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For the last 223 years, Americans have held
the Bill of Rights as an uncompromising, nonnegotiable,
and untouchable set of basic truths inalienable to all men. During
that time, millions of Americans have sacrificed life and limb
to protect these basic rights.
Of all these truths, we hold no other more
dear than the First Amendment-the freedom of speech. This is
the very freedom that guarantees each and every one of us the
right to speak our mind, when we want, how we want, and where
we want without the fear of reprisal in any form.
You have to realize, of course, that freedom
doesn't come easy, you've got to want it bad. The freedom of
speech is no exception, it tests us each and every day. It gives
everyone the right to say something that someone else would spend
a lifetime shouting opposition to, but that's the beauty of it.
That is why we call it freedom.
Remember, not everyone everywhere has the
right to speak their minds. There are places under socialist
control or repressive dictators, and these people can't speak
their mind without certain punishment in the form of prison sentences,
physical harm, or even death.
However, it would appear that some here at
Millersville prefer that type of living and forget those that
have died to protect this right. Over the last several weeks
now, reports have been trickling in that Snapper columnists
are being harassed for expressing their honest feelings and opinions.
This harassment has come in many forms: hate email, threatening
phone messages from unknown callers, and even personal confrontations
where physical harm was threatened. Columnists have had things
thrown at them in dining halls and have been ostracized by their
neighbors.
Why stop there? Why don't we organize a book
burning here on campus, we can burn The Snapper, The Bible,
textbooks, the Constitution, and anything else we disagree with
or which hurts our feelings. Then maybe we can invite a few Neo-Nazi
party members to come and give a small lecture about persecuting
those that we don't like, agree with, or are afraid of. If anyone
doesn't like this idea, we'll just shoot them.
Sounds extreme doesn't it? But how far from
it are we? You have to understand that the behavior being demonstrated
moves us backwards, not forward. The unfortunate thing is that
some columnists are afraid to say what they want; they feel the
need to sugarcoat their columns now in order to please the lowest
common denominator-the general mob.
Congratulations to those of you who prefer
censorship over free speech. It looks like you might be succeeding.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about
having an opposing opinion, in fact I welcome it. In addition,
there's nothing wrong with debating your opinion logically. It
is; however, inherently wrong to harass and threaten those that
disagree with you. There's a right way and a wrong way to express
you're opinion. The right way-a letter to the editor. The wrong
way-threaten physical violence.
The Snapper
has avenues setup so that people holding opposing views can speak
their minds in the form of letters to the editor or commentaries.
This is how the system works now and has worked for many years,
very successfully too. The Snapper welcomes all opinions
from any member of the University community, and it looks forward
to publishing them.
So to all of you who threaten and try to censor
those having different opinions today, remember you might be
threatened and censored tomorrow. If you have a complaint, submit
it formally through the proper channels. Don't take matters into
your own hands and try and teach that person a lesson. It will
only make matters worse and probably prove your opinion on the
matter as correct.
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