^T h e Clackamas Print
newsed@clackamas.edu
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
News
Losing control — the power of being offended
By James Duncan
Design Editor
This article
may not be suited
fo r all audiences
If you havé no sense o f self
worth and can easily be insulted o t
offended please enjoy the less color
ful parts o f thé newspaper.
Once not that long ago one
o f the greatest saterical and obser
vational minds of our generation,
George Carlin said “Sh*t, p*ss, f*ck,
c*nt, cocks*cker, motherf*cker and
t*ts.” Carlin was always one of the
loudest voices about not letting
people be censored. So iil.the spirit power to control you be my guest,
o f Carlin; Ta da! "You are letting me feel offended and distressed, but just
use magic words to make you upset so you know you are letting some
one you have never met control you.
or at least get your attention.
& Last week my column became Think how sad that sounds.,
. Hint: You can stop reading if you
slightly controversial w hen we
decided to use an offensive word don’t like it.
Ultimately it comes down to
that, in all fairness, was not needed
to' bring the point across. T hat censorship, dp you want to be the
said, I still support the u s e o f that censor? Do you have the right? Are
language despite the things people you so proud to feel like you are the
said; “The,profanity in this column final authority on what should and
was absolutely unnecessary and was shouldn’t be seen by others? It is one
only included for the sake of having firing to not want to see something
profanity in print,” stated user John for you. There are plenty o f things
on The Clackamas P rint forums. that people do not want to 'see.
That might very well be true, but Although to say that because you
in this day and age, the fact that an don’t approve, it shouldn’t-be seen
exclamation can still cause people to is very childish. ^JThere is file line
in the sand going to be drawn next?
get up in arms-is actually really sad.
People let themselves be offend Will new words be invented or old
ed. It isn’t like a gag reflex-that can’t ones just added to the list?
I was very confused when I found
be avoided. The act o f being offend
ed is a. choice. W hen you choose to out that calling someone a shower-
be offended and let something ruin sack was now offensive. We are the
your day, or make your heckles rise, ; shapers o f our world and need to ,do
you are giving-it power over you. If ‘ our best to make it the one we want
you want to willingly give over the to live in. W ho are we as a people?
Do we want tö be the generation
that decided to bring back a more
extreme form o f censorship? Maybe
one day in a flat gray world with flat
gray people .someone will look into
a blank gray sky and say “Thank the
gray that we will never be offended.”
W ithout diversity o f ideas and an
endless barrage of color that chai-!
lenge the spirit of'hum an kind, we
will never change or grow. Just lay
back into our little gray box in the
cold gray ground.
It has often been the place o f col-*
lege newspapers to print stories that
push the boundaries o f what is okay
and what isn’t. In feet you could
call' it a : long and rich tradition.
College newspapers are encouraged
to talk about drugs, sex and. touchy
political points. Where better, right?
We publish t o a diverse group of
adults, who we should be able to
treat like adults, campuses are often
the breeding ground o f new ideas.
In America most-publications are
'writtep to be enjoyed' by someone
who has a sixth grade education.
Q h a, college campus the newspaper,
shouldn’t have to tiptoe around the
leftovers o f sixth grade attitudes
about language and rts lise.
Remember this, every time you
stand- up and say “This is offensive,
I don’t waht to see things like this
anymore,^ You might as well be
bahning à T ook or .saying, “We
only get sick" because that’s what
god wants. Antibiotics .are work o f
the devil.” ’j
There is a place for every voice
to be heard. If you don’t like what
people say or are saying or want to
change what isbeing said, you have
to be part o f the system to change it!
Do you want to say something? Join
Clackamas Print. Through the
power of being in the media you
will suddenly get to have your own
ideas heard. You will-not be cen
sored ... mùch. I
“He who rejects change is the
architect o f decay. Thé only human
institution which -rejects progress' is
the cemetery.” - Edmund Wilson
J
Letter to the Editor
r
Dear Editor,
•
I can certainly understand Mr. Duncans
frustration (having learned to drive in
L.A.) but found the title and the use of pro
fanity completely unnecessary in order to get
his point across. If indeed his rules were rules
his point was missed by the angry tone o f his
article. Better time would have been spent
trying to coordinate with the county on
getting the road closed d u rin g sp rin g break
after finals week and the target audience
of his article (CCC) wont he on die road
during this time. Perhaps Mr. Duncan didn’t
follow his own advice and’ Read your drivers
manuals”! The proper distance between any
moving vehicles is 2-4 seconds and 4 seconds
for vehicles going over 30 mph, diat pretty
much covers almost every road in Oregon
with the exception o f school zotfos» and other
areas where indicated. In feet it seems his
whole article is based on assumptions and
fills is purely how Mn Duncan’s perceptions,
doud his own judgment behind the wheel
and the keyboard. Certainly this could lead
to a first amendment debate but really — is
this how we want .CCC represented in the
community?
It is my hope that in the future a mote
nhoa^nfifiytesfrmsM*andytr(rfessiona4'itto-
ner as your mission statement says will be
adheredto.
Best regards,
Michael Modica
7A/> letter may have been edited for brevity
and clarity.
Branden McFarland, Kenny H artil a n d Stephen Cassista appear in the one act “4
a.m. Open all night” in the student performance showcase on March 7.
KONYMANIA takes over social networking
By Patty Salazar
News Editor ;
Social m edia blew u p last
T hursday w ith K O N Y 2012;
even the Clackamas C om m unity
College Facebook page posted the
video and asked for o u r thoughts
on the situation in Africa. H ow
w ould any o f us at the college,
10,000 miles away from Uganda,
The Clackamas Print aims to
report the news in an honest,
Unbiased and professional ■
manner. Content published in
The Print is not screened o r f
subject to censorship. S
19600 Molalla Ave. '
Oregon City, OR 97045
know what’s really going on after
a 30 m inute video? T h e short doc
um entary racked up 71,242,675
views on Y ouT ubein less than a
w e e k 'L e t’s fece it; do you even
know where U ganda is?
T h e Invisible Children Inc.
m ade the K O N Y 2012 video,
w hich is trying : to bring Joseph
Kony’s war crimes, to light. Now,
I am not saying w hat Kony, leader
o f Lords Resistance in Army, has
done in Uganda the last 2 6 years
isn’t horrible. T h e vidéo states that
he has taken 30,000 children from
their parents and turned the boys
into soldiers and the girls into sex
slaves. T h at alone is despicable,
b u t the oversimplified video is
just as bad. It leads whoever is
watching to believe that simply
m aking Kony “famous” is going
to save Africa a n d all will be fine
and dandy.
In October, America sent 100
“advisers” to U ganda to assist
the m ilitary there, find Kony
and arrest him . W h en was the
last tim e America sent “advisers”
anywhere? It seems as if America
always needs an enemy. Last year
it was Gaddafi, now that he is.,
dead Kony comes into play; w hen
the Invisible Children crew read
the letter from Barack O bam a
saying that “advisers” were being
sent out the crew cheered, as if the
problem is solved. As if American
military is Kony’s antidote. W hy
is it that after 26 years o f stealing
children and foiling an unknow n
am ount o f people now every
body is going to start buying the
bracelets so that all o f their peers
can know that they w ant Kony
arrested?
As o f now it is said that K ony
is no longer in Uganda. H is arm y
was whittled dow n to 100 people.
T h e video itself states that the
international criminal court has a
list o f “die worlds m ost dangerous
criminals” and Kony is num ber
1. If he is caught this year, then
there is still, 26 other criminals
w ho ate going to be hunted down
by the next social activist group.
T h e group is going to “cover
the night” w ith their “redefined
propaganda” o n April 20. Putting
up posters arid passing out fly
ers, is n o t going to m ake Kony
surrender and that is n o t w h at is
going to happen.
It’s as if m y generation is so
lazy that by buying a bracelet, we
consider ourselves social activists.
It takes m ore than a bracelet, it
takes m ore then one person to
get arrested t o fix w hat Has hap
pened over 26 years. Even after
Kony is caught there is going to
be another evil somewhere else in
the world.
Editors
Writers
&
Photographers
Production Assistants
Contact Inform ation
Editor-in-Chief: Brian Baldwin
Copy Editor: Katherine Suydam
* News Editor: Patty Salazar
Associate News Editor: Josh-Dillen
Arts&Culture Editor: Isaac Soper
Sports Editor: John William Howard
’
Photo Editor: Hillary Cole
Web Editor: Anna Axelson
Design Editor: James Duncan /
Ad Manager: Brad Heineke
Nora Goodman
Hiroaki Hayashi
Mark Sunderland
Chris Taylor
Adviser: Melissa Jones -
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Christian Adams
Mollie Berry
Breanna Craine
Tyler Eheler
Joey f isher
Jaronte Goldsby n
Telicia Juiiano
Hicham Kerkour
Ellen Niles
: Daria Nguyeh
Emily Rask
Audra Slanina .
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