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; I ihtl Serving V Chris Dixon. Stephanie Sonnen ^ Editor Lucy Arold, Achim Hunt, Bryan Johnston, Nikk IHHSBQ Extremist p should not 1 The congestion on Greene Street Friday afternoon was complicated by a cluster of students on the corner by the "vulture lot." Amid the strains of music coming out of passing cars ? was the shouting of one man against a crowd of peeved students. The man was preaching his version of Christianity, which'included such theories as Jews are going to hell, rape victims do not have God and must have really "wanted it,* and that each night, thousands of college men harm theii bodies by masturbation. A He gasped when one girl w piped up, "What about women? We can, too, you know." Each statement caused a barrage of counterattacks, including snide comments, Bible-based arguments, 01 even, in one instance, a mooning. The preacher caused quite % a ruckus. Many students were angry that USC would allow someone blatantly supporting such anti-social theories to preach to the passing public. We agree many of the opinions expressed by the street preacher were racist, t sexist, unfeeling and ignorant But because we do not agree with them does not mean we have the right to Church bur ' coming ink Saturday's rain put a damper on a lot of things ? the USC Showcase, the traditional Carolina Cup horse race in Camden. % | And it rained on the Rev. Tferrance Mackey's parade ? literally. Mackey, along with others from the S.C. Burned Church Restoration Coalition, the S.C. Committee for Racial Justice and the Atlanta-based Center for Democratic Renewal, planned for 10,000 people to show up and march in Columbia to protest hate crimes and church burnings, * I which have plagued the South in recent months. Only about 400 people showed up to march and rally at the Statehouse, according to The State.. HHHE19S Student Media Russell Hon Chris Dixon News Editor in Chief Advertis Stephanie FAX: Soaaeafeld Viewpoints Editor Achim Hunt Karen Lasyne Bryan Jennifer Stanley Johnston News Editors Sports Editors Lucy Arnold Mark Hopkim Features Editors Ben Pillow I Copy Desk Nikki Thorpe Photo Editor The Gamecock i? the student newspaper of the I Wednesday, and Friday during the Fall and Spring * periods. Opinion* expressed in The Gamecock are thoae of the Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Coramunicai Student Media is its parent organization. The Gamecock will try to print all letters re< include full name, professional title or year < delivered by the autnor to The Gamecock new reserves the right to edit all letter for style, pc withheld for any circumstance. 1 5amecock SC Since 1906 , Editor in Chief feld, Viewpoints Editor ial Board Karen Layne, Ben Muldrow, Jennifer Stanley, i Thorpe. readier ie censored wish censorship on him. If we support the right of musician Marilyn Manson to perform wherever he likes, including South Carolina, then we have to support the right of such an extreme traditionalist to come to this campus and say whatever he wishes. It is unfair to wish censorship of one thing and 1 not of another. No one has the ultimate | right to decide who gets to be seen or heard and who doesn't Some people may have agreed with everything the man was saying, and they ; could stop and listen. Other people were offended, and thpv pit.)ipr nn cmrl ignored him, or they stopped to argue and try to reason with him. But there was a choice. If we censor performers, television, the Internet, musicians, artists, preachers, r whoever, then our choice whether or not to endorse is ! taken away from us. As the street preacher said, we have freedom of choice to do right or wrong. So apply that to controversial experiences, be it Marilyn Manson or street evangelists, and choose whether or not to listen. ning protest mil nnil But Mackey, who's church in Greeleyville was burned in 1995, and supporters shouldn't be disappointed with the turnout at all. Although 400 isn't the anticipated 10,000, it's enough to show that people are ready to stand up and protect their rights and their communities. Hate is the sort of illness that can't be cured in massive amounts. It takes patience and strength to fight hate. The members of the churches that were burned didn't deserve this destruction, but they did deserve a chance i 10 speaK out ana oppose tne hatred which fueled the burning of their churches, which they did on Saturday with a small, but loud voice. sMilliJB ise USC Columbia, SC 29208 : 777-7726 Adam Sander ing: 7774249 Office Manager 777-6482 J*??" JefTers Cartoonist Bea Muldrow Melissa Sellers Graphics Editor Online Editor NBdriLa Rocque Marilyn Asst. Viewpoints Edwards Taylor s Reginaa Greea Marketing Director Asst. News Erik Collias Jessica Nash Faculty Advisor Asst.Features Jeff Nicholson Asst. Photo 'nivenity of South Carolina and is published on Monday, meslera, with,the exception at uni versiiv holiday- and exam' editors or the author and not those of the University of South ions is the Publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of :eived. Letters should be 200-250 words and must ind major if a student. Letters must be personally rsroom in Russell House room 333. The uamecock issible libel or space limitations. Names will not be hewi NEW 0WNER5 i gOoKSfOAZ AC Concews? 1 f\6ooX LOw, \ Te*T8oo< I \ Pfijcei? r IfecLiL To 1 Scott Mor a/r ! ivi iviarnyn iviam To the editor, In response to Kirk Whitworth's completely biased letter to the editor published in Friday's edition, I am writing to clear up some common misconceptions and accusations dealing with Marilyn Manson. Kirk, since you know so much about Manson's "Satanic worship services," I'll assume you've been to one of their shows. No? If you had, maybe you'd know better. Manson has stated that he does not condone worshipping the devil. He feels that both God and the devil control you. Is he satanist, well, yea He was made an honorary priest by Church of Satan founder Anto LaVey. He is a satanist by its definition: You are yoi^r own God and own devil and must take responsibility for your actions. T^aao f Uio m nf rtU irAHW T i/v/co tiiio rnatui juui ucinii tiun: i thought not. Yes, it is true that the concerts are violent. I should know; I've seen them fours times since 1994. Now that Fve addressed half of your letter, I've heard Manson demos from the early 90s, and it is something different altogether from Antichrist Superstar. The band's anti-Christian message is reason enough for many people to dislike the band, and I respect that. Bin Wilcenski, I applaud you for exposing the "shocking" truth about this band. Eric Peck, Freshman Advice to Singleton: Transfer To the editor, This is a letter in response to Shawn JOINTS If wivcusrr^ p^ess sruve )?$riorV?) | VS y?Y J UJ (t ?e honest, I did not until the next < itx, USC running back, on being # ' >un ? aiiuus, mi Singleton's column on April 9. After reading his article three times as open-minded as possible, I still come up with the same advice for Mr. Singleton: Please transfer. Benedict college is right down the road, and I'm sure you would feel more "accepted" there, and maybe it would be a more "friendly" environment. But, wait, this advice is not yet good enough because Benedict is still in the horrid South Carolina so maybe you should try Morehouse. Fve never seen more people complain about a group's funding such as the NAACP and AAAS, which rank among the elite in amount of money granted for their causes. If there was, say, and Anglo-Saxon Student Association, that would be considered racism and unfair to minorities. Our university does, however, allow an occasion such as Old South Weekend for a group of white males to celebrate something they deeply feel is important. Some of their relatives died for the South, and you want to complain about these days of remembrance, when every aay ~we tas you separated your group from everyone else in your column) are bombarded with African-American "heritage." Here is your polarization, Mr. Singleton. Getting to your point on student voting, and how you now feel you understand why your "fellow AfricanAmericans" do not vote, I don't understand this reasoning. An African American was just elected president of our Student Government for the second straight year and you are talking about "apathy." I could see if the board was wall to wall non-minority students. In your column, you also talked about change. Well, people like yourself have been spewing out ignorant comments such as your "public lynching" tidbit V I /ijjm se$, ^ i I ox t t>e isfcfi/wi \ pRONT OR'Tf \ to juakr n 1 \ AMt> mo/tg I \NE>0" aue$' ! Jl W JL Q : know that it hap lay in the news. bitten on the backside by the T< k A n isic, purpose i alluding to the issue of slavery an< stereotypes of blacks. If you want to talk of change, lool at the man in the mirror. That is all ii the past, and some of us are tying ti move on. Let's rethink our positions 01 certain issues and the foundations o our beliefs. Finally, why don't you and everyon* else who oppose the flag stop putting s< much focus onto its importance or lacl thereof. This only makes its supporters' belief stronger and creates greater tensioi between everyone. Life is too precioui to waste time on such matters. Most people don't really care, an< you and I were not even a part of eithe; of the causes surrounding the Civil Wa] that are always argued. I'm not saying forget what occurred but lfs beyond our control. Your wordi are wasted, and I'm sure calling "th< values of this state's citizens jaded anc trashed" doesn't help much either. "Apathy:defendable ant understandable?" I don't think so. Noi here at our university. MlkeKidd, Sophomore Singleton should act, not merely talk To the editor, Mr. Singleton's piece, "Apathy defendable and understandable, " ] believe, shows how the power of the per can be abused and used to attack ar improving system. First of all, Mr. Singleton is miss informed about the license plate. It is of a palmetto and mountains with the quote "Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places,' r ~e tv/u^\ T ?/?J<> "7M? \ A Pi \f/ l\ 0 f ? JJJ oened 1 ennessee mascot nisunderstood i not a Confederate flag. But the real reason for writing is c that throughout his entire piece, i Singleton enacts the very thing that he d is denouncing. 1 If a person is to preach about the f demons of the world, it would help to sustain from doing them him or herself. 5 Singleton complains about the allocation j amount given to the NAACP and AAAS, i which were given a hearing, and then proceeds to limit the actions of another, s non-supported group's actions, i The Old South Weekend is not a 9 convention to bash races or religion, as Singleton would have you believe, but 1 a formal and celebration of brotherhood. r By asking Student Government to r not "allow things such as Old South and Homecoming King and Queen," you are trying to impose your own bigotry and 5 prejudice against a group. ? Another problem I had with the \ column is the blatant generalizations put on the people of South Carolina and } this campus. I You state that YOUR opinions "denote how jaded and trashed the values of this state's citizens are." I am not jaded, nor do I possess trashed.values! In conclusion, Mr. Singleton, if you feel this way, then I will hope that you will take a few words of thought. The other day some of my fraternity brothers were playing a soccer game, and one came out saying, "We're sucking out there. They're going to run-over us." I replied, "Then do something about it!" : If you see a problem, you have two [ choices: Either wave your hands and l; scream or do something about the i problem. Which one do you plan to do, Mr. Singleton? i i Christopher R.Reeves, ' Junior ij^EuSj