Breaking the Mold

Tara Moreland- Editor in Chief
12/9/11

The topic of censorship has been on my mind a lot lately. As a student journalist, it is a touchy subject and a concept that, in my humble opinion, oppresses people and limits their freedom of speech and expression. As an editor, I refuse to censor my staff in the opinions they publish in the Monitor, or the perspectives given by the student body at William Jewell College. I strongly dislike censorship and what it means for people and their freedom.

With that being said, I have never wanted to censor someone more than Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Last night, I noticed that friends on Facebook were in an uproar over a new video that Perry released as part of his campaign for the 2012 presidency. Initially, I brushed it off and assumed that he had made yet another ridiculously ignorant comment or forgotten another important U.S. fact, perhaps this time how many states there are or the name of our first president. However, as I started reading my friends’ comments on the video, I realized that he had said something much worse, more ignorant and hateful than I could have imagined.

In the approximately 30-second video, Perry talks about President Obama’s “war on religion” and how absurd it is that “gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.” It seems that Perry has forgotten that those gay troops are fighting and dying for our country just as the straight ones are (even though they have fewer rights) and that the United States is made up of more than just Christians. But what do you expect from a man who cannot even remember all of the programs he cut in his own state or what the voting age is?

I think what bothers me the most about Perry’s latest video is that he so clearly displays his regard for his “own kind” and disregard for others, blatantly questioning why some people have the right to do one thing, but others do not have the right to do another thing. If people had equal rights and were held to the same standards, Perry would not need to ask this question in the first place. To see this hateful speech coming so strongly from a man who wants to be the leader of our country is frightening. What would be the implications of having a person like this in charge of the livelihood of so many people?

Perhaps the strongest message that I received from Perry in this video is the importance of why we have the separation of church and state in the first place. It is so people like him do not use their personal faith as a means of oppressing other people who do not fall into that category. I have no problem with having Christians or people of any other faith in office, but I do have a problem with them so blatantly disregarding a law that says they may not oppress people through their faith. The sad thing is, this happens all of the time, and many people are denied what should be basic freedoms because of it.

So, as much as I would like to censor Perry, or at least protect myself from his ridiculous propaganda, I will respect his constitutional right to say whatever he wants, in spite of the fact that he does not feel the need to respect the rights of others. In his video, Perry says that “Faith made America strong; it can make her strong again.” I have faith that America will not vote for him.