JOHNNY KOONSE: Thanks, ma'am, for the budding anarchist

[Harry Monroe]

2. We don't know the motivation the mother had for buying the book for her son

That's what was unsettling about the letter. You may be right or you may be wrong. But this is South Mississippi we're talking about here. I live here, BTW.

BTW, my son is a sophomore at Ole Miss and in the honors college up there. He's a straight A student on full scholarships. He reads all sorts of books with all sorts of viewpoints, is very liberal, open minded and compassionate, just like my wife and I. Basically we hold minority views in this state. But then again, this is not something I would go out and buy for him on my own. It is not my place to do so, even though I know my son very well.

Some teenagers are very impressionable, others will read books like that to get insight into how others view the world. My son is the latter. Yes, they will seek out books and opinions like this on their own, but how they interpret the information is something else entirely.