House Editorial

Forum for opinions open to everyone

Creating an ideological environment that is both dynamic and autonomous is the ideal to which any newspaper's editorial or opinion section aspires. Such is the aim of any newspaper that views its own practices through some veil of civic responsibility, not to mention one of journalistic integrity.

If it is to be of service to the JMU community, the editorial board of The Breeze feels it must be entrusted with a silent partnership in presenting a political forum for students, faculty and community members. Participants in this forum, unfortunately, at times have felt that their particular agenda was the victim of some antagonistic bias that prevented their cause from getting its just recognition.

For instance, in the March issue of The Madison Review, a conservative JMU newsletter, Walter Hearne chastised The Breeze for "inflicting" the liberal opinions of former JMU student Peter Gelderloos on the JMU community. Hearne also insinuated that The Breeze was the perpetrator of an insidious liberal bias aimed at quelling support for the war on terrorism.

The majority of Hearne's column served as an open indictment of Gelderloos and the arguments that he made in The Breeze. While The Breeze does not offer an endorsement of any variety, Hearne's arguments are well-articulated and worthy of consideration.

It is, instead, to his questioning of the wisdom to print Gelderloos' columns and his inherent challenging of our integrity as journalists that that prompts us to voice a differing opinion.

To think that the content of an editorial section accurately reflects the ideological stances of those that print it is to make a grievous error. What the students and faculty of JMU will read twice a week in The Breeze is what is submitted to us from the students and faculty. Any column, regardless of where on the political spectrum its theories fall, will most likely be printed, as long as it is coherent and doesn't masquerade false facts as opinions.

Hearne would undoubtably have been more than welcome to use The Breeze as a platform for his response. We would have welcomed the differing voice, but to degrade this commentary with a cliché, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

To Hearne's insinuation that we should not have printed Gelderloos' commentaries, we reply that this forum is for The Breeze readers, and it will serve as a sounding board for the ideas of its readers. There will not be any suppression of ideas nor censoring of opinions, whether they be liberal or conservative.

This editorial section is more platform than mirror. The voices heard are those of the members of this community who choose to stand upon it and wax political, ethical or social. It is unswayed by guiding ideological influence and stands waiting for all who are willing.