Why I'm not asking

In response to Mona Damluji's viewpoint (02/13/03), here is a novel idea that many IR/history/political science majors cannot understand: I am a science major because I am interested in science. If I had some fantastically large interest in politics or the Middle East I would have been a Middle Eastern studies or history major. This small, seemingly obvious fact seems to elude many, specifically the IR/history/political science majors who rant and rave about how I should spend every waking moment of my free time reading newspapers and becoming educated about issues in which I have no particular interest. I do know where Iraq is located on the map, but I am not particularly interested in the politics of exactly what is happening in that region of the world. Nor do I feel that it is in any way wrong for me to feel this way. My question is this: why should I concern myself with politics? The most common answer that I have heard in my time at Tufts is that world events affect me, that a war in Iraq would change my life back in the US.

While I recognize that politics do affect my life, I also realize that I have neither the time nor patience to educate myself about everything that may affect me. In response to the viewpoint's question about how many non-political science non-IR majors know all about the conflict in the Middle East, I have a few questions: How many non-science majors know on which side of the body the liver is located? How many can name five effects (and causes) of global warming? How many know how cancer cells spread? And how many know the various ways in which your endocrine system keeps you alive (or what the endocrine system is)? Here's a thought: if you are so concerned about the threat of nuclear warfare, you might want to open up a physics textbook and find out exactly what nuclear weapons are, and then proceed to open an environmental science textbook to learn about the vast environmental effects of such a disaster. That way, you will at least understand the reasons why you do not want this war to happen.

I am willing to accept that some people are simply not interested in the sciences, but why is it so much less acceptable for me to be uninterested in politics? I am no more affected by the conflict in the Middle East and a potential war than any IR or political science major would be affected by a cure for cancer or global warming.

I have heard the same annoying question repeatedly exiting the words of many non-science majors: "If you don't care about being educated about the world, then why would you be at Tufts?" I came to Tufts to learn about something that I am passionate about, and for me that happens to be science, not politics. I will accept my duty to become more aware of world events when every IR/political science major who demands that I do so agrees to attend the various lecture events held on campus by scientists who are presenting their research. I will consider the viewpoint's suggestion to start taking history classes pass/fail when she considers my suggestion to start taking science classes with the same purpose in mind. I'll take her advice seriously and start reading the editorial section of The New York Times at the gym when I see her reading the latest Science or Nature journals on the Stairmaster.

For someone to imply that I have a duty to become educated about the world is hypocrisy unless he or she is willing to make the same effort. So if you demand my ability to have an intelligent conversation with you about politics, I'll demand your ability to have one about science in return. If you cannot do this, then you cannot call me ignorant without being a hypocrite yourself. I am sick and tired of IR /political science/ history majors implying that I somehow have a duty to become familiar with their particular interests while they maintain that they have no duty to care about mine.

When students talk about the diversity of Tufts, I presume that they are talking about culture as well as ideas. Tufts University would be an extraordinarily boring place if we were all history, political science, or IR majors. By demanding that all students concern themselves with foreign affairs, one is in fact demanding that they all be the same, and is thus disregarding their many differences (and of the little that I know about the conflict in the Middle East, I know that it stems from people's inability to accept each others' differences, something last week's viewpoint also succeeded in doing). So the next time you want to complain that many science majors are ignorant about the events of the Middle East, please remember that I respect your right to pursue your passions, so please respect my right to pursue mine.

Sophia Kogan is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.