I'm a bad student and I frequently check my email during class when I should be paying attention. Because of an email I received last night from PSU President Daniel Bernstine, however, I will no longer be checking my email frequently when I should be focused on other things. Last night at about 8pm, President Bernstine emailed the entire university community with a message titled "Free Speech Issues on Campus." I was intrigued because I thought it was about content in the student newspapers (When I was at the University of Oregon we had frequent similar messages about our student papers). The email was not, in fact, about anything so trivial, though.
While I was at the University of Oregon last year, an organization called the Genocide Awareness Project held a presentation on campus. I was working for the UO at the time, so I found out about their visit several weeks ahead of time, but had no idea who the group was. At the time, public conversations about the on-going conflict in Darfur were frequent and I assumed, however erroneously, that the GAP had something to do with protesting international inaction in Darfur. Their somewhat stealthy arrival on campus (I was not allowed to tell students about the group until the night before they showed up) should have tipped me off to what was really going on.
The Genocide Awareness Project is really an effort to liken abortion with the infamous genocides throughout history of which we are all aware. Keep in mind, I am not trying to make a statement that is pro-choice, pro-life, or otherwise. I am merely trying to point out the naivety with which I received information while at the UO.
Flash back to last night and the email from the president of PSU. He was informing us that an organization known as the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform would be bringing a similar demonstration to campus today and tomorrow. I looked in to the issue a little further and discovered that the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform and the Genocide Awareness Project are one and the same; just a new name for a new year. Their display is set up in front of the Millar Library on the Park Blocks in the center of campus. President Bernstine's email encourages students to avoid the area if they don't want to see the display. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the PSU campus, this location is centrally located in front of the library, the student recreation center, and the student union. Avoiding this part of campus is next to impossible for many students, which is the reason I'm sure the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform chose it as the site for their display.
Those of you who are reading now are probably wondering when I'm going to get to some sort of point. My point is not that this display should be censored, nor is it that their message is wrong. I will always support someone's right to exclaim a controversial message, but I feel this group is doing so in an inappropriate manner. Genocide is an act of hatred, performed by those who are in such a state of rage they lack any form of respect for the lives of their victims or how others will view their actions in the future. I refuse to accept the juxtaposition of unwilling mothers seeking medical help with the mobs of bloodthirsty Klansman that terrorized the south or the indication that certain medical professionals are as cold and malice-filled as Adolf Hitler or Yosef Stalin.
The images presented by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform definitely serve their purpose of provoking emotional responses from onlookers, but those responses are likely to be highly polarized. I respect the Center's pro-life position and, whether I agree or disagree, would be willing to sit down with them and talk about it whenever they'd be willing to. However, while I will support their right to make such displays and demonstrations, I feel the one on the PSU campus today and tomorrow is disrespectful and distasteful and will do more to emotionally harm those on the other side of the debate than encourage active discourse. No rational person would be willing to sit down and discuss an issue with someone who just stood on a podium, pointed at them in the crowd, and publicly placed them in the same column as the most hated murders of human history.
While I disdain the way in which the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform is promoting their message, I encourage you to not stop at my words to form your own opinion. Feel free to visit the display yourself, or to peruse their website. I warn you, though, the images on campus and on their website are VERY GRAPHIC and highly disturbing. If you disagree with anything I've said here, please leave me a comment and we can discuss both of our opinions.
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