The recent trend of posting opinions on so-called "blogs" ought to be cause for pause and consideration within the Marquette community. While the Tribune welcomes a diversity of opinions on campus (despite what detractors may say), the blogs provide an uncensored look at the inner workings of some of the most opinionated people on campus.

While this is certainly welcome, and it's refreshing for reporters to view blogs all over the country as a raw look into the opinions in questions, there are not standards for what should and should not be posted, and this is troubling.

A recent example, culled from the pages of the Des Moines Register, is an excellent illustration as to why consideration, and in some cases restraint, should be applied to the content of the developing form of public opinion.

Paul Wainwright of Grinnell College in Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested while at home on spring break in Milwaukee. Apparently he was arrested for a posting on his blog that Des Moines police found threatening and the FBI has been called in to investigate. Wainwright was apparently a member of a Grinnell College comedy troup analogous to the Studio 013 Refugees. He is currently being held in the Milwaukee County Jail pending extradition to Iowa for "threatening a terrorist act."

Passionate advocates for the First Amendment could feasibly suggest that this action amounts to a violation of Wainwright's rights. People focused on security over civil rights would say that Wainwright's statement, "This means blood in the streets," apparently directed at Des Moines Police officers, deserved investigation, and part of that investigation is to detain Wainwright until the verité of the "imminent threat" could be investigated.

In an era of increasingly volatile extremes in public discourse, it is helpful to keep Wainwright in mind as a lesson that the readership of blogs extends beyond the Marquette community to the four corners of the world. While this has its benefits, like increasing communication across national and geographic boundaries that would otherwise be insurmountable, it also has it's drawbacks, like allowing this information to be analyzed and disseminated by people who might or might not understand such statements.

As aspiring journalists, we are all taught to avoid words with certain negative connotations, because words, especially when consumed through a mass medium, have a unique power of their own.

As we said on Tuesday, there is a preponderance of foolish labels that permeate the political discourse on Marquette's campus. While words like "racist" and "ignorant" become common currency on the Campus Viewpoints page and sometimes in the blogs of those politically affected members of the Marquette community, the subjects of these labels and other forms of stereotyping could be tempted to up the ante. Wainwright's misunderstood satire underlines that this could be negative.

We aren't advocating for censorship, but a little civility in the face of weeks upon weeks of labeling and counter-labeling would certainly be refreshing.

This editorial appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 7 2005.