Nicholas Mah
Thank God.
We may soon have a serious publication on this campus, one that will “through consistent and factual reporting … create awareness of the politics in the classrooms and in the university. (not The Graphic.)
We may soon have a monthly conservative paper that will “cover issues like homosexuality in a way that reflects that.”
We will soon have a paper to combat those “Leftists” that are threatening to “bring a particular virulence to bear in attacking traditional American values that sustain ordered liberty.”
Thank God.
That’s right folks, God is definetly in the house. With the arrival of The Pepperdine Review we no longer have to fear for our sanity or chastity, our taste or our virtue. Bryceson Tenold said it. “I’m excited.”
Excuse me, I need to pause for a second and collect my thoughts. I’m still a little upset and excited about this information and I’m quite scatterbrained. Allow me to sum up the facts:
The Pepperdine Review will be a monthly publication that will “cover issues that affect the lives of the students.” It is sponsored by the Collegiate Network, which creates alternative student publications. The Collegiate Network is in turn a part of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which “seeks to enhance the rising generation’s knowledge of our nation’s founding principles – limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise and Judeo-Christian moral standards.”
Now, while those facts might not convince you that The Pepperdine Review is a privately funded piece of propaganda that is more concerned with shaping the minds of students for its own agenda than presenting news or any salient opinion, I think I can shed some light.
Tenold, a freshman, seems excited about what he calls a “conservative voice … on campus.” To help clarify, Bryceson brought up the ever prevalent and always important issue of sexual orientation. Sounds like a basis for a newspaper to me! The editor assures us that another goal will be to stay as objective as possible on certain topics. A “goal” to be as objective “as possible” while maintain a “conservative slant.” Most impressive.
As for the off-campus people who are funding this newspaper, I am again confused by their mixed goals. For some reason, the group seems to believe that our nation’s founding principles involved both “individual liberty” (like freedom of religion) and “Judeo-Christian moral standards.” Wait a minute, I don’t think that quite makes sense.
I don’t think the president T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr., would be any help though. He claims “The Leftists … (are) attacking traditional American values that sustain ordered liberty.” So … the commies are coming to take away our “ordered liberty” but his organization is helping to sustain us by pumping political propaganda into our nation’s universities?
If I really felt that the whole purpose of this publication was to help an underrepresented group of students be heard, I would be completely supportive despite my disagreement with their ideas. But that’s why we have an Opinions section in The Graphic. Anyone can write in and be heard. Heck, they gave me a column. We also have three other sections that cover basically everything that’s going on campus, and it’s done so objectively and conservatively, I mean, it’s paid for primarily by a private Christian university.
So I guess I just don’t understand what is trying to be achieved. The paper wants to be the voice of the students, but the sponsors are providing the students with both design and content. Where does the voice of the student come in?
Keep your propaganda off my campus!
March 28, 2002
