2 | October 13, 2010

Opinion The Rambler | www.therambler.org

Bargain shoppers may sacrifice service

the less likely we would be to ence like my mother did a couple To be fair, there are rare occa- Sure, I could shop at a com-
return for another dose of the of weeks ago. The cashier was too sions when someone attempts to petitor, but who really wants to
Shauna Banks same medicine. parched to continue working and return an item with the sales re- spend more? If you’re saving time
Staff writer It seems like people are glut- walked away from her post and ceipt, and they’re able get in and and money, it just may be worth
sbbanks@mail.txwes.edu tons for punishment, and do it proceeded to take her sweet time out of customer service within 15 nearly busting your butt step-
for the sheer convenience af- mixing a packet of drink flavoring minutes. ping in a broken jar of baby food
forded them by the multi-bil- into her bottled water before tak- In these shaky economic times, or having an elderly greeter haul
lion dollar retail chain. ing a long gulp. our favorite discount supercenter you in because you’ve dared to go
The worst experience is sim- Eventually, she remembered is still booming with business through the exit with something
There’s only one place people ply returning something to the there were six people waiting in simply because it’s able to under- not bagged in your buggy.
can trip over a busted jar of baby customer service counter for a re- line and she needed to attempt to sell everyone else. Apparently taking a full nano-
food, get their arm jerked back by fund or exchange. do her job. Hey, we live in a society where second to review your receipt of at
an elderly greeter and discover the By the time customers actually Of course, it can’t be all bad, time is of the essence, and we all least a hundred items is an accept-
true definition of patience. makes it to the counter, they’re or people wouldn’t keep flocking think that ours is more important able security check.
It’s everyone’s favorite discount questioned like they have just back to this iconic chain—would than everyone else’s. But hey, that’s the Wally world
supercenter, and it’s not necessary committed a crime. they? Instead of going to three dif- way. We all just have to hunker
to call the store by its name here. When someone tells the cashier On those rare occasions, peo- ferent stores, people can get their down and remind ourselves that
Considering most people visit why they’re returning the item, ple find themselves wandering groceries, replace an old office our wallets will hurt a lot less by
this store about once a week (if the cashier looks at them like around aimlessly and may have desk and refill an allergy medica- making the weekly trip(s)—even
they’re lucky), you would think they’re out of their mind. an associate ask them if they need tion all in one. How’s that for time if we may need a margarita, or
the more bad experiences we had, Maybe you’ve had an experi- help finding something. management? three, afterwards.

Free speech in Bad judgement

social media Barry Grubbs
Opinion editor of a few shouldn’t Jonathan Resendez
Editor-in-chief

carries risk
bgrubbs@mail.txwes.edu jresendez@mail.txwes.edu

The time has come to
change the way Americans
view the First Amendment
to the Constitution. I’m not
suggesting we change the
way we interpret our laws,
but when total freedom of
speech results in the need-
less loss of human life, we
need to change our focus.
Americans have recently
witnessed news reports of an
18-year-old Rutgers Univer-
sity student who committed
suicide following the online
release of a secret video taken
of him in compromising situ-
ations with another man.
Tyler Clementi was
mocked and ridiculed over
his sexuality by his own
roommate, and the result of
the irresponsible behavior
pushed him to take his own
life.
The roommate and his fe-
male accomplice were each
charged with two counts of
invasion of privacy, nothing
more.
Another unfortunate event
followed the recent shooting
at the University of Texas.
Jaz Reynolds, a receiver for
Oklahoma University, was
suspended indefinitely by
head coach Bob Stoops for
making “insensitive remarks”
through his Twitter account.
Maybe our use of social
networking has gone too
far. We have slowly become
a society that equates our
freedom to speak with our
freedom to say anything we
want.
Most adults would be more
accountable for their words
in situations like these. This
is not a question of age, but a
question of maturity.
State and federal lawmak-
ers are becoming more fo-
cused on the government’s
responsibility to protect so-
ciety from the irresponsible
use of Internet technology.
The Internet offers a far
greater challenge than tradi-
tional forms of media.
No one wants more regula-
tion on speech in any form.
We do, however, need to take
steps to punish this kind of
behavior before we have an
epidemic.
Social networking can be a
valuable tool in our modern
society. But it can be used as a
weapon just as easily, and the
results can be tragic.
Young people have used
social media connections to
bully and torture each other
for years over issues of re-
ligion, race and sexuality,
among others.
There seems to be a grow-
ing lack of sensitivity within
certain segments of our soci-
ety.
People are fascinated with
their ability to get their mes-
sages in front of the entire
world with the click of a
mouse, but they rarely stop to
consider the negative impact
the message may have.
With the increased free-
dom technology affords us
there comes an increased re-
sponsibility to use it wisely.
If laws aimed at penalizing
these defective people will
enhance civility in cyber-
space, I am in favor of those
laws.
Freedom of speech is not
the freedom to harm.
jeopardize rights
The saying goes, “even a few
bad apples will quickly ruin the
whole barrel.” When it comes
to the First Amendment, this
should never be the case.
Circumstance and insensi-
tivity can often make tasteless
humor cruel and dangerous.
From the excessive loss of lives
at the Columbine tragedy to
schoolyard fights, bullying re-
mains a problem. At the same
time, it’s rampant in our cul-
ture.
Rivalries between groups
for or against millions of
causes often resort in hateful
speech. As long as it remains
an opinion and no one is
harmed, it’s a person’s right to
think a certain way or believe
in something.
Popular Fox News TV show
host Bill O’Reilly demonized
physician George Tiller more
than 20 times on his program
from 2005 to 2009 for per-
forming late-term abortions.
O’Reilly called Tiller “a baby
killer” and said state represen-
tatives who didn’t stop him
had blood on their hands.
In May 2009, Tiller was shot
through the eye and killed by
anti-abortionist activist Scott
Roeder.
Writers for websites such
as Salon.com argued that
O’Reilly had blood on his
hands although ultimately the
blood is on Roeder’s.
It’s like blaming a rock or
rap group when someone who
listens to their music commits
an atrocity. Seldom can fingers
be pointed at a single entity or
a motive be explained com-
pletely.
The logic and motives of a
situation are hard to compre-
hend when lives are lost. From
either end of the spectrum,
when people are driven to
commit violent acts on them-
selves or others, things have
gone too far. The fact of the
matter is an opinion remains
an opinion until someone gets
hurt.
Social networking sites offer
an easy way for people to make
themselves look stupid, act un-
professional and—look more
stupid.
Should people who post ig-
norant remarks on a network-
ing site be punished? Prob-
ably. But that opens up a can
of worms involving imbeciles
who aren’t worth the time.
A quick Oct. 7 search on
Facebook pulled up a fan page
for the Dallas Cowboys Hat-
ers Club where a member said,
“We would root for Osama
Bin Laden if he were playing
against the Cowgirls.”
While this guy probably
won’t be tracked by Homeland
Security, I’m sure family mem-
bers of 9/11 victims don’t find
his unintelligence amusing.
Infusing more litigation
into what people can or can-
not say—anywhere—will only
single people out more.
If a line is drawn in the le-
gal sand restricting opinion, it
won’t be long before it’s hard
to make out the space for free-
dom of speech in between the
lines.
While circumstance and in-
sensitivity should never jeop-
ardize lives, they shouldn’t
jeopardize or compromise
laws against censorship either.
The challenge is to protect
freedom of speech—period.

Wesleyan’s web site could benefit from a fresh look

Erica Estrada formation about the organiza- that almost every page on Texas Even sophomore psychology use is there for the web site? The
Graphic designer tions on the web site. Despite Wesleyan’s web site appears to be major Lindsey Barnes who has faculty wants the student body to
erestrada@mail.txwes.edu my disappointment, I went miniaturized. You almost have to been here at Wesleyan for two be more active, but that becomes
ahead with my application squint to see some of the small- years said, “I can’t find anything difficult if the pages are not up-
partially based on the fact that est text. I am not the only student when I look on the site. All I use it dated.
I had visited the campus sev- with this opinion. Throughout my for is to get Ram Link.” The university and its webmas-
I remember the day I applied to eral times before. years at Texas Wesleyan, I have Those responsible for the in- ter need to keep in mind that
Texas Wesleyan University. The To this day, nothing much has heard many people comment on formation on these pages should Wesleyan’s web site is not only
first thing I noticed about the web changed about the web site. the web site and its layout. update the information so stu- a source for important informa-
site was how small the layout was. Recently, some content on the ath- Natalie Demetre, freshman, dents won’t have to go searching tion about the school, but also a
I then browsed through the stu- letics web site, financial aid and the chemistry major said, “It needs to for their answers through other means of advertising Texas Wes-
dent life page to see what I might admissions pages have been updated be more organized, so when find- resources. leyan University.
become involved with. with a new look and information. ing what you need for school is If the information is not current
I was unable to find a lot of in- That does not change the fact much easier.” and easy to access and read, what

Does our right to free speech cause

The Rambler people to misuse social media?
Founded in 1917 as The Handout
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Jonathan Resendez, editor-in-chief Letters to the editor: The Rambler, a weekly

Barry Grubbs, opinion editor
Eliana Mijangos, sports editor
Chuck Fain, arts & entertainment editor
Dwight Conerway, college life editor
Meisa Keivani Najafabadi, photo editor
Erica Estrada, graphic designer/cartoonist
Wendy Moore, faculty adviser
Dr. Kay Colley, faculty liaison
Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press As-
sociation, Associated Collegiate Press, Student
Press Law Center, College Media Advisers and
College Newspaper Business and Advertising
Managers.
publication, welcomes all letters. All submis-
sions must have a full printed name, phone
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ation is made to publish letters, publication is
limited by time and space.
The editors reserve the right to edit all submis- Bradley Stone, Cathy Vallejo, David Martin,
sions for space, grammar, clarity and style. sophomore business freshman business senior management
Letters to the editor may be subject to response “In some cases, I think “I definitely think those “It only takes one click to
from editors and students on the opinion page. our rights are being used rights are being abused a leave a site where you see
irresponsibly.” little bit by some people.” something offensive.”
“We are not afraid to follow the truth ...
wherever it may lead.”
— Thomas Jefferson

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R ambler Contribution twurambler@yahoo.com Desiree Rodriguez, Gidget Adams,
Please send all news briefs to twurambler@ To contact T he R ambler junior psychology freshman political science
yahoo.com. Submissions due by noon Friday to (817) 531-7552 “People have to be more em- “We can’t always say what we
see brief in the following week’s issue. Advertising Inquiries: pathetic and put themselves in want when we know it is going
(817) 532-7582 other people’s shoes.” to cause problems.”