Thursday, April 26, 2007
It has been more than a week since the nation was shocked in horror by the killings at Virginia Tech. Events like the shooting create a chilling ripple effect that extends far beyond the confines of that university. Yet, while the Blacksburg community focuses on moving beyond last Monday, it is also a time for the country to reflect and learn from the tragedy.
The atrocity at Virginia Tech sparked instant and fierce debates, especially across college campuses. On April 17, just one day after the massacre, a University of Colorado student shared sympathy for Cho Seung-Hui, the gunman who took the lives of 32 students and faculty before taking his own. Max Karson, a senior at CU, said he could understand how someone could kill 32 people. He said he is sometimes, “angry about all kinds of things from the fluorescent light bulbs to the unpainted walls, and it made him angry enough to kill people.” Karson’s comments created a stir throughout the classroom, and as a result, he was later arrested on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with staff, faculty or students of an educational institution.
While many people may find it difficult to reason how any person could act as gruesome as Mr. Cho did, I believe Karson was making an attempt to get his classmates analyze the situation as a whole. Karson, who has a history of publishing opinions on sexism, racism and homosexuality, may have wanted to liven the class discussion on the psychology of serial killers. According to police reports, he was not violent and did not disrupt the class. And still, he was arrested because witnesses said “they were afraid of him and afraid to come to class with him.”
Throughout history, individuals such as Mr. Karson have tested the waters of the first amendment. Landmark cases, such as Schenck v. United States, Brandenburg v. Ohio and Terminiello v. Chicago have set standards for free expression. If the same standards were tested against Mr. Karson’s speech last week, I feel that his arrest was not justified.
The historic Schenck v United States case benchmarked the theory of clear and present danger. The Supreme Court ruled speech could be punished if danger presented a vital interest. While the standard for clear and present danger was directed mostly at speech during periods of war, the criterion was modified in Brandenburg v. Ohio. It held that government, even those at college universities, cannot punish inflammatory speech unless it is directed to inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action. And in Terminiello v. Chicago, the court ruled that words must be directed to an individual, and that negative responses to those words are not necessarily fighting words.
Mr. Karson did nothing wrong. He did not disrupt class, nor was he violent. When he said he understood how someone could kill 32 people and he could be angry enough to kill people, no names were addressed directly. Yet, his classmates disapproved of his opinion and felt threatened by his words.
I understand this is a time to evaluate safety and re-address the issue of gun control. But is it not a time to allow discussions of all opinions to be expressed freely, so that we may gain from this tragedy? I should hope to say so.
Jessica Reber
Journalism senior
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Comments
Letter to the editor: Protect free speech
of course the comments by Max Carson are protected by the laws concerning free speech, but what is the real value of protecting tasteless comments that are meant to provoke and annoy? after reading several accounts of what his actual comments were, what the context of the comments were, and learning his prior history of making insensitive remarks, it is not suprising that authorities decided to forego his civil rights and let him sit in jail for the day. protecting the free speech rights of the individuals whose comments reveal that they do not grasp the precious value of free speech seems like a waste of resources. please remind me again what the response of the kansan was to the university of nebraska student who held the the "gayhawk jayhawk" sign was...
Letter to the editor: Protect free speech
linguo, please do not address me or refer to any discussion points that i post. your viewpoints and opinons are so biased, and inexporably rooted in blinded passion, rather than logic, that discourse with you is a waste of time. to arrive at a consensus, or even a polite disagreement with you, is impossible. please find something else to do with your time.
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