I just went online and found out that 72 percent of people think Editor-in-Chief David McSwane at Colorado State University should be fired for allowing the F-bomb to appear in the editorial section of CSU’s student newspaper. Only 27 percent say he should not be fired.

First, let me say I heartily disagree with the majority. The issue at stake is the First Amendment. There’s no way around that. Every American has the right to free speech and expression.

Second, let’s go through all of the arguments that have been put out there to justify firing of the editor.

“It was very unprofessional,” College Republicans chairwoman Chelsey Penoyer said in an article on www.dailycamera.com.

Penoyer went on to say that the editorial made CSU look like “a bunch of uneducated children. It reflects horribly on CSU.”

In my opinion, it doesn’t reflect on the institution as much as it reflects the opinion of the staff of the newspaper that voted and decided to put the editorial in. Keep in mind, it is just an opinion.

The article online also states that the editorial was profane. Some even said they thought it wasn’t necessary to use such strong language, but that the editorial got the point across.

I could go on and on about this debate and I could name 100 other reasons why it was inappropriate, uncouth, profane or just plain disgusting or rude, but the truth is it’s lit a fire underneath a previously slumbering generation of college students who needed a wake-up call.

“It’s had college students all around the nation talking about freedom of speech for the first time,” said Rachael Martin, a senior journalism major at CSU in the online article. Martin, a self-described Republican, thought the language was unneccesary but thought the editorial itself brought about a sort of revolution in thinking.

Well, wasn’t that the point?

McSwane himself said he was using the editorial to spark dialogue, saying that the campus had been “apathetic” and “too quiet.”

Now the whole nation is buzzing, and with good reason. People are upset. People are offended. People have been bashing Bush all year, but no one paid attention until the F-word appeared (and not in a subtle way) Friday. If there ever was a time and place where an editorial of this nature would be appropriate, it would be now, and it would be anyone’s prerogative to print or say or display any words they wanted to. Every American, under the protection of the Constitution, has the right to express their opinion.

I would like to close with this question: You say McSwane should get fired?

I think he should get an award for making 20-somethings across the nation — and, in fact, people of all ages — think about an issue that otherwise would have remained dormant.

Maybe I don’t agree with the sentiment behind the message, and probably a lot of people don’t, but at least by making the decision to run the editorial, the staff at CSU’s student newspaper made a lot of people, including me, think about one of our basic rights.

Oh and by the way, F*** close-minded, ignorant people who can’t take an editorial for what it is — someone’s opinion.

Kelly Miles is a copy editor for the Vail Daily. She can be reached by e-mail at kmiles@vaildaily.com.