Wait, Which Way Does Time Go?
[ rakaur on Tue Oct 17 at 11:58 AM // category: school, siue, technology, web ]
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
“I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.”
— Voltaire
This is about Facebook, SIUE, and a kid named Mike Turk. If you don’t want to hear about it, then by all means stop reading.
Now, before I start, I’d just like to make it clear that this isn’t about Mike Turk. This is about idiots. I don’t know Mike Turk, but I’m willing to bet that he’s probably an idiot. The “anonymous” girl is even more of an idiot. Also, and more importantly, the SIUE administration are all big blubbering idiots.
The parts of the story that I’ve heard (and I haven’t taken the time to learn it thoroughly, mostly because I don’t care) go something like this. An “anonymous” girl (hereby referred to as “DrunkenSlutBag”) had sex (or some sort of sexual contact) with Mike Turk, probably as the result of alcohol. Mike Turk decided to post it on Facebook, and make a big deal about what a slut she was. DrunkenSlutBag decided she took offense at this. Apparently when I wasn’t looking, Congress passed a law that made it illegal to offend someone. DrunkenSlutBag made a big deal over it, and long story short, Mike Turk is now up for expulsion from SIUE.
Now, let me be clear here: this is a big steaming pile of bullshit. I don’t care about Mike Turk, I don’t care about DrunkenSlutBag, I don’t care. What I do care about is Mike Turk’s right to say what he wants, when he wants, where he wants, how he wants about anyone he pleases, without fear. SIUE and a bunch of English majors have taken this away from him. I’ve heard people throw around words like “libel” and “slander,” but apparently no one actually knows what these words mean, despite the fact that they’re all English majors. Let me help you out. Now, “slander” doesn’t apply at all, because it was written about, and that makes it libel. Let’s have a closer look:
libel noun
1 Law: a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation. Compare with slander.
2 the action or crime of publishing such a statement
3 a false and malicious statement about a person.
4 a thing or circumstance that brings undeserved discredit on a person by misrepresentation.
Take a close look at those. Notice the words “false,” “undeserved,” and “misrepresentation.” Mike Turk told no lies. DrunkenSlutBag may not have exactly deserved what he did, but it was by no mean misrepresentative or false. Mike Turk has committed no crime. When it comes down to it, she banged that dude, and she doesn’t want to own up to the fact that she’s a whore.
So, then, why is he up for expulsion? Because he offended someone. Next thing you know, people will get the crazy idea that they have the right to express their opinions as they see fit. Who knows? Maybe this idea will catch on and they’ll add it to the Constitution of the United States, giving it a catchy title like “freedom of speech.” I’ve heard people say “freedom of speech ends when it violates someone else’s rights.” Whose rights have been violated? We’ve already established there’s been no crime here. So my question is:
What on earth gives the University the right to think that they can tell Mike Turk, or anyone for that matter, what they can or cannot say, or where they can or cannot say it? What gives the University the right, when something that happened outside of their control was talked about on a medium also outside of their control? The only way the University ties into any of this is the fact that they’re both students. I remember paying the University money to teach me things, not to tell me what I can and cannot say or do, thank you very much. Perhaps they have forgotten a basic fact: we are your bosses. We pay your salary. If we’re not here, then neither are you. Your sole purpose in life is to serve us. So please, stop being idiots, and get your acts together.
This is absolutely ludicrous, and it should under no means be tolerated. The University has absolutely no reason to do what they’re doing. He didn’t “misrepresent” the school anymore than any other student that gets drunk at some party. What about DrunkenSlutBag? She’s the one sleeping around; doesn’t that make the University look bad? Shouldn’t we kick her out, too?
I don’t know either of these people, and I probably wouldn’t like either of these people if I did meet them. This isn’t about them. This is about what is basically right, and what is basically wrong; and, what the University is doing is very basically very wrong.
-- rakaur // 2006.10.17 @ 11:58 AM
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