Childish Excess
By Geoff Metcalf (05/22/06)
"I may not agree with what you say, but to your death I will defend your right to say it." --Voltaire
Just because you ‘can’ doesn’t mean you ‘should’…
I have often observed that if science or government ‘can’ do something, inevitably they ‘will’ do it: cloning, nuclear proliferation, biological and chemical warfare and lite beer are all things the world could do nicely without.
Freedom of speech is a constitutionally guaranteed God given inalienable right. However, those who abuse that right are as worthy of censure, criticism and ostracizing as any nazi prohibitionist or tin pot dictator with a funny hat.
College students often fall victim to excess as they ‘stretch’ and try to become more ‘adult’. The abuse of freedoms is invariably a ‘whoops’. Their very immaturity is magnified by their excesses.
· They can drink so they binge.
· They can have sex, so they become promiscuous.
· They get to make decisions, so they often make bad ones.
Yeah, I realize as I write this, they share weaknesses of many elected officials (even some without the Kennedy family name) who are supposed to be grown ups.
Recently The Associated Students of the University of Oregon refused to apologize for an obscene anti-Christian offense in the campus rag ‘Insurgent’.
The paper’s depiction of a naked, turgid homosexual Jesus was way beyond the pale. Arguably the motivation for the adolescent attack on Christians was influenced by the belief they could ‘get away with it’ and tick off the establishment ‘man’.
However, the sophomoric denseness of the poorly conceived and executed offense, beyond being tasteless, was also cowardly.
The very students defending the indefensible and refusing to concede an apology to another student group (Students of Faith) would be loath to ‘satirize’ blacks, gays, or Muslims.
If the ‘Insurgent’ were true to their alleged (albeit bogus) ‘principles’ they would be more the ‘equal opportunity offender’:
· Run pieces vilifying the prophet Mohammed (who had a documented proclivity for licentious conduct). After living a life of rape, perversion, destruction and plunder, Mohammed died at 62 on the lap of his 17-year-old child bride Ayesha who watched him die a slow, long and horrible death.
· They would lampoon Dr. Martin Luther King for his alleged infidelities and indiscretions.
· There is a long line of alleged and documented presidential peccadilloes covering a wide historic swath of American history.
Not gonna happen!
The ASUO is a gaggle of pampered, spoiled brats who deserve (in addition to censure) defunding, a spanking, and being sent to bed without dinner. Take away their car keys, parent paid VISA cards and gameboys.
This collection of post pubescent students threw an indignant hissy fit which resulted in the university radio station dropping a conservative (albeit popular) talk show host.
The sensitivity challenged Editor of the campus rag was quoted as saying, "I have to say it is really fun to offend people. It is fun to break the rules. If it pisses people off…good that's the point!!! So read, get pissed and talk about it."
What Editor Jessica Brown hasn’t yet absorbed is a basic empirical truth: there are consequences to what we do and don’t do. If she wants to have ‘fun’ offending people, you don’t get to do it with the money of the offended.
So far, the University President Dave Frohayer is Missing In Action. The designated ‘grown up’, and authority figure of the university, apparently is as gutless, clueless, and impotent as his young charges.
Frankly, offensive satire has it’s place…Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, South Park, Howard Stern, and assorted copycats have all demonstrated the capacity for excess ranging from subtle to outrageous…but they are all commercial ventures and in some measure accountable to the folks paying the bills.
Every student at Oregon is required to pay $191.00 per term in student dues. A portion of that money goes to support the ‘Insurgent’.
Ø The Insurgent is therefore responsible to the University
Ø The University is responsible to the students.
Ø All students (including Christians) are required (forced) to pay student dues of $191.00 per term…part of which goes to support the Insurgent.
They should all be demanding a partial refund.
The French playwright Jean Genet once observed, “To achieve harmony in bad taste is the height of elegance.” Monty Python, George Carlin, and Dennis Miller have succeeded in harmonizing bad taste with a degree of “elegance”. The miscreant students at Oregon and the grown ups tasked with bridling their youthful enthusiasm are just stupid, rude and grossly insensitive.
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