I had heard about this story only in passing and got little info about it until now. Evidently a band performing on campus at Missouri State was told not to use the dreaded "F-word" while performing, they used it anyway and the performance was halted, which resulted in students protesting outside of a University Bored(spelled incorrectly on purpose) of Governors' meeting. J.T. Eberhard was the organizer of the protest and states: "Our point is that they can't start censoring everything that may be offensive to somebody." I agree and more on how much I agree a little later. The MSU President Mike Nietzel responds to the protest by saying that he had hoped that students would "exercise (their right to protest) on issues more significant than using a dirty word." I'll bet you would Nietzel and by the way, Fuck you! There's a little bit more to the story in the link provided, but you get the gist of it.
Here's my take: To me, there are just as many words I find offensive and are used sometimes on a daily basis. Words and combined words like: Tuition hikes, higher taxes, "stay the course", Patriot Act, Dubai, wiretaps, Darfur, etc... and yes, these words are offensive to me due to how they effect me financially or even aesthetically. Take this time to ask yourselves, what (to you) is offensive language? Also, compare those words to others words like what I have stated and ask which has more of an offensive background? I can tell you, there are more words to be offended by than silly curse words.
8 comments:
Censorship is a slippery slope. Who gets to decide what's offensive? I'm
Sorry, my 2-year-old grabbed the computer. I was going to say, I'm sure the "F-word" signs being held up were more offensive to some than the possibility of hearing the lyric was. This was a ridiculous path for the university to start down.
This event was not censorship no matter how hard some people want to spin and say that it was censorship.
This was not an event for school grade or other effect on student grades. This was an extra-curricular activity and as such the University can put any conditions upon it such as not allowing profanity. The band in question could have chosen not to participate under those rules. However, they chose to play and chose to not say the word they were asked not to use by the University.
This is a ridiculous path for these students to take and an example of spoiled attitude of many students to think they have the "right" to do whatever they want to do with an event organized by someone other than those students.
I do agree with J.T., although I'm not much for protesting and I've never participated in one. I do see their point though. If I pay tuition as high as it is, I'd like to be able to have some liberties every once in a while. I respect everyone's point of view on this...the beauty of free speech.
Unless the band was trespassing, it was a school-sanctioned event. A school that is not private and uses tax dollars as funding. They cannot limit free speech.
Right or wrong on the university's part, it doesn't change the definition of censorship, which has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not the event is required.
Well, I need to add to your list of offensive combined words: Family values. And it gets worse depending on who's saying it.
One that I find offensive is "sanctity of marriage."
I saw none of the yelling and shouting of obscenities as described in the News-Leader's story. All I saw were about a dozen students silently holding signs with the "offensive" word. I walked by the protest twice and no one shouted at me! I was kind of disappointed! I was proud of the kids, to tell you the truth.
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