First read Michele’s article A Small Victory – More on Pat Tillman: When Idiots Attack. She fisks Rene Gonzales who disparages Pat Tillman’s death recently in Afghanistan.
The next day (today), the Daily Collegian prints a column defending their decision to print the editorial by Mr. Gonzales. And what was the primary factor in deciding to run with the column?
Rene Gonzalez is a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts who occasionally submits columns to The Collegian. While his views in no way reflect the opinion of our editorial board or staff, we base our decisions not on whether we agree with the opinion of students submitting opinion pieces, but on the backbone of journalism: The First Amendment.
Gee, let’s look at that pesky first amendment, shall we?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Gee… I wasn’t aware that Congress passed a law that prohibited Rene from spouting off at the mouth. Nor did they, as far as I am aware, pass a law requiring the editorial board of The Daily Collegian to do so.
What if I was a student at the People Republic of Massachusetts University and wrote a letter to the editor calling for Rene to be drawn and quartered? If I called for people to storm the offices of the Daily Collegian and trash the place? If I put out the word that jack-booted thugs should start bashing heads at the next ANSWER rally? Would the Daily Collegian print my letter? After all, we don’t want to suppress my 1st amendment rights here. And finally, would they figure out who this Jack fellow is and why I can’t seem to find his boots in my latest issue of L. L. Bean?
I think the Daily Collegian let a troll spout off hatred in their paper and are now trying to cover their tracks by dragging the 1st Amendment behind them. It wasn’t the 1st Amendment that caused them to print the letter. It was a lack of editorial control and forethought.
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