Free speech or just plain rude?!

[FAB*SpiceySpice]

Hi guys! I wasn't exactly sure where to put this thread so I just stuck it in here. Anyway.

Last week there was a cartoon that was in our school newspaper, The Maneater. The cartoon pictures a grossly overweight woman with greek letters from an actual sorority on her tshirt. This is an org. that DOES have a chapter on our campus. In the comic she was asking the "frat guy" if he remembered her from the other night when she shacked over there. And he said something to the effect of no, he was too wasted to remember her and he was frankly, happy about that fact.

So, now the thing is, the women of this particular sorority are outraged, which is understandable, b/c had it been my org.'s letters on that shirt I would have been deeply offended.

At the same time, a lot of people are complaining and defending the kid, saying he has the right to free speech.

What has happened however is our Greek community has bombarded this kid with nasty phone calls, emails, and even vandalized his car in his dorm parking lot.

This kind of situation really sucks, and I think it's sad that the majority of Greeks chose to act just as immature as him. But these people really feel he had no right to do that....so I guess I am just asking for your thoughts on this.

Have a great day!

[Dionysus]

Definately rude.

As for the people who thought it was free speech...most people think everything, no matter how offensive, is freedom of speech...UNTIL someone's words is used at THEIR expense...then it's offensive or rude.

[adduncan]

Just plain rude. But not the first time Greeks have been singled out like this.

FAB--check your PMs.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)

[FuzzieAlum]

Unfortunately, free speech includes the right to be rude. It does not, however, include libel, which this can be construed as. It's probably not worth going to court over, and they probably wouldn't win - but it probably is worth the mature representatives of Panhel, IFC and that chapter having a frank talk with the newspaper's advisor and editor. The best your Greeks can expect is an apology, and if this is a campus where the Greeks run a lot of ads in the paper, they can pull them as a boycott.

The Greeks aren't helping their cause by being immature in return - but you know that.

[Kevin]

Sure it's free speech. But freedom comes with responsibility. We should not use our freedom to do harm to others. We must also realize that our speach can have repercussions. In this kid's case if he had thought about it for a moment before drawing the cartoon he might have thought better of it.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

When I was in college a campus 'humor' magazine took pot shots at everyone and singled out each sorority writing nasty things about all of us. I found it shockingly immature for college aged men and women. I remember the day that it came out, I visited the dorms and found some sorority sisters including mine crying hysterically about what had been written about us. I read the magazine and was offended by everything in it, not just the sorority stuff. The 'humor' was homophobic, mysogynistic, and anti-everything. I clearly remember the pain that this magazine had inflicted on so many people all in the name of humor. The most amazing thing was that the magazine wasn't really funny except to a seventh grade mentality.

For whatever reason, we as members of greek letter organizations are subject to more public scrutiny, ridicule, and condemnation than any other group of people. Yes, it hurts, but what can be done? The sorority that was singled out can write a letter to the editor not condemning the stupid cartoon, but emphasizing the positive parts of greek life, scholarship, philanthropy. I'm sure that these women and all the greeks in general can put their heads together and come up with a good response. Additionally, I have found that cultivating both a sense of humor and a thicker skin can go a long way when confronted by such immaturity.

[KillarneyRose]

It's just plain RUDE.

And the sad part is that if the girl in the cartoon was depicted as a member of the Black Student Union, the Gay-Lesbian Association or Hillel it would have never gotten past the editor.

[Betarulz!]

It's free speech, but sounds like he's dealing with the consequences of his actions.

[valkyrie]

The problem is that assholes like this will always exist. They delight in nothing more than getting a rise out of others; the more they offend people, the better. That is all this dude is trying to do -- he wants to piss people off, and because he has been able to do so, he is probably very pleased with himself right now.

Therefore, I sort of want to say that the best course of action might have been for everyone to ignore him. If he's not getting attention for what he's doing, he has no incentive to continue. However, I don't really suppose that we get anywhere in our society by ignoring things that piss us off, so maybe that isn't the best idea. I don't know.

I really think that if somebody did a cartoon like that and my organization's letters were involved (heck, maybe they were -- I think we have a chapter at Mizzou) I probably wouldn't care. The guy is just being an ass. Why would I want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that his cartoon really bothered me?

Also, as much as I hate to say it in this situation, I do think that it is valuable for a college newspaper to be run with minimal interference from advisors and such. The people working on a college paper are the professional journalists/cartoonists/whatever of the future, and I suppose that it may be good for them to learn from their own mistakes rather than being supervised so closely they never learn anything.

Also a question: why in the heck is the paper called the Maneater?

[AXJules]

I also go to Mizzou and thought I'd share a little more of what I'd heard......
The Maneater has had a long torrid history of not representing Greeks well. We complain that they only want to write about us when something bad has happened, they complain that all we do is bad stuff so there's nothing else to write about. In recent years this has really gotten better, so it's a huge shock to see that they let this get printed. Personally I wouldn't have really cared if he put a fake soror on it or something, but to choose a real chapter was asking for it. (To me using a fake vs a real would be the difference between free speech and libel.)
To our rescue is a newspaper called The Greek Chronicle, which a former Pike owns and covers our philanthropies, intramurals, stuff around town, etc. Still, it's like, we should be able to participate in Maneater stuff b/c Greek life is a part of campus. Occasionally we'll run an ad in there, FAB I don't know if you heard this but I guess Pan Hel asked us to boycott by no longer advertising with them.
Its all kinda funny considering we're supposed to have the #1 journalism school in the world (which puts out yet another 'local' paper) and no one can seem to agree on what's ok to print.

[AXJules]

FAB I forgot to put this in, but......
You SO know the Maneater is going to use the vandalism thing against us whenever they do print an editorial. Does anyone really know if a Greek is the one that messed up his car????
For everyone else, you can see the maneater online at this site
They usually post the comics online, too.

[sirfidelgrl]

I found the comic in question.

[Optimist Prime]

I want to type something right now but I won't.

[KSig RC]

why can't it be both?

[James]

ITs ALWAYS free speech . . . but rudeness is a matter of perception not law. You are getting the two confused.

Perceive away.

I found it funny. Not rude.