Emerald to Censors: “Fuck Off”
In a show of truly great journalistic solidarity, the Ol ‘ Dirty printed the word “fuck” in huge type in their opinion section today. The editorial board made the decision to run the piece to show support for both their brothers and sisters at Colorado State as well as the always handy First Amendment.
The Colorado State editorial board came under fire recently because they wrote “Taser this…FUCK BUSH” in response to the “excessive” force used by officers in restraining a man at a John Kerry event.
The Puritanical view of obscenities in this country, combined with a slow news day, propelled the Colorado State editorial to the level of national shit storm. (Or so says the Daily Emerald, I hadn’t heard about it until today.)
The Emerald goes on to write: “The First Amendment gives Ku Klux Klansmen the right to march in parades; it protects civil rights leaders and neo-Nazis alike. Unfortunately, it does not prohibit universities from curbing the speech of students working at most college newspapers.”
I have to disagree and say that the First Amendment does protect students from college administrators who wish to limit the language of on-campus publications.
Case in point: Does the Emerald read the Commentator? If the administration wanted to wash out our mouths with the proverbial soap, they would have more than a case. In fact, some people would probably thank them.
The real issue here is poorly written editorials. “Taser this…FUCK BUSH”? What does that even mean? And it hardly even comes close to explaining why a man being tased at a John Kerry event warrants the “FUCK BUSH” moniker.
I think the Ol’ Dirty is on to something here, but I think I will stick with my original statement–it must of been a slow news day.
