Everyone has had that high school history class where the community college-educated teacher recites some textbook passage about how America was founded on certain idealistic principles.
That cheesy speech usually goes in one ear and out the other, but the truth is that we all experience these ideals every day. As much as I disagreed with Keane Levy’s article, “Shedding light on an Army recruiting confrontation” [from the Feb. 14, 2008, issue of The Mirror], I do respect the right to free speech.
It takes a certain amount of audacity to indict servicemen who are putting their lives on the line for us. After I spoke with my friends, however, I realized just how pathetic Levy’s exercise of freedom was. He has absolutely no idea what he is talking about, as evident by his false and unintelligent bandwagon liberal statements. From the first line to the last, his arguments are ill-informed and unqualified.
In his article, Levy says, “The recruiter replied that they were not mercenaries, but as I stated, they are hired and paid to kill when ordered – the definition of a mercenary.” I don’t know what kind of second-rate English classes are being taught up in Poughkeepsie, but that is not the definition of a mercenary. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, one definition of ‘mercenary’ is “a person who works merely for money or other material reward; a hireling.”
I wouldn’t consider dodging bullets or losing limbs to be material rewards, and I highly doubt that the pay alone is enough to draw people to the armed services. Students do not need to bow down and kiss the boots of those in service, but they should know their role. While we are here sipping our lattes in Jazzman’s, these “mercenaries” are watching friends get killed.
Wasted tax dollars were another concern that Levy voiced to the Army representatives. He claimed that because he pays taxes (unlikely), he is entitled to as many pamphlets as he desires.
There are more than 133 million tax-paying citizens in the U.S., according to TRAC IRS, an independent IRS watchdog operating out of Syracuse University. Technically, he is entitled to 117/1,000,000 of those pamphlets to do what he wants with – this probably amounts to half the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
Liberal propaganda is nothing new in the college setting. Levy writes in his article, “First Amendment rights such as free speech, press and assembly have been taken away from you. … I hope everyone at Fairfield feels smart, mature and responsible enough to have these rights back in their hands.”
Levy insists that Fairfield is depriving students of their rights to the free press and speech, yet he is essentially doing the same by taking all the pamphlets from the soldiers. Are the soldiers not entitled to the same rights?
The Constitution outlines the rights that the states have to protect. However, Fairfield is a private organization and that implies certain exemptions.
Lucy Katz, professor of the business school, acknowledges that Fairfield has the same right to suspend freedom of speech as we do to exercise it.
“We [at Fairfield] respect free speech rights out of a sense of ethics and American values, not because the Constitution compels it (emphasis mine),” said Katz in an e-mail.
Levy’s attempts to liberate all of the uninformed students are futile. Senseless scenes like this, however, should not deter other students from voicing their opinions.
This is a call for awareness; get informed, choose your battles wisely, and don’t miss your shot. Levy clearly missed his.
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