[Omen] fuck it

[jkw00 at hampshire.edu]

I'm thinking about paying for this to be photocopied at duplications just to 
prove my point. I was wondering what your personal thoughts were on this. See 
you at the party.
~Wible


You want dialogue, here it is.

        I am not a member of the Omen, I am one who makes use of the Omen and 
loves it for what it is. Furthermore as a proponent of free speech I care 
enough about it to show up at layout and sometimes a meeting or two. This does 
not mean I am the Omen; I am simply a member of Hampshire community stating his 
mind. Someone in this community brought it before the Community Council that 
this publication either get an editorial board which would decide what goes in 
and what doesn’t (affectively eliminating the Omen by altering it in such a way 
that it would cease to be what it is), or it would get its funding cut; 
consensus by the end of that meeting was that it was something to be addressed 
after a dialogue in this community. Here it is, or at least my contribution to 
it. 

	I think Brett Engle was an ass and I think that the events that led 
up to him being expelled proved this point. Furthermore, in my opinion, his 
first piece was so disgusting that not even reading the whole thing made me 
sick, his second piece was so poorly written and such a piece of shit as to 
almost make it laughable. 

	Michael Ford proposed to community council that the Omen should 
consider putting into its policy that it should not make people feel 
uncomfortable, his argument being that it was against the law. He in fact 
equated the situation with if he was in his office making sexist remarks he 
could then be sued for sexual harassment, insinuating that the Omen could be 
sued for the remarks within its pages. I like Mike, but he is wrong. The Omen 
does not make statements; those (like myself) in the community who wish to 
address the community can use the Omen to address the community (it is this 
policy in fact that gives the Omen a legal status as a free carrier and makes 
it what it is). If that member wishes to make sexist remarks he or she can, but 
those individuals who make others feel uncomfortable can then be sued. That is 
why the names are on the pieces, so that if you have an issue with something 
that is printed you can take your issues up with them. If you don’t like what 
I, John Wible, am saying here you can address me as such. I am not the Omen. 

        You don’t write for the Omen, hell you might not even read it. So why 
does this matter to you? You pay for it, through ficom. Why should you support 
it? Because it is giving everyone on campus a service. It takes what you submit 
to it, photocopies it without censoring, or editing and distributes it. It is 
therefore a lot like duplications, or the photocopier in the library, for 
although you pay for each time for those services; part of your tuition assures 
you that you will have access to this service. The only thing different about 
it is that its free and it distributes it to boot, all with the intent of 
bringing a forum in which people can address each other freely and openly. 
Furthermore it tempts people to put their names to their ideas, to prevent 
things like the (what some found offensive and all found annoying) graffiti 
that was put up in FPH a few years ago and then the school had to pay to have 
sandblasted off. It gives you a vehicle to address (or amuse) the community 
that is unique to this school. This is why you should go to your community 
council representative, or have published in the Omen (because none of you know 
who your representative is) your support. And get this, if you want it burned 
at the stake, you can send the piece to the Omen, and it’ll take it and print 
it the same EXACT  way it would treat anything else.