February 23,1994
Campus Opinion
Editorial: Censorship
toy Ttaci-Lan*
IsBtts. V&ac j» the de&iitioa erf'
ti*? Wefl, acccaidfl^tD Tbe Amerir
am SerS^e D^Mmttryr, a Imit is
pnwi, fity. BtfaeticyQacfwfaidi
lOkca wcdtak {^fliaiits, we ibu^
aee ittiBkm aboat ^ limit or
iew IcMg we €» go wi^oat sleep.
Aiaa^acos^at^Fouodas'
CMVodtin SKfdier type of fenit w
di»rnaagllfwashetaijtatwhidiwc.
K-ibixracan ctfzetB, teretbcflgfat to
ei^asd cos iRtsds tl»o«igb at,
tOBeaBcLseff^Hesaoa. We’xetalking
id»ost^li%.C - ceasor^uf.
The coQOarersy: aret coisor^up
mo yeas, 'we tesS/ barent head
BBCh 6ciib11^kt or/esse
but aiifeitt of Beatiis and
JBflj>a»iaiitfBanggernp,theCwofd
0ttC£ becMBe a hotbed of
c>«ve»^0B. Tbe *lsate,* i£ seems,
tarehgMj—diedttTthrfijWMejwrfy
^asa
couDtiy, we are goii^ to (excuse me)
bell in a faaod basket.
Being a )ournalist, nowaodinthe'
future. I'm sure I’m going to come up
against the issue of ceosorship, and ru
be die one who is censored, h’s a sad
fact that the words and thoughts that
are guarameed to us m the US COnsti-
ttttion under the First AmetKhnent are
taken away ftom us because a select
few God them objectionable or ob
scene. Who can say that my desire K>
read Tbe Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn can’t be fulfilled because the
termincdogy in it is found to be racist or
^cene?
It seems to me that when people
such as Jesse Helms or school boards
get tt^ethef to ban books or pieces of
aitwoik that they find objectionable,
they aren’t taking into account that
someone’s inner feelings went into
that work or that it is a reflection of
what is going on in histoiy at the time,
h IS not tbe desire of an artist or author
to yiflaise censors, and if it is, it is their
prerogatire to do so and to express
Mczc^h Hcraid
Bacr>feiwb
. - UriMifB Petipin
TodUoa
KM
... KKTMewiit
Fmkm
rkrt^ Ukm. AJdhr T«kioricr
.. . lauT4 Davrn|ii)n
■pelMrtJliTteGeik]|etbini4th>>utihr««iniHrrPv 'Ihe
P^ii6e*dtpy * V*y aeldeeiefc nktrtwist 1V IkmU iriaiib ilir rwht
■*»|Me*m*stob«WFeuieeepenoiBl mtKks. muii», ndhirie u
M iriMiii ita I liiii I UHi br mpcd fte upmwuiriprrifd «i Pthtnnil
MAKCsmrtfKtetflMKOfikecrtlrfleidnBiitttniHn tuvtcfn
Tiiwtfcai imainfiil
flNtVM(J»*tMaaM«Mini«i4rbiwindaowiacakiicTinihrnllKir AB
»W writfcii »y> Cfao oMie tl aJthesfc aid if lq»h»n>e
JAfc unwrbr s«anl1^ibrairiter, bid umbo wd Iw •nilibeU uprti
themselves. If censors want to look for
someone to blame for the terminology
in Huck Finn then 1 say look back to
the time when it was written and thank
their ancestors for supplyii^ the lan
guage. If Helms ^^ts to stop the fund
ing of the NEA for artists who express
themseh^es in other wa)^ besides paint
ing pictures of flowers and fniit. let his
close-minded self do it, but there is
such a thing as the private sector that
will fund controversial artists without
the help of the government.
My feeling on censorship, if you
haven’t picked up on it already, is
this—if you don’t want to see It. read it
or hear it, close your eyes, don't watch
it, buy it or go where there is the
possibility it will be there. Don't take
away my God given right to read, listen
or view what I want just because it's
objeaionable to a small group of
people.
Those who censor are usually
scared of what is being censored. They
don’t take ^e time to find out what
others think about what they are cen
soring and they go on a rampage and
do fix)lish things Uke ban classic litera
ture. I don’t find everything on televi
sion today tasteful or fit for certain
viewing audiences, but I don’t go on a
witch hunt and have the television
show taken off tbe air. I simply do not
v^tch it.
There wiD be opponents of my
opinion that say that by letting these
shows stay on the air, these books on
the shelves and this music on the air
that the evils of the day will continue
to run rampant. Well, there were evils
in this country long before N.Y.P.D.
Blue,Alicein Wonderland andSnoop
Doggy Dog, and I dare say that there
will be evil after they are lor^ gone.
And unfortunately there will always be
censorship.
MEA wants to apologize to ABA and the student body for not
showing What'sLoveGottoDo IT//*//last Friday night. Wefell
short on our responsibilities and only hope we did not
inconvenience too many people. This type of behavior will not
be exhibited by MEA again.
Sincerely,
Alicia Morris, MEA President
Hey You!
Yes, You.
I bet you have been wondering, "How can I get published in
Meredith’s literary m^azine, the Acorr^'^''
Well, wonder tio more! You can polish up your pieces of
prose and poetry and submit them for publication by the ’
deadline on February 28, 1994. Leave your written
submissions in the box marked "ACORN" in Joyner, or call
the editor, Angela Toms (X7813) for more information.
YOU could be a published author!