Wow.
Creative.
When I read about how The Rocky Mountain Collegian decided to publish this four-letter piece in its opinions section, I couldn't help but think to myself that someone was too lazy to write an actual column and this was a last-second decision.
No, I don't think the content was as offensive as many are making it out to be – it is a college newspaper after all, and they are allowed some editorial liberties. Granted I didn't use swear words in big, bold letters in my time at The Metropolitan.
I'm offended by the lack of effort that was applied. It wasn't a provocative and insightful look at, well, anything. The Rocky Mountain Collegian Editor-in-Chief J. David McSwane said CSU students are apathetic about free speech and other freedoms and that the “best way to illustrate that point was to use our freedoms.”
The best way? I don't think most people got the point. A well-written, profanity-laced piece about that subject would have been much more interesting.
And McSwain has shown plenty of effort in the past. Two years ago, the then 17-year-old wrote a piece titled “An Army of Anyone” in Westword. He went undercover and exposed army recruiters bending the rules to sign new recruits.
If he spent an hour to bang out something with more substance, no one outside of Fort Collins would have heard about it.
Then again, maybe that's what he wanted.
Oh, and if you're going to do a four-word piece, please edit it. There's a space before the ellipses according to AP style.
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