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The Daily OrangeFree speech must be protected
By
Posted: 10/21/05, 3:27 AM EST Section: Opinion
I have been thinking long and hard about the recent outpouring of emotion and outcry against the content of "Over the Hill" and have found myself dismayed about the campus' reaction.
While I found the material to be offensive and crass, I was also disheartened to see many students and faculty members calling for the censorship and expulsion of the students responsible. Is censorship not wrong? We live in a country where we have a constitutionally protected right to free speech. This is a right that I value with a great deal of respect and honor because our forefathers died for that right.
HillTV should not be eliminated simply because one finds the material broadcast offensive. If you do not like the show, don't watch it (which most of us weren't really doing in the first place). "Over the Hill" has opened up old wounds which I deeply sympathize with, but in our rush to judgment, we have forgotten that as citizens we have the right to make such comments even if by common standards they are considered ignorant, hurtful or even racist.
I denounce censorship in any form on anybody regardless if I agree with the person making the statement or not. To make a clichéd reference to Voltaire: "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." For better or worse, all speech is protected in this country and should be on this campus as well. I would not want it any other way.
B.J. Steiner
Senior film drama major
While I found the material to be offensive and crass, I was also disheartened to see many students and faculty members calling for the censorship and expulsion of the students responsible. Is censorship not wrong? We live in a country where we have a constitutionally protected right to free speech. This is a right that I value with a great deal of respect and honor because our forefathers died for that right.
HillTV should not be eliminated simply because one finds the material broadcast offensive. If you do not like the show, don't watch it (which most of us weren't really doing in the first place). "Over the Hill" has opened up old wounds which I deeply sympathize with, but in our rush to judgment, we have forgotten that as citizens we have the right to make such comments even if by common standards they are considered ignorant, hurtful or even racist.
I denounce censorship in any form on anybody regardless if I agree with the person making the statement or not. To make a clichéd reference to Voltaire: "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." For better or worse, all speech is protected in this country and should be on this campus as well. I would not want it any other way.
B.J. Steiner
Senior film drama major
