Show Silently Robbing The Human Race F G m c by Points West Columnist Green Gran In the silence of my small apartment my anger and depression grew The problem was the silence not the silence of the apartment but my silence Like all people I have thoughts and ideas but most are unexpressed How can any person feel really useful if no one knows what he or she thinks I had to break the silence Last quarter in political science I did a report on John said Stuart who Mill said The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of opinion is that that that-it it is robbing the human race Maybe just maybe my ideas are true Co Could d I be robbing the human race Mill continued by saying If the opinion is right they the human race a are e deprived ed of the opportunity of exchanging error truth if wrong they lose what is almost as great a benefit the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error So true or not the expression of opinion is of great value to the human race In 1919 Supreme Court Justice Holmes said The best test of truth is the power of thought to get itself accepted in the comp competition of the market How could I get my thoughts accepted in the competition of the market The answer scared me I had always hated writing but the school newspaper seemed the best place to start I knew I didn't think like everyone else Should I write my opinions even if they differ from the leaders or the majority at Utah Technical College Author Leon Sigal commented Freedom to express dissenting views was precisely what those who asserted the freedom of the press two centuries ago sought to project and the expression of dissenting views is precisely what arouses the hostility of those in power Boy was he right My first article on the budget cuts put faculty and administrators in an uproar I had broken my silence It felt good Now what should I do Harold B. B Lee said Somewhere I read a statement that the function of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforted In looking at our newspaper I saw the opposite Our paper seems to comfort the complacent and forget the afflicted In political science last quarter I learned that the press should be a watchdog on government In an effort to separate my opinions from those of orthe the administration and Points West I write a personal column Now I can watch comfort or afflict as the law and my conscience dictates Thomas Jefferson said 0 were ere it left to me to decide whether we should h havea ve Ja government without ne newspapers newspapers pers or newspapers without governmental nt 41 should not hesitate to prefer the latter In the aftermath of the Iran Contra scandal my political science class voted that of all the wrongs committed the worst was the secrecy of our leaders As citizens we want to know what is happening in our country As students we want to know what is happening in our school Like Jefferson many believe that the to right-to-know is greater than the to right The opinions I write are my own but often represent the opinions of some faction of students faculty or staff True or false all opinions are of value to the human race Even the silent ideas of the most insignificant student should be accepted into the market of thought Samuel Johnson summed up the importance of minority opinions when he said If nothing may be published but what civil authority shall have previously previous previous- ly approved power must always be the standard of truth |