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I usually try to find the logic behind Viewpoint columnists I don’t agree with, like Garin Hovannisian. But something Hovannisian recently wrote has compelled me to write in.

In his column, “Lauded filmmaker spreads lies, deceit” (Viewpoint, May 26), Hovannisian writes about the many “mis-truths” spread by filmmaker Michael Moore. Though I am ideologically aligned with Moore, I am not a “disciple” of his that blindly follows his crusades.

I couldn’t help but notice that Hovannisian’s research came from a Yahoo! Web search. Maybe when he spends a few more years in college, he will notice that many professors strictly forbid the Internet as a research tool because of its unreliability and tendency to produce lies.

It seems Hovannisian has his own slant of the truth or fails to look at the whole picture. Hovannisian writes that Moore’s anger with Disney for refusing to distribute “Fahrenheit 911” was just a publicity stunt because Disney had really refused to show the film a year earlier.

But here’s another theory. Maybe it was all a marketing ploy for Disney. Perhaps Disney was hoping to capitalize on a hot political year that has already seen numerous popular political books, raking in millions, claiming authority on President Bush and his administration. But this is all conjecture. The truth is, I know about as much as Hovannisian does. People can’t claim to know the ins and outs of the corporate entertainment industry.

But Moore does not “hate the United States” as Hovannisian would have his readers believe. Moore loves the United States; he is so critical of it because he is afraid of the direction it is heading in and believes we are capable of doing better. Don’t most of us feel this country has been heading in the wrong direction for years? I wonder if our parents left school with the same anxiety and fear that we are leaving with. Ask them.

Are we heading in the wrong direction? I think our work toward a free, peaceful and balanced global society is hardly close to being complete. Does Hovannisian believe the rhetoric from our current administration so blindly that he believes destroying countries should bring welcoming masses heaping flowers and love?

Why do I have the feeling that Hovannisian is just ranting? Why do I feel that he is just spewing out the same rants he hears on Fox News Channel and conservative talk radio?

The truth is, I have no clue why Hovannisian writes what he writes. I have no clue where he gets his information or whether or not he listens to conservative talk radio. I don’t know the guy, and I shouldn’t try to break down everything he writes, thinking that somehow I know better than anyone else. I’d rather work on my own truth, not spend my time disputing and criticizing other people’s views. I hope future columnists in the Daily Bruin and the world at large adopt this motto, because it is the only way our divided and polarized world can be sane again.

Lopez-Balbontin is a fourth-year theater student.