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OC Box Vandalized

oc_box_1.jpg

Someone apparently smashed in our box across the street from the UO Bookstore yesterday. Now we won’t be able to distribute there until we make repairs or get new boxes in.

All you really need to know about the valuation of free speech on this campus is that our issues are routinely dumped and our distribution boxes oftentimes stolen or vandalized. Some people just don’t want other people to be able to read our publication, it’s as simple as that. Contrast this with our view of MIM Notes and The Insurgent. We disagree with nearly everything written in those papers, but we’re all for people reading them.

Open and free discourse is one of the most fundamental aspects of any decent society, and the manifestation of this discourse on campuses is a war of ideas, a pull and push over topics such as politics, society, and the human species in general. The fact that people on this campus have apparantly resorted to the sad gimmicks of theft and violence is proof that their speech can no longer stand on its own merits. When there’s a book burning afoot, it is those who are throwing ideas into the fire who are truly in danger of becoming obsolete.

It’s unfortunate for us… now we need to spend valuable time fixing this distribution point rather than working on an upcoming issue. Damn.

  1. Bret says:

    Sounds like a job for the vaunted Bias Response Team.

  2. JohnH says:

    This seems to be happening more often now then back when I was on campus…

  3. Timothy says:

    Fellas, I have $450 here for boxes, I’ve been lax in getting them to you. I’m gonna cash those checks tomorrow, make the order this week or next. They’ll be shipped to Dan’s house. I’ll spring for the chain set-up, stickers/marking you’re on your own.

  4. Ian says:

    I hope you weren’t driving in the rain.

    The box is repairable, but it’s certainly not usable as-is. In Eugene distribution boxes simply must have their contents protected from the rain. As it is, our issues would be soaking wet in a matter of hours.

  5. Casey says:

    That box is still totally usable. I’ve cruised down the freeway in cars way more bombed out than that box. Vandalism still sucks though.

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