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Spam Backfire

by Conservativity Staff,
Originally Posted: 1/19/2005 3:44:07 PM
Last Updated: 1/19/2005 3:45:36 PM

Someone used the computer system at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA, to send out a message to the entire student body.  The message was signed "College Republicans," the name of an on-campus group of student GOP loyals.  The College Republicans are a group of law-abiding citizens who are conservative.  The email message sent was not endorsed by the College Republicans, and read, in part:

"A message to all liberals, atheists, God-haters, gays, Europeans and Democrats

As you may well know, the victory of the Great George W Bush has swept the land to give a glorious victory to the righteous against the forces of Evil Liberalism in all its present forms..."

The spelling errors and poor grammar telegraph the ignorance that makes it impossible that the actual College Republicans at UMW sent the message from a shared email account.  This appears to be the work of an isolated individual with the goal of harming conservatives.

The part to which I object is the involvement of the campus police, with the intent of tracking down and prosecuting the speaker.  No matter how disgusting the political speech, the person has the right to speak it.  This does not mean that the email sent was as disgusting as, for example, Nazi literature.  However, the preamble reflects a rabid intolerance that is in no way reflective of conservative values.  Now did this person have the right to use a shared email account and a group email destination to do so?  In this specific case, yes.  The email account was shared.  Multiple people had access to the account and its password.  The account allows users to send an e-mail to the entire student body.  There was no real security on that account or the group email destination.  That in essence is an open invitation.

The left accuses us of trying to erode civil liberties in the name of "security."  That is total hogwash; let’s not legitimize these unfounded fears with rash conduct.  The UMW College Republicans have roundly denied the email and roasted its content.  Excellent.  That’s plenty.