The Rocky Mountain Collegian

I don't know where you have been lately. As a college student who hates everything Bush stands for, I feel ashamed of you. You make me look bad. And as for your noble intentions, just look at the conversations on the comment boards here. They aren't educational, just inflammatory. Your statement wasn't "bold", just stupid. And you didn't create any important discussions, just fights. Point at all the people who were just as dumb or dumber than you and it doesn't matter. You're held to a higher standard and you failed.

After all, THAT'S what this is all about.

Sk8rgurl3 so what if you hate Bush, do you actually talk about it? Do you actually do anything about it? When was the last time you stood up for your beliefs as boldly and as loudly as the Collegian did? Instead if being angry about the use of "fuck" why not applaud the newspaper for taking a stand!

So a liberal student speaking at a liberal college asks a question of a liberal politician...and when he gets tasered somehow it's the Bush Administration restricting free speech...ummm sure.

"The bold statement we printed...."

Yes, but only in the second sense of the word as defined by my dictionary - "Unduly forward, brazen; impudent."

Your "editorial," and your waffling excuses and illuminations, bespeak a bias than cannot be thought to have anything other than a stiffling influence on opinions other than your own.

I'm sure the New York Times will be in touch shortly.

It was a ridiculously immature and stupid thing to publish. How is this a comment on free speech? That's a complete joke. These editors need to grow up and stop acting like the fly-by-night, A.D.D. generation the think they are trying to reach. This type of "story" belongs on an old episode of 90210.

"Yes, we could have used our usual 250 words to discuss the same topic, but who would have read it?"

Why does it always seem that so many college students live a bubble? Is that really how you approach journalism and the topic of political free speech? Thanks doing your part to help flush our culture down the toilet bowl.

What a total waste of money, sending pre-pubescent ideologues to college. WOW, I printed FUCK in the editorial.......I'm brain dead, but I printed FUCK in the editorial. Grow up, try making your parents proud instead of ashamed.

Struggling my way through your insufferable and disingenuous defense of the so-called "editorial", it dawned on me that nowhere, do you, or any of these editorial board members acknowledge that you DO have freedom of speech, as witnesessed in the publication of the vile, obnoxious editorial that set off this shit storm in the first place.
What you pius lemmings fail to realize, is that while you are free to be as vicious and arrogant as you wish, there are sometimes responses and consequenses for that arrogance that you may not be so thrilled with.
Why not try to be honest? This editorial had nothing to do with provoking thought and discourse. You creeps got exactly what you wanted. Notoriety.
So to J. David McSwane and the rest of your apologists hiding behind the skirt of "free speech", I say, congratulations, and fuck you too.

Guys, let us reason together:

Yes, you have the right to publish what you want, assuming it does not infringe on anyone else's right to speech nor incite harm upon anyone through your speech.

Yes, I applaud your boldness in such a choice as well as your professed motives for doing so.

But you didn't think. You didn't weigh the options or the consequences. Free speech does not mean speech without repurcussions. And baby, the reaper is percussioning on your head today. :)

You sacrificed your credibility for one large, bold, flame-of-glory statement. As long as you guys feel it was worth it, cool. You wanted people talking about freedom of speech? You got it. You also guaranteed no one will take your editorials seriously again (if they did before, not a regular reader, just someone brought in by the national hoopla.)

I agree the state of readership, scholarship and general critical thinking on college campuses and every other institution is below where we need it to be for a functioning republic (we're a republic, everyone, not a democracy, so get that straight. We elect representatives to speak for us, democracies mean all 300 million Americans would vote on every single issue we have to settle.) But has your falling on the sword of the First Amendment done anything to promote it? Maybe this week. But wouldn't it be better as a news organization (having once been a student journalist) to make sure people still take you seriously and are still reading your paper two weeks, 10 months, 20 years from now? Your editor speaks of the 100+ year tradition of the Collegian, amazing you can wrap all that up into four words, one issue and wipe it out. You had a duty to protect the dignity, honor and power of your paper by cherishing every word that goes into it. While again I respect the effort, the method was poorly chosen.

GOOD LUCK!

The Collegian is now among the ranks of Howard Stern; shock artists. It's pitiful considering that this is a student newspaper, one might expect something intelligent or at least original. The excuse they present for that is they believe it would fall on deaf ears. Did you think that perhaps those other pieces fell on deaf ears because you weren't tapping an issue that your readers cared about as much as the editorial board? Maybe your editor has lost touch with his readers?
These are some questions you might ask yourself next time. What you essentially did was yell "RAT!" in a restaurant. And while others tried to enjoy their meals, you decided that you've had it with others not noticing your constant dismay for the Ribeye Special. If that analogy trips a brain cell, maybe you should head to class instead of printing filth.

"We've written several opinion pieces bashing the president, and all of those fell on deaf, apathetic ears - a disappointing truth on the CSU campus.

It's interesting and scary that the use of the F-word garners more attention than an intelligent, well-researched editorial."

Although the editorial staff wants us to believe that this is strictly about free speech, it is hard to believe when looking at the content of this article. Let's not kid ourselves, this is still political. While the issue of free speech has become intertwined within this journalistic mess, the editors are admittedly disappointed with the political views of this campus. The students of CSU are referred to as "deaf" and "apathetic".

They may be right to some degree about the deafness and apathy of CSU students. I believe that we are deaf and apathetic, but not towards politics. Instead, I believe that we are deaf and apathetic towards the Collegian. The student body has seen and read the "several opinion pieces bashing the president" over the past few years. It is old! I am not a big fan of Bush, but I get tired of reading the same thing over and over. Also, the opinions of the editorial staff never strike me as "intelligent" and "well researched". The collegian has become a sad excuse for a paper. It has become a place where people post uneducated ranting in column form. The best articles are usually imported from other papers. I hope that this whole mess results in new leadership at the Collegian. I think that this paper could benefit greatly from some new blood.

So I heard that the Collegian has lost nearly $50,000 since Friday's "opinion piece." Now that's free speech.

Your editorial did not make people think about free speech. It makes people think that you are immature, obnoxious and not capable of civil dialogue.

Freedom of speech in the US died in 2000 when der Fuhrer Bush was selected by the Supremes, which is exactly why I now live in a free and democratic country called New Zealand. I'm sure there will be much fallout over this wee example of truth-telling at its finest. After all, that's what always happens when you live in a brutal dictatorship.

Congratulations. You've brought discredit upon yourself, your staff, and your university. If that much has not become evident after losing $30,000 in advertising revenue and earning near-universal condemnation, then words simply have no meaning.

After witnessing this willful display of denial after the fact, I am suggesting beyond hope that you salvage whatever professional integrity that remains to the Collegian's reputation and retract the "editorial". Perhaps that is asking too much.

"Our fellow college students, they can't Taser all of us."

If you are attempting to link your editorials to that drama queen TaserBoy who would only scream and cry when there were cameras, who set up his own Youtube moment with his own camera Congratulations! You have done it! You are in the same class as that guy in Britain who screamed out "This is a Youtube Material!" Then proceeded to urinate on a dying woman who had fallen on the sidewalk. (please google the event to get the full understanding of your group's level of intelligence.)

As a student at CSU I have always dreaded the anti-abortion week when the gigantic pictures of aborted fetuses are placed in between the library and the student center. They are impossible to miss and are to put it mildly, grotesque. The people who pay to put these up no doubt pay for the permit and are, for all intents and purposes, exerting their right to freedom of speech. And even though I am staunchly pro-choice I believe they should have that right...I simply choose to walk far out of the way so as to avoid the propaganda.
I don't freak out and assume that these right-to-lifers now represent my school and thus I have to call for resignations etc.
Don't read the Collegian if you don't like it or, do start up the Ram Republic. The competition will only strengthen the writing that gets published thus bettering us all.
When you are 80 years old do you want to tell your grandchildren that it was the F-bomb that upset you enough to stage some kind of protest? I have to say watching the news last night, "Fuck Bush" was the last thing to upset me (it actually amused me). A three year old being killed and dumped by her mother's boyfriend was the thing that stuck out in my mind.
I bet the Monks in Burma tonight would appreciate the protection we are promised in the 1st Amendment. Well done to the editorial staff; you've given us the opportunity to see how privileged we are. I will post this and won't have to worry about a military junta coming to hunt me down.

And since he is the leader of this country for another year I say peace be to Bush and to the rest of us.