'Dog' offensive, use 'canine-American'

I would like to object in the strongest possible terms to the Wildcat's quotation of Thor Halvorsen on the issue of the 'offensive' cartoon run by your newspaper.

He is quoted as saying that "It implied that seeing-eye dogs aren't very bright. I felt that it discredited guide dogs."

As any student of political correctness knows, "dog" is extremely offensive, demeaning, and, indeed, "discredits" the entire species.

I prefer the term "canine-American" (if, indeed, the organism - not "animal" - in question was born in this country, or has been legally naturalized; if not, "canine companion" is acceptable).

In Halvorsen's own words, "...whether it intended [sic] or not to be offensive, it did offend," meaning that the intention of the speaker is irrelevant, and what counts is the way that a cartoon or a quotation is construed by the audience.

Based on this principle, and since I found his remarks offensive, I am asking for Halvorsen to make a public written apology for his word choice, and encourage him to consider his language more carefully in the future.

Robert Kurzban
Economics Graduate Student