To me this seems incoherent. If you have freedom of speech, surely by definition you have freedom from certain classes of consequence? Otherwise, what on earth do they mean by “freedom”?

Pretend it’s someone you really don’t care about, maybe the CSU President.

It’s a CRAPPY editorial. It would have been better with a cartoon drawing and that as a header… but as an editorial???

Look at the editorials in the times or registers, they back their opinions up.

Those 4 words he wrote, wasn’t a proper editorial, it was a rant. Plain and simple. “I hate so and so and I want the world to know it.”

BIG DEAL! It’s not like many others don’t share it, but for an editor-in-chief to let a article that isn’t an article in his paper like that… it’s just not done.

Editorials were my favorite thing to write for a school paper, because it’s something you feel strongly for, but doesn’t mean I nor my fellow reporters went and simply ranted, we “REPORTED”.

Feel what you want to feel about Bush. Say what you want to say. None the less -It’s still a crappy editorial.

I’m sure McSwane has no interest in whether or not people like him. He spoke his mind, as many of us do, without regard to the possibility that people might not like him. I don’t know many people who are that thin-skinned that they would refrain from speaking their minds on the off chance that someone might grimace a bit.

The Sheeple are always going to be on the fence, swaying back and forth because they can’t think for themselves. Hopefully McSwane brought a few of them to this side of the debate.

you get idea. Yeah, I think this president has done more damage to this country than any of his predecessors on security, education, science in general, the environment, foreign relations, privacy, civil liberties, food safety, and a variety of other subjects. But for me to go out and start screaming “Screw Bush!” doesn’t accomplish anything (or nothing much). It just makes people who are on the fence dislike you.

And most people are on the fence (as evidenced by public opinion polls swaying left and right, left and right).

We should not be afraid to voice our opinions and feelings. That is the essence of freedom. You may not agree with what he said or how he said it, but that doesn’t change his absolute right to say it.

I, for one, could not agree with him more!

Gotta agree with her there.

am I interpreting this correctly? You are saying there are no intelligent arguments to back up criticism against Bush? (Tech ready to unleash barrage of information)

Or are you saying that in general, people don’t back up their strong opinions with facts, but instead just choose to say things like “Bush sucks”, or “Just Say No to Hilary”?

There’s a difference between expressing your views constructively and destructively, though. I don’t know if McSwane should be punished or not. I think it was poor character to write such a derogatory editorial. What he wrote doesn’t tell the reader why he feels what he does about Bush. I see comments like this all the time online and, since they don’t have any intelligent arguments backing them up, I just ingore them and attribute them to someone who’s just angry for no good reason.

I hope that ramble made sense. I got a serious lack of sleep last night!