented me from looking the attacker in the face, yelling and grabbing it back. You’re an easy mark when you’re inappropriately nice in the face of an attack.

And Walker HAS attacked education ever since he took the oath of office. His big smile at the groundbreaking was meant to be a powerful statement of his support for higher education in Wisconsin. That was a big, fluffy, lie.

Another “acute” lie was reported in last Friday’s news, with a court ordered release of email records related to the University budget. Walker has insisted his proposed elimination of the “Wisconsin Idea” mission statement was a misunderstanding—just a “drafting error.” Really?

Email records confirm that Walker was “driving the process” that included changing the University’s mission from a search for truth to job training.

Unfortunately, these lies are just two of many. Think of Walker’s bold faced lies about Act 10, Right to Work, all the jobs he would produce, his campaign staff’s secret email system, how the John Doe was not targeting him, how he didn’t know there were systematic abuses in youth prisons…..I can’t list them all here, but you get the idea.

It’s really sad when it becomes the norm for a public official to lie to the people he is sworn to serve. When Walker lies in Stevens Point, we call him on it. Those who heckled Walker were courageous enough to look into the face of a liar and speak the truth.

Sometimes heckling IS the right thing to do.

Karlene Ferrante
Stevens Point