The Standard

Issue date: 10/30/07 Section: Opinion

Clearly, I don't understand the definition of a free speech zone. I understand that the F-word is viewed as obscene, and that obscenity in itself is objective. And I understand that we live in the Bible Belt, where if you're under 21, you have an entire town waiting for you to screw up so they can punish you to the fullest extent. But what I don't understand is how the infamous Brother Jed can come and speak on our Bear Paw and call me "a whore," and yet I don't have the right to stand back up to him and say "F*** You!" Brother Jed can pull out a condom, put his entire hand in it in a graphic demonstration of us quote, "putting our faith in something that rips," BUT I can't tell him that he's "F-ing crazy?"

For the supporters of the right to ban saying the F-word in our designated free speech zones, you're probably thinking that I could choose other words to say to Brother Jed, that I don't have to use that particular word. However, it happens to be something most people slip and say when they are angry. It's a word. It's not a bullet. By no means is anyone going to have his or her life severely altered by hearing the utterance of that word. I assume that if you're older than the age of 12, you've heard that word plenty of times and have still managed to live a normal life. After all, if you're reading this, you most likely attend this school, which means that people who hear profanity can still go on and seek out higher education. As for the people who find it offensive, well, get some earplugs cause the world is full of vulgarities that you're not going to always approve of.

The university is trying to make us live in this bubble world, where no one is ever upset or offended. For a place where hig-her thinking is supposed to flourish, that's a pretty ridiculous outlook. Remember when universities used to be a place where ideas grew and people were open minded? Thinking outside one's comfort zone, being thrown into subjects of controversy and trying to see someone's point of view is a thing of the past. Let's just take everything out of context so we can call the police and keep them busy. I mean, sure, meth use is a huge problem here in Springfield, but hearing people curse is so much more devastating to one's well being, right? Why not. But what's next then? Hypothetically, what if someone were walking by you and you were having a conversation with a friend about how the South thought that slavery was a good idea back in the civil war days, but they only heard "slavery was a good idea." Could you be punished for what they supposedly heard and found offensive? Is the future of "free speech" at Missouri State only going to apply to what you whisper? What you think? Would you be better off walking around with your mouth taped shut?

In the end, I agree with the French philosopher, Voltaire: "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

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