Sock it to me, Brother Anthony

The Misanthrope by ETHAN CHATAGNIER

The mob I watched assemble on Monday through the windows of the pub seemed half tense, half amused. With the instincts learned in my long history here, there was no question as to what caused the crowd. “They’re back,” I thought.

Half a basket of chicken strips later, I wandered out to confirm that this disturbance was, in fact, the symptom of the zealous preachers’ return to the Free Speech Area.

Reverend Anthony Muñoz, the ringleader, once again made the speaker’s platform his soapbox, while a few others stood at ground level to debate more directly with crowd members.

Muñoz has been here at least as long as I have. In fall 2001, he was there, preaching hellfire and brimstone, same as this semester. That he can still draw huge flocks of onlookers is a testament to…well, something.

Call it abrasiveness, a controversial worldview or sheer volume. Whatever you call it, he knows how to use it to rile up people. The strategy behind this relies on how he gets to know you.

The first thing he figures out, usually is that you’re zooming toward hell like a rocket. Striking up a conversation this way won’t exactly win you friends. So we see, semester after semester, year after year, new crops of people stepping forward to try to bring down Muñoz and his colleagues with, of all things, reason.

Those squaring off against the preacher and his cohorts are as often members of Christian organizations on campus as they are avowed atheists. He offends some of those Christians, with his approach, which strakly contrasts the emphasis on an all-loving, all-forgiving God taught by many modern believers.

The atheists who stick around to argue are more likely offended by having a religion pushed on them when they’re just trying to walk to class. He’s also offended Muslim students by calling Mohammed a pervert.

He has pushed the buttons of who knows how many students and student organizations, yelled at unknown passersby and come to an impasse of stubborn wills with numberless people. Sometimes I wonder how many students haven’t been offended by him.

The end result is that we have a man in our Free Speech Area who makes us wonder, “Is this really why we need free speech?”

The answer, of course, is yes. It’s always yes. As much as we may hate being proselytized, or having damnation cast upon us, it is important that a channel be available through which to broadcast unpopular messages.

If the Free Speech Area were not so aptly named, many students would be entertaining ideas of finding a way to get rid of him. But the name serves as a reminder that even voices we don’t want to listen to have the right to be heard.

So choose your own way to react to the controversial preacher. Maybe challenge yourself to a fiery debate, or distract from it with a duet of “Danny Boy,” as two bystanders did Monday, or capitalize on it as a few fraternity members did with a sign that read, “Rush Kappa Sigma of go to hell.” You may disagree. Well, you’re free to disagree, or to ignore it all, or to add your own voice to the fray.