He committed an act of violence of his own free will and was just lucky that no one got hurt. On Friday, Sept. 14, after a week of unspeakable violence, I received a copy of my alumni magazine bringing yet another story of senseless violence. The Earth Liberation Front took credit for burning down a building on the University of Washington campus. The irony is that his work focuses on traditional hybridization techniques of fast-growing poplars that are being raised in plantations as an alternative to logging native forests for wood fiber. He has never genetically engineered a tree.
Symbolic violence is devastating.
Symbolic violence caused an unconscionable loss of human life on Sept. 11. And pushed a plant toward extinction.