I'm writing this letter in regards to an article entitled "Boo to the Boob Tube" in the Oct. 26 issue of The Spectrum. The article dealt largely with concerns about under-aged females being exploited on television.
Toward the end of the article, the author, Ms. Bellavia, referred to a quote made by TATU's manager, accusing him of pedophiliac desires she inferred from the quotation. Ms. Bellavia then extended that accusation to fans of TATU, finally closing her remarks with the phrase, "Crazy Russians," projecting her accusations onto an entire ethnicity, as if pedophilia were part of Russian cultural heritage.
I'm unsure how such denigration made it's way into a university publication. An ethnic smear is certainly just as reprehensible as saying, "Crazy Blacks," "Crazy Gays," or "Crazy Jews," none of which I could imagine appearing in this paper. I am confident that the printing of this tactless rubbish was merely an oversight, but I would hope for an apology from Ms. Bellavia printed in next issue. Such ethno-centrism should not be tolerated in a publication intended to represent a diverse student body such as ours at UB.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
