Letters to the Editor
There’s more to Wes Crafton
Dear Editor,
I’m Molly McMillan. You should remember writing about me without my knowledge or consent in Volume 84, No. 3 of The Colonnade. I’d like to present you with some feedback on your article.
I was mistakenly under the impression that The Colonnade offered a different perspective on the news and on-goings of the community because, after all, it is the newspaper of a very opinionated and outspoken student body.
Unfortunately, for every word read in this specific article, I must have read and/or heard the same words possibly even verbatim from every other ignorant media outlet “covering” Wesley’s story. I would even go as far as to assume that just like WMAZ (television station) and other local newspapers, you didn’t take the time to interview or get to know Wes and certainly couldn’t stand to portray him in the fair light that he desperately deserves.
It must have been easy for you to simply ignore the fact that Wes’s intent was never at any point in time to harm anyone or anything, or that indeed, Wes has been trained to serve and protect you and other civilians by the United States Marine Corps. That must just be an unimportant, disposable fact that the students probably wouldn’t care about anyway. Not anything to worry about. Perhaps all of the praise going towards our Public Safety because they “saved the school from Wesley Crafton, the next college terrorist” should be re-analyzed. Given, they handled the situation well, but they’re certainly no Supermen for responding to a false (although they didn’t know it at the time) report about men who were about to murder as many GCSU students as possible rather than simply getting ready for a tasty meal at Barberitos.
While a majority of the article focused on the importance of tips to our security and how they may potentially save our campus, I find it slightly unusual that you let the fact that this all but anonymous tip, which stated the men were waiving their guns in the parking lot and hall of Foundation with intent to threaten or harm, happened to in fact be false. Again, maybe it’s just another dispensable fact.
I could go on for days about the problems with your article and the articles exactly like it, but that’s a futile thing to do. The damage is done. Wes is responsible, fun-loving, and the perfect man to ‘bring home to mom,’ but thanks to this article, students see him only as the second coming of the Virginia Tech murderer. Now, instead of people knowing that Wes made a stupid mistake, with many thanks to the media, he will be remembered as a deadly threat to his student body.
I chose solely to write to you for two reasons. First, you unnecessarily used my name on the front page of this damning article without my permission and without notifying me. Second, as my college newspaper and student informer, one representing the thoughts of my fellow peers and me, I expected an article like this one to say something different, to reflect the story fairly, and to maybe do something everyone else failed to accomplish. God, did you ever let me down. I feel disappointed for expecting too much, hurt for the injustice that you of all people should strive to work against, and ultimately betrayed by the one “newspaper” that represents where my heart, home and friends reside.
Next time you decide to write such an eye-catching, controversial, front page story, maybe it wouldn’t hurt for you to report all of the facts shedding every ray of light rather than just a shadow on your topic instead of writing specifically for a high shock factor and number of readers. Instead of writing for the masses, consider writing to them … truthfully.
Molly McMillan
Freshman
English Major
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Sep 14 2007. Filed under Letters to the Editor, Opinion.
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