The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 14, 1997, Page 3, Image 3
;
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