Oh those rebellious college kids. Get them away from their parents' supervision and all of a sudden they think they know more than their wise elders. While outgoing Chicago Tribune public editor Don Wycliff (who is leaving the Trib for a PR job) pompously pontificates about why printing the not—so—looney toons would gratuitously offend, his youthful competition from the University of Illinois' Daily lllini went ahead and dared expose them to the vulnerable eyes and minds of the youth of tomorrow.
And that young editor even offered a more lucid explanation for printing than Wycliff, New York Times editorials and others have for opposing.
All across this nation, editors are gripped in fear of printing ... for fear of the reaction. As a journalist, this flies in the face of everything I hold dear. By refusing to print these editorial cartoons, we are preventing an important issue from being debated openly by the public.
If anything, journalists all over this country should be letting the public decide for themselves what to think of these cartoons.
As an editor of a college newspaper, I cannot claim to be a champion for free speech and at the same time restrict it from running its course. My gut has been turning for days questioning how to address this issue. It is only proper that you, the public, are allowed to think for yourselves.
Warning! Shrieking and raging are sure to arise from the Illinois cornfields, home to the University and its paper. The school has a substantial number of students from Arab/Muslim countries plus many American Muslims. And of course the double standards, hypocrisy speech is sure to issue from many foaming mouths as the University of Illinois' living symbol, Chief Illiniwek, is a source of ethnic controversy.
And finally, what action like this would be complete without dragging in the Jews? Last year the paper published a wildly factually inaccurate letter about Israel which caused a tempest so some will equate the two.
But the fighting Illini are unafraid.
Ah youth——definitely wasted on the young.
Ethel C. Fenig 2 10 06
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