4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 OPINION ibe fichiain atll DoNN M. FRESARD Editor in Chief EMILY BEAM CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK Editorial Page Editors ASHLEY DINGES Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE ' ' Of course, I'm sorry, Mr. Attorney General, I forgot: You can't answer any questions that might be relevant to this." - Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), on Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez's refusal to answer several questions at Monday's congressional hear- ings on the NSA's domestic surveillance program, as reported yesterday by The Washington Post. .ALEXANDER HONKALA Liv i);tYxvL'vcwt K, LTE .AND z Bc Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their author. How to become a senior English major JEFF CRAVENS JAYHAWK BUEs 0 irst, attend the University and declare English as your major. Take a creative-writing class and decide that you are going to be the next Hemingway. Remind your friends that one of 5 Hemingway's first pub- lished stories was "Up In Michigan" and that many great writers have come through Michigan. Here you will want to mention Arthur Miller, Avery Hopwood and Robert Frost. Have existential discussions at coffee shops and parties. Nobody ever does anything in his life worth remembering but you, and you are going to be a famous writer. This may be cocky and pre- mature, but it's good to set your sights high early. Girls think writers are romantic, and besides, the people in your writing workshops think your sto- ries are pretty good. Apply to the English Honors Program and get rejected. "You are still young," your advisor will say, "apply again next year." You are not discour- aged: All geniuses are told at some point in their lives that they are not good enough. Spend six weeks studying through the New England Literature Program in the woods of Maine. You will have a lot of time to think, write and climb mountains. You live like Henry Tho- reau and try to write like him, although this is not easy. You especially like his essay on Civil Disobedience, and you start wondering if there isn't more to life than being an English major or a famous writer. Back in civilization, you find yourself in the middle of a heated presidential campaign. You volunteer as an intern for John Kerry. If you can't be a famous writer immediately, you can at least help prevent another term of George W. Bush. Bush wins the election, but you are not dis- couraged. You are invigorated by your volunteer work and convinced that now, more than ever, you must save the world. In addition to your campaign work, you have begun learning about injustices in this country - injustices from which you were sheltered in your middle-America upbringing. You begin meeting with a bunch of hippy/activist types in the basement of the Union to plan how you will save the world. Continue taking writing classes. They no longer count toward your major, but you have not forgot- ten about becoming a writer. One of your goals before graduation is to win a Hopwood writing award. Reapply to the English Honors Program. Get rejected again. The chair of the program tells you that you took too many creative-writing courses. They want to see more experience in substantial analytical writing. When you are alone, scribble hateful mes- sages in capital letters about the Honors Program. Decide that they only want thesis-writing drones who will go on to do research on Literature (with a capital "L") that has nothing to do with the modern world. You will do no such thing. You tell yourself that you don't care much about Literature anyway, and that you have no desire to apply to doctoral programs in English. You start writing for The Michigan Daily. Here you can express your ambitions to write while addressing socially relevant issues. Furthermore, you like having your picture in a little box next to your name every other week. This is good for your bruised ego. You write many columns but stop writing as many short stories. When you get rejected from the creative-writing subconcentration, you accept the fact that you may not become the next Ernest Hemingway. However, the director of the program and other writing teachers assure you that you were very close and that you should not be discouraged. Start facilitating creative-writing workshops for incarcerated juveniles. You discover that writ- ing does not have to be a selfish pursuit. In your workshops, you get no little box next to your name and no cash prize for your short story. But you get the satisfaction of sharing something you love with people in bleak circumstances. You get their laughter and personal stories and gratitude. You realize that you have accomplished more than you would have in the Honors Program or the cre- ative-writing subconcentration. This realization is important. You have the feeling that in the future you will look back on this moment as a turning point in your life. It is the last semester of your senior year. You are glad that you do not have to spend all your time writing a thesis paper that only a handful of English Ph.D.'s will ever read. Instead, you enroll in two writing classes, a philosophy class to complete your minor and a class that helps schoolchildren explore writing and nature. Dur- ing your free time, you write columns for the Daily and participate in creative workshops with incarcerated adults and juveniles. You are happy. And as you wait on applications to be a teacher for underserved children next year, you do not worry about rejection. One way or another, everything will work out. Cravens can be reached atjjcrave@umich.edu VIEWPOINT Free speech doesn't merit violence By MARK KUEHN Often, newspapers and magazines are reluc- tant to publish opinion pieces that are viewed as "hateful" or stereotypical. Last week, a fringe- conservative Norwegian newspaper published 12 cartoons - originally published in a Dan- ish newspaper last September - including a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. Though the cartoons are lowball and gen- erally unfunny, the extremist sector of the Muslim community reacted with fervor. Throughout the Middle East, riots broke out. Demonstrators burned Norwegian flags, shout- ed "Death to Denmark" and called for deporta- tion of Scandinavian citizens. In Syria, rioters stormed the Danish and Norwegian embassies and burned them to the ground. Failing to realize that most of the civi- lized world generally holds free speech as an inalienable right separate from government influence, radical Islamic officials are vehe- mently calling on Scandinavian authorities to apologize for the newspaper's decision to print the cartoons. This fagade is merely an attempt to turn the spotlight away from their countries' lack of social freedoms. Extremist Muslims have jumped on the opportunity to point the finger elsewhere while continuing to oppress free speech in their own countries. No matter how offensive the cartoons may be, hurt feelings are a terrible metric for restricting free speech. Laws against hate speech do nothing more than allow potentially malignant ideas to be turned inward, brewing only within the confines of certain groups. Freedom of speech allows these ideas to be challenged and scrutinized out in the open against competing ideas. Society will freely discredit or discard ideas that are illogical, irrational or abominable. Freedom of speech covers uncivil speech. However, that does not mean one should ignore social sensitivity to actively provoke Muslims. The Scandinavian newspapers may have crossed the line of civility by choosing to print the cartoons. However, it is well within their right to do so. They can say what they please, but they must expect criticism in return. Violence, on the other hand, is not a warranted response to any degree of hateful speech. Freedom of speech also entails that insti- tutions can freely be criticized, checking the power they hold over their followers. Radical Islam must open its doors to scrutiny in order to avoid becoming an insular culture, paranoid of insults and attacks from beyond. The car- toons were distasteful, but the violent response by extremists shows just how close the radi- cal Muslim community is to becoming utterly xenophobic. As a side effect, freedom of speech often means that certain groups will be general- ized and stereotyped based upon the deplor- able actions of a minority. In the post-Sept. 11 world, nonviolent Muslims are often grouped with their radical counterparts. These groups must do everything in their power to condemn their extremist peers. Muslim communities have every right to take offense towards the cartoons. However, violence cannot be con- doned as a justified response. Islamic governments also must condemn the riots and learn how to deal with criticism peacefully if they ever hope to be accepted into the global community as respectable regimes. While Lebanon has done so, other Islamic governments continue to alienate nonviolent Muslims and further push the terrorist stereo- type by refusing to condemn this violence. The Danish and Norwegian newspapers had every right to publish the distasteful cartoons. In support of freedom of speech, French, Ger- man and Belgian newspapers republished the cartoons soon after the violence began. If those who rioted in response to the cartoons want to have a modern relationship with the rest of the world, they'll need to learn how to deal ratio- nally with criticism and minor offenses. It's fine to be angry and even to demand an apol- ogy (from the right people). But to riot, burn. etc. because of a cartoon is mere lunacy. Kuehn is an LSA junior and member of the Daily's editorial board. 0 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send all letters to the editor to tothedaily michigandaily.com. Michigamua can stay, but only with name change TO THE DAILY: I am a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and I believe the true "Michigamua dispute" rests in the name of that organization. In Looking to the future by learning from the past (02/02/2006), two Michigamua members make it clear that their group is no longer taking part in mock- ing Native American rituals and is fight- ing to separate itself from a troubled past. This troubled past is on full display in Proud Michigamua member responds to group's critics I stand behind the Native American Stu- dent Association in Michigamua has troubled past (02/02/2006) when its members ask Michigamua to change their name. NASA is not asking for a complete abolition of the group. The word "Michigamua" is a Native American term, and therefore the organiza- tion cannot completely separate itself from its troubled past as long its members call the group Michigamua. It is contradictory for them to say that they have completely changed their ways and yet maintain the use of a Native American word. Until the name is changed, Michigamua will continue to encounter disputes. U' fails when families give little financial support To THE DAILY: I am upset about the University's decision to consider absentee parents' income in incom- ing students' financial aid packages (Absentee parents to factor into aid package, 02/07/2006). Pam Fowler's statement, "We firmly believe that parents divorce one another but not their children. Therefore, an expectation of sup- port is reasonable," is the most insensitive, out-of-touch statement I have heard from this University. Students like me have struggled throughout the years even to get child support Editorial Board Members: Amy Anspach, Andrew Bielak, Reggie Brown, Kevin Bunkley, Gabrielle D'Angelo, John Davis, Whitney Dibo, Milly Dick, Sara Eber, Jesse Forester, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Ashwin Jagannathan, Mark Kuehn, Will Kerridge, Frank Manley, Kirsty McNamara, Rajiv Prabhakar, Eric Karna, Katherine Seid, Brian Slade, Ben Taylor, Jessica Teng. I