Freedoms available for anyone

    Our country was founded on the idea of freedom.

    Our Constitution protects free speech and a free press.

However, there will always be opponents to freedom. They come in many forms.

    These oppressors of freedom want to censor anything they find to be offensive. They do not bother to see if the majority agrees with them; they just want it gone forever.

    One thing that makes the censors dangerous is that they usually do not read, listen or watch what they want eliminated. They just hear about it and are instantly angry.

    The censors pressure executives or advertisers to eliminate the alleged offensive material. They think they know what is best for everyone, and they work to save the children or stifle free speech.

    These easily offended people contain an unhealthy mix of arrogance and ignorance. They do not care about other’s rights or tastes, just their own. They will hide behind rights when it suits them and trample on others when it suits them also.

    These people have been around always. They were here in Roman times when Christians were being persecuted and executed. They were here during the Salem witch trials, labeling anything they did not like as witchcraft.

    They were present during Nazi Germany, burning books and murdering and torturing Jews, whose beliefs were different from their own.

    As college journalists, we have the right to express our opinions in columns, viewpoints and editorials as long as our comments are free of libel. As college journalists, we also have the obligation to test boundaries and encourage new ways of thinking.

    Everyone is not going to agree with everything someone else says or does, but a frank discussion in an open forum is the best way to combat lack of knowledge, ignorance or disagreements.

    Censorship has been around since the dawn of time, and it almost always fails eventually. Elvis Presley was once considered evil. Parents were warned to keep the children away from rock and roll, which was called the devil’s music. Television censors were warned not to show Elvis’ swiveling hips—all in the name of purity.

    Of course, Elvis is now considered an American Icon. His image is on stamps and other memorials.

    That lack of perspective would be one the greatest criticisms of censorship. It does not allow for change.

    A college should be a place where change is held sacred. Change is what being in college is all about.

    The college paper should serve as a forum for students to voice their concerns. And those concerns can come from either staff members or from students at large through letters to the editor. Sometimes those concerns may not be pretty or something people wish to talk about, but those concerns will not go away.

    Slavery was once considered an ugly topic.

    Would it still exist if nobody talked about it?