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04/29/2004 Archived Entry: "Talking smack about Pat Tillman"

Posted by steve @ 07:26 PM EST [Link]

I KNOW WHAT A CHICKEN HAWK IS...I ALSO KNOW WHAT A CHICKEN S--- IS: By know you've undoubtedly heard about an incredibly sophomoric editorial that appeared in The Daily Collegian, a student newspaper at the University of Massachusetts. In it, the author argued that Pat Tillman was a pandejo (Spanish for idiot apparently) and got what he deserved when he was killed in action in Afghanistan. Even UMass president Jack Wilson was angry. Not surprisingly the student newspaper defended running Rene Gonzalez's piece:

Rene Gonzalez is a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts who occasionally submits columns to The Collegian. While his views in no way reflect the opinion of our editorial board or staff, we base our decisions not on whether we agree with the opinion of students submitting opinion pieces, but on the backbone of journalism: The First Amendment.

As a news organization, The Collegian lists the First Amendment as its most important value and asset. We do not hold back from printing news stories, columns or editorials that may upset our readership - instead, we seek to both inform and stir debate through our publication. Our decision to publish Gonzalez's column - an opinion piece written by a member of our campus community - is the only way for us to live up to this ideal.

As Jonah Goldberg pointed out, this has nothing to do with the First Amendment.

The First Amendment protects against government censorship. This is a question about editorial judgement. Be men (or women) for pete's sake. If you want to defend your decision to run the piece on the merits, great. But don't pretend that the constitution made you do it.

Indeed, if The Collegian "doesn't hold back" from running controversial pieces that will upset their readers -- good for them. I assume they would stand resolute after running a piece which said "Martin Luther King got what he deserved." Or maybe, just maybe, somebody in the newsroom would have said, "Hey you know what? This piece adds almost nothing to the discussion and is needlessly inflamatory."

All I'll say is this: Gonzalez is nothing more than a cobarde. He never would have had the cojones to say any of what he wrote to Pat Tillman's face. Instead, he talked his smack after an American hero died so this cobarde could sit comfortably in Massachusetts and live off the sacrifices of others.

Memo to Gonzalez: You are nothing but a perra.