I ENJOY a good Bush joke as much as the next person. "What were George Bush's three hardest years? Second grade." I've heard quite a few as election time approaches. It's one thing to have a little political banter around Grounds -- a few jokes flying back and forth between parties. It makes things interesting, at least. It seems, however, that some students at the University are just trying to irritate each other. Events around here, as of late, have crossed the line from clean campaigning to complete disrespect.
Last week, the College Republicans and Students for Bush held a rally on the steps of the Rotunda to support President Bush's reelection. Upon learning of these plans, members of the University Democrats organized an anti-Bush rally, conveniently scheduled for the same time and place.
Ok. That's fine. Protests are allowed, even liberal ones.
The protesters, however, did more than just wave their signs around. While several Republican leaders attempted to speak, several students stood there yelling and hollering, in a generally incoherent attempt to drown the speakers out. One student even used a megaphone. Clever.
This, my Democratic friends, is just rude.
As reported in The Cavalier Daily, University Democrats Campaign Coordinator Dave Wasserman stated, "We wanted to let the University know that we will not stand for four more years of Bush." Well, that's great, but there are ways of doing that that aren't disrespectful.
It is disrespectful to yell while someone is speaking. It is disrespectful to prevent the students, faculty and community members who showed up at the pro-Bush rally from hearing what the speakers had to say. How do these protesters expect to foster political debate when they won't even let the other side be heard?
What happened at the rally, however, doesn't compare to what went on before the rally even began.
Over the weekend, the organizers of the pro-Bush rally put up posters and chalked the sidewalks, both advertising the rally and campaigning for Bush. Shortly after, the posters were all torn down and the chalking had been defaced, likely the result of unknown liberal assailants lurking in the night.
Oh, you silly liberals. Perhaps next time you could try acting your age.
The only thing accomplished by tearing down posters and ingeniously writing "Don't" before a "Vote for Bush" chalking is sheer irritation. For one thing, it rudely prevents anyone interested in attending the rally from even hearing about it. For another, it just aggravates those working to re-elect Bush and motivates them to work even harder.
There was even an e-mail circulated among various Democratic groups calling for students to protest at the "disgusting" pro-Bush rally.
Disgusting? Really? It's just a rally. I've been to quite a few demonstrations sponsored by liberal students groups at this University, much in the same vein. While I don't always agree with their politics, I've never thought it "disgusting" to hold a rally in support of them.
The University Democrats are perfectly capable of holding their own rallies. In fact, they're quite good at it. Is it really necessary to barge into a pro-Bush demonstration with a megaphone?
Students can also put up their own flyers and do their own chalkings if they want their voices heard. There's plenty of opportunity for everyone -- liberal, conservative or anything in between -- to make their case without resorting to childish tactics.
By tearing down posters and interrupting speakers, it seems that these students don't want to endorse a particular cause so much as they just want to make people angry. That's all they seem to have accomplished, at any rate. That's just bad politics. We have enough people slinging mud at each other in Washington that we really don't need anymore.
My suggestion to the those students who insist on wreaking political havoc is that they spend more time illuminating their own causes and less time plotting against their enemies. At this university, every voice should have a chance to be heard. It is petty, demeaning and disrespectful, not to mention incredibly hypocritical, for any student to try to silence another voice.
Kristin Brown's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached atkbrown@cavalierdaily.com.
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